It was through these books that I had a revelation: I didn't need to move to Tuscany. I just needed to learn to photograph my life so it looked like I was living in a coffee table book. I took my trusty Cannon Rebel out into the Lancaster County countryside and proceeded to photograph things like the farm stand up the road, goats in the field, the funky merchandise at Green Dragon, my meals, my garden produce--you get the picture. But while I have a good eye, I have neither technical camera smarts nor a long attention span. I was able to get some good photos by some fluke that the camera was set just right. But even then, I did not follow through on the grand scheme to photo document my life so that I would give myself heart palpitations just by being me. (It's all in the advertising.) Just so this doesn't come off as being too meta, think of my efforts as a way for me to appreciate my life--a visual gratitude journal, let's say. A way for me to see my own life with the wonder reserved for an eager tourist on vacation.
Fast-forward about ten years, and we move to Arden. We bought our house from Joe and Keri del Tufo. Keri grew up in Lancaster County near where Mark and I were raised. Joe wears many hats, but one of them is a backward baseball cap--backward so the brim doesn't get in the way while he is shooting. And you will hardly ever find Joe without a camera in his hand and a camera bag slung around his back. Joe never trained as a photographer, but he is in constant the pursuit of the craft. It is second nature to him now. He is the Arden photographer. My apologies to Danny Schweers (who does gorgeous nature photography), the late Earl Brooks ( a contemporary of Ansel Adams), and anyone else I am overlooking. But I have only once seen Danny with a camera in hand.
Joe, on the other hand, is never without his pack. He photographs as many Arden events as he can possibly attend and throws the photos out there for everyone to use and enjoy. I attended the Roaring 20's Party at the Buzz last month. Joe had another gig, possibly photographing a concert in Wilmington. The fact that we have none of his pictures from the event makes me doubt if it even happened. It's that whole If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it conundrum. I do kind of have one small piece of proof from that evening: I won one of Joe's infrared photographs in the silent auction.
We came to know Joe well through our Sunday morning hikes. Every week, he takes a shot of the hiking group that makes us look like we are on an album cover. We are rock star hikers. I do not like being photographed--at all. But when Joe has his camera out, I begin to Vogue. Here's the other thing you should know: we bought our house sight unseen based solely on photographs that Joe took that were uploaded onto the realty company's website. I saw the photos. Sent Mark the link with the text: I WANT THIS HOUSE. (You guessed it--heart palpatations.)
It doesn't matter what Joe is photographing--his dog, Sunday dinner, concerts at the Arden Gild Hall, the woods, that drop of water (he likes his macro water shots), the Arden Holiday party --he makes his world--which has lots of overlap with my world--look good. I can joyfully inhabit the life he reflects back to me. You will see plenty of his photos in my blog, I am sure. I walk Joe and Keri's dog, Puck, twice a week in order to build up credit with Joe. I envision photo shoots for author photos, Maren's head shots, photos for our 25th wedding anniversary which is coming up. I will put some miles on that dog.
Last October, Mark and I took a road trip which included the cities of Nashville, TN and Asheville, NC. We got out the Canon Rebel, but didn't even know what to do with it. "This sucks! Who is going to take our pictures while we are on vacation?" We took a few photos with our iPhones, but our hearts weren't in it. I think there was one shot of Mark's back as he was walking down a Nashville street. Other than that, we weren't in any of the photos. We had a good time. . . I think. But was it any wonder that before the week was up, we were ready to end our vacation and get back to our regularly photographed lives?
Below are just a small sample of Joe's work. Check out Joe's website for more.
You pen your blogs, Jill, like Joe shoots his astonishing photos! What a gorgeous tribute to Arden's own photographer. Your writing creates mental pictures equally as evocative as Joe creates through his photography. I salute you both! Thank you!
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