Me - photograph - Johnny Thunders - 1981

Johnny Thunders - 1981

Johnny Thunders - From the Heart

Little Things – Julia Abigail Fletcher

Little drops of water,

Little grains of sand,

Make the mighty ocean

And the pleasant land.

So the little moments,

Humble though they be,

Make the mighty ages

Of Eternity.

So the little errors

Lead the soul away

From the paths of virtue

Far in sin to stray.

Little deeds of kindness,

Little words of love,

Help to make earth happy

Like the Heaven above.

These last few months I have suffered extreme depression. I even find it hard to make eye-contact with people. The death of a good friend two weeks ago by MAID has affected me, especially as my friend texted me on the day my friend died with a thank you for my friendship and added, “Dying is a tad complicated.”

To counter this bout it occurred to me to think and see things the way my Rosemary did. In the garden she noticed the little plants and their details. Rosemary had a way of looking at life much more positively than I ever did. But she might have taught me something.

Consider my luck in that I have photographed one Canadian Poet Laureate (the first one), George Bowering and he wrote a whole chapter in one of his books on how my portrait of him was not of him. I have always considered Bowering to be the “Great Contrarian”.

 I have also photographed three Vancouver Poet Laureates, George McWhirter, Brad Cran and Evelyn Lau.

Now that little thing happened today. It was a thought that made me smile.  I remembered that Brad Cran wrote extemporaneously a poem for me on the day my cat disappeared. It is in first link below.

A September Morning - Brad Cran 

An no the cat was not dead - Brad Cran 

Brad Cran - 2011

And there is another little thing I want to boast about. In my years of taking portraits for many magazines and the Globe and Mail many celebrities faced my camera. When I was working with writers they invariably asked me to photograph them with the celebrity. I always remained behind my camera.

There is a lovely exception. I was about to photograph that proto-punk of note Johnny Thunders when he told me, “Alex if you are going to photograph me I must photography you.” He did.