Patti & I don't usually post about other people. (afterall this little blog of ours IS about us!) However this is one time I think I will.
Yesterday I received an email of a Flickr link sent to a number of folks from a young lass that I had not heard from for quite some time. Her name is Brieanna Endura and above is a photo I took of her many years ago.
Time passes when we aren't looking and now she is, ..ummm about 21 years old (Ok, I could be off on that, Brieana) and I will give readers a little personal history about Brieana and myself along with some silly pictures of her that I keep in an old cardboard box containing my entire photo-history.
I think I first met Brieana when she was perhaps 6 or 7 years old. Her older sister, Autumn, was one of my own daughter's best playmates all through their grade school years. Often Autumn would come to our home in Oregon and "Little B" (as we called her then to distinguish between her name Brieana and my daughter's name also being Brieanna), Little B would tag along. She and her sister Autumn quickly wiggled their ways into my heart nearly as much as my own daughter had. (remember "missed a spot!" ?? hahhaa I still think that thought whenever I see someone else is cleaning something and have to say it to them.)
But the one thing that especially endeared Brieana to me was her unusual interest in black and white photography which by happenstance I was also engaged in, even to the point of building my own darkroom and being a member of a local photo arts gallery.
So.. how many 6 or 7 or 8 year olds do we know that are seriously interested in fine art black and white photography? Little B was/is most unique.
Brieana had this clunky old camera that had to have black tape around it to prevent light leaks. Money was tight for her and her family as well as for myself, but still I could afford to at least buy her some film and have it developed so she could take her pictures.
Unfortunately there was always too little money during those times to spend more on such non-necessities as photography by either her family or my own to seriously help develop this intense interest she had in photography. So we both had to make due with what we little we had.
For me it was both meaningful and grand fun to take her under my wing as "photographic mentor" to this unusual child who actually wanted to learn not only about the technical aspects of photography but also in developing her own path toward artistic expression in the photographic fine arts.
Along with her mother Debbi, we even tried to build a small darkroom for her out in an old shed that was behind their home at the time. Using extra equipment that I had on hand and scrap lumber, tape and blankets to prevent light leaks, we tried.. but our efforts didn't work out too well in the end.
Still... I could tell from several of her works we had printed off that Little B had some kind of genuine talent.
She had this keen "eye" for the unusual and capturing metaphorical image that bespoke of some or another emotion which is an important aspect of any art. I could tell that she could see and then capture images on film in a way much greater than I ever could, and I wanted to help her as much as possible to at least develop the fundamentals of the craft, along with perhaps a kind of initial guidance in not only printmaking, but more important, to consciously become the hunter. (of the meaningful image metaphor)BUT.. as life does play it's little game with so many of us, the age old story of the lack of money and available time played it's part in our "failure to launch". At least that was the case while I was still there in Oregon.
Zoom forward to the present and my receiving Little B's email link to her Flickr slideshow.
My first thought was, "Where the hell is St Lucia?" for I had not a clue that it was an island in the Carribbean. Nice warm temps, blue skies, lots of sunshine, layed back life style, killer hurricanes..
Little B is no longer quite so little as I knew her then. She's all grown up now and has become a striking young woman...
Indeed, I'm wondering if anyone but me even thinks of her as "little b" anymore. doubtful.So, here then is the link to the
take the pictorial journey. explore. feel the ocean breeze. enjoy..
and thanks Brieana! ... for keeping an old man on your mailing list. It brought to me a smile.
bill
