Monthly Archives: May 2012

“Oil is strong and fish is weak!”…Tert Card.

31 Thursday May 2012

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So where is Newfoundland today in regards to where it was 20 years ago?; 10 years ago? Now? Changes have been occurring with breathtaking speed and with consequences unforeseen, almost.

         An incredibly beautiful place beset by the loss of fish and the discovery of oil.

I’ve written and photographed about the back story in my upcoming book “Arn? Narn.” throughout this blog. But to recap, 20 years ago Newfoundland was about to crash and sink much as the Titanic did 375 miles off its shore 100 years ago. After independently supporting itself on cod fishing for over five centuries, the fish were gone. The Canadian government (Ottawa) enacted a 10 year moratorium on cod fishing in the expectation that in 5-6 years, the cod stocks would return to normal levels and fishing could resume. That was the plan at least. In the past, that had worked and there was no reason to believe otherwise.

After the 10 year period, the stocks were in worse shape and the moratorium was left on indefinitely. In that same 10 year period, Newfoundland lost 20% of its population to out-migration. Simply stated: no fish meant no jobs. People left in droves. Rural Newfoundland was on the ropes then and largely still is. Unless the fish return (doubtful), it will most likely remain so. As the island was settled based on how quickly one could get to sea, there are beautiful, picture-perfect, small fishing villages all over the coast. There is very little settlement in the interior. Consequently, it will be hard to sustain that culture as people continue to leave.

I returned to one village 3 years after my first visit. While it was not thriving during that initial visit, the town was active, the general store was doing business, and people were there. Jump ahead those 3 years: the store is closed and boarded up; houses are abandoned; and there are weeds growing in the road. That is the fate of almost all of rural Newfoundland. That’s the bad news.

For the entire province, the news is a bit better. St. John’s, the capital, is doing very well. Some outports quickly pivoted to tourism and are holding their own. The province of Newfoundland is rich in minerals and has a growing off-shore oil industry.

One of the several oil rigs off the coast of Newfoundland. In some places, one can see them from land. (heritage.nf.ca)

It will survive, maybe even thrive as a whole. But with a handful of exceptions, the heart and soul of this province, rural Newfoundland, may not.

  There’s a line from Annie Proulx‘s wonderful book “The Shipping News“: Tert Card, the editor of the local newspaper The Gammy Bird and a very distasteful character declares: “Like I say, the hope of this place is oil.”

Other characters within the book go on to dispute the benefits of that and what would occur if the oil boom were to happen. Crime, prostitution, vandalism – Tert Card wants to hear none of this. His bellicose response: “Oil is strong and fish is weak!”

Quoyle, the protagonist in the book, then writes a column for The Gammy Bird entitled: “Nobody hangs a picture of an oil tanker on their wall.” That exchange largely summed up that particular issue. The tanker is not a thing of beauty even if it were a solution. The fish were disappearing and oil riches were on the horizon. But at what cost? The fish were not to return – but the oil was there.

Proulx was completely accurate and prescient in her description of both sides. Oil will be a boon to the province; it will also mean the further deterioration of the cultural side of Newfoundland. It is not an object lesson of one over another; it is that survival depends on what kind of hand you’ve been dealt and how you play it. In this case, the oil will allow the province to survive – only not as it once did. Arn? Narn.

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Musings on the road(s) taken and not taken.

29 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by in Discovery, Photography

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  HOW DID I GET HERE? (the halfofit.blogspot.com)

Up until this point, the arnnarn.com blog, has been a pretty straight path from beginning to where it is today. But, in reality like any other journey, it has not been a straight track. As such, this entry will be a little off the familiar and beaten path.

Like many others including David Byrne (above), this is not where I thought I would be. Had different roads been chosen, who knows what the outcome might have been. I think it’s fairly safe to say I would not have been photographing and writing about Newfoundland had I traveled one of those other roads. I think.

