Monday, June 06, 2016

Catching Up with a Lost Friend


Self-portrait for Phil's class, 1980
 One of the blessings of social media and the internet is that we can reconnect with people.  Last week, I re-connected with my first photography teacher.  I was right out of college and took a class with Phil Morgan.  One of our assignments was to photograph our day.  I was working nights at the bakery and remember taking a photo of my day beginning with me making oatmeal and tea before heading into the plant at 1 A.M.  Not allowed to take a camera into the bakery, I had a shot of me in my white white uniform (I am not sure where those photos went) and another of me at my desk that morning(an "iPhone" copy is posted here).  Even though I had graduated from college, I was still taking some economic classes and maybe that's what I was working on.  I miss that curly hair!

During the class, Phil and I stuck up a friendship.  At the time, his wife, Sandy, was dying of cancer.  She was the first hospice patient in Wilmington.  I remember a one person show he had shortly after her death, at St. John’s Gallery in Wilmington.   He had documented their sad journey. A few years later, he had another show titled “Behold the Woman” at the Front Street Gallery.  I was able to find the program in my old journals  (I had written notes of the exhibit on the back), Click here to see some of Phil's work.  His black and white "environmental portraits" (people in their work or living surroundings) captures the human element.  Having worked for the Charlotte Observer, Phil documented the Civil Rights movement and has a collection of photos from Appalachia before the mountains were gentrified.

Over the years, we have both moved around and lost contact.  The last time I saw Phil was before the adoption of a son or the birth of a daughter.  I was living in Utah at the time and was back visiting my parents in Wilmington during the Azalea Festival.  It’s been nearly 20 years but I hope to see and catch up with him the next time I'm back in Wilmington.
My photo of Phil on the Waccamaw

 I don’t remember if it was 81 or 82, but I was going with a group of folks down the Waccamaw River.  I invited Phil. There were a half dozen canoes.  We put in at where the  river begins at the outflow of Lake Wacamaw, paddling through the cypress, hardwoods and pines of the Green Swamp.  We stopped at lunch on Crusoe Island where Dodo showed us how to carve out cypress canoes,  We also got to see the snake collection of Dodo's neighbor.  That evening, we camped along a high bank of the river, built a fire and talked late into the night.   Phil went to bed first and called me from our tent.  A mouse had invaded and was scared and pressing up against the rear trying to get away. After watching him for a moment, we backed off and the mouse took off.  The next morning, if I have the right trip in mind (I took a couple down the Waccamaw), we fixed eggs in half of oranges wrapped in tin foil and baked in the coals of a fire (try it, it’s good).  Then we paddled down to Highway 130, where we pulled off the river south of the town of Old Dock.  After connecting this week, Phil sent me the photo below, taken at the end of that river trip.  I’d forgotten about that shirt (Kudzu Alliance, which was an anti-nuke organization) and that hat (I wonder where it went?).   The canoe in the front is mine.  I had purchased it when I was sixteen.  A few years later, it was stolen. I then brought the Mad River that I still have.  It was exciting to look at this photo and remember.  
That's me in my mid-20s, just coming off the Waccamaw River
Last year I reviewed The River Home, a book by a man who grew up on the Waccamaw in South Carolina and, as an adult, came back and paddled the entire length of the river from the lake to Georgetown.  

42 comments:

  1. That river had meant a lot to you. You've done so many things!

    The egg inside half an orange - do you mean that half an orange is hollowed out of the pulp and you bake the egg in the peel?

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    1. You squeeze out the juice (and drink it) and dig out some of the pulp but leave enough to give the "baked egg" an orange flavor

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  2. What a talented photographer! I really liked his work on the link you provided.

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    1. I'm glad you had a chance to see some of his work, Ed.

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  3. I never had a chance to canoe around SC while I was living there, but I remember a store called Waccamaw (around Columbia) and their jingle: Wac-a-maw, Wac, Wac-a-maw, Walk away! With Waccamaw!

