Leaving and Coming

That man of mine. I know I can craft, but he can create. Many people have asked me how it is that I take 'good' photographs (a statement I sometimes find dubious but flattering). He is the reason. Tim taught me all that he learned in his schooling, patient and generous and always the one with the better eye. He taught me by example and I still study his shots and try to find out what he did.

Last weekend he took a much needed break to travel up to Mammoth and Bodie, a man and his dog and his camera.


We visited Bodie many years ago, our equipment then was medium format and film and my completely manual Canon that he bought for a song at school. Those cameras stayed home, but there was no less magic to the photos he brought back.

Bodie is a strange place, willfully frozen and cursed, to boot. Seeing it again, some shots with very little difference than those years back, altered only by angle and light...



I would not call it timeless, you can see it age and the dust layer thicken. Eerie and lovely in its own stark way.




Tim was away for the three days, spent it mostly alone hiking and shooting. He used to be a solitary person, easy in being alone. The years with me and our family seem to have grown on him because he reported back that being alone made him feel lonely this time. I am so glad he had the time, the opportunity to find that out for himself. I sometimes wonder at the way he was sucked into my huge family, a part of it due to vows and commitment to home and relationship. He chooses this family and for that I am so very blessed.

Distance can be good for a couple, bring to the forefront just how much a partner does for you and with you. The last few months spent in close proximity have been good ones, there is some challenge and some new effort that has to be acknowledged, but it has been good.

This weekend passed with the empty side of the bed for a few nights, the solo kid wrangling and the telling of stories with only one voice. It strikes home how very glad I am to have this man, with his creative eye, slow temper, deep patience and lasting love.

Though I would let him go at least once a year if he keeps coming home with pictures like these. Next time switch it to TIFF, honey, then I can really frame some of them.




Love you forever, MCD.

Full set of his pictures here. Slideshow here. Take a moment to peruse them if you can. I find them all quite lovely.