There's more to photos than images

Sometimes we experience the joy of a journey, and other times we live in the misery of the moment.
All of those things came rushing back Saturday following another colorful and dynamic Tri-State Rodeo Parade, as I sat in a renovated four-season room watching the Cy-Hawk game.
I wanted to put some of the photographs I’ve taken over the past six or seven years on the walls. They’ll be in black and white because I think that’s artsy and, quite frankly, my eyes are tired.
I think I deleted more than 600 photographs, so you know I’m a cellphone nerd. Hell, many of you are thinking I’m just a nerd in general (Except Lee County Economic Development Group CEO Dennis Fraise. He can appreciate a photo nerd).
As I went through the photos, I started to feel a little emotion creep in. I’m not convinced it wasn’t a little emotion from the Hawks not being able to score in the red zone AGAIN, and AGAIN, but emotion around  why I forget about these wonderful moments, and worry about the small headaches of the day.
As a fresh Indian summer breeze blows in the window on the west side that cost waaaaay more than a window on the west side of a house should cost, I breathe in the fresh oxygen and it reinforces the mood.
There’s so much that we experience in our lives that we forget about when things don’t go right. It reminds me of Derek Doherty’s comments on Friday night after the Hounds loss at Fairfield.
“Sometimes things just don’t go right. You just keep climbing.”
Well my climb was through more than 1,000 pictures. Seeing my daughter Taylor leaning her head on my shoulder, or my niece Natalie with a monster cookie and a monster face, Lee in a Reds jersey that she swears she doesn’t have. A photo bomb of Ozzie Smith on an American Flight to NYC, and photos of Skol photobombing everywhere – if you know, you know.)
I like to stop at intersections and shoot streetscapes with street signs indicating the intersection. Some are famous W. 42nd Street in New York, Dearborn in Chicago. I like lines so there are photos with weird angles of architecture and sunlight beams creeping through alleyways shadowed by steel monstrosities.
It's not abnormal for me to lay in the middle of a walkway and shoot urbanites walking past, or laying at the base of a skyscraper and aiming to the tip.
Every one of those photos came at a time when I was on a getaway with family. The memory of the photo is, “I was here”, or “I went there” but the emotions around, “I enjoyed that trip with John, Susan, and the kids”, or “I need to get my butt on a plane and go see my kid again”.
I’m traveling more than I ever have. I was (and still am) a workaholic, but I’ve been trying to change that a bit in the last three years. You really don’t know how much time you have, but the real issue is have you done everything you want to do? It makes me think of Amy Scharnhorst and her travels around the world. How dynamic that life must be. Some of us just want health and happiness and to be around family, some want to travel, some want a combination of all.
I think at some point I’d like to be taking photos in Europe, but I don’t relish the idea of being on a plane for eight hours, two is more than I need and even that takes a Xanax, a Dramamine, and a couple ginger ales (or is that gingers ale?)
Then there’s the photos of home and the Christmas tree full of presents spilling out into the living room and how valuable those moments are, too. I get a strong desire to make more and I start thinking about grandkids. I’m just not sure bringing another child into this world makes sense right now and I think my daughter agrees. Sorry Mr. Vance – nah, he can eat it. If he can help make America regain it’s foothold with middle class America, we’ll talk about grandkids. Until then he's wrong. But this is a political free zone, damnit.
So I’m going to go through my photos and see what elicits the MOST emotion, switch the mode to grayscale, tinker a bit, send it off for printing and start framing. I have no clue how these pieces are going to become part of the character of this renovated room, I just know that when it’s done it will be very difficult to forget the reasons for the pictures aside from the subject matter.
Someone named Timm ribbed me about not wearing shorts to the rodeo parade Saturday morning. I said I’m getting old and brittle and colder than I used to be, but shorts are still in the bureau – and that’s really Beside the Point.
Chuck Vandenberg is editor and co-owner of Pen City Current and can be reached at Charles.V@PenCityCurrent.com.