Ordinary Time

In August of 2018, my husband had a frightening brush with death. That experience brought into sharp focus the precious nature of our ordinary daily lives - the ephemeral moments hardly noticed as they pass. Using pinhole cameras and experimental lenses, I set out to capture some of them, to freeze them outside time. Here then is the story of David and Wanda told in ordinary time.

Ordinary Time
8/28/2018 - David was siting on the bench on the front porch and I walked out to ask if I could take a photograph of him. Surprising me, he said, “Sure.” However, he abandoned the porch before the pinhole exposure was complete, creating a ghost o

8/28/2018 - David was siting on the bench on the front porch and I walked out to ask if I could take a photograph of him. Surprising me, he said, “Sure.” However, he abandoned the porch before the pinhole exposure was complete, creating a ghost of himself.

8/28/2018 - Wanda stages a pinhole self-portrait, capturing herself “with her head in a book” as my mother used to complain when she wanted me to do my chores.

8/28/2018 - Wanda stages a pinhole self-portrait, capturing herself “with her head in a book” as my mother used to complain when she wanted me to do my chores.

11/17/2018 - Wanda prepares the winter garden on a golden fall day.

11/17/2018 - Wanda prepares the winter garden on a golden fall day.

11/22/2018 - David and Wanda spending Thanksgiving morning in front of a fellowship fire at the Oasis, our favorite get-away spot in the little strip of woods at the northwest corner of our property.

11/22/2018 - David and Wanda spending Thanksgiving morning in front of a fellowship fire at the Oasis, our favorite get-away spot in the little strip of woods at the northwest corner of our property.

3/13/2019 - Wanda at play, experimenting with anamorphic pinhole images made using a camera fashioned from a tea tin. Queen of all she surveys.

3/13/2019 - Wanda at play, experimenting with anamorphic pinhole images made using a camera fashioned from a tea tin. Queen of all she surveys.

4/12/2019 - David complete - the Man, his Chariot, and his Dog.

4/12/2019 - David complete - the Man, his Chariot, and his Dog.

4/19/2019 - Wanda employs her favorite old-fashioned technology in homage to sun-dried sheets and all the mothers and grandmothers to precede her.

4/19/2019 - Wanda employs her favorite old-fashioned technology in homage to sun-dried sheets and all the mothers and grandmothers to precede her.

6/26/2019 - David at work on the fence row. Once he gets a hoe in his hand, he can’t be stopped. (Without realizing quite the impact her words had, a friend captured my intent for this series of images perfectly. Her first reaction to this shot was,

6/26/2019 - David at work on the fence row. Once he gets a hoe in his hand, he can’t be stopped. (Without realizing quite the impact her words had, a friend captured my intent for this series of images perfectly. Her first reaction to this shot was, “It looks like a photograph of a memory”.)

9/16/2019 - David grooms the Oasis.

9/16/2019 - David grooms the Oasis.

9/16/2019 - David takes a break and contemplates the tidiness of his efforts to rid the Oasis of unwanted weeds, sprouts, and fallen limbs.

9/16/2019 - David takes a break and contemplates the tidiness of his efforts to rid the Oasis of unwanted weeds, sprouts, and fallen limbs.

1/5/2020 - David tends his brush clearing fire.

1/5/2020 - David tends his brush clearing fire.

2/12/2020 - David clears more brush. The Oasis pristine, he is now at work on the neighbor’s pasture.

2/12/2020 - David clears more brush. The Oasis pristine, he is now at work on the neighbor’s pasture.