Just wanted to wish my Dad a Happy 62nd Birthday. I've been meaning to post a couple things here and this is a good opportunity. Every year on his birthday my Dad does 100 push-ups to mark the occasion. I don't know when the last time any of you have tried to 100 push-ups, but I remember the last time I tried to see how many I could do. It was a bet between a buddy and me about 15 years ago and I don't think either of us got to 100.
Last year when we were on vacation in Florida I took a movie clip of my Dad doing 100. He makes it look pretty easy. So check out the clip, I figure if we're not going to do the push-ups, you could at least take two minutes and watch someone else do 'em.
I'm also posting two pictures taken in the last year while with my Dad. I don't shoot as much fun stuff as I used to, but when I do I'm always grateful to have taken the time and effort. You'll usually see me with the point and shoot, but the really great shots happen when I take out the good stuff. The serious gear. Which usually means more weight and responsibility to keep an eye on it. But as mentioned, it always means better pictures.
The shot of the dogs in the doorway happened when my Dad and I were pulling out of the driveway. He rushed back into the house for his camera. I did the same and got some great results.
The shot of the coal miner statue is from our hometown. My Dad and I went to an area coal festival this past summer and drove around a while trying to find this statue which is a tribute to the Anthracite Coal Miners of Northeastern PA. It's always good to remember where you come from!
We gathered last Tuesday at Rob and Joanie's place for our own Inauguration Ball...Roxborough Style. Kristen squeezed into an old bridesmaids dress and I got to dress up for something other than a working wedding. Ann Marie stole the show with her 3 dollar Good Will gown. We had Obama chili and sweet potato pie with champagne. Anne Marie and Joanie did a lot of work for this election canvassing neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia so it was time to celebrate. Now I guess its time to fix what is broke..and there's a whole lot of broke out there.
Thanks for your text messages of condolence. I was indeed crying myself a river while most of you were enjoying another trip to the Super Bowl. After several years of the same program I have the experience to know that the sun does indeed rise again in Philadelphia. A lot of talk this past week about team legacy and Mcnabb and Reid. It's unfortunate that this team will be remembered for their epic losses when it really mattered. This was actually a pretty cool season that had surprising longevity. Last nights game was the whole eagles season in one game. Bad start, comeback, lead and coming up short and giving it away. Incosistency. In some ways I don't see why this same team can't come back and jockey themselves into position to contend again next year. Truth is a young Defense let this one slip away and that D should only get better. That's about all the optimisim I have in me right now. I'm not calling for Reid or Mcnabb's head on a platter, though if the team decided to go in a new direction, I wouldn't be surprised or terribly dissapointed. File it under, been there- done that. They will have a hard off-season. The microscope just got bigger. I'm tired of reading the same story and watching the same big game. It's a different football tradition in this town when compared to Pittsburgh. Even if Pittsburgh loses yesterday or in two weeks, it's another successful season and you have the tradition that allows the fans continued hope and joy for next season regardless. Not the same here, not when you've lost 5 huge games in 8 years. It is what it is. The phillies took the curse off the cities shoulders, so it's gotta be the team itself that needs some maintenance.
Anyway, I'll stop feeling sorry for myself by the Super Bowl. I'll be here watching the Boss at halftime and serving up platters of sour grapes for friends and family. It's gonna be a cold cold week in Philadelphia. Good luck good people of Pittsburgh and enjoy your two week party, I wish we could have made it a state-wide bash. I'm going to go watch my Phillies DVDs now. Pitchers and catchers report in 25 days and 21 hours.
We spent New Years in State College with Kristen's Cousin and his wife, Jeff and Lisa. I shot their wedding this past summer and we've been to the Happy Valley a number of times over the past couple years to visit. We like hanging out with these guys, but I think it's also good for our soul to get out of Philly and lose the attitude for a couple of days. It's just a different pace that reminds me of all those years I lived in Indiana, PA.
Also visiting were Jeff and Lisa's friends, Rich and Lynn. They have 5 year old twins known as Ryder and Seneca. Jeff and Lisa have been big fans of these kids since the day they were born. We'd heard plenty of stories, but it was pretty cool to hang out with these two for a couple days.
I like kids, I like photographing kids. Kids generally like me, and kids always like getting their picture taken. (except wedding portraits) The joke of the weekend was something that Seneca said to her parents the first night. She said, "Jim is crazy, he likes to do what we do, except he's not a kid". Funny stuff. These two were seriously fun though. I kept waiting for their perfect disposition to flutter, but it never did. They are just really good kids who seem to like being really good kids. Ryder is the ladies man. He used to be best buds with Jeff, but now he's moved onto Lisa. Seneca just rolls her eyes as Ryder talks about the beautiful ladies.
It was a pretty simple New Years, Happy-Valley-Style. We went down to College Ave to check out the ice sculptures, reindeer and ice ramp. It was seriously about 5 degrees so our tour was brisk. The rest of the time was games, hot chocolate, football and cards.
New years day the guys took a hike with the dogs. I love these shots of Ryder running through the woods. I grew up in the country before moving to the mean streets of Wilkes-Barre. I used to spend entire days out in the woods with my dog. The light, long shadows, leading lines and a little mystery... My favorite shots of the weekend and exactly the kinds of images I like to make from time to time.
I'm a little backed up on my blog postings. I had a lot of wedding work to finish up. I'm up to my eyeballs in pictures and some fun stuff and I have some postings/pictures that I plan to get up here in the next couple days.
