My two classes in one month, writing and photography. ABOVE: I snap a panoramic while the class writes. BELOW: The photo class poses for their own panoramic.
Zoe Kazan and Kumail Nanjiani star in The Big Sick.
ACT I
Maybe it’s the escapism, putting my mind into a different scenario each time the lights dim and the credits begin. Perhaps it’s the shared experience of seeing movies with others. After all, scientists say we all tend to blink at the same time when we sit together watching movies. But for whatever reason, I’ve been drawn to movies all my life at an almost obsessive level.
Feb
13
Marci relaxes in a funky panoramic shot at the Southernmost Beach Resort on Key West.
Encountering The Five Senses And More In The Conch Republic
“That’s the smell of Night Jasmine,” the tarot card reader told us. “Or maybe it’s Frangipani; they both bloom in the evening.”
The Gulf breeze carried the scent away, playfully departing as quickly as it arrived. Replacing the smell was the sound of a dozen weekend gin joints pounding out the pulsing beat of live bands, DJs and the crowded roar of revelers celebrating another successful sunset.
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Jan
23
Leonard Falce photograph by Dick Van Nostrand
We first spoke via satellite.
Me — a fresh out of college newbie photographer with no prospects — him, a seasoned professional from New York City, now helming a small photo staff up north in Michigan.
“Hello Leonard … I’m calling from Ireland … my dad says you phoned our house?”
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Oct
06
Sharpie and I, after the colonoscopy
The email started out innocuously enough.
“Curtis, word on the street is that you will barnstorm through our hamlet soon.”
Oct
05
Hot Water Beach, New Zealand
Taylor, Marci and I hang out in a rainy jacuzzi we dug ourselves on Hot Water Beach, New Zealand.
The rain steadily pours down outside our cute, cozy, cottage and life is calm, peaceful and smooth. So it seems insane that we’re about to go outside into the downpour, dig a hole and crawl into it.
Helmet cam: I perched my little point-n-shoot atop my riding helmet and rotated it backward to snap shots while Strawberry “furiously charged” ahead.
Black sand beaches. Just the name sounds exotic. I’ve always wanted to see one and visiting the so-hot-it’s-cool Pacific Ring of Fire, I knew I’d have a chance.
Participants in a yoga and meditation session go through a guided exercise.
Support.
In the healing process, we generally use that word to mean emotional and spiritual help. At a recent medical conference, I had the honor of helping support bone marrow transplantees.
And then they supported me.
After more than a year of insane political discourse — pre and post election — it’s good to divert our attention to something a bit less agonizing. But uh-oh, my favorite movies of 2016 also carry political and social baggage. Maybe that’s just a marquee of the times we live in now. We are lucky to live in a society where art can be a protest and a protester can create art. Enough with the previews; here are the five films that captured my attention this year.
Feb
23
My grandma, the doctor, always knew how to make me smile!