Chapter Three & Coltrane & Candles
Monday, March 1, 2020
Today marked the start of my ninth week of work on Lenny & Jan’s project. I never set a firm date, other than mentioning that I did not expect to be still continuing with it in 2022. I suppose that is a deadline then. So let it be known - I am setting a hard stop. I feel some added pressure now but I think it is important for me to have a “due date.” It will help drive the pace of the project, or so I hope.
So last night, I vowed to take on Chapter Three. And I did. With the help of John Coltrane - Ballads and - by extension - one of my longtime (since Brooklyn Tech days) friends. She recently texted highly of a certain brand of candle that I then decided to purchase and have been burning up in the attic. It has permeated the space and is absolutely delicious. It is called (don’t laugh): Birthday Cake by DW Candles. For someone with a sweet tooth, it is the perfect substitute. Now all I have to do is find a candle called Riesling (my fave type of white wine) and I may quit both pastries and alcohol! And Coltrane’s horn is just so sweet, so intoxicating, so absolutely human in its evocation of emotion. I must have played the last 54 seconds of “I Wish I Knew” at least three times, humming along. It’s almost too much sometimes, listening to Coltrane. I ended up switching to “My Favorite Things” on loop. I was not able to keep up with my humming for that one. But I digress (again).
Chapter Three was tough. Image #2 is just a classic shot. I found one of the same crew member but he is not looking directly at the camera, as in the printed photo, so I am going to have to get a scanner and hope that the quality will be good enough. I simply don’t possess the original slide. And it bothers me more than maybe it should. (Does this mean I am a “true” artist or just a perfectionist?) So I have Image #2 of Chapter Three still listed as missing. The same goes for Image #3, although I did find a potential alternate.
I found Image #4. Lenny had zoomed in a little for his print and so I did not recognize the digitized slide at first (or second or third) glance. The next missing image was the sixth and it is a photo of a crewman waving from the “cab” of a red tug. The waving hand is covering his face, which is a shame. It captures a mood but not being able to see the man’s face takes away from the feeling. So I searched for an image taken perhaps right before or after the one Lenny printed out. I looked at it for awhile, scrutinizing it. The original #6 did not have a caption attached to it so that relieved some of the pressure (and guilt) of replacing it. I still felt uncertain doing a switcheroo so I moved on, labeling it an “alternate.” Image #8 is also an alternate.
I am not feeling too great about having to choose alternates. This chapter was full of compromises. I know that I probably need to just let go and select photos of the crewman that I deem photo-essay-book-worthy.
I finished up for the night without a feeling of accomplishment or satisfaction. At least I can skip Chapter Four tomorrow since I have all of those images. Chapter Five has five missing images. Go figure.
