It's been awhile since I've added words and images here. Sometimes as a dad with 2 teenage girls I think I don't have anything to say, speechless in the face of whats actually happening. But when I looked into my photography of this year I saw several things I could talk about and share.
There have been, and are many times when as a dad I feel far from my girls. I am just not that into shopping, the mirror, social media, and girl drama. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania, I was outside all the time, woods, rivers, even fishing and hunting, riding motorcycles (minibikes), and climbing mountains.
To get my girls outside to help move a woodpile in the front yard is basically impossible. Pay them??? Force them??? Recently I just let it go and did it all myself and enjoyed it, it's my wood pile, it's my wood stove, and I love it and am glad to offer it to the family to keep them warm and cozy (though the girls really just live in their rooms and only visit the kitchen when they have to). We live in the suburbs, my girls are small town girls near the big city of San Francisco. We come from different worlds.
But I did rediscover an abandoned graffiti warehouse and took my wife and oldest daughter, and then my younger one and her friend in to see this amazing place.
We said some prayers and creating a blessing for the place. It felt dark, sad, full of young male energy of despair and hopelessness - such amazing art and no place for it to be really seen, acknowledged, appreciated.
In front of one of my favorite pieces, artist unknown.
And there she is - busted!
A book about dad and little kids (the first seven years)