When I look back on the roads I did take and where they took me, I’m amazed how everything came together to bring me to this point. Leaving New Jersey for Vermont. Hmm. Not exactly a straight line to Newfoundland but definitely in the right geographic direction. However, Newfoundland was not anywhere in my conscious thought much less my sub-conscious mind. So that was just a move on my personal chess board to something at sometime which would eventually, hopefully pass for maturity.

Vermont (could’ve gone to Oregon while there, but that’s another story for a night over drinks. I’ll buy the first round.) to upstate New York. Big change in every way possible. New York to mid-Atlantic states (could’ve gone to California; well actually I did but didn’t like it much). Just weird. Then back to New England because of a major life passage – thank you Gail Sheehy!. Then to the South. So, roads taken and not taken.

But Newfoundland? Really? At that point, the only frame of reference I had was the book “The Shipping News” by Annie Proulx. Wonderful book, but igniting any interest? Nah. The movie of the same book put a face on it and I did like what I saw. But I’m a sucker for snow covered mountains, plains, anything. So, nope on that as well.

It was the major life change that opened the possibility of really doing something significant, at least for me. And that was to start something, take a leap of faith in one’s self, get off my butt, pick up the cameras, and shoot something! That was my beautiful wife in my beautiful home telling me to start something…etc.!

And I did. And it’s almost ready. Approximately four months from now, “Arn? Narn.” will be published and you’ll see why and what I got off my butt to do. But this, like everything else we do, is still on the road to where it’ll eventually wind up. Until then, I going to try and stay off my butt. Do the same.

I suck at math.

24 Thursday May 2012

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Frustrations taken out on an innocent calculator. Do not try this at home!

Math was never a strong suit of mine. Hell, why should it be? I’m right-brained and proud of it! Let someone else with a pocket protector do that work – Hey, I’m busy creating here! And truthfully and thankfully, there are people who can and do do that work well. If not, this book might never have happened. Never ask or trust a creative-type to do a business plan. You’ll be rewarded with a mildly bemused blank stare and a “Sure? Uhhh, you want fries with that?”

If it were up to us (creative-types), money, materials, time, balancing checkbooks, travel, all that stuff that requires some sort of record keeping would be unnecessary. Our tax returns of course might be of the same imaginative and fictional quality that landed Al Capone in jail, Jack Abramoff in jail and now on TV (Hmmm, maybe crime DOES pay!), and a whole host of others who regularly deal in financial fiction writing (Goldman Sachs, Lehman Bros., JP Chase Morgan, – you get the idea).

All of that stated, I did keep some numbers just out of some sort of OCD notion that once published, it might be fun to know what built this Cabbage Patch doll idea of mine. In a Donald Trumpian world, that translates to nothing spells success like excess.

For instance, in photographing “Arn? Narn.”,  I drove over 7,500 miles across Newfoundland. That’s equal to going back and forth across the US approximately 2.5 times. The good news is that I didn’t see a Newfoundland version of the Cadillac Ranch Art installation in Amarillo. There must be a god!

The Cadillac Ranch. This is not Newfoundland!

I shot nearly 200 roles of film. And I remember every single shot! Well, maybe not every one.

I used over 2,500 sheets of photographic printing paper to get to the final images used in the book. I can’t even begin to tell you how many hours that took. I told you I suck at math and record-keeping!

 I, like George Washington the illustrious Father of Our Country, slept around. I stayed in at least a dozen different places (and paid the bill every time) though no one left signs commemorating my short residences.

I sampled every beer (7-12 depending on what you count as true Newfoundland brew. Brewfoundland?) made in Newfoundland. Yum! I sampled vodka made in Newfoundland from icebergs. Not so yum. I’m a wuss. So what?

I ate countless packages of chocolate covered crackers along the way. An army does travel on its stomach and mine was now a bit larger for those travels. No, I didn’t measure it as part of my record keeping.

And as far as playing Newfoundland (diddly) music incessantly? Yes, guilty as charged and I lost count of the number of Newfoundland music CDs purchased.

