I took a break from the digital norm while on vacation at the beach last week. These and all the photos I took were made with an Olympus XA2. It’s a great little camera and a perfect tool for revitalizing my creativity.
They don’t come any prettier than my girl Sophie.
From a recent email from my four-year-old son Nick’s preschool teacher:
We also were entertained by Nick and Steven singing and acting out a song we sing called “Five Green and Speckled Frogs.” After singing this song for a few minutes, Nick decided he would rather sing a Ramones song. He kept trying to get Steven to sing “Hey, Ho, Let’s Go.” Steven looked confused but sang along anyway.
The Ramones “Blitzkrieg Bop”
from The Ramones
I go back and forth about posting work by other photographers on this blog. The primary reason I do it is to show work that influences me and pushes my own work forward. (See here and here.)
I always come back to an old Cuban saying my Mom and my grandmother Mimi use to tell me all the time — in Spanish, of course — while I was growing up:
Dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres.
This is literally translated as “Tell me with whom you walk and I will tell you who you are” and loosely translated as “A man is known by the company he keeps”.
I’ve always been a little suspect of the phrase. Just because I keep the company of a certain person doesn’t mean that I am like that person or that their ways are mine. However, that may still be the rebellious kid in me bucking the parental wisdom.
The funny thing is that I keep coming back to that proverb every time I consider posting the work of influential photographers and artists on this blog. It’s as if a part of me truly believes the proverb to hold some truth.
I’m thrilled that I can find and wax rhapsodical about connections between people that inspire me and my own creative process. Making and finding meaning in those connections pushes me to be more passionate about my work and my life.
So yeah, I will likely continue to post influential work alongside my own work around here. My influences and inspirations are the company I keep. I couldn’t be more proud to walk with them.
My 19-month-old daughter Sophie pulled this bookmark out of a book on the shelf recently. It’s from a bookstore I worked at fresh out of college in ‘93. I don’t know which book she pulled it out of. She just walked over and held it up to me as if she knew I would want or need it.
The phrase I wrote on the bookmark:
…walked with a stagger of experience…
I don’t recall what book the quote is from. The phrase, however, has just as much punch for me as it did back then.
Those days I noted the phrase in a bookmark as I read the book. Today, I scan the bookmark with the phrase on it and post it on my blog.
I love these two women. I love the sun.
For a quick moment on Saturday morning they came together beautifully.
C and I took the kids camping last weekend. Have you ever taken a 4 year old and a 16 month old camping? It was quite an adventure.
Sophie and I were the early risers. While Nick and C slept, Sophie and I had milk and coffee, respectively, munched on some tasty fruit salad, and stole a few moments to make some photos of each other at the campsite. This one of my sweet little girl and I is my fave.
This is a blog by photographer and all-around visually creative guy Armando Bellmas. Please make some time to look through my PORTFOLIO. You'll love it.
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