PLEASE READ THIS IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR MY PHOTOS!
(Note: I wrote this post as the ridiculous drama was unfolding on Feb 19, 2009, just after I took the links to my online photo albums off this site....for now.)
I am supposing that some of you who are visiting my personal photo site right now are doing so because of the recent newspaper piece in the Standard Times. (And if you're reading this as one of subscribers to my post...thank you, and I want you to know about this part of my life as well.) Let me say outright, to anyone who cares to listen, that I take my joy and passion for photography seriously, and delight in sharing it opening with anyone who is interested for the sake of photography, and not scandal.
Unfortunately, a small band of narrow-minded and mean spirited townspeople have decided to make this an issue, which seems on the surface rather silly to me. However, when one works in a public setting, and on top of that works directly with the youth of our community, as I do as the Town’s Youth Advocate, It’s all too easy for those who do not support our services to find ways to attempt to intimidate and attack my character and professional reputation.
Well, that tactic simply will not work with me. I am proud of my professional reputation and good standing in the community, and I refuse to be bullied or harassed by a few noisy and far-right wing individuals whose primary mission, if they are honest about it, is use this "photo flap" as a way to discredit me and avert attention away from the fact that many residents want the services of the Youth Advocate to continue, and not be eliminated, as three of the current Select Board members would like to have happen. However, as most people who know me realize, I have nothing to hide, with my photography or anything else in my life for that matter, and so access to my photo site remains available to all.
Do know, however, that I did remove one photo that one person apparently found objectionable, which, had that person contacted me directly, I would have been happy to do anyway. And what was thatphoto, you may ask? It was a pic of two of my grandsons, barely two years old (two years ago now!) playing peek-a-boo around a trash can at Round Hill Beach two summers ago. One had a diaper on, the other boy, was naked, engrossed in the moment of play and unaware that grampa, (me) was fifty-feet away snapping a photo. That photo, along with several others taken on that day and over the same summer, comprise a series of photos that most rational people would call an online family photo album. That’s it my friends. That’s the big deal!
SOME BACKGROUND
I first learned about this invented hoopla on Wednesday, February 11th, when Chief Pacheco called me saying that he had just finished a conversation on the phone with a resident who was apparently complaining about my photos. The caller, as I later learned from others, has been making noise about this for several months (who knew?) and stated that he or she planned to make a "really big stink about." Apparently this little drama has been floating about in the rumor mill since this past fall. And if this is true, one wonders,"Why is it coming out now and not sooner?" And if there was anything to all this, how come it was not brought to my attention sooner than right now? Oh wait....I can answer that! Why? Because the ruling majority on the Select Board want to eliminate the Youth Advocate's position. It is my hope that eventually the public will come to know just who the principal "mud-slinger" is in all this. And when they do find out, the pieces will all come together, hopefully before the April Town elections!
BACK TO MY PHOTOGRAPHY
Ironically, if you scroll down to the article that I wrote just before this post some weeks ago, (before this little "photo-flap" unfolded) it pretty much sums up my focus and passion of photography, so I don't have to prove anything to anyone. However, it still saddens me that a few people cannot seem to appreciate, or perhaps don't know how to value, photography as it is, in it's given setting and natural form. So after you have satisfied yourself by viewing my photo albums, I hope that you might come back here, read some of my posts, and perhaps gain a better understanding of me as a person, and how the joy of writing and photography come together as art and nothing more.
Thanks for hearing me out on this. I realize that many who are following the news threads of this issue also want to see the albums themselves, and up until today that was possible. However, because some people are now viewing the photos due solely to the recent publicity, and not for the purpose and value for which they were intended, the spirit of their initial intent has been compromised, so I have password protected all albums until further notice. But here's the link if you still want to visit.
