Cameras and Picture Taking - You Ought to be in Pictures, You're so Beautiful to See

Looking back over three small boxes of photographs documenting my sixty-plus years, I realize I don't have many.  I work with professional photographers who have a very discerning eye are are quick to count out any photograph which does not meet their standard.

If I was so critical, I'd be left with only three or four photographs.  These days with all the books and travels, I have a much better "photographic eye," and a much better camera, a Panasonic Luminex with a Leica glass lens.

I'm attracted to the wood blocks prints of Gustave Baumann (1881-1971) who studied at the Chicago Art Institute and lived in Santa Fe for over 50 years.  His prints are known for their iconic portrayals of the muted colors of the Southwest, so much so that the Santa Fe Opera has had a number of them in their annual poster.

In the lower right of the print is his name in pencil along with his personal glyph, his identifying mark, which features a harts with a hand inside.  the skill of an artist comes when he allows hi work to flow through his heart.

Photography never had a lofty goal in the Reitz household.  They functioned as images of memories broken down into two major locations - porch scenes and travel photos.

On the porch I'm seen atop my first tricycle, in front of the porch on my first bicycle, scenes with my sister and I all dressed up with Easter Egg baskets, starting a new grade in school with my book satchel, me standing alone in my band uniform.

Sometimes the photos would stray into the backyard, me holding a baseball bat, me in a helmet ready to kick a football, my magic show table set up under a tree, and pictures of our dog - mostly standing on the porch.

We come from a time of rolled film and individual flash bubls.  Film always got developed by dropping the roll off at the drugstore and waiting for two weeks.  Instamatic cameras came in with film you didn't need to roll and a four-sided flash cube.

Despite all the technological advanced, all the pictures looked mostly the same.  you stood eight feet wat and took the picture standing up.  no close-ups, no sideways shots - you faced the camera to get your picture taken.

My parents, and I guess me too, knew what great photographs looked like.  We subscribed to Life Magazine and each week the greatest work of America's greatest photographers were delivered to our mailbox.

It never occurred to us that picture taking could ever become "photography," or much less, art.  Our travel scenes were always the same.  My sister and I standing in front of the U.S. Capitol.  me standing beside any number of canons.  me standing on the edge of the Palo Duro canyon, my jeans rolled up six inches, anticipating future growth which never came.

Pictures tapered off by the time we stopped going on family vacations.  Only a small handful of pictures from college days, even less from my time in the Navy.

A new collection of pictures started again when I married Carolyn and Rachel and Adam came along.  Once again almost no pictures were taken at the end of family vacations.

Maybe that same time element, from my growing up days to the growing up days of my children represent a change in one's life - fleeting images are not enough to create or remember a good life, but accomplishments and interacting with your family, friends, colleagues and lovers become the basis of a well-lived life.