In that last century I fell hard when I first saw my Rosemary in Mexico City ion 15 December 1967. We were married on February 8, 1968. She was lovely and feminine but she was ahead of her time in making decisions. One of my most pleasant activities was to go with her shopping for her shoes. Most often she agreed on my choices. The same happened with dresses and tops. At long last(!) I was able to do what was not seen as normal in that psdy century which was to dress a doll.

By the time we arrived in Vancouver in 1975 and I became a portrait photographer I had the delight of taking photographs of many women, not only my daughters and eventually my granddaughters. I photographed women with beautiful faces and voluptuous bodies. From the very beginning, thanks to my upbringing (mother and grandmother), I always did my best to show respect in my womanly portraits. One rule I practiced wes that the only type of touching permitted was to move a little stray lock of hair with my little finger.

When I studied philosophy at Mexico City College from 1962 to 1963, I had a teacher, Ramón Xirau Subías, who converted me to Platonism. The idea of a perfect essence in a world of ideas as compared to the imperfections of our real world had me looking for the essence (soul) of the people I photographed. I rarely asked them to smile. To me the smiling hides that inner self I want to find and expose.

Today August 2, 2026 I can assert without question that I met two women who had that absolute essence of being a woman. One was my now gone wife, Rosemary, and the other is my friend Tarren. I met her around 1979 and I have photographed her off and on since then.

The pictures of Tarren here are all from one session when I first attempted to use leaves from my hostas with a person. Looking at them again I can see that perfection that a woman can be.

Mexican composer Agustín Lara's Mujer (Woman) has to be the best song ever composed to honour what a woman is.

Mujer – Agustín Lara

Woman, divine woman,

Mujer, mujer divina,

You have the poison that fascinates

Tienes el veneno que fascina

In your look.

En tu mirar.

Woman, alabastrine,

Mujer, alabastrina,

You are a passionate sonatina vibration.

Eres vibración de sonatina pasional.

You have the perfume of an orange tree in blossom,

Tienes el perfume de un naranjo en flor,

The haughty bearing of a majesty.

El altivo porte de una majestad.

Do you know about the filters that exist in love?

Sabes de los filtros que hay en el amor

You have the spell of lightness.

Tienes el hechizo de la liviandad.

The divine magic of a sunset

La divina magia de un atardecer

And the wonder of inspiration.

Y la maravilla de la inspiración.

You have in the rhythm of your being

Tienes en el ritmo de tu ser

All the beat of a song,

Todo el palpitar de una canción,

You are the reason for my existence, woman.

Eres la razón de mi existir, mujer.

The divine magic of a sunset

La divina magia de un atardecer

And the wonder of inspiration.

Y la maravilla de la inspiración.

You have in the rhythm of your being

Tienes en el ritmo de tu ser

All the beat of a song,

Todo el palpitar de una canción,

You are the reason for my existence, woman.

Eres la razón de mi existir, mujer.