In this century (I seem to start many blogs like this) I believe that the concept of friendship has changed. Perhaps the covid epidemic made people used to not having face to face conversations in cafes and relying more on texting. I have written a blog on the excuses people give me not to talk to me when I call them. Here it is.

Because I am 83 most of the writers and editors I worked with in Vancouver as a magazine photographer are dead. Those that are not (and it includes friends) they may have autism, severe mental problems, Parkinson’s, dementia and many phobias.

There is one friend that is an exception. I first met Maddalena DiGregorio on a 1970 photo session for a gay publication called Bi-Line. She played Eve in a variation of paradise that had two Adams. From the point on I photographed her lots until she left perhaps 18 years ago to Toronto and from there to a small town in Northern Italy

We communicate and talk with Messenger. She is an active artist and travels lots.

What was most interesting about my relationship with her is that there was never anything inappropriate (nasty word) in it. Going to photograph lawyers on my way home I might have rung the bell at her house and she would have invited me in for coffee.

I remember years ago having to photograph a beautiful lesbian (for Bi-Line) and having a drink at a café with her. I thought, “Here is a beautiful woman that is not interested in men. I don’t have to prove anything. I can relax and just chat with her.” It was that feeling that made and makes my friendship with Maddalena so special.

For all those years that I photographed her, because she was and is an artist, the sessions were really collaborations. We experimented. Take the two photos you see here. The photograph started as a b+w 35mm negative. I scanned it and put it on my monitor (it is a 22 year-old Dell). I then copied the image on the screen with my Mamiya RB-67 loaded with a Polaroid. The final result is that I again scanned that Polaroid and that is the first image.