That Lovely Avian Plant
Friday, March 20, 2026
 | | Sempervivum tectorum 20 March 2026 |
Hen and
chicks (also known as hen-and-chickens, or hen-widdies in the southern United
States) is a common name for a group of small succulent plants. They belong to
the flowering plant family Crassulaceae, native to southern Europe and northern
Africa. The plants grow close to the ground with leaves formed around each
other in a rosette, and propagating by offsets. The "hen" is the
main, or mother, plant, and the "chicks" are a flock of offspring,[1]
which start as tiny buds on the main plant and soon sprout their own roots,
taking up residence close to the mother plant.
Plants
commonly referred to as "Hens and chicks" include ground-hugging
species of Sempervivum (houseleeks) such as Sempervivum 'Pekinese', S.
arachnoideum (cobweb houseleek), and S. tectorum (common houseleek), as well as
members of the related genus Jovibarba. The name is also used for some species
of Echeveria, Sedum and Bergenia although these plants differ significantly
from Sempervivum and Jovibarba, and may require different cultivation and care.
Wikipedia
Today in
spite of the weather prediction it is a sunny day. I am not going in my bike. I
may have a big excuse. My male cat Niño had his teeth cleaned Tuesday morning.
They put him to sleep for this. So he has been barely able to walk. He refuses
to eat or drink. I am taking him to the vet tomorrow for check-up. So I am cat
sitting Niño mostly on my bed.
I did notice
my pot of hens and chicks so I decided to scan one of the florets. The colours
are happy colours. I can almost smile. Rosemary would have noticed them days
before. She would approve of my scan.
Katheryn & the Devil
Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Often in
these blogs I quote my grandmother who told me that the devil knows more not
because he is the devil but because he is an old man.
Back in that
century and until my abuelita died in 1970 she was my mentor and I worshipped her. But now in this century anything old except is seen as suspect. Except
perhaps antique cars, antiques and pristine but very old cameras that gearheads
spend loads of money on. The relationship I had with my grandmother I do not
have with my two granddaughters.
Since 2001 I
have been scanning the plants of my garden. I call these over 3000 of them
scanographs and I tell people I am a scanographer. When they look at my large
framed ones and tell me how they like the photograph they immediately lose
interest when I tell them that they are scanographs.
About five
years ago I discovered the astounding possibilities of scanning (my Epson V700)
two b+w negs, colour negs and slides together. The results are especially good
when the chosen sandwiches (that’s what I call them) are from the same session.
Katheryn was
one of the finest women I ever photographed for a span of several years. I have
thousands of her pictures from the 16 sessions we had in my studio, UBC forest,
West Van Lighthouse Park, Marble Arch Hotel Room 615, Wreck Beach and my
bathtub. Today I decided to look at her pictures and I did these three
sandwiches.
Because I am
an old man of 83 I realize I don’t have too much time left to pursue these
sandwiches.
Am I full?
From There to Almost Here
Tuesday, March 17, 2026
It was in Malcolm Parry’s Vancouver Magazine office
that I remember telling him sometime in 1977 that I was fascinated in taking
photographs of nude women on Wreck Beach. In his wisdom, Parry just smiled. I
wonder now that he is almost 90 what his opinion would be of my journey with
female body photography has taken me to. Is there anything beyond today?
One of my first subjects was a delightfully lovely
ecdysiast called Shelina. She posed for me at the beach and I even took those
photographs with sea spray. Are they clichés?
Some many years later at an ecdysiast reunion at the
Number 5 Orange Club, Shelina told me, “Alex, just for you I am now going to
dance.” This she did and I will never forget how special I felt.
Then even more years later I contacted Shelina and she
invited me to her home. By now she was plainly not going to take any of her clothes
off. I took these photographs of her behind a semi-transparent door with the
then available Polaroid film. I like that transition from beginning to end. Is this
the end of my efforts to photograph the nude female form? What would Malcolm
Parry say?
A Splendid Series of Events and a Camera built in Dresden
Monday, March 16, 2026
 | | Camellia x williamsii 'Donation' - 15 March 2026 - shot with a Fuji X-E1 and a LensBaby |
George Bowering - Barefoot He Was Rosemary's Flowers Galore Often in
these blogs I have written how I met Rosemary in Mexico City on December 15th
1967 and that by the 20th I had taken her to meet my mother in Veracruz. I then
add that we were married in the lovely neighbourhood of Coyoacán in Mexico City
on 8 February 1968.
In some bit
of tremendous luck I can bring many elements of that event here with pictures.
 | | 20 December 1967 - Mocambo, Veracruz - Pentacon-F Camera |
In 1959
while going to Catholic boarding school in Austin, Texas I met (did not know
that then) my mentor, Brother Edwin Reggio, C.S.C.. The latter initials stand
for Congregation of Holy Cross the same congregation of brothers, nuns and
priests that to this day run The University of Notre Dame.
The short
man forced me to learn to play the alto saxophone for the school band and gave
me a salary for cleaning the band room and catching mice. A few months after I
started that job I bought a Pentacon-F SLR for $100 in Adorama (still in
existence).
It was
because that camera had a self-timer and I had a tripod that I can put here the
photograph (the first of us together) taken on Mocambo Beach in Veracruz
sometime in the later part of December.
And just a
couple of days ago I photographed Rosemary’s favourite Camellia x williamsii ‘Donation’
in full bloom. We brought it from our Kerrisdale garden 7 years ago and it is
sight to behold. I melancholically smile when I look at it missing my Rosemary as
she knew her plants well before I ever did.
So today
Monday, March 16, 2026 I am able to join all those elements into this blog.
As for my
blog, which I started in January 2006, I was not aware that Blogger was Google
so that since then 6845 blogs later my Google presence is very large. Just last
week I was unable to find any interest in the media (Vancouver Sun, CBC,
Georgia Straight) that I was going to photograph the first Canadian
Parliamentary Poet Laureate (2002-2004) George Bowering who is 90 and is publishing two books
(one on poetry and the other a memoir of his living in Mexico). I told them
that I would give them my portrait for free.
So my blog
on Bowering (see link above) is sort of a secondary form of journalism.
Somebody has
to do it. I do. PS - because I can. Dresden (where my camera was made) was bombed by the allies in WWII even though it had no military value. The Ameicans bombed it in the morning with blockbusters and in the evening the British used fire bombs. A US serviceman was in captivity. His name was Kurt Vonnegut. In his novel Slaughterhouse Five he describes how lions escaped from the zoo to avoid the flames. In the mid 70s (1971) Vonnegut spoke at the Mexican American Institute of Cultural Relations. I went with Rosemary. I will never forget that in pointing out the famous photograph of Margaret Trudeau taken in a back alley where she show.... Vonnegut told us he coined the expression - "Open Beaver".
|