Archive for January, 2008

Fred’s Still Restless

Published by brianwedge on January 30, 2008 in Life on the coast, Maine, Photojournalism and Uncategorized. 2 Comments

NOTE: The goof ball above is NOT ME… it’s the very talented Art Director Greg (last name withheld to protect the innocent).

I recently worked with LL Bean during their photo shoot for the Summer 2008 catalog in Bar Harbor and Brooklin, Maine.

It was with GREAT delight that I learned that one of our locations for the week, was at EB White’s saltwater farm.

For those that don’t remember, EB White wrote Charlotte’s Web… you know, the one about Wilbur the pig and the SOME PIG spider’s web? Anyway, I love EB’s work and I was lucky enough to get to know the current owners of the farm.

They were kind enough to take me through the barn, show me some of the contraptions that EB built (he liked to build complex ways of holding open doors, discouraging chicken escapes and otherwise existing on the farm). Anyway, I remembered reading one of EB White’s essays about his dog Fred. He said that Fred was restless.

In a later essay, after Fred had passed on to doggie heaven, he wrote that Fred’s grave was just like his life: restless. As I wandered through the farm exploring the overgrown paths and imaging the life of EB and Fred… I stopped just past the giant “Farm Sized” compost heap and found Fred’s original grave marker still refusing to stand straight.

Fred EB White

A few excerpts from EB White to enjoy:

Some day when I’m out of sight, Travel far but travel light!

Stalk the turtle on the log,

Watch the heron spear the frog,

Find the things you only find, When you leave you bag behind; Raise the sail your old man furled, Hang your hat on the world!… Thank God you’ve always doubted, The gifts you’ve never flouted; … Happy in the perambulation, Work no harder then you have to, Do you get me?

lines extracted from The Fox of Peapack 1938 “Apostrophe to a Pram Rider,” e.b. white

Also… And with tiller in hand,I’ll feel again the wind imparting life to a boat, will smell again the old menace, the one that imparts life to me: the cruel beauty of the salt world, the barnacle’s tint knives, the sharp spine of the urchin, the stinger of the sun jelly fish, the claw of the crab.

So this is how it begins….

Published by brianwedge on January 29, 2008 in Life on the coast and Photojournalism. 1 Comment

For those who know me, their jaw hits the floor when I tell them I have a blog.  ”What and Why?” are the first two questions.

Most folks would tell you that it’s because I have something to say, something to report or something incredible to share.

The reality is that I actually have little to say, almost nothing to report and only the ordinary to share. But the ordinary in my world is beautiful, interesting and at times even inspiring. My ordinary is also filled with the headaches, concerns and problems like everyone else… but my outlet is also my occupation.

brianhoku.jpg

I’m a documentary photographer who lives on the edge of the sea in Maine. I am lucky enough to share in the lives of hundreds of individuals every year… often at meaningful junctures in time, place and circumstance. As I document moments in lives through photographs, I also weave a strange and complex network of friends through the process.

Lobstermen, young brides, cancer patients and college professors are part of this community. Expectant moms, jubilant students, poets and shipyard welders add to the list.

Their common bond… or I should say, our common bond is a shared love and fascination of images depicting life.

Frozen in time, the photographs reveal part of a story, capture one perspective of a scene and one element of a life lived. For whatever reasons, the photos I create often leave people wanting to know more.

This is more….

BGW