Wood
Open House
I have been buying distressed homes, fixing them up and selling them. This isn’t one of them. On the way to check out a house I saw this. Nah, I don’t see this as a rehab. It’s a beautiful relic in all it’s glory but it’s simply missing running water and uhm, everything else? But it stands alone under a stormy sky and begged me to photograph it. Or I was compelled to stop and photograph it. I still got to my appointment on time.
Birch Wood at Audrey’s
Why a pile of Birch wood? Who is Audrey? Of course there’s a story to this. Let me try to connect the dots. When I was 19 I apprenticed at The Playhouse on the Mall in Paramus NJ. It had the distinction of being the only professional equity theater in a shopping mall in the country. It’s been gone for years. But it was a defining summer for me. The woman who ran the apprentice program was Audrey Koran. A seemingly tough theater veteran who taught and assigned backstage jobs to 25+ eager students of the theater. Audrey took to me and I took to her. She trusted me and began to give me more responsibility and ultimately I stage managed a few shows at the theater, which led to my beating her to Broadway by a mere three months. I think she liked that. She never stopped reminding me. Audrey became one of the best, most cherished lifelong friends anyone could hope for. My wife and I were frequent guests at her upstate New York retreat from the big city. My wife Sarah adored her too. So did our kids. We also loved her longtime boyfriend Tom. These were two insightful, extremely bright and empathetic people. Salt of the earth. On every trip up to Ankram, NY I would comb her acres of beautiful natural property and shoot whatever caught my eye. I randomly shot this pile of firewood stacked in her open shed, ready to handle a cold winter. Shortly after that trip I got a call from Audrey’s daughter, Liz at 6:00AM. That could NOT be a good thing. Liz was crying. Her mom died the night before in Tom’s arms. An unexpected death with no warning. Why the wood pile? Sometimes a seemingly unrelated photo can define something powerful. Why the wood pile? It’s like asking why Audrey?
WOODHENGE
I went for a walk in the reservation near our house with my wife. When I reached for my camera before we left home she said, “There’s not much to shoot there. Bare trees and dirt.” I told her I accept the challenge and will find one thing on our one-hour trek. So, this was it! A little red bench halfway into our walk/hike. Had a great walkabout and found one thing to add to the website!
Joe and Wood
I was focusing on the woodpile when Joe wandered in. I thought he made the shot so much better.
The Bridges in Buck’s (Not Madison) County
I LOVE shooting covered bridges. A natural attraction for photographers. But I discovered that I like the inside even more than the outside! The criss-cross of the wood supports offer an opportunity for dozens of angles and views. The biggest challenge, while setting and resetting the camera and tripod, is dodging the cars using the bridge. I don’t think they’re as fascinated by the inside of the bridge as I am.
Barn On My Bike Ride
Every time I go for a ride I pass a farm with some very appealing barns. Can’t really shoot it from the road so one day I rang the doorbell. I didn’t want to say I love your barns because the wood is so distressed I think it’s beautiful! I think I said something pathetic like we want to build a barn and I’d like to model ours after one of yours. He liked that. I told him if he’d let me shoot the property I’d drop off photos for the family. I did just that and they seemed to like them a lot. That wood really was… historic?
