Manzanar

I am just barely home from a trip to the Japanese internment camp in Manzanar,  California. For those of you for whom this name doesn’t ring a bell, here is a bit of background:

Manzanar is one of the internment camps where all Japanese Americans (including US citizens) living within 200 miles of the Pacific coast were incarcerated during World War II.  I had the great honor to travel to the camp with 9 survivors who were forced from their homes on Bainbridge Island WA 70 years ago.   Bainbridge Island has the dubious distinction of being the very first community evacuated in the entire United States. The Japanese Americans on Bainbridge were given 6 days to pack up their entire lives and leave their friends, farms, pets and homes behind in order to depart for an unknown destination for an undisclosed amount of time. They were allowed to bring only what they could carry.

The honor, dignity and spirit of the people from Bainbridge who lived this chapter in American history amazed and humbled me. I was touched by their willingness to share their stories, and by their enduring liveliness and sense of humor.

I was accompanied to Manzanar by my pal and pro Scott Rouse, as well as educators and community members from Bainbridge Island. I can honestly say for all of us on the trip it was a truly moving experience. I can also honestly say these octogenarians ran us into the ground with their energy! When I recover from chasing 80 year olds across the desert I will post more news and photos from the trip.

For now, here are a few images from the week and a chance to say a heart felt thank you to all of those members of the Only What We Can Carry project who so willingly shared this chapter from their lives.

Nidoto Nai Yoni - let it not happen again.

Brenda

Spring Cleaning

   I have been doing a bit of Spring cleaning. Not of my house mind you, but of my hard drive! My house can wait, because even though my pals back east are all basking in 60 degree weather, it is still snowing here in the Northwest in mid-March. Really. So in lieu of washing windows and dusting I did an image cull.

Going through old files and folders is never fun, but you just have to do it or you’ll soon be buried under thousands of images you don’t really need taking up space on your hard drive and in your life. Trust me on this, I am a prime offender, and I bet you are too!  I keep too many that, “I might need later”,  or  “I really can’t tell which one I like better”. Listen, if you have to sit and ponder for more than 30 seconds over which image is better, just toss one, no one will ever be able to tell and in a year you won’t either.

I know which images are the very best of the bunch, and when I stumble across them months or years later I still like them. Therefore, I realize I don’t need to spend a lot of time sorting and contemplating the middle of the pack images. I am trying to learn to be more ruthless like some of my pro friends. Some of you know David Middleton or Bob Krist? They are quick and ruthless. No gnashing of teeth, if it has a fatal flaw they toss it. Done. Perhaps that is a sign of a true pro, the ability to be merciless in the interest of getting the job done.

I threw out about 700 images today and I will never ever miss them. My reward for spending a little time at this boring chore was to run across these faces and memories. Images I liked when I first took them and still like on a dreary day 9 months later. Before I go back to whining about the weather, I’d like to share a few of my very favorites. These are portraits of some of the people I met this summer while traveling in the Usambara mountains of Tanzania with www.anewcourse.org.

The familiar faces reminded me of their indomitable spirit and brought warmth to a cold and blustery day. Not only do I still like these images, they also reminded me of how much I have to be thankful for in the world. You see? There can be more than one benefit to tackling a chore you’d rather put off. Get rid of some drek and it’s easier to find the gems.

Enjoy, and good luck with your own Spring Cleaning!

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Team Ropin – What the heck is that?

For several months I have been writing about “team roping” as my new photography project. The other day I was asked, “What the heck is team roping anyway?” Sorry to have skipped over that basic point- Let me explain.  Team Roping, or “ropin” as it’s most often referred to, is the fastest growing equestrian sport in the United States. It is a timed event where two riders on two horses each throwing a rope try to catch the horns and hind feet of a running steer as quickly as possible.

Now, let me tell you what it is really like….

Have you ever played baseball? Yes, baseball. Have you played it or even watched it? If you have then you can begin to imagine what it is like to rope a steer. First imagine yourself as a pitcher, a pitcher trying to throw a ball into a very small “strike zone”. Imagine a strike zone about half the size of a major league baseball strike zone. Now that you have that image in mind, add the fact that your strike zone is always moving. Sound easy?

