Retirement? Not yet…..

I’m a member of  a committee that is looking at applications for a tenure-track position in photography. It takes me back to graduating with my MFA so many years ago and getting a chance to try for that golden ring. 

The competition was slim then - not so many hundreds of graduate degrees - and I was blessed and lucky. I wouldn’t have had a chance in today’s market.

Six years as an assistant professor in a Big University taught me many things but Tenure wasn’t one of them. Unfortunately that merry-go-round threw me off; I wasn’t clear how to hold onto my horse or if I even wanted to.

Now I see that my colleagues from that time have all retired. Not sure if forced or bought out or both but eight at one time and a lovely group show is no coincidence.

A part of me is wistful; if only … but Adjunct is fine as long as I continue to be given classes to teach. I feel I have another ten years  (at least) of teaching in me; it's such a big part of my artistic practice. 

70+ seems a better time to take the money and run. 

But where to run to? I’m there.

60 is the new 40 (or, how’s that aging going?)

50 was just ten years ago; half a century of living that went by so fast.

Big changes in the last decade, as time sped up and the past became larger. Some things solid, as in chunks of time, but ephemeral, as in memory.

At 60 I am thrice the age of my college students. Decades measured in classes taught, images made, books constructed, writings written, public and private.

Sixteen years of a husband, a marriage, love.
No children, no pets. No regrets.

Thirty-five years of a teaching career. 

Recognition as an artist, beginning in my fifties. 

Better late than never, better late to savor now.

60 a big turning point. Some solidification of the ego structure, some wisdom. Enough retrospect to look back and over. Enough understanding from both sides of the lens, the desk, the mirror. 

Wrinkles now and enough grey hair to complain about, but who’s complaining? Most of it is still brown, and long enough to put into a bun, as if.

Really.

David Vestal, 1924 - 2013

DAVID VESTAL

March 21, 1924  - December 5, 2013 

David Vestal was one of the first people I photographed for my book "Respecting My Elders" back in March 2009. 

I visited him at his home in Bethlehem, Connecticut.

I'm sharing some of his wisdom here, via his thank you note:

                                      June 17, 2013

"Dear Ellen Wallenstein,

Thanks very much for the book. The photos are good and the things people say reveal a lot about them. What a crew. I've spent a few hours going through it: fascinating. I hope, however, that you won't spend the rest of your life photographing your elders as they age and die. Wouldn't that pinch out too soon?

How about photographing what you love and hate seeing? That was Lew Hine : "I wanted to show what had to be changed. I wanted to show what had to be appreciated." Quoted from memory, so probably inexact. But you get the drift. It doesn't have to be about society or art. Anything visible will do.

                                                                                           Best,

                                                                                           David"

Mr. Vestal's "Craft of Photography" is a bible for the black & white darkroom. He was an incredible teacher, writer, editor. His book is an encyclopedia of sorts about black & white printing. It is full of information and droll observations.
As was he.

He died December 5, 2013, at his home, so says the Robert Mann Gallery obit.But I haven't seen him mentioned anywhere else. It's been a busy time for photographers' disappearances: Editta Sherman died in November, as did Saul Leiter. And Vestal's death was eclipsed by that of Nelson Mandela. I bet he would think that was just fine.

Rest In Peace

justice card

JUSTICE, tarot card XI

 My Photobook class was assigned to do a tarot card for a class deck.

Everyone picked one - I chose Justice, No. XI

Appropriate, as I grew up the daughter of a lawyer.

And, as the professor, I get to give the grades!

(collage: pope innocent X by velazquez,

collage elements from national geographic,

& red leaf).

I'm inspired to do a whole deck now.

teaching teenagers photography

I just finished teaching a three-week intensive darkroom class at SVA with 15 teenagers, average age 15. They were wonderful. Worked hard, came in early to develop film, spent many hours in the darkroom and many more shooting pictures. I'm very proud of them, and myself, and my Teaching Assistant, Molly Matalon. A good time was had by all....

alex

alix

anna

anny

betsy

hannah

kaya

kayla

kelsey

oren

peter

sammie

sean

stella

Respecting My Elders, book published

My long-awaited book "Respecting My Elders" has been published and is available at the link below:. 

http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/530767

It costs $25 and comes with a free digital download. The book of 94 pages is perfect bound and has portraits of 30 very interesting creative people, all over the age of 80, photographed in their homes and studios. It was designed by Renee Rockoff. 

You can see the whole book in preview mode. 

There is a wonderful introduction by Marion Winik, which you can read here: 

http://www.baltimorefishbowl.com/stories/portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-beautiful-old-man-with-a-piano/

And, there is a wonderful article on the project by Laura Paull, here:

http://www.3200stories.org/blog/2013/06/24/age-and-the-creative-spirit-a-photographers-portraits-of-the-greatest-generations-artists/

Thank you to everyone who contributed and to everyone who posed for me!
I will be posting separate images and information on the portraits in the near future....