Friday, June 17, 2011

Old Photos of Us (really old)

I finally did the inevitable: cleaned out the old 35mm photographs that were stacked in the studio closet as tall as I. Purging to the nth degree. I've been intending to do this for...well...several years. Shoe boxes filled with photos I thought I would need for reference forever. There was a time when, as an artist, if I wanted to paint a starting gate I required lots of decent photos of a starting gate. Not so much anymore with the instantaneous internet availability of almost everything. Not to mention digital cameras.

So, I thought I would share with you the ones I deemed worth saving. Maybe even in a couple of these blog posts. After all, 10+ stuffed shoe boxes have been honed down to one medium size carton. They're the best of an arsenal.


Here I am ponying one of Michael's fillies at Bay Meadows in '93.


Michael galloping one of his own horses on the Oklahoma Training Track
at Saratoga in the mid-80's.


Don't you love this? Michael training babies with his Irish friend John at a ranch in Half Moon Bay just south of San Francisco. They made their way down these magnificent cliffs and galloped on the beach. One time I went with him and there was this guy jumping up and down like a crane with his parachute glider. The young horses were wary but curious and they all made their way past without incident. That's Michael in the blue jacket.


Gold panning in Alaska in the early '90's.


I went on an all-girl camping trip in Arizona with a couple of my best girlfriends. On a very remote section of road on the Apache reservation we came upon an area littered on both sides with a vast amount of animal bones. So eerie and I was mesmerized with the scene of destruction. The margarita in the plastic cup added to my morbid fascination.

In solitude we give passionate attention to our lives, to our memories, to the details around us. - Virginia Woolf

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Seeing as I can't remember how to do the I am Anonymous! Come on, we're not that old are we? Great photos adn even better times we had! Sure do miss the track.

Anonymous said...

See! I told you! Maybee won dae I'll larn how to spel!

Jan Blawat said...

Oh no. I have to do this kind of house cleaning, too. I'm going to retire in 2 weeks and won't have an excuse anymore to avoid it. I know I'll get waylaid for days just looking at pictures and remembering (or trying to remember) where they were taken. And I know it will be hard to decide which to keep and which to toss. Good luck with your project. But don't go finding other things to do that make me have a guilty conscience.

Sharon Crute said...

Jan, expect to look at every...single...print. Perhaps you'll have the same feeling settle over you that I did...what I've done, who I've loved, what makes me happy. I'm not a nostalgic type but it did invoke a bit of reflection in relation to the present moment. Then compared to now.
Enjoy it!