Leslie spotted a bobcat on the hill behind our house on Sunday morning.
I grabbed my camera, slipped out the back door, and snapped a couple photos. He sat and watched me; then I left him alone, hoping that he (or she) would go eat some ground squirrels.
Monterey High School Yearbook Photo
(photographer unknown)
I was saddened to learn yesterday of the recent death of my high school photography teacher, Mike Weesner. Mr. Weesner had a great talent for explaining how the mechanics of a camera, lens – and, in those days, film and an enlarger – all worked together to create magic. More than that, he had a gift for encouraging people. Many a time, I would come out of the darkroom with a contact sheet or print and say something along the lines of, “I really don’t have anything here.” Mr. Weesner would inevitably look, think, and then offer a suggestion for cropping, dodging and burning, or some other improvement. Taking those suggestions to heart, I’d go back into the darkroom and emerge with something where I thought there had been nothing.
I remember how the front of the classroom had a spot for Photo of the Week, a student’s photo selected by Mike Weesner which best captured that week’s assignment. To this day, I will sometimes look at photo I’ve taken and ask myself if it’s good enough to have a chance at making Photo of the Week.
I still value photography as a creative outlet and I value the training and encouragement I received from Mike Weesner.
I was just wrapping up mowing the back yard yesterday when my wife stuck her head out the back door.
“THERE ARE TWO COPS WALKING UP THE HILL,” she yelled.
“Our hill?“
“YES,” she yelled.
I ducked out the back gate and walked over to the north end of our lot where I find not cops, but animal control officers looking up into a pine tree. About 35 feet up in the tree was an owl, with one wing outstretched at an odd angle, flapping away. Continue reading
