Me and My Camera
Recent Photographs & Thoughts

Yes, that really is me, wearing old jeans and an older jacket, propped up against a tree to take a picture. Between the chemical sensitivities and the allergies, I don't get out every day, but most mornings will find me, a camera in each jacket pocket, walking through the neighborhoods that surround our house.

We're fortunate to live in a quiet residential area, an older part of town built mostly in the 1960s or earlier. And the original sections of the town are within easy reach on a cool, dry day. Inspired recently by some of the photos on JPG Magazine's site, I have been more forward in asking people if I can take their picture. I asked three folks within three days, and each said, "yes"!

The difficult part is trying to explain who I am and why I'm taking pictures. I ended up making business-type cards to hand out with my name at the top, "Amateur Photographer/Photo Artist" underneath, and our telephone number at the bottom of the card.

I think that when I was younger, I was not quite so self-conscious. Spending so much time alone, now that I have a home office and much of my work does not involve people contact, I find myself aware of awkward moments. The trick seems to be to go through those moments to the other side. Most people are quite familiar with such feelings themselves and inclined to be encouraging. Too, people are more accepting of differences, here, than they were forty years ago. That's nice!

"Neighbor and Friend," copyright © September 2008, by Liz Bennefeld. 

I have been walking past this man's house on my walks for nearly sixteen years, now, and last week was the first time I saw anyone out in the yard, even though the multitudes of flowerbeds must require many hours of work for both husband and wife, spring through autumn.

I'm glad that I did stop and ask to take pictures of him and his dogs (one was theirs, and another, a beagle, they were taking care of for a relative). They've found another house in a different town with more space, quite similar to their current home, and so they are taking cuttings and digging up roots to bring with them many of the flowers that have meaning for them. He mentioned particularly peonies that came from his mother's grave. 

"Neighbor with a Mission," copyright © September 2008, by Liz Bennefeld. 

Very early in the morning, I passed a woman who was preparing the ground for planting. It was obvious that she had removed a fair length of a lilac hedge. I asked if I could take her picture as she continued working. I was struck by the shafts of light falling around her through the trees as she worked.

After I had gotten my pictures, she stopped to tell me what she was doing. The young children often played in the driveway next door, and she was worried that the hedge might make it difficult to see a child coming over into her driveway as she backed the car out onto the street. And so she was removing part of the hedge and replacing it with a flowerbed of lilies, so she would have a clearer view of her neighbors.

"Just Helping Out," copyright © September 2008, by Liz Bennefeld. 

Al, my husband, is our amateur radio club's contact person for the local Alzheimer's Association, and so he recruits volunteers every autumn to coordinate communications for the Alzheimer's Memory Walk (a fund-raising event). We station ham radio operators along the routes for the walk and the run and keep the event organizers up to date on where their participants are; we call in when someone needs help of any sort, and we make sure that nobody gets lost along the way. This photo of two of our club members was taken after all the walkers and runners had returned. Myself, I was assigned to walk the two-mile route at the tail end of the line, so we would be certain that nobody had been left behind.

We also (our club, and Al and I) work with the local Church World Service CROP Hunger Walk. That one is 10K, rather than 2 miles, and I no longer walk at the end of the line of walkers. I am stationed at the first rest stop, where I can call for "sag wagons" to transport the people who're worn out back to the start/finish point.

With all the walking I've been doing, this autumn, perhaps I will be back in shape for the walking, come next spring. I've got myself an exercise mat, now, and have been using it. Blood pressure's gone back down, again. Maybe...Perhaps!