To a team roper the “strike zone” is where the thrown rope needs to land. If you are the “header” your strike zone is the bobbing horns of a running steer. If you are the “heeler” your strike is to catch in one loop the hopping hind legs of the same steer.  In either case, if you are the header or the heeler, your strike zone is not only small and constantly moving, but also moving very erratically  - generally running away from you as fast as possible but it may also run right, left, bolt forward like a bat out of hell, or even in a very rare case trip and fall down. Now you are beginning to understand the challenge before you!

Do not despair. The good news is that you are actually allowed to chase the strike zone! Yep, you may go in hot pursuit toward the target. However, you must give chase from the back of a running horse who also has a brain, adrenaline coursing in it’s blood, and a desire to turn right, left or even not at all.

Lucky for you, your horse is well trained and will help you get close to the strike zone. Not always the same distance away mind you (think movable strike zone and movable pitchers mound), but close enough so that the timing and the accuracy of the throw are now up to you. Unfortunately, even if you get in the right position, and you execute a perfect throw (a strike) from the back of your running horse, you still have to rely on your ropin partner to complete his or her throw in time with yours.

The reality is you have 5 brains (some smaller than others, and I’m not saying who’s is the smallest), 16 pairs of legs, 4 hands, 2 ropes, all moving and reacting at the same time and you have only a few seconds to chase down and rope that steer. The very best in the world can do it in under 5 seconds – the extremely good are trying to hit it consistently in 6 or less. Some days you are happy to have a clean catch on the head and heels at all. The key to becoming a successful team roper is consistency. Day after day you focus your mind, bring all those running legs and whirling ropes into harmony and you throw your strike, some days faster than others, but you consistently hit your mark.

The more I watch and learn the more respect I have for the men and women who are able to accomplish this feat with skill under tremendous pressure. A team roper trains with his partner day in and day out, year in and year out to perfect this sport. Lots of money -  or at least whatever money you have – and all your time are invested in horses, ropes, training and travel. A roping team may drive all night to a roping event after months of preparation and it all comes down to six tense seconds. Six seconds – that is about the amount of time it took you to read this paragraph! At the end of that ridiculously small slice of time you will either leave with a paycheck and some glory, or you’ll leave empty handed and discouraged, wondering if you have enough money to put gas in the truck to get you back home.

Team ropin, it’s an ever shifting dance, a set of skills, an addiction, a gamble, and at it’s very best an act of magnificent grace and timing.  It’s a sport where teams of men, women, daughters and sons, can compete equally- two horses, two riders, two ropes, one steer and one clock. Advantage to the quickest, pure and simple.

Makes pitching a baseball seem kinda simple doesn’t it?

Hurry Up and Wait

  You know the saying, “hurry up and wait”? I think we have all heard it at one time or another, however this weekend I learned something more about that saying. I learned that it is very true if you happen to be a team roper waiting for your turn to catch a steer at a rodeo.

If you are a team roper you spend hours getting ready for a competition, and this does not include the years of training. On rodeo day you get your gear packed – ropes, gloves, blankets, tack. Load the horses in the trailer, drive to the rodeo, get unpacked, saddle up, get entered, get warmed up, get ready, get the adrenaline flowing – and then wait. You wait. And then you wait some more.

I am back in Montana this weekend with my friends Jason and Miranda as they continue their quest to become successful team ropers. I took this shot from behind the ropers as they wait for their turn to spend somewhere around 6 seconds roping a steer – if they are lucky.

The years, months, days, and hours of work and preparation all boil down to a few tense seconds that spell success and a pay check -  or failure and a loss of fees, gas, travel, and confidence.

I like this shot because it captures something you rarely see – the behind the scenes waiting at the rodeo. The long wait before the make or break moment. Stay tuned for more news and photos of Jason, Miranda and their team roping saga.

Corea Dories

One of my favorite harbors anywhere is Corea Maine. I was there teaching a workshop this fall when we found this nice scene of lobstermen’s dories tied up to the dock. You can never ever have too many photographs of boats or harbors…really!