Month: June 2004

In the last one hundred years, moving away from the Victorian Era, we have become more at ease in our (Western culture) dress. During the period pictured above people would wear something appropriate for getting wet but, not what you see here. The family whose life was documented in an album of images I bought at a garage sale was not a poor one. They lived in a nice house, travelled to Catalina Island (a luxury), dressed well, and apparently had money to document themselves in photographs over a five year period with good images, names and dates, and locations.

My family photos don’t go back that far in time. The older ones I have are from the 1920s-30s. Most of them are from the 1940s. My father and his older brother were avid photographers and took lots of family pics. Between them we can provide a pretty good documentation of our lives in Ohio and California. I was never good at family snapshots but, I do have some from 1959-64 that I’ve recently searched through, and made prints from. I told me aunt in Ohio I would send her some pics, including her pregnant with her youngest daughter. Of course, I didn’t take that picture. 🙂

A recently new friend hosted a pool party & BBQ last night at his home. He and his partner are very nice. There were a other few people I had previously met through the Black & White Men Together group. This was supposed to have been somebody in NYC’s birthday. They (whoever they were) were flown down, stayed at the Eden Roc (historic hotel on Miami Beach) then, had this pool party. At least that’s how I understood it. Only a couple of the several guys from NYC were friendly, the others went off into some corner of the yard and kept to themselves.

I know I’m not a person to go walking up introducing myself to people in such a cases unless I’m the host. I was really bothered by the lack of friendliness. I was the only one in the pool for a long time. After I got out and ate something and tried to get involved in some conversation did I hear a splash and then I got back in the pool. I preferred swimming to being ignored. I was actually getting upset and then I just said, fuck them.

It seemed most everyone there was coupled with somebody and, that’s often the case at BWMT gatherings since they have social gatherings in people’s homes. I’ve met a number of friends thru this group but, I haven’t become a member nor do I want to. Maybe my reason(s) aren’t valid but, I don’t want to be a member of a queer group and I find some of the members not the kind of people I would like to associate with if I met up with them on the street. Even though I’ve found a few people I do like being around I continue to be uneasy around many queer men.

One interesting and funny thing happened last night though. One of the guys I met a while ago and haven’t talked to much started talking about my swimming lessons. Then he said I should give him lessons, as he inched closer. I wasn’t thinking much about the moving closer until he said it several times. He must have had too much to drink for real because there just ain’t no way I’d be interested in such a lame, last minute come on. He’d been there as long as me and stayed aloof the whole time. I had thought about drinking to loosen up my talking too but, you know what, that’s a bad idea. Drinking around friends is one thing but, drinking because you think it’s gonna help in a social situation is foolish.

Even though I’ve met some nice guys at the BWMT functions, I’ve only gone to bed with one of them. He was there last night but, I don’t think we could be anything more than friends (that don’t have sex). Hearing him talking to one of his friends about one of his sexual exploits while we were hanging out for the day was definitely a turnoff. The only other guy I was attracted to was with his partner. Oh well. I guess bars are the only place to meet guys even though I don’t like bars.

Tonight was the meeting of artists for the exhibition, “Nepotism.” We took a series of photos for the museum but I wanted to get an inside view of the artists as they gathered for the second photo shoot. We had wine, beer, cheese, crackers, and veggies with dip. Seeing friends and meeting artists I didn’t know was fun. Everybody seemed to love my piece even with the map tack installation. Some people spent a lot of money on framing/ mounting which I cannot afford. Actually, my current financial situation is a depressing one better left for a post of the “reality check” type. Enjoy the fun evening.

Not long ago bitterlawngnome had a photo I found interesting. It was a foot treadle sewing machine. It reminded me of my grandmother’s old machine but, with all the decoration on the old machines there is some similarity. New machines are very design oriented and no external decoration. I found these two near my studio.

I was thinking about danthered when I took this pic since he likes older cars.

My photos have been installed at the museum and today I went to take some new photos for here even though the lighting has not been done. Take a look on my previous entry where I have updated the images. I didn’t measure the height but, it’s about the same as the portable wall nearby, 10 ft. It’s 16 inches off the floor. Title? Yes, I gave it a title finally: “37 years” (because they cover the past 37 years of my image making)

Swimming went well again today. In just two days the swim coach has helped me a lot. He’s got it easy with me because I can swim already. Anyway, I want to try and do a few laps tomorrow freestyling and then try to do some back stroking so that I can get the feel of the mechanics of it. Having it taught is different than just doing it on your own.

My neighbor in back is taking their daughter swimming every morning too. They arrive earlier than I do but, she’s there to have fun, and I don’t know if she’s taking lessons. Nice neighbors and sweet daughter that always says hello. 🙂

Today was the actual first day of my swimming class. Monday’s class was cancelling because of rain and lightening. I’m the only one that can actually swim in it. There are a total of five people in the class and the instructor is a teenage boy maybe 18yrs. He speaks Spanish (for the two women in the class). I’m mostly interested in developing better technique and he’s helped with that already. He asked if I wanted to try the breaststroke and I said yes but, when it came to execution I went nowhere and felt uncoordinated. Once I get my lungs working better I should be able to work on my kick which is what bothers me most. I am enjoying this so far.

After the swim I went to the museum to install my photos. I have 120 prints but as it looks I won’t need to install them all to reach 10 ft. up the wall. The grid is 8 across and 12 high but, I may add another two rows tomorrow when I go back to take a final look at it. The museum’s new director mentioned to me several times that he liked my work. Upstairs they are currently exhibiting Ansel Adams and Clyde Butcher (FL) whose work is similar to Adams only pertaining to Florida’s remaining wilderness (Everglades and such places).