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| Evelyn Lau - 1989 |
Evelyn Lau in bed
In a recent
past I have written at least twice about the demise of the portrait. My gradual
skill in becoming a good portrait photographer became my bacon for many years.
With the help of my Rosemary’s financial acumen I can now live in my Kits home
at age 84 without having to worry about money.
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| 1999 |
That does
not mean I am retired. When possible I take film and digital photographs of
people that pose for me. I have no interest in anonymously taking street
photographs.
My past
portraits, in tear sheets, all kinds of portfolios, in frames, in matts in many
drawers are also to be found in my negative and photo files. Because I am
excited about going for Evelyn Lau’s release and talk of her new book I have been thinking lots about her. Few
in this city with little memory for its past, know that she was a Vancouver
Poet Laureate.
Today I went
looking in her files so I could find a 6x7cm slide I took of her in 1999 in
Stanley Park. In those days one of my trademarks was to photograph people
outside with softbox containing a powerful battery powered flash called a
Norman 200B. I have two that work nicely even though I bought one of them in 1977.
The camera that I used a Mamiya RB could synchronize with flash in such a way
that I could darken the background. This technique is called synchro sunlight.
I did find
the slide and scanned it. But there was an additional surprise. I found an 8x10
print that I made blue that has deteriorated in the many years in the file. I
like the deterioration.
While I
often put photographs from my past in my blogs I do like to put some that I may have taken in the same day or days before.
One cannot
rest in one’s laurels. I hope to be able to take her portrait on 19 September.