Boring anyone who came near me to tears by recounting the wonders of Newfoundland. Yeah, very guilty. Again, a countless number.

Driving my wife crazy about how crazy I was and am about Newfoundland I was? This spans years! So, why don’t you just lock me up and throw away the key? Better yet, solitary confinement: that way no one else will have to listen to me prattling on about Newfoundland pr playing its music continuously. Or just ship me off up there and we’ll both be happy! Well, I apologize. Profusely. (Just not very sincerely.) It’s not my fault you didn’t come with me!

So, after all of this – do the numbers add up? Damned if I know. I’m looking for my next score on chocolate covered crackers. Hey buddy? Wanna help a brother out?

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Sometimes I feel like a mushroom, they keep me in the dark and feed…

21 Monday May 2012

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An artist’s rendering of the photographer in his darkroom, not quite. (farmflavor.com)

OK, the only part of that title that’s true is being in the dark. Some people supposedly near and dear to me would agree that I’m in the dark about most things. And I would protest…somewhat.

At this point, I’m spending a hell of a lot of time in the darkroom, so yes, I am in the dark, literally. But, I’m also very productive. (Sidebar – the book “Arn? Narn.” was shot on film before I made the switch to digital. Therefore the images were also printed the old-fashioned way on photographic paper in chemicals. Call me a Luddite but please don’t call the EPA!) Each time I process my film, I’m seeing anywhere from 24-144 more negatives of the several thousand taken. I plan to wait until all the film is developed before I make proof sheets. Making proofs is tedious and I want to get it done once.

However, over the years, I’ve learned to “read” negatives and from what I’m seeing, I’m encouraged that the second trip to Newfoundland is yielding the desired results. Where once there were just my nice photographs of Newfoundland, there is now a cohesiveness to them including the ones taken the year prior.

Imagine reading several thousand of these, but at 1/20th the size.

That cohesiveness will allow me to select the best ones to print. It gives me an idea of how I want the visual narrative of the book to go. So when all is said and done, I will have many proof sheets with multiple images, some various versions of the same scene, to determine which to print. I know going into this phase, I will edit to a manageable 200-300 images to print. From those prints, I will start the actual editing to a more manageable number for the book. I’ve edited my work before, but never on a scope as large as this. I have no idea how difficult this is going to prove to be. Ultimately, this will be the book.

But, un-ultimately, this leads to a whole new other phase and once again my learning curve will be steep and long. Why didn’t I learn accountancy?

Happy, happy, joy, joy!

17 Thursday May 2012

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Happy, happy, joy, joy!

It’s just a little bit of silliness from the old “Ren and Stimpy” cartoon show. You can learn a lot about a person based on what movies and TV they watch. An astute reader of this blog will no doubt know which music turns me on; which movies I like to quote; and which TV shows I admit to viewing. The key word here is admit. (I’m not saying’ anyting else ’til I talk wid my law-yer!)

But one of the real personal joys, in addition to working and producing the book “Arn? Narn.” and writing this blog, are the notes and comments received from other bloggers. The blogosphere, as dreadful a term as has been coined in a long time, is filled with people sharing, but not limited to, ideas, thoughts, art, music, problems, actually the whole scope of humankind can be found there.

What is truly amazing is that anyone can find you in the first place. And they do find you, from all over the world. The people who design these programs and write the algorithms, (the Algomystics!?) are crazy smart. I salute them for their genius and intellect that allows postally-challenged me to reach out and talk with someone new.

This blog, arnnarn.com, has readers from all over the world. I did not expect that when I started recounting my adventures in Newfoundland. Oh yeah, friends and family sure, (but curiously not! Guys, are you reading this?) but complete strangers? And the input and encouragement has been very gratifying.

The take-away from this entry is that people all over are interested in what others are doing and are willing to spend the time to find it and read it. Amazing. There is also a hell of lot of useless stuff out there too, this blog excepted of course!

