Personal Work

Wray, CO | A Portrait And A House | Goodbye Papa Paul

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Infant girl being held by her great grandfather
On Christmas day, we lost my Grandfather (My Dad’s Dad). He was over 90 years old, and his health had been rapidly declining, so it was not a surprise, but it was a shock. We waited until the following day to tell the kids, and then we had to get everything ready for the funeral. I printed up an 11X14 of this portrait of Grandpa Paul with Molly, to stand along side the casket at the funeral. The final print turned out really nice, and added a happy element to an otherwise sad occasion.

Along with this picture, Julie and my sister-in-law, Jess, put together a large presentation board showing a wide variety of pictures from Grandpa’s life. There were photos going all the way back to 1942. Seeing all of these images together really drove home the importance of protecting your memories. I know there are a lot of people out there who have pretty much stopped carrying a camera and are just using their cell phone cameras instead. If this sounds like you, please make a conscious effort to get those pictures off of your phone and on to your computer, and then make a conscious effort to make some prints.

To go along with the portrait above, I wanted to show some interesting pictures that I shot this summer. The three images below were shot in Grandpa Paul’s home town of Wray, CO. The house shown in the photos was actually my Grandpa Paul and Grandma Nondice’s first home. They moved in shortly after Grandpa returned home from World War II. As you can tell from the pictures, they very well could have been the last people to live in this house. It is almost completely overgrown with trees and bushes. This is probably an appropriate metaphor to end this post – my Grandfather’s house, being reclaimed by the Earth.

You can click on any of the images to see them larger. Enjoy…

Small house completely overgrown by trees
Small house completely overgrown by trees
Small house completely overgrown by trees

Tech Info:

Portrait
Sigma SD9
Sigma 50mm f2.8 Macro
f4 | 1/90 | ISO 200

House
Fuji GS645S
60mm f4 Fixed Fujinon Lens
Fuji Acros 100
Ilford Ilfotec DD-X Developer
Epson 4870 Scanner + VueScan + Adobe Camera Raw

2 thoughts on “Wray, CO | A Portrait And A House | Goodbye Papa Paul”

  1. I remember your Grandpa from several visits. He had all the virtues of a salt-of-the-earth, hard-working farmer and rancher and none of the vices of “cosmopolitan” persons. Your photo of him is just how I remember him, goodness and smiles to share with anyone. I’m sure you all miss him, but his memories and values will be with you forever. May God bless and comfort you all.

  2. Thanks Miriam. When I think about Grandpa Paul, the first things that pop into my head are bib-overalls and a pocket watch. He was definitely of a different era.

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