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| Rebecca Anne Stewart 7, July 30 2005 |
These days, of going over my thousands of pictures in an
attempt to compact my output so that when I die my daughters will find it
easier to throw it all away, I have been stuck in reflection. I have a good
memory but my memory fails on the true output.
I have an iconic
photograph that I took of my granddaughter Rebecca (7 going on 8) on July 30th
in the morning in my Robson Street & Granville studio. My daughter Ale did
the makeup. I used my Mamiya RB-67 and took pictures with Kodak Plus-X and
Ektachrome 100. I shot one b+w Polaroid and took slides of the makeup session.
The date stamped on the slides is August 2.
There is an explanation. July 30 was a Saturday. August 1
was a holiday, BC day. I dropped off the film probably that evening at George King
and the film was processed on Tuesday August 2.
The tight horizontal picture in the top middle of the first
b+w contact sheet became an iconic photograph for me. I first colourized it red. It was the introduction
to my show at Sergio Patrich’s gallery on 4th avenue in late 2005.
Rabbi Yosef Wosk paid $3500 for it because he thought the image was
transcendental.
That picture is the lead photograph for my web page. Four
weeks ago my friend Curtis Daily communicated that the picture was gone from
the web page and in its place was a white rectangle with coding. I went to
Skunkworks Design who did my web page and they have been able to deal with the
problem of aging coding. The photograph is back.
This next week they are going
to show me how to save (in a cloud I would believe) what they call my
Smithsonian-sized blog which including this one adds up to 4990. My Rosemary
believes that my blog is more representative of my legacy as it will be
treasured by my family and friends.
When I look at these pictures of Rebecca I think that they
are perfect. Interesting to me is that in a studio where I had varied kinds of
photographic lighting, the iconic shot and the second one in colour were only
lit by the light being reflected from the Sears/Eaton building across the
street . It was magical light that architect Arthur Erickson when he came to my studio at
least twice called God’s Light care of Cesar Pelli (the Argentine architect of
the building).
When I look at these pictures of Rebecca I think like that
New Testament parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. The Publican does not
dare look up at the altar as he feels he is not worthy. The Pharisee points out
to God that he has given all the necessary tithes to please Him. He thanks Him for
not being that poor Publican.
I feel like a sensitive, 21st century Pharisee. I am aware at how lucky I
have been to have found my calling as a photographer. But best of all among all
those famous people I photographed I happened to have struck Pharisee gold with
the privilege and pleasure of taking photographs of that remarkable girl/woman
that was and is Rebecca.
My Rosemary has given me the following advice as I thin out
the output, “Pick the best and throw the rest.”
Looking at these would anybody feel comfortable throwing any
of them away?
As for Rebecca she has left something in me that will forever be in my heart. I feel like that Publican unable to look up and to thank God.