What I Learned in 2018

Well, here it is, the book that you have heard about many times over the last eight years.

COMMON TIDE

Port Aransas, Texas

Photographs Inspired by the Mercer Logs 1866 to 1877

Billie Mercer

It is a large book, 12 by 12, 166 pages. Perfect bound with a linen cover and printed dust jacket. 

How did it come to be? It started as an idea of things to do while Ned was going through treatment for cancer. I wanted to keep him busy with fun things. Ned's family were the first settlers on the northern end of Mustang Island in about 1855 and that settlement eventually became known as Port Aransas. We had vacationed there many times when our boys were young, so we loved the island. I told Ned that I wanted to work on a photography book about the island and use the logs or daily diaries that his family had written as a guide in making those photographs. Ned was always willing to go anywhere with me when I pulled out my camera so, April 2011, was the first trip. The trips continued even after Ned passed away. In fact, making this book became more important to me.

Starting in early 2015, I uploaded to Blurb different versions of the book, even had some of them printed as a proof. I wasn't satisfied with any of them. At the same time, I was looking for other publishers, graphic designers, getting estimates, and learning more and more about self-publishing. I was looking for the perfect book and I was looking for approval. Needless to say, I became discouraged and dropped the project for months.

Fears about artmaking fall into two families: fears about yourself, and fears about your reception by others. In a general, fears about yourself prevent you from doing your best work, while fears about your reception by others prevent you from doing your own work.

                                         Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland

In January 2018, I wrote out what I really wanted, a book for my family. I put aside all my concerns about the cost or marketing the book; or what a designer or publisher might want. 

Everything I had done earlier was dumped and I started over. I learned more about Adobe InDesign and fonts. Almost every day, I spent time on the book and in late October I uploaded the book to get a proof print. My sons received copies of the book for Christmas. I have to tell you that I'm pleased that I pushed this big project though but now I am excited about the responses I've gotten from photographers and book people. Who knows what might happen in 2019. Maybe it will get published for a wider audience. 

What I learned in 2018, and should have already known, is follow my heart and my vision. Just do it!

Only Time Will Tell

It is Palm Sunday and usually I'm in the Centro to photograph the processions. I love seeing Jesus come down San Francisco on a donkey and sometimes it isn't a very cooperative donkey. I love the way the procession is back lit. But I've been there a lot of times to photograph the event and that is not to say that I wouldn't find a special image or two. But not today.

I am still processing the images I shot in Port Aransas and I need to get it done while the way I felt when I was making the image is still fresh. Just because I clicked the shutter and have a digital file of what I saw doesn't mean the camera has a soul. After all, it is a computer that captures an image. The camera doesn't look out across the wetlands with a low lying fog and think, Oh, my God. Isn't that beautiful the way the flats disappear into the horizon. But I think that and hit the shutter button.

Some of the images made in the fog give me trouble. The light was low and I'm looking for subtle and delicate tonalities. There is a fine line between a subtle and delicate image and a flat image. For images I really like, I don't consider the process complete until I have a print. So, I'll make a work print and prop it up on my display ledge for a while to evaluate whether I need to make more adjustments before I make a final print.

Is that what I felt the morning I made the image? Is it subtle and delicate or is it flat? Only time will tell.

Wilson the Castway

Does this remind you of anyone you know?

How about Wilson the basketball companion of Tom Hanks in the movie Castway?

He is a bit sturdier than he was in Castway but he still has a friendly face.

I found Wilson had "washed up" on shore in Port Aransas the first morning I went to the beach. Wilson had some rough nights in the wind, rain and tides but he had friends. Everyday I'd see someone putting him back together and taking a picture of him. One morning I talked with him and put his valentine back in place. I asked him if Tom Hanks was a nice guy. He waved his hand and kept on smiling. I wonder if he is still there.

Passing Ferry Boats

After a breakfast of eggs, sausage, biscuits and grits at the Island Cafe with my friend Frank, he headed out towards Corpus Christi. Actually he was not going to Corpus Christi, he was looking for the blue lines on a map that would take him to small communities north and east of Corpus, the places where he can find his images.

I picked up my camera bag and headed out too, into a heavy, wet fog. First to the beach and the life guard stations. I've already photographed them in sun and in overcast light from clouds but that wasn't quite what I wanted. Maybe the fog would be it. It was so quiet on the beach. Very few people and the fog seemed to muffle the sound of the waves as well as the sight of them until you were close to the water. The horizon was lost.

After I photographed the horizon and the life guard stations, I headed over to the ferry docks. The ferry boats would look good in the fog and perhaps a tanker would glide past as well. I was close to a couple who were fishing and while I waited for a tanker we struck up a conversation. Guess what? They were about my oldest son's age and she went to the same high school that he did. She didn't remember him because she was a couple of years older. And then we discovered that her family had lived in the same subdivision that we did.

Once again, I'm reminded, it is a small world.

The Other Side of the Island

I came to Port Aransas hoping for some weather, fog and or rain. I've gotten it. Plus the first few days I also got a lot of wind in the 20-25 mile per hour category. But today was wonderful. In the 50's, fog and a misty rain. Also, today, instead of the Gulf of Mexico side of the island I was on the bay side where there are wetlands. Such a different landscape from what most of us think of when we think of Mustang Island. Sometimes the horizon line disappeared into the fog. At times most beautiful and mysterious. I'm working on my small laptop and I need to get on my big monitor to work on this particular image because the tones are soft and light.