email: birchhousephoto@gmail.com
know an inspiring photographer we should feature? know about people doing some good in the community that we should feature? are you doing something we should feature? questions, comments, suggestions, concerns? e-mail us!
First off I want to congratulate you on your creation “Birch House” I am curious as to the origin of the name. You are to be commended for coming together in a group to further your photographic ideals and aspirations, and as you pursue those ideals and aspirations, whether it be for fame or fortune or perhaps some more noble purpose I would hope that you use your knowledge of photography to help others to understand the world from your perspective, especially when it presents the truth. That would be a most honorable legacy and if you achieve some level of fame or fortune in the process so much the better. Remember that a photographer is trained to “see”. You will see as no one else does. Show your perspective to the rest of the world. You have that obligation.
I remember the feeling I got when I first saw the results of a Kodak Brownie camera and a then gigantic New York Central Steam engine. I had climbed down into the ash pit at the freight yards and shot the engine, with steam billowing, coming head on from tie and rail level. It was looking at a train as no one else sees it. The fact that I was risking my life never crossed my mind at 10 years old. I still get that feeling…….every time I see a new image begin to form in the developer tray. Yes, and even when I fine tune an image on my computer and print it for the first time.
My first opportunity at formal photographic training came in the military when I was about seventeen. Some time after that I met a wonderful woman and we were married and soon the children began to come. That changed my perspective on photography as my first priority was to support a family. I now had to produce what someone else wanted. Over the years I had the pleasure of two wonderful women in my life. The first marriage was for 25 years and 8 wonderful children and the second for 33 years and two more beautiful girls. In spite of all the distraction I never lost site of my love for and the ideals I had about my photography.
Today I at age 77 I still come to my office every day. I start with about an hour of reading all the correspondence from my large scattered family. Then I lay out my day so I have direction on what I am going to accomplish that day. I am currently working on a library table book covering the fifty-three county courthouses in the state and the histories of those magnificent buildings. It is truly a labor of love. I also spend time walking each day through the parks and trails we have here. I get to observe the interaction of the people and also that of the various Animal Kingdom so prevalent here. I recently spent two hours watching a Coopers Hawk stalk three wild turkeys from distances at times no greater than 15 feet. They didn’t even know I was there. What a neat experience. And no, the hawk didn’t get a turkey and everyone went their way satisfied.
I have all my family pictures, my old negative files, print albums, slide files and digital files here in my office. I love my environment and my work. What more can a man ask for out of life. I remember in the Forties my father delivered milk from a horse drawn delivery wagon. On my 37th birthday man walked on the moon. We still do not know the full effect of that action. Today we send vehicles into space to a space station and back and most people don’t even know they were gone. It has been a great ride and I have enjoyed every minute of it. I hope you all have the same opportunity. As you embark on your photographic career or whatever career, your love of photography will always be paramount in your mind. Nurture it and enjoy it as I have both as a vocation and an avocation for over 60 years. God bless you as you go about your new endeavors and again congratulation on “Birch House”.
Grampa Hill (Brittany H. can explain)