In all the previous entries in this blog and the ones yet to come, I hope there has been and will be some curiosity raised, enough to click on some of the links to learn more. For really the first time in our history, we have the opportunity to hear from what one once described as “the great unwashed” or what we know as just us without the filter of a media company, a government official, or a candidate.

Looking back, I wished that the blogosphere (there’s that word again!) were around when I started the “Arn? Narn.” book. As a source of information, not all of it accurate of course, (much of it really), it can lead you to strange and wondrous places as well as some you wished you had never seen. Yet, it becomes more and more valuable each day. Just be open to what you may find. And if you don’t like it, you can always clickback on it. Just not on this blog, OK?

Revisiting Granny.

14 Monday May 2012

Posted by in Discovery, Newfoundland, Photography

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I find myself thinking of a now-friend, but initially just an Newfoundland craftsman I met on my first trip up there. He is older now, 91, and isn’t turning bowls and such any longer. In an e-mail I’ve received from him recently, he states that his “Dr. advised (him) to leave off or I may find myself being spun on the lathe. Good advice I guess.” Yes, very! Bren is still with us as well as his work. We are grateful for both.

Bren was one of the first people who befriended me in Newfoundland. While this is certainly not unusual up there, friends are made easily, we have remained in touch since my travels. I think about him often, especially as I see his craft work, really art work, around our house. It never ceases to bring a smile to my face.

I wrote about Bren back in late November, 2012 and felt since my most recent correspondence with him, it was appropriate to update that posting with some additions.

Granny’s well turnings.

The sign said “Granny’s Well Turnings and Handcrafted Gifts.” So that was two more things I thought I needed to do: find out what a well turning was and meet Granny. Neither was what I thought and neither disappointed.

It was good to get out of the car and stretch my legs. Walking up to the house I was greeted by an elderly and dignified man, Bren, in work clothes. We exchanged greetings and introductions. He said I was the first one of the year. Anywhere else, I would have thought this to be the opening line in a bad horror movie in its undertones. Here it meant I was the first tourist of the year. Not surprising as it was still winter and most visitors wisely wait until the weather is a bit more clement.

He invited me into his house. Bren said he would have to get his wares out of the closet where they’d been stored in the off-season. We walked through his workshop where on the floor, all over in heaps and piles, were unfinished bowls and spindles and trinket boxes curing and drying before he could finish them. They came from burls he’d taken off trees. He said it was several years worth of work to do. (I did say he was elderly, didn’t I?)

Bren was and is your typical Newfoundlander – practical, unpretentious to a fault, funny, and most welcoming. And his work was beautiful. We talked some more; he wanted to know what I was doing up in Newfoundland and if I liked what I had seen. Oh, yes, I said. I loved it. I told him I was photographing rural Newfoundland and where I was off to next. He asked me to come visit with him again if I would be back that way when I returned to St. John’s, a couple of hours away. I told him I would try and get down to see him again. I would.

I did see Bren again that trip prior to departing. He asked me about my flight information and when I was leaving. I told him and asked why. He said I should have a proper send-off. So I find myself at the airport ticket line for a 7:30 AM departure. It’s probably around 6:15 when I hear my name being called. I turn around and it’s Bren! Proper send-off indeed. What makes this all the more remarkable is that Bren lives at least two hours from the airport. At least! Proper sendoff? You better believe it!

Little did I know at the time, but it would be the first of several return trips to visit with him. Oh, by the way, there was no Granny, just Bren. And a lot of beautiful well turnings.

The damned awful, most sorrowful part of this trip…

10 Thursday May 2012

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A very famous, overpaid (but ungrateful) sports commentator was asked about the best part of his now-over job with ESPN. His too-quick response was “Seeing it in the rear-view mirror”! Obviously, things didn’t go too well for him there. Not to worry though, both he and ESPN have gone on to greater things.

Bye Newfoundland!

