Restoring Courage

Greeted by pleasure craft, the U.S.S. Constitution drops anchor at Marblehead, Massachusetts.

     The Navy went retro. It restored the U.S.S. Constitution to its 1812 appearance. Why did it choose that year?
     The answer is courage. During 1812, its crew defeated five British warships. The frigate earned the nickname Old Ironsides after cannonballs bounced off its hull.
     Courage earns respect. As a measure of evaluation, courage blows away wealth, success, appearance, and the shallowness of celebrity.
     While growing up, I witnessed a fight between two boys. A crowd of teens goaded them on. The bout wasn’t close. One boy, larger in physique, was beating the crap out of his opponent.
     Someone stepped forward, placed himself between the combatants, and demanded an end to the fight.
     I forever respected that person for having the balls to intervene.
     Courage resonates deep in our psyches.

First Rapport, Then Composition

     Grasses cut in front of this man’s face. He approved of the concept.
     Many businessmen are cautious when it comes to portraiture. They won’t approve of objects visible between their faces and a camera. Nor would they pose on a beach while wearing a suit. In their minds, better safe than creative.
     Coaxing them into a unconventional pose is a challenge. The first thing I do is establish a rapport. My camera remains inside its bag. I engage in small talk. Nothing about the photo shoot is discussed.
     This chit chatty approach seems easy but it’s not. Time gets in the way. When arrangements are made over a telephone, a photo subject or his representative might ask for a quick portrait session.
     I don’t always heed that admonition. Experience tells me that after I show up, a person might grant me additional time. It depends on how well I establish rapport.
     An effective portrait is the result of rapport, composition, and lighting.

Green Summit

     “Should we keep going?”
     I asked my eighteen year old niece that question while hiking up a mountain. Turning back made sense. Rain had begun falling. The steep and rocky trail would soon become slippery. But the summit was close, only minutes away.
     We agreed to push on. Soon we reached the top of Mount Frissell. It lies on the border of Connecticut and Massachusetts.
     Our achievement was anti climatic. The summit was covered with woods. It offered no viewpoints. Still, the lack of scenery did not diminish our satisfaction.
     Had I hiked alone, I might have turned around before reaching the summit.
     But hiking with someone else altered my outlook. My goal wasn’t only a summit. My goal was to strengthen the bond between myself and my niece. Thanks to the rainfall and the drama it created, my goal was achieved.
     Taking on obstacles together brings people together.

Killing Time, Not the Enemy

    This man created black and white sketches while serving as an infantryman during World War II. Not all of his images depicted combat. Many of his sketches revealed the drudgeries of a soldier’s existence.
     In the photo, he holds a sketch depicting men hanging around on a ship. They look bored.
     One person on that vessel wasn’t bored. The artist occupied his mind by drawing. Later he went on to a successful career. I photographed him at his home in Massachusetts.
     All endeavors—fighting wars, running a household, making a living, just to name a few—include bouts of drudgery. Some people are better than others at handling that condition.
     Can success be predicted by how well someone grapples with drudgery?

Good Riddance

     This shopping mall near Boston is dying a slow death. Customers are scarce. Several storefronts are locked.
     Malls are hurting elsewhere. Some have closed.
     Internet shopping is cited as a reason. So is the presence of big box stores—Walmarts and Targets—situated apart from other stores.
     Good riddance to malls.
     Shopping Malls are soulless. They’re mind numbingly similar to each other.
     I’m old enough to remember when downtowns were vibrant. Most stores were mom and pop owned. Patronizing local stores tied me into my community.
     Now, small stores are staging a comeback. They’re often boutique shops that specialize in their products or services. Many of them are located on Main Streets in towns. This development encourages me.
     It’s good for the soul to patronize a business with a soul.

Green Suffocation

Algae chokes the water of a swamp in my town.

     Greener lawns create greener water.
     Every summer, algae grows in a swamp near my home. The surface of the water becomes chocked in green. When the algae decomposes, oxygen is sucked from the water.
     Fish suffocate.
     Homeowners are causing the problem. They use fertilizers containing high levels of phosphorus. Their lawns appear lush. The greenness comes at a cost. Phosphorus leaches into the swamp.
    Other aquatic creatures are suffering. Snakes are rarely seen anymore. Less frogs are heard croaking than during previous years. This trend coincides with an increase in housing development. More homes, more lawns, more fertilizer, more algae.
     I use a fertilizer with little phosphate. The impact is noticeable. My lawn isn't as lush as it could be. That's okay. I'm not hurting those those critters in the swamp.
    Here in suburbia, folks take pride in their lawns. The greener the better.
    Except greener isn't better. I'm hopeful that attitudes will change over the use--or misuse--of fertilizer.
     In the meantime, vanity is killing fish.

Snake swims through algae during July.

Back in the Habit

     Are religious habits making a comeback?
     Last week I encountered a Roman Catholic nun. She was visiting a shrine near my home. Her order is new and growing.
     A few weeks earlier I chatted with a young woman in New Hampshire. She plans to become a nun after college. She'll wear a habit.
     Wearing a habit repudiates individualism. It affirms modesty and obedience.
     Back in the sixties and seventies, many orders of nuns stopped wearing habits. Decades later these orders are declining.
     Why are traditional religious orders--those that wear habits--growing?
     To quote the late Charles Nordoff, 'The fundamental principle of communal life is the subordination of the individual's will to the general interest.'
     Lots of aspiring sisters, it turns out, desire that lifestyle.

 

The Appeal of Randomness

     Harvard Yard is a pleasant mess.
     A hodgepodge of chairs dot the grass. They invite passersby to stop, relax, and socialize.
     What's intriguing is the lack of arrangement. The chairs are not placed in proportional lines or clusters. They're arranged impromptu by whomever uses them. Every day their positioning is different and random.
     Symmetry is important in art, design, and architecture. But too much proportionality stupefies me. Civilization is better off when symmetrical forms of architecture sometimes yield to nooks and crannies of irregularity.