FOUR WEEKS AGO TODAY, I had open-heart surgery, an unexpected but, as it turns out, fortuitous event. Besides knocking me on my butt for a while (not to worry – I’m progressing well), it also knocked the camera out of my hands. In my downtime, however, the chance to rethink my photography approach and goals has been a gift and may yield some freshness once I get back behind the camera.
Today marks another anniversary, the 200th birthday of the great American poet Walt Whitman. Known for his words, Whitman also was the subject of numerous photographs during an era when commercial portrait photography was taking off. Posted here is probably my favorite portrait of Whitman, made about 1863 in Washington, D.C., by Alexander Gardner. Whitman describes himself in the photograph (in Horace Traubel’s With Walt Whitman in Camden) thusly: “How well I was then! – not a sore spot – full of initiative, vigor, joy – not much belly, but grit, fibre, hold, solidity. Indeed, all through those years – that period – I was at my best – physically at my best, mentally, every way.”
It is a handsome portrait and a fair description, reminding me of how I think now of myself in my pre-surgery days. Or maybe, yeah, my best days are still ahead of me.