In December we saw Neil Young at the Spectrum. Kristen and I had tickets on the floor which usually means you can get as close as you want depending on how early you get there. We didn't get there too early but still ended up a row or two back. As usual I took my point and shoot camera, A Canon G10. This is my 5th Canon point and shoot and my third of the G-series. (I've sold the previous 4 to my friends) These days I'm more into grabbing a full clip/song and posting it on Youtube. (Here's the clip from this show)
I've gotten away from shooting pictures because I usually find it too frustrating. We've been up close and personal for a lot of shows and I've made some nice pictures, but I'm always thinking of the shots I could get if I had my real gear....and proper access. Half of the time I'm doing this on the sly and hoping that nobody takes my camera. I'm finding these days that most of the venues have come to the conclusion that they've lost this battle. Everyone has a 2-3 megapixel on their camera. Everyone is shooting their crappy pictures and nobody is too worried about it.
Now my camera is pretty good, but I'm still so limited by the light and space. Usually when I get home and weed through my soft pictures I can find a couple that I'm happy with. Here are a few of Neil Young from that night. It was a great show and I have to admit being a little star struck when ol' Neil trotted out on the stage. I mean that was Neil freakin' Young.
This has been something in the works for a while now. I've been wanting to put a slide show of my most current work together that also includes some general information about the studio. Most of my inquiries are by email and for the past year I've answered and followed up in a variety of ways. Now I think I can send this slide show link and feel that the bases are covered.
This has all come together at a pretty good time. Just yesterday I found out I was accepted into the WPJA (Wedding Photojournalist's Association). I don't belong to any other trade organizations, but I felt that this was one I wanted to be in. This was my third time applying so I was happy to finally get in.
This organization is also particular about music licensing. So instead of using commercial music for my slide show I asked my friend Matt in LA to write a short piece for me. I gave him a sense of the mood I was looking for and he went at it and came up with this piece of music. I like it more every time I listen to it...and I've listened to it about a hundred times now as I've put the slide show together. If you haven't been to Matt's website, check out all the shows he's written music for. To sit in his studio and watch this dude make music, like I did a couple weeks ago, is a sight to see. He's like a conductor of an orchestra except there is no orchestra, just keyboards, computer screens, mixing boards and a music software samples. I guarantee that if you watch TV even a little bit, you've already heard his music.
At any rate, the slide show is embedded on the blog, but I'd recommend clicking the link here to watch the HD version. The slideshow will also be linked to the JIMHARRISSTUDIOS.COM site.
I think I’m better now. I think I may be healed. It was one week ago this morning that we were in LA and our friend Ian was driving us to the airport. It was six in the morning and these guys weren’t up ten minutes and I was preaching of our return to the promised land. Three thousand miles and 28 years later we might just win the World Series. It was tough not watching the first four games in Philly, but my friends out there are all baseball people and almost all of them had their teams in the playoffs, but supported us all week, despite my dubious behavior at times.
When I took a self-imposed-time-out in another room, they sent in 16 month old Zoe with the Phillies foam finger to smoke me out. It was great time and now we were going back to Philly with a 3-1 lead in the World Series. We landed, grabbed our luggage and returned home only to run out the door to Henry James to watch it wrap up. Mother Nature had other things in mind. At least to some it was Mother Nature. I knew it was actually the Baseball Gods making sure that we really wanted/deserved it. All those people, including myself, that were already thinking of a Parade would be tested when the game was called in the 6th due to a rain monsoon. I heard it described as going to a New Years Party and midnight never came. We went home, we waited to see what would happen and in the meantime, I went up to my folks to get our dog Frank. In only a hundred mile distance I ran into a snowstorm in the Poconos and got stuck in stand-still traffic for a couple hours on Interstate 80. Just enough time to listen to sports radio and ponder how this could be the end-be-all of Philadelphia collapses. Only in Philadelphia could you have a 3-1 lead in the World Series and still feel like the Grinch with all the kids toys in a sleigh teetering on the cliff over Whoville.
The skies cleared and the game continued two days later. Only 3 innings. No problem. Kristen and I suited up and returned to Henry James for the strangest Game 5 in World Series history. It started with a Pinch Hitter and the first inning ended with the seventh inning stretch. The place was packed and we were squeezed in hanging on every pitch. We took the lead and then they tied it up again. Then Pat Burrell who hadn’t had a hit all series, smacked the longest double I’d ever seen in that park. That would eventually be the winning run. A strange thing happened though between that scored run and the euphoria that would follow the final strike out. I knew we were going to win. It was an unfamiliar and positive epiphany. To most it would seem like a no-brainer… those watching outside southeastern Pennsylvania. Watching Brad Lidge trot in I knew we were going to win this thing. I put my camera away and just watched it happen. It took forever and two days but we won the World Series.
I didn’t see anything on the TV after that last out. Nobody here did. We jumped around and hugged total strangers and then took it to the streets. We partied and danced in the traffic. When I looked at my phone an hour or so later, I had a half dozen voicemails and 15 text messages. Countless emails would follow the next day.
Now I don’t know if I deserved everyone’s best wishes. I know I haven’t always been the easiest to watch a game with. I could squeeze even the littlest joy out of a game if given the opportunity. As I told my buddy Ian, it isn’t easy. He's a Cubs fan, he understands. I don’t know why it’s so important. I’d like to blame genetics or someone else, like my dad who every summer drove us 200 miles to watch Phillies games when were kids. I’d like to blame the curse or even Joe Buck, but I think it was just 28 years of never winning.
The point is… I think I’m healed. Whatever happened this week was the right prescription to fully balance the likes of Jim Harris. Sure, I’ll probably need to tweak the cocktail in the years to come, but I think we’re all better now. With this World Series I promise to never boo again. I promise not to scare your children or pets. I promise to not make you want to root against me.
Friday morning I got up and joined the Phillies and two million people on Broad Street. I was there the weekend they closed the Vet, I was there the weekend they opened our new ballpark, but I’ve never seen a time when this city was so in love with itself. I think they call it pride. Who knew?
