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| This is Juanita. She is a delightful lady who graciously allowed me to photograph her as she continued hanging up her freshly washed laundry to dry in the summer sun. (Click to enlarge) OM-1; 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 35mm; 1/1000th sec. f/4.5; ISO 200 |
For over 10 years I’ve photographed clothes on this line behind a very small house in the tiny town of Ivor, VA. The town isn't much more than a crossroads with a stoplight. If you’ve been a long time reader, you have seen other images of this house and clothes line that I’ve posted—but never with the owner.
I pass the house on the way to one of my favorite breakfast spots. On a recent morning, on my way to the restaurant, I glanced as I drove by and saw there were no clothes on the line. Darn. On the way back from breakfast, clothes! I immediately stopped, parked and started making some images.
Then an older Black woman comes out to see what I’m doing. She doesn’t look especially happy that I am photographing her laundry. She says something but she is too far away for me to understand what it is she said. I call out to her that I’ll be happy to tell what I’m doing and why.
I walk over to her as she continues toward me. We meet and I introduce myself and tell her I’ve been taking photos of her clothes drying on the line for years. I go on to say that I try to document things that are quickly disappearing that my grandchildren may never see. I tell her that I like to photograph things from our past that were the norm but are now rapidly going away. She seems satisfied that I'm not up to anything nefarious. Never!
We have a nice 3 minute conversation and find out her name is Juanita. I ask her if she is finished hanging up her laundry and she says she has a few more things to hang. I then ask her, if she doesn’t mind, if I can make a few photos of her hanging them and she replies yes. Perfect! We've already built some trust.
This was a lovely serendipitous find. Juanita is a lovely lady and generous in allowing me to make photographs of her. Taking time to talk, be personable and being kind pays off. As a result I have made some images that I really like.
Of all of the times I’ve photographed this house, yard, clothes line and laundry, this is now one of my two favorites. The other is one I made during a gentle rain. Here is that image from July 17, 2014. Coincidentally, also made with an Olympus E-M1 camera. Same beautiful colors.
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| This image was also made with m4/3 camera; an Olympus E-M1, 16mp camera. (click to enlarge) |
I always carry a camera with me and I have missed using my OM-1 kit, so that morning I grabbed that backpack on the way out of my house. I had used only my Nikon gear for the past several months to fully familiarize myself with it as that is what I took on my recent road trip. But for this breakfast outing, the nimble and much smaller OM-1 was the kit of the day. As usual, it didn't let me down. It never has.
It seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same, both in subject matter and camera gear!
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Thanks for looking. Enjoy!
Dennis A. Mook
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