PHOTOGRAPHY, AS ART, IS NOT JUST LOOKING THROUGH A VIEWFINDER, THEN 'PRESSING THE BUTTON'.........

Today is the anniversary of the death of Ansel Adams, the David Attenborough of Photography.......I've written to Anthony Hopkins about his potentially 'playing' Ansel in a not as yet imagined biographical film...... In my teens, as an aspiring photographer, I purchased Adam's books on Zone Theory...."The Camera", "The Negative" and "The Print"....and journeyed to NYC to stand before his beautiful photographs at The Light Gallery......my hyper-vigilance, however, brought me to notice the 'spot toning' that the artist had done on just about all his photographs!.....He wasn't 'PERFECT'!.....There was Hope for me, who had little confidence, then.... On my return, I immediately purchased, via a Photographic Supplies catalog, three vials of spot toner, a bottle of selenium bromide paper toner and a cheap Calumet view camera and tripod......

LEST I FORGET THE DANGERS OF 'NATURE'.........NO 'BAREFOOT IN THE PARK' FOR ME!

pulling up weeds in the driveway and yard.......I kept this photo of my 'contact dermatitis', the modern day 'leprosy', episode, 11 years ago.....the poison ivy and oak are just sending out their leaves, but the prickly holly is ready to cause some serious issues with my sensitive, thin integument......time for another hot, soapy shower, and some epsom salts in a warm tub, later......and, to think, my ancestors lived in the jungles and plains, beset with poisonous 'stuff'......then, we travelled further North and our DNA must have forgotten about the 'poisonous' plants, nearer the equator.......You'd think that 'living in the South' for a dozen generations would have established a better immune system to deal with this issue....this oozing issuance......

THIS SCRIBBLED NOTE ABOUT 'THINGS TO THINK/WRITE ABOUT' WAS ON THE FLOOR, BY MY BED, THIS MORNING......

 SO THAT I WOULD 'REMEMBER' THE 'TOPICS' THAT WERE ON MY MIND, DURING THE PREVIOUS NIGHT'S DREAMING AND REFLECTING........     

"cystic fibrosis"; "mercurial temperament"; "existential ideology";   "admonish vs. astonish"; "do my variables lead to higher contentment?";  "Macauleyfuzzylogic... a thingamajig"  

I'm wondering, now, where these obliquely-related had 'come from'.....obviously, from the caverns of my Mind......But, later.....they seem random thoughts from a very active Sleep State, alternating/oscillating with wakeful associations......

THE MEMORIES THAT ARE CONJURED UP BY A PHOTO OF ME, SCRAPING CAT DANDER OFF A SPONGE MOP, AND COMMENTS FROM OLD FRIENDS WHO VIEWED THE 'PICTURE'..

how time flies.....this was taken over 43 years ago, when I wore only Australian WWI army surplus shorts.....still stylish and wearable....they were manufactured in 1918......Birkenstocks....which I still wear...with a bit less cork in their soles.....

FRIENDS' COMMENTS AND MY RESPONSES 

 JAN:  Are those Arizona Birks? My favorite shoe for years and years

ME:  from Janice of ABBADABAS.....bought at the Atlanta Flea Market.......

JAN:  My last pair (which is no longer with us) was from Abbadabbas in Duluth.

ME: Still around, I think....In Little 5 Points........

TONY:  I am going with asparagus retrofractus?

ME:  The retrofractus went "yellow" after 10 years or so.....Did it die of old age or plant hepatitis, Tony?......

DEBBI:  Is this the apt u were in when i knew u- on P'tree st? u had taken all the wallpaper off in pieces-and then glued it all back on backwards-and it was FANTASTIC!   

ME:  I may have some old photos of the "reverso/tobacco leafish" wall treatment, which were "papered" over and painted beige after I left "1708", as were the subsequent Peloponnesian Man of War murals at "The DeSoto" on 7th St.

ME:  I found the art deco sconces at a junk store.....they were perfect for the 1903 building.......the artist who did the trompe l'oeil marbling at The White House, flew to Atlanta to do the walls of the entrance foyer.....It was still a seedy neighborhood in the late 70's....Backstreet and all its wild nightlife, drag-queen hookers, pimps and drug dealers always on the late night scene.....I moved after a man was murdered in our foyer, my Reynolds bicycle was stolen, my parents witnessed two guys having sex in the grass of the then empty lot across 7th St....and my having to chase a drag hooker from turning tricks in the back seat of my old 1960 Cadillac towncar......

DEBBI:   lived on 4th St- Jaff lived above us-and ed Barnum was across the street. I remember his house burning down-i think he saved his mom-but died when he went back in to save his dog- They found him holding her. The were both dead. I also remember he had one arm that did not have a hand.

LINDA:  Anywhere near the Collonades? sp

CHESTER:   I remember those British army shorts of yours. I finally got a pair of my own thanks to you Reed! Where was the building w/ the reversi/tobacco wall paper? On Peachtree?

DEBBI:  The guy who did the marbling was at a fundraiser that i went to at Baltimore Place in 1978..omg....

[THEN, AS THE CONVERSATION VEERS OFF WITH SOME CONFUSION.....AS I THINK OF BOTH ED AND RYAN.......HMM.....PERHAPS, I SHOULD JUST RETURN TO MOPPING THE FLOOR.....]

ME:   Ryan Gainey....remember him?.....also died when he went into his burning house to save his dogs.......or, was 'that' Woody Brooks? or, both of them, maybe?? I remember the last time I saw Ed Barnum.....who'd forget!.....His "date", Rudolf Nureyev and he were dining at Gene & Gabes after a Ballet Performance......5 feet from the table where Montague Matthews and I were dining.....Ed did all the talking, while Rudolf cruised the room for attention(s)......I think we may have been there for a 'late performance' by The Wit's End Players at Gene's wife, Teresa's, mini-theatre, Upstairs.

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