For me, the worst part of this trip to Newfoundland was seeing it in my “rearview mirror”. In this case, that was the window of the plane taking me back to the states. I did not want to leave…ever. But…

In front of me was another round of developing many rolls of film, making a like number of proof sheets, and then determining whether or not I had achieved what I had set out to accomplish. I would have to look at the photographs taken over this two year period to see how it all shook out. This would take many months of work in which I would constantly be reminded of the adventures written about in this blog. Alas, no scrunchions, no Quidi Vidi brew, no chocolate covered crackers to help me on my way. Travel is so hard and boring!

As I have a fine and loud stereo in my darkroom, I would play, among all the rest of my musical selections, my newly expanded collection of Newfoundland music. So often that when I go to my next kitchen party, I would be much better equipped to participate. Not that my singing will have improved, not likely, but I’ll be able to choose from a much larger repertoire of what Oscar my friend from St. John’s refers pejoratively (a $ 1.00 word here!) to as “diddly music”. (I loved “diddly music”, but  when you grow up with something so prevalent as did Oscar, you’re not much impressed with it any longer.)

“Close the door! You’ll let out all the dark!” (Old photography joke.)

So my immediate course has been set out in front of me: hours of wet hands, inhaling semi-noxious fumes, singing/screaming at the top of my lungs “diddly music”. Yes b’y! That’s for me. Now we’ll see what develops. (Groan – another old photography joke.)

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Stop the freakin’ presses! Uh, no – keep ‘em going!

08 Tuesday May 2012

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Yesterday I wrote an entry about Breaking News. It’s a shorter than usual news cycle on this blog and this is really is what’s important today.

(pioneerdrama.com)

This is not the post I had planned for today. In the last week or so, things have accelerated and changed so much and so quickly, I’ve had to respond in kind. I usually post twice a week. This week, all bets are off.

Yesterday, I did a short and unplanned post on reaching a blog follower goal. Good enough. Nothing earth shaking, but it certainly had its place. And it had to be written.

Today’s original entry, moved back a day because of the blog goal posting, was supposed to feature a post more in keeping with what I’ve been writing about for lo’ these 9 months. But an e-mail received last night, changed all that. Much as my next post to be published later this week, which is still on schedule, it was a surprise and a very happy one at that.

Last night I received the galley of my book “Arn? Narn.” A galley is essentially a proof of what the book will look like. Now as this is my first book, I had absolutely no idea what to expect prior to seeing the galley. When a very wise and perceptive publisher, in this case Gosslee, takes on a book, (your child), you are turning over to them the upbringing and responsibility of this child and introducing them into the world. Scary? Hell, yes! Fears? You better believe it. It is an enormous leap of faith. But, we’d come this far.

I saw the e-mail and debated about whether or not to open it then or prolong the agony and wait until today when I could look at it in the unyielding and unflattering morning light. Like a kid on Christmas day, I couldn’t wait. Damn, I’m glad I didn’t.

As I mentioned a paragraph back, you turn over your work and hope and pray that they “get it”. Oh, yeah, they “got it.” In spades.

When John Gosslee and I first spoke last summer, his interest in “Arn? Narn.” was all I would have hoped for. I believed the subject matter called for respect and hopefully that is how I photographed it and how John would treat it. John and his crew certainly held true to that respect. The galley just blew me away.

My task right now is check for any errors and make any small suggestions that I feel will improve it. But I have to say, it doesn’t look like I’ll have much work to do. I can’t wait to share it with all of you. I hope you feel the same way about “Arn? Narn.” Stay tuned, it’ll be out early this fall.

Thank you, John.

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We interrupt this blog with breaking news...

07 Monday May 2012

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Reblogged from "Arn? Narn.":

Click to visit the original post

Several weeks ago, I had set a goal of reaching a certain number of followers/subscribers to this blog in order to help promote my new photography book. When that goal was reached, I would award a free, signed copy of my book "Arn? Narn." after its publication to one lucky subscriber.

