Swearing off Sugar

I sat down with my doctor last week to review some testing I recently had done. One test was a food allergy and sensitivity test. The doctor pulled out several charts and with a huge array of foods listed on the pages. I was happy to see only handful that were in the restricted zone. These are foods that I absolutely can not have for six a month period.

The first item on my restriction list was milk. I'm a milk lover, but hey, for no headaches, sinus pain, fatigue, and stomach problems I can skip milk for six months. Then she added, "And whey". I don't even know what the hell whey is, so I wasn’t bothered. No problem-ooh. Then I felt the list was getting tricky like a good murder mystery. "No yeast, brewer's or baker's". Okay, I don’t drink beer, even I though may entertain the (especially when my husband was out of town last week and the kids, cat, and dog vomited not only on the carpet, but the beds and sofas as well), but no bread? Come on. Then I remembered, "Man shall not live by bread alone". I have always thought that verse was a scriptural error so I felt no comfort from the heavenly direction. Then the doctor pulls a hard one, good and fast like a pitch from Johann Santana, "No cane sugar" May I add for your education, cane sugar is most forms of fructose as well as cookies, cold cereal, candies, cakes, peanut butter, soda, jelly, ketsup and a wide assortment of other condiments? I have to be condiment free for six months! Okay, I'm strong willed but my mind started doing some tabulations. Being the smart doctor she is, she saved the very best for last. She mentions it casually as a side note, "Oh, and garlic, no garlic". I don’t do rice or beans without garlic, it’s against my heritage. It's also in most seasonings and the kiss of death for eating out if you want Italian, Mexican, Chinese, and Japanese food. The she smiled and said, "Wow, only five foods. You’re pretty lucky". Somehow, despite the fact my mind was reeling with lists of pros and cons foods, I was still naive enough to believe her.

At least until I went to the grocery store. Big mistake. Can I tell you those five ingredients are pretty much in every G*#$%! F*&^$%$ food on the shelf? It's just not just sweets and milk I'm swearing off (sorry couldn't resist) but yogurt, cottage cheese sour cream, pizza, pita bread, rice cakes, soda (the good kind at least) and every frozen or prepared food, salad dressing, cracker, snack (pretzels and natural popcorn do not count). So I'm looking at steak, bananas, and plain salad out the bag. Which would be great, but I don't really eat meat and I have this texture thing with most vegetables and every fruit (it’s either autism or another manifestation of my OCD, I’m going for autism in this case).

I went to a dinner party the other night, and you know the only thing not on my restricted list was the slimy fruit. Yeah, I’m feeling pretty frackin' lucky.

Not AWOL

Someone asked if I gone AWOL since I've disappeared from life in general the last two weeks trying to get a project done. I've been sleeping in my clothes, eating only oatmeal, shooting and reshooting in my home made studio, glued to my demonic computer trying to edit at a neanderthalic pace, and then trying to get prints done from a new, shiny, uncalibrated printer. Let me tell you how great that was (please note the intended sarcasm). And now the layout on my blog has gone blingy. I'd try to fix it, but I'm sort of computered out.

Project

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye".

- Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

In the fraction of an instant an image is captured through the lens of a camera. Eyes wide, smiles big, trying not blink in our favorite picture pose, we hope in one moment our best selves are exposed. But a quick glance at the results often assures us that person on the paper is nothing like we feel who we truly are. The camera itself, does not possess the ability to reveal the spirit of a subject, but a good photographer does.

The hall mark of a good portrait is not only an image that is well crafted, but one that tells a story. But whose story does the image really tell? We understand that photography portrays an individual's point of view and that's what makes the art so incredible and marvelous because others see and percive so differently than we do. It amazes me how a group of photographers can shoot the same scene and yet the results are so varied. I hoped that in doing this project I could step outside of my world and portray individuals as they see themselves.

This project has been an effort to compare and contrast the idea of a simple snap shot and an image that in essence materializes a part of an individual’s soul, qualities that hearts may see but eyes do not. The following series is some of the work I've done for this project. The subjects are children of a dear friend who husband was recently diagnosed with cancer. I asked the kids to sit for me and give me their best "school picture pose" and then I shot an entirely different session with each of them.

I thank Ashlee, 19, for her kindred artistic non-conformist self, Stephen, 16, who put aside his shyness and shared his gift of music, Matt, 14, for being brilliant and dramatic on and off camera, and for my autumn fairy, Kirstie, 12, who dreamed with me. I thank them for letting me be a part of their world. If only for a moment.

The beauty of my son

It never fails. The beauty of my son always takes my breath away.

He has been increasingly reluctant to let me snap his picture. Tonight he came home late and had a bit of an attitude problem. Feeling a little repentant later on, he agreed to a quick photo, as long as I didn't tell his dad.

He wants to get his hair cut this weekend.

Sometimes artists have to make sacrifices.

Roundy is the House!

Congtualtions to Nicole!

She swept the nationals with silvers in almost every event but one in

which she took home the bronze.

This girl's star is rising!

Stevie

This is Stevie, Ash's and Matt's brother.

Here he is playing his grandfather's Martin in his room.

This guitar in this place is pretty much his world.

Ash

This wall was scheduled for demolition this past week along with a building that was covered in beautiful colorful graffiti art. I was sad to see it go but am grateful I got a chance to shoot there before it was gone. This is my young artist friend. I think she's looking pretty good.

Quackers

"My nickname is Quackers."

She was so named one summer at the pool for her contagious laughter

that peals forth like magic. I'm not sure how "Quackers" and laughter relate, but the kids in the neighborhood thought it made perfect sense.