Sylvan Heights Bird Park in Scotland Neck, North Carolina is an impressive facility situated near Rocky Mount, about an hour and a half from Raleigh. All the birds are captive and so their behavior is relatively tame (or exceedingly so with some birds) but the opportunities for photography can be hit or miss. It’s certainly a place I would like to revisit, especially to learn more about their breeding program, but photographically it would be best on a cloudy day: the regular hours are 9 to 5, so early morning light isn’t an option, and the “golden hour” in the evening comes long after the park closes!
Author: david.kennedy
For a minute there I lost myself, phew…for a minute there
Radiohead references aside, I’ve gone through a number of life changes, both professionally and with respect to lifestyle since I last updated this blog. I posted last from the coast of Washington as I was in the middle of some significant soul-searching. I was at a crossroads both professionally and personally. Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting images from the last six months–what I have to show for them, that is. There have been moments that I considered packing up all of my gear and selling it off, closing the shutters on a dream. Summer, my partner who has seen me through this transition in my life, has expressed at numerous points a concern that she has somehow negatively influenced by passion for photography. I’m taking stock of life as I recognize that I’m emerging from a state of prolonged shell-shock at the fallout from the end of long and complicated relationship. She certainly has not stifled my desire to make images of the world. If anything, she inspires me.
I have a backlog of images I would like to share with the world, but first I wanted to share this amazing woman. I want to be a better person, a better partner, a better photographer, a better communicator, a better citizen of the Earth because I know that my own life is better for having her as such a central part of it. She shares with me a deep respect for this planet. A visceral connection to the landscape and the flora and fauna that color it in.
Early in our relationship we spoke of partners creating space for the other to grow. I don’t think either of us had any idea just how much space that would mean as my life changed dramatically. I have a new appreciation for intentional family (to say nothing of my biological family, whom I love dearly). In many ways, I feel like my vision has been fogged for a months now but it’s beginning to burn off. Confidence is slowly being restored to my heart, my head, and pumping in my veins.
This remarkable woman is the reason that, come August, I can append two letters to my name. In March she traveled with me to Columbia to defend my M.A. project at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. That project, “A River in Reverse: Asian carp and The Great Lakes” was the result of hours of blood, sweat, and tears over the last two years, but especially the month of February and into March of 2012. She helped me to reframe some of my darker experiences in graduate school. She helps me to realize just how amazing life can be. How fortunate I am to be on this path together. How blessed I am with the talents I have.
I don’t have a crystal ball. I don’t know with certainty what my future holds. What I do know is that as I take stock of my life, I cannot help but to feel fortunate and loved at this moment in time. We’re planning to hand-fast so that we might share the joy we feel about the the peregrinations that we will share over the course of our life together.
Watching my step
One good thing about being slightly less than sure-footed is that I frequently look down at where I’m walking, and see things that I might otherwise miss. As much as I love breathtaking, expansive landscapes, sometimes it’s the small and quiet moments that really affect me the most–particularly on a journey of self-discovery and renewal.
How does anything dry in this weather?
20th Annual NCSU Dog Olympics
On Saturday, September 10, 2011 close to 1,000 people turned out on the NCSU College of Veterinary Medicine campus in Raleigh, NC to enjoy their annual Dog Olympics. Five days later, after much editing and toning, I am happy to link to my NCSU Dog Olympics gallery at lightsedgeprints.com.
Coming Soon: Dog Olympics!
On Saturday I found myself surrounded by dogs of all forms at North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine campus. I had hoped to post my images from the Dog Olympics sooner but a gallery will be up by Wednesday afternoon!
German Johnson
Kitchen knives loom over ripening tomatoes
Things have been fairly quiet on the blog while I make some final arrangements to be truly “in business” as a photographer in the state of North Carolina. I am contemplating a very large order of roll paper in anticipation of opening up my HP Z3200 to making prints for fellow photographers. Hopefully, that will include some of my dear readers here!
However, most of my new work of late has been around the house, especially Elizabeth’s garden which is now producing lots of tomatoes. This afternoon I made a photo of our harvested tomatoes that are ripening on the kitchen counter…or atop the microwave, to be more accurate. In years past, other creatures have gotten to Elizabeth’s tomatoes before she had a chance to pick them, so this season she’s trying to pick them when they’ve begun to ripen, and allowing them to finish the process indoors. So far, so good!
Fourth of July Print Sale!
We’re kicking off a big holiday weekend here in the U.S., so beginning today and extending through the Fourth of July all personally-printed and signed photographs at my store, Light’s Edge Prints, are on sale at 25% off if you use the code “fireworks” at the final checkout screen in the shopping cart. Enjoy your weekend!
Back on the shelf: A Portrait of Grinnell
Last Friday marked the beginning of reunion weekend at Grinnell College and also the arrival of 2,000 copies of A Portrait of Grinnell: The Architecture and Landscape of Grinnell College. Their arrival was somewhat unexpected: I had resigned myself to a delayed shipment that would miss reunion weekend and the 1,100+ people registered to congregate in the middle of the cornfields of Iowa. Of course Friday had to be the hottest day during that entire week, with temperatures spiking to 90 degrees, but with a little lot of help from my friends the books made it from the loading dock at the Faulconer Gallery to the shelves of the Grinnell College Bookstore (641.269.3424) and Saints Rest Coffee House (641.236.6014).
Without Lesley Wright’s generosity the books would not have had such a convenient loading dock to come home to, nor would two pallets of the books have such a nice climate-controlled home for the next year. A chance encounter with Russ Motta, Grinnell’s most gregarious security officer, gave me the opportunity to deliver books to Saints Rest Coffee House in a pickup truck with a professional hand-truck delivery man. Motta said that in a past life he worked for a beer distributor: he loaded that hand truck down and never once bumped into anything, and it was amazing.
Bekka Merrill and Emily Zdyrko rounded out the team with their loading, dragging, and unloading 40 more boxes of my books onto a large cart headed to the Grinnell College Bookstore. By the time all was said and done I think everyone was ready for a break…and a lot of water!