I am a member of an on-line group via facebook where the members, who live all over the world, have studied iPhone Photography. We have decided to carry on. In doing so, we work in teams and bring a monthly workshop to the group. I volunteered and in January began thinking about what I wanted to do.

The group is largely based on group validations, some constructive criticism, and ego. We all want to be good, we all want to be recognized, but when learning a craft, there is more. We have to explore those who have come before us, dissect their stories, marvel at their skills, their “eye.”

It began to come together. I started to assemble my info and over six months of exploring, writing, organizing, rewriting, expanding, and never ending, I came up with a veritable course of almost one hundred pages.

“A Tale of Two Vivis.”

Vivian and Vivienne. One a fairly recently found genius who took to the streets and made photography her passion. Many of her photos were taken in NYC. She is now gone.

The other a young, vibrant native New Yorker who used the streets and photography to walk off stress and to develop a passion.

Vivian Maier. Vivienne Gucwa.

Neither one was trained. Both were self taught. Both used their photographs as documentation of existence, as verification of the eye, as a window to the interior. As a reason to live.

If I could post my project I will, I haven’t figured out yet how the huge tome could be transferred without days of reformatting.

And so my course went “live” in June and my time is being spent largely over “there” interacting, cheering, teaching and relating information. Excuse my absence from “here.’

One thing struck me very funny during my research travels: our friends Alan Teller and his wife Jerri Zbiral, artists and scholars, began living a parallel existence to the Vivian Maier story. You see, Vivian Maier died and left a possible 300,000 photographs and negatives, many not even developed, and they were put up for auction, and a number of people bought them and began selling them. She would have no idea, her intent was not fame, but this strange loner likely relieved her stress by taking to the streets with a Rollei around her neck. Alan curated the Vivian Maier exhibit at the Chicago History Museum which was active for five years.

Well, my friends Alan and Jerri bought a box of photographs at auction, too. They turned out to have been taken in India during WWII, likely by an army professional photographer. The Tellers were hooked and began “Following the Box.” Literally, following the box. They received Fulbright scholarships, they lectured, they had exhibits in India and have since gone through the shipping hassles to transport it here, soon to be set up. They follow their passion.

What I keep seeing over and over is that there is a big hand that comes down from the Universe and seems to give us a shove into various directions. Sometimes we heed the thump on the head, sometimes not.

During the past week, there have been two suicides by famous, seemingly successful people, Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain.
These were two, high-energy go-getters who had it all. Or did they? They both appeared to have been struggling with mental illness, they had marital difficulties (possibly as an outgrowth of the illness) and surely had a lot going on that we will never know about. They were both around the same age, considered “young” by today’s standards. Both left daughters.

For some, passion is found and guides you down a path to contentment. For others, no passion is enough. When one grapples with mental illness, there is always a struggle in the background, the hum that never stops.

Until next time, may you be well, at peace and may your passion guide you.