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    1. Oh, both of the Carolinas have great canoeing.

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  4. Cool little flashback. Interesting to see those old pics.

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    1. I was glad I could find that old one of me and that Phil had the other one from the river trip.

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  5. How fun that you got to reconnect with your friend Philip. I enjoyed his photos at the link. It's interesting how just a few old photos can bring back a whole flood of memories. :)

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    1. Glad you checked out the link, Connie. He is talented.

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  6. Connecting with old teachers is great. I had written to several of my English teachers a year ago to thank them for what they did for me and to tell them about my books. I heard back from two of them. :)

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    1. That was a nice gesture and I'm sure your teachers were proud. A few years ago, I learned my elementary principal was ill and wrote him a letter and he responded (I hope it was good for him to hear from me, cause I am sure he was thankful when I moved to Jr. High)

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  7. What a great story about re-connecting. There's something so special about meeting an old friend or mentor. You have an immediate history to draw from. Loved the pictures, and you've made me itchy to find a river and be on it.

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    1. Check out a river! I haven't paddled any in California, but I think I'd put the Russian high on my list (or the Feather River if I was wanting excitement)

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  8. A very wise and thoughtful post. Yes, the church I showed is in Marin county. I have not yet explored the seminary, but your mentioning it moves it way up my list. Cheers!

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    1. The seminary' setting is beautiful, you will enjoy walking around the grounds and the views of it from the side of Mt. Timopalas (spelling?) can be enchanting, especially with fog.

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  9. How great that you were able to reconnect with someone so inspirational.

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  10. Thanks for providing the link to his work. He has some outstanding photographs featured. And as he notes there, so many today have no appreciation for the days of darkroom development.

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    1. I am glad several of you have checked out his work!

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  11. How wonderful! I reconnected with my HS French teacher about five years ago. Funny how she seems so much closer to my age than she did back then.

    It is fun to see the photos of your younger self.

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    1. Yeah, years have a way of doing that to us! Thanks

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  12. That is very cool that you reconnected with him! Social media is great for connecting with people you haven't seen in ages. Fun picture of you when you were younger - great hair :-)

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  13. Awe I enjoyed this post for so many reasons, especially all the Wilmington references. That is so awesome you were able to reconnect with someone who meant so much to you!

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    1. Thanks. Next time I'm in the other Port City (Savannah also uses that name), I need to check out the art scene there. I think St. John's Art Gallery closed.

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  14. I just lost a long lost friend ... as he died ... Love, cat.

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  15. Nice post. I am often struck as I read your blog by how many of the people in your life are people with whom you've shared your love of boating - clearly a passion you believe in sharing with friends.

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    1. Yes, it is good to be on the water whether with friends or solo (my next post is about my first solo open water kayak trip since my injury. Thanks!

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  16. It's heartwarming to reconnect with long lost friends, and you were quite the handsome young man.

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  17. I probably need to start looking up some of my own long lost army buddies on Facebook. The guys in my platoon were quite close at one point before we all either reenlisted or left the service.

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    1. You should! I have connected to a lot of folks from High School and various grad schools, but only a few from college (I think I was too busy working and trying to do my school work to make many friends)

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  18. Your new found old friend certainly has documented some interesting times. That curly hair are you sure it was yours and not one of the Brady bunch?

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    1. I wonder if I could collect any royalties? That's the first time I've been linked to that show (or any TV show, except for Dennis the Meance

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  19. The mouse story sure is funny. I'd be trying to feed it. lol I got in touch recently with a girl I went to middle and high school with. She found me on fb.

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  20. So pleased you were able to re-connect with an old friend.
    It's always so lovely to look at old photo's, they do make a very special 'keepsake'

    Wishing you a good week

    All the best Jan

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  21. That is the beauty of the internet. Great you were able to re-connect. :-)

    Greetings from London.

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  22. I saw his work just now. Really amazing.
    Especially I love Human condition.
    Thanks.

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