Sibling Rivalry

As is probably pretty evident to someone who reads this blog, I take a lot of pictures. And as matter of fact, the pictures that make it to the published "in the valley" posts, are actually just the small, visible part, of a vast floating digital iceberg, floating around on the gigabyte sea of my hard drive. Luckily so far, I've gotten nothing but positive responses to my attempts at image capture on this blog...thank you. So I'll keep going, I am enjoying it.

I've always had a kind of half-hearted interest in taking pictures, and never considered photography as a serious hobby. I've always had enough other hobbies to occupy me, and picture-taking had been relegated to more of a 'save the memories' endeavor, intensifying the older I got, and finally hitting full afterburner with the start of this blog. But now, even thousands of pictures in, I'm still not a "Photographer".

My sister Theresa on the other hand, is.

She took up serious photography years ago. I remember my jaw dropping when she asked me over the phone how to best ventilate her "Dark Room" at her house in Boston. A Dark Room? You have a Dark Room??? She was developing her own pictures by hand, back when I was just discovering the differences between my 200 and 800 ISO film speed purchases at Walgreens.

Over the years, throughout huge career changes, two kids coming along, and a big move back to the warm embraces of the Pioneer Valley, she kept her side-hobby going, sometimes barely, sometimes strongly; always improving her technique and her equipment. Recently she handed me her main camera, one of those black SLR types with the cool adjustable, insanely expensive lens and buttons and switches all over, and the textured parts of the body where the hands grip it; so I could get a picture of her with the folks. I remember being impressed with the sheer weight and feel of the device in my hands. I was amazed at the brightness and clarity through the viewfinder, as the image snapped into tight focus with a short turn of the lens dial, the whirring clicking sound the shutter made, and I thought "Wow. This is a real camera". When I then picked up my little plastic digicam afterwards, with all the meager weight of the two AA batteries in it, and the light whimpering whine of the small zoom lens, as it tried to find focus, it felt like a Mattel toy. I was humbled, and ashamed...

Theresa's main focus so far has been on family oriented and travel photography. She's managed to free up enough time over the years for a few freelance jobs here and there; taking family photos and small events. Theresa and her husband Dave are also travel junkies, and she's accumulated vast knowledge and experience in photographing her travels across the globe, including several European jaunts, mainly to Portugal and Gay Paris', her favorite muses. She put together a fantastic travel book of Portugal, which I still say should be in every travel agent's front window. Maybe some day...

She occasionally peruses "in the valley", and toyed with the idea of starting her own photography website, which I lavishly encouraged her to do. Both her kids are now quasi-independent. Well, the younger one is walking now, so the way I see it, they could probably fend for themselves as far as food gathering and toiletries are involved. Time for her to concentrate on getting the photography hobby into full swing...

She emailed me this evening, with a link stating that she's stitched together the beginnings of such a website. Thus, although it's still in 'Beta' mode, allow me to introduce for your viewing pleasure...Carrington Creative Photography: Click Here.

Enjoy, and good luck Theresa!