Kerry Lemon - That Remarkable Artist I Met, London.

I met Kerry Lemon a couple of weeks ago and, since then, I've struggled to write of that meeting. 

Why?

Well, she was so remarkable that I have had no idea where to begin ...

There's an interview that gives you a sense of her.  But that's complicated, due to the fact that she's being interviewed by another truly remarkable being ... Elizabeth Duvier. 

I met Elizabeth via her blog - Mystic Vixen. Over the years her writing and photographs were that place where I wandered when I needed beauty and intelligence, and some soul-soothing too.

And so, it has to said, Elizabeth is also remarkable, for many reasons but perhaps SQUAM is her biggest, most beautiful and inspirational thing.  Well, that and her beautiful writing, and art.

Their conversation follows ... however there is more.

The meeting happened like this ... Elizabeth put out the call, writing to her friends, that I was new to the UK.  Kerry Lemon replied, saying she was madly busy with work but how about meeting up on 'this date'? 

I said 'Sure!'  

And eventually that date came round.  I headed for London, and met up with the delightful woman you see in the photograph at the start of this post.  I took photographs along the way, and managed to capture Kerry caught up in the awe and wonder she felt when viewing the work of one of her favourite installation artists, Rebecca Louise Law

Kerry is short and cute. Spending time with her, I decided, is a little like spending time with a very alive fairy.  One who sprinkles fairy dust where ever she goes, engaging all those she meets in delicious conversations that leave people smiling.

But more than that.  She's talented, driven, self-disciplined, intelligent, and entirely inspirational.  And wise.  So very wise.

Do you see what I mean?  How to write of this Kerry Lemon ... how to share something of her remarkableness.  It's difficult.

We met at Waterloo Station, under the big clock, and we clicked.  Just like that.  I felt like I'd known her forever.

But she's like that ...

She was taking me to the Columbia Road Flower Market, Sunday morning magic.  I'd never heard of it. 

What a sensory overload.  Meeting Kerry Lemon and visiting the Flower Market too. 

Yes, I promise, it's impossible not to adore her.  I imagine that's clear.

I could have followed her around for weeks.  I wanted to try and capture something of her fairy-dusting all those she met while she wandered.

It was a good day with a remarkable soul. 

And that's about as clear as I'm able to get on Ms Kerry Lemon.

The Most Perfect Tree-Seat, Surrey ...

It is perfect, isn't it?  I've been eyeing it since beginning with my 20 minute walks into the village.

It's quite high, and I'm not sure I could reach it without an undignified struggle.  But once there, especially in summer, there's moss that surely makes for a most comfortable seat. 

The only option is to recline, legs stretched out in front, back supported in a most divine way ... maybe that's even a book-reading arm-support branch.

Sadly though, it's on the edge of a busy little country road here in Surrey.  I suspect the police would be called to check up on my reasons for being there or ... the fire brigade would be called, to rescue that mad Kiwi woman stuck up a tree. 

But still, I don't think I have ever seen a more perfect tree-seat in my life.

MID LIFE WOMAN, BY David Whyte

Mid life woman
you are not
invisible to me.
I seem to see
beneath your face
all the women
you have ever been.

Midlife woman
I have grown with you
secretly,
in another parallel,
breathing with you
as you breathed,
seeing with you
as you see,
lining my face
with an earned care
as you lined yours,
waiting for you
as it seems
you waited for me.

Mid life woman
I see your
inner complexion
breathing beneath
your outward gaze,
I see all your lives
and all your loves,
it must be for you
that I wanted to become
more generous,
a better man
than ever I could be
when young,
let me join all your
present giving
and all your receiving,
through you I learn
the full imagination
of every previous affection.

Mid life woman
you are not invisible to me,
in you
I see a young girl,
lifting her face to the sky,
I see the young woman
in haloed light,
full and strong,
standing before
the altar of time,
waiting for her chosen.

I see the mother in you,
in your past
or in some yet
to be understood
future,
I see you
adoring and
I see you adored,
and now,
when I call your name
I want to see
day by day,
the woman
you will become
with me.

Mid-life woman
come to me now,
I see you more clearly
than all
the airbrushed
girls of the world.

I became a warrior
only to earn
your present
mature affection,
I bear my scars to you,
my eyes are lined
to smile with you
and I come to you
uncultivated
and unshaven
walking rough
and wild through rain
and wind and I pace
the mountain
all night
in my happy,
magnificence
at finding you.

Mid life woman,
In the dark of the night
I take you in my arms
and in that embracing
invisibility feel all of your
inner lives made touchable
and visible again.

Mid-life woman
I have earned
my ability to adore you.

Mid life woman
you are not invisible to me.
Come to me now
and let me kiss passionately
all the beautiful women
who have
ever lived in you.

My promise
is to you now
and all their future lives.

MID LIFE WOMAN from, 'THE SEA IN YOU' :
Twenty Poems of Requited and Unrequited Love’
© David Whyte and Many Rivers Press


Now Available at davidwhyte.com
or amazon.com

Event Photography ... a passion of mine

People often ask me, what kind of photography I love best ...

I struggle, in that moment, usually.  I love photography but actually, if I really had to choose one favourite, I suspect I might choose event photography.

I get to roam then, with my beloved 70-200mm lens, and capture people while they are unaware.  People being themselves.  People relaxed and happy, perhaps.

Those 3 months I spent working in Berlin ... they offered up some of the best event photography moments so far.  And weddings, or parties.  Any event that allows me to just work on capturing the soul of a person, there on their face, as they go about their day.

To capture a beautiful portrait is incredibly satisfying. 

Nicolas Maurice.com

Traveling back from London last week, I caught the Eurostar ... that train that travels under the English Channel.  I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it. 

But I was fortunate.  My traveling companion, by chance, was a lovely French guy called Nicolas Maurice. And he was kind enough to chat with me, patiently answering my questions and putting up with me all the way back to his world.  The time sped by and the 20 minutes down in the tunnel was barely noticed by me.

I was curious about his work, most specifically his Masters project.  Over on his website he has written, 'This is a reflexion on memory, virtuality, materiality, relationality and the construction of identity. It is the building of a three dimensional map of the neighborhood of my childhood as I remember it, departing from my writing practice, placing memories in space and letting them shape its structure. It is also an experiment in using computer graphics’ techniques and 3D softwares as a raw material, entering a dialogue with its digital nature, constraints limitations and possibilities. '

But more than that, he explained complex ideas in a ways that opened them up.  Somewhere along the way, it occurred to me that I would have enjoyed sharing my classes with him, back when I was studying comparative literature.

It ended up being a most delightful journey.  You can view his work on his website.  The short movies, his commercial work, and his photography.

Thank you, Nicolas Maurice. 

Something New ...

I went out with my camera, just for a moment or two, and was lost in our tiny little pocket-sized Belgian garden here in the city of Antwerp.

I loved the way photographing the shadows of plants became, very much, about painting with light ...

The word "photography" was created from the Greek roots φωτός (phōtos), genitive of φῶς (phōs), "light"[2] and γραφή (graphé) "representation by means of lines" or "drawing",[3] together meaning "drawing with light".

Source: Wikipedia.