That goal has been met, actually exceeded. And the person who won is Jennifer from...

Read more… 91 more words

We interrupt this blog with breaking news…

07 Monday May 2012

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Several weeks ago, I had set a goal of reaching a certain number of followers/subscribers to this blog in order to help promote my new photography book. When that goal was reached, I would award a free, signed copy of my book “Arn? Narn.” after its publication to one lucky subscriber.

That goal has been met, actually exceeded. And the person who won is Jennifer from… drumroll please… appropriately enough, Newfoundland! Congratulations Jennifer!

  No, this is not Jennifer.             (Winners of a lottery – telegraph.uk.com)

Jennifer is also quite a good blogger and those interested in her work can read it at: jenniferkellandperry.wordpress.com . I strongly recommend it.

I will also be setting another subscriber goal for my blog and will award yet another book in the near future. But for now, Jennifer will be the recipient of one of the first copies of “Arn? Narn.”

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Whoa, there’s a moose, and another, and finally St. John’s!

02 Wednesday May 2012

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After escaping the clutches of the bi-churchal minister, I am now on solid ground once again, figuratively speaking, and heading back to St. John’s. I heard of a short cut that will take two hours off my impending twelve+ hour drive. Should I take it? I’ve been warned that it is not a particularly well paved road, well, not very much pavement at all – gravel really, it might be muddy and isn’t well-traveled this time if year so if you get stuck which is a very real possibility, nay probability, you could be there for a day or two, but it’s your choice. Hell, that’s no choice, that’s a challenge. I’m taking the long way home!

Yeah, right! (en.wikipedia.com)

The way I figure it, if I speed, which I will, if I continue straight through, I’ll be driving in prime moose-dodge-’em time – at speed, at night, and on the TCH, (Trans Canada Highway). Not wanting to make the acquaintance of one so large, so heavy and a poor conversationalist from what I’ve heard, I decide that I’ll probably stop for the night somewhere around Gander, a good part of the trip would be now be behind me. When you’re in a hurry, and I really wasn’t, but there was no photography planned for this leg of the trip, – I just didn’t want to drive for twelve + hours, the scenery, however beautiful, becomes secondary to the task of getting there.

I’m sailing along. Yes, speeding, but I told you I would. Fueled by chocolate covered crackers and the occasional Tim Horton‘s, I’m making some serious time. I get to Gander considerably sooner than I thought, ahh, the joys of speeding and not getting caught, and make an executive decision. Moose, be damned, I going for it all. This is the big one!

Oh, yeah! (ahwooga.com)

So, I stop for refueling – both the car and me. The car gets gas and so will I later from the food at the rest stop. Should have stayed with the chocolate covered crackers. But I endure, I must, can’t stop, have to get to St. John’s – there’s a tall, cold beer with my name on it waiting patiently for me at Christian’s Pub. Actually, the beer had some friends waiting for me too and I would get to meet them as well.

Wait, what’s that up ahead? That signpost? Sorry, channeling “Twiight Zone” for a moment. Lights! and not in the rear view mirror either. It’s St. John’s! Yes! Made it and not in twelve hours! Not in eleven hours! No, just about ten and half! I did speed. A lot. That’s 902 miles worth of speeding. I didn’t hit any moose, didn’t get stopped by the RMCP, “No, officer, I didn’t realize I was going that fast.”, and made it back in time for Happy Hour, which by the way in St. John’s is anytime from opening to closing. Finally, off the road, out of the car, and back in the warm embrace of St. John’s.

Tomorrow will be laundry, packing, FedEx, and getting ready to go back to the states. It’ll be busy, but I’ll also get to visit with Randy (my photographer friend) and his wife Vicki once more before I leave. The amount of help and guidance they provided has been invaluable and much appreciated. I will also see Bren, my 84 year old wood- turning friend, again before my departure. Bren was the first Newfoundlander but not the last to invite this stranger in for tea. I will miss them and all the other new friends made while up here. I will be back.

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