Duck, Duck, Duck, Goose!

Duck, Duck, Duck, Goose!, photographed November 2010, Milford, CT by Shannon Finney

Sometimes the best pictures literally walk right in front of you - well, at least that was the case with this photo. The site of these geese making their way to the pond across the road certainly brightened up this overcast fall day!

Friday Night Lights: Shelton



Friday Night Lights: Shelton, photographed October 2010 in Shelton, CT by Shannon Finney

The town of Shelton, Connecticut is in the midst of a renewal. Like a lot of New England towns, it was a city of industry, producing everything from helicopter parts to rubber goods.  But the industries that supported Shelton began to leave in the 1970s, and after a massive fire and explosion destroyed the Sponge Rubber Products Plant in 1975, the stage was set for the town's downward march. Today, Shelton is reviving itself, with new building projects downtown, and an infusion of state funds. But the struggles of its recent past are not forgotten, and some of Shelton's young citizens are pondering their futures. Do you get out or get stuck? There are glimmers of hope, mostly coming from the bright lights of the football field at Shelton High School last Friday night, where my husband and I spent the evening with family watching their eldest son, Theo, on the field. It was a big night - senior night - and the last home game of the season. It was a bitter-sweet night, of pride at the accomplishments of these senior high school players and anxiety over what their futures will be. After the game, we along with the hundreds of other spectators, parents, families and friends, took to the football field, and, as Theo strided over, face beaming from his team's victory, I noticed the brightness of his future and how it shone on his face. This is youth, this is hope, all under those Friday night lights.



Summer's Last Kiss

Blue Sky Day, Photo by Shannon Finney

Now that it is officially sweater weather here in Washington, DC, it's time for that long, last lingering kiss of summer! I shot this as part of my 2010 Spring Lake Series and whenever I look at it, I'm immediately transported to the hot, gritty sands of the beach, and a sky so blue that it looks like it could only occur in Photoshop. The beachgoers in silhouette sit on a horizontal plane. This photo references everything that is beach to me but laid out in such a way that it appears deconstructed.

Climb

Climb, photographed in 2008 at Wat Arun, Bangkok, Thailand by Shannon Finney

Have you ever experienced something so overwhelming in the scope of its beauty that it makes you covetous? When I stepped off of the boat on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, this feeling of greed, of an eager desirousness engulfed me. Focus - that thing so invaluable to a photographer - was thrown aside and there was only avarice. To be thrown into such a place of visual splendor was heady and so I let loose and snapped furiously away. After 30 minutes in the hot Thai late morning sun, I sat down and looked, truly looked at this place. It was a temple, after all, built for contemplation and exhaultation, so I put away the camera and simply walked around. Looking up at Wat Arun and colorful coat of porcelain fragments I noticed the blue of the sky. From the ground, it looked as if the very top of the monument was scraping against the heavens. And so I began the climb upwards. The central stairway seemed to be the way to go, however its stairs were steep stone rectangles, so that you didn't actually walk up the stairs, rather you did a weird sort of vertical crawl up and up and up. A family of three - a mother and father in their 60s and a daughter who looked college-aged - were heaving themselves up carefully. I gestured for them to pass me and continue upwards. Watching them, I was struck by how the precariousness of the physical climb to the top of this place mirrors anyone's trip to the unknown, to a place beyond what you might be able to see. 

Jim Crow First Person



Cousin Sterling, photographed September 25, 2010 by Shannon Finney

One of the first things you should know about Cousin Sterling is that he loves to talk…and talk and talk some more, until he’s worn you out, and then he moves onto the next person. As you try to politely disengage, he then puts the “grip” on you, seizing your hand and going in for another round on whatever topic has caught his attention. Sitting outside at the old family farm for our family reunion picnic this past weekend I found myself face to face with Cousin Sterling. And as he began his ramble about the state of the world, I interjected with what I thought would lighten the mood - an off-the-cuff comment about what Sterling thought about the Washington Redskins football team.  What I received, instead, was Sterling’s response that he was not and would never be a fan of the Redskins because they were racist. The conversation that unfolded was nothing that I could have anticipated. Sterling told me of his dreams for a career in pro-football. He told me of his on-field exploits while playing college ball at Howard University, and he told me how his personal dreams collided with the prejudice of then-Redskins owner, George Preston Marshall, whose refusal to integrate the team left Cousin Sterling in limbo. In the end it would take the efforts of Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall in 1961 to force Marshall’s hand and integrate the Redskins. But for Cousin Sterling, it would be too late. He would go on to play for the then-Baltimore Colts until a career-ending knee injury in his first season would sideline his pro-football career permanently.  In his 70s now, Cousin Sterling spends his days selling flowers from his truck on the roadside, talking to whoever will listen. I hope they listen well.





The Intellectuals

The Intellectuals, Photographed November 2009, New Haven, CT

I shot this during a morning stroll around New Haven. The air outside was crisp and cold, but inside was all warmth and quiet. Everything about this interior scene repeats this duality - the quartet at table bundled up in their hats and gloves gripping their hot cups of coffee; the heavy, velvet drapes framing the ice-cold landscape. There is a sense of coldness, of disengagement from the group as they sit with each other, but do not interact with each other.

Budapest, My Love

Budapest, My Love, Photo by Shannon Finney, 2010 Budapest

In the age of Facebook, and MySpace and Twitter and YouTube, it would seem that there is nothing left that can truly shock someone. Reality TV adds the extra dimension of multiple cameras and curious group living situations to rachet up the action. But the most unexpected thing that I encountered was along the streets of Budapest, Hungary where I witnessed lovers sharing long, lingering kisses and noted that no one else seemed to mind! Here at home, this is the stuff of hormonal teenagers or of illicit, adulterous grown-ups. The sensual has become the perverse, so much so that we even develop a careful, manicured vocabulary to mute the power of this connection - calling a kiss a "public display of affection" or PDA, the same three-letter acronym used for your Blackberry or iPhone! Asking your crush if you can "hang out" when you really want to ask "will you love me?" What I saw when I photographed this couple was so immediate and intense that the only way I could describe it was with this image.