You asked, I answer (part 2)

crazylady asked...
What one thing are you most looking forward to being a mom for the first time? First word, first hug, first "love you", etc....

I hope this doesn’t sound odd, but I think it might be smelling her skin and knowing that this is the smell of my child. It’s a very intimate thing, and a very deeply tied to instinct - getting to know the smell of someone. And it will probably seem very alien at first - we will smell strange to her and she will smell strange to us. We are coming from very different environments, cultures and living conditions. But that really makes it even more intimate. We will come to know eachother, come to know the essence of eachother by smell, by touch, the sound of one another’s voices when we’re angry, when we’re happy, when we’re upset. The way we breath in our sleep.
...A close second would be feeling the weight of her in my arms.


Yoli asked: Who is your favorite artist? if you could go back in time and sit with one artist who would it be and why? I guess it is an artist/time traveler question...

Wow, Yoli, make it difficult, why don’t you????
I don’t want to overthink this because I’ll come up with like 15 different people and not be able to decide between them. Completely off the top of my head I’d say Ed Ruscha. Here’s why: for one thing he’s still alive and active and so I can still dream that I might someday get to meet him. For another...he’s wicked cool. And I think I could really enjoy a conversation with him - he isn’t too scary or off-putting. I don’t want to go out on a limb and pick someone I couldn’t be in a room with, much less have a comfortable conversation (I mean, who would ask to meet Van Gogh? Not me.). Ruscha seems laid back, rational, smart and funny. Lastly, we probably have more books of his art in our library than of any other single artist (with Michelangelo a close second in the book dept). He shares with us an aesthetic of the proscenium of roadside America that I reach for in my photography, as does M. And he has a good, healthy sense of irony.

Fliss and Mike Adventures asked: My question... since everyone has asked the 'travel' questions... Who taught you photography? What is your fave photo you took? Me, I never learnt cause I could never afford the 'film' for the camera... remember that... but since Digital... look out... I will say Maia... you were the one who kinda egged me to start learning photography - though I have no idea about half the gadgets etc...

I’m blushing furiously!
But seriously, my dad taught me by example. He never taught me in actuality, but his photos were always artistic and beautifully-composed. My mom, also a superb photographer (mostly wildlife), taught me the nuts and bolts - shutter speeds and that sort of thing. So I had good teachers all around. But here’s a secret: I know next to nothing about the technical aspects of photography. I should learn. I really, really should. But I’m lazy. I just shoot from the hip.
My favorite photo, just offhand, is a picture in extreme perspective of an enormous, peeling sign that says MODERN. It’s from Las Vegas’ Neon Boneyard (which you’ve also photographed, Fliss!) And come to think of it one of the reasons I love it so much is it reminds me of an Ed Ruscha painting. So there you go...tying it all together.

Doris & Dan asked: What quality about yourself do you like the most? The least?

I think the thing I like the most about myself is my independence. I treasure it and consider it a strength, a joy, a freedom, and an essential part of my being.
The thing I like the least is my vanity. If I could shed all my vanity, I probably would - it’s my “junk food”.