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Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 22:05:25 -0800
To: 
From: Carl Cook 
Subject: RE: Non chatty group/Barbara
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At 11:05 AM 3/26/2003 -0700, you wrote:
>Address recieved, print will be on it's way soon.

Thank you -- I'm looking forward to seeing it. I've just printed yours. 
Hope you like it.

>I had jokingly mentioned doing road kill and now I'm taking it seriously.
>I'm drawn to road kill because of the emotions it makes me feel, I suppose.
>I'd like to see if I can get those emotions on print. We all take pictures
>of beautiful things because we like the way they make us feel. But, I
>personally feel distant from certain beautiful pictures. Will I feel distant
>from this new subject as well when I view my own prints? I'd like to hear
>how other people feel when looking at 'em. I will find out. My new
>experiment.

I'd like to see them as well, and hear your feelings about this new way of 
seeing for you.

>You got my curiousity on Joel Peter-Witkin.

You can probably look him up on the web, but be warned, some find his work 
gross, and he has also been called onto the carpet for his occasional use 
of human corpses in his work.

I just rubbed my eye and forgot I had Eucalyptusmint on that hand. Stand by 
one.

>The racoons head melted? No skull??? I imagine that if it was badly crushed
>then you wouldn't have even bothered. It must have had some shape to it to
>make you go through all the trouble. Maybe some animals got to it?

I don't know what the story was here. I normally put skulls and other body 
parts into a paper bag, then in a hamster size cage, placed under a tree 
out back in the woods. The cage allows the bugs in that will clean the 
bones for me, but of course do not allow bigger critters in.

A raccoon skull is pretty big, and the head was undamaged, so there is no 
way it could have been carried away. It was just...gone! Another mystery. 
Oh well.

I did have a raccoon coming around  to steal cat food. This went on daily 
for a week or so. When I saw the masked beast, I would run outside and try 
to chase it away. The raccoon would quickly run up a tree, stop, look down 
and laugh. Finally, I came upon a scheme. My video store had given me a 
cardboard Tyrannosaurus Rex from a Jurassic Park promo. I put the head in 
the middle of the yard, then when the raccoon emerged from the woods and 
saw it, was like, Whoa!  It didn't know what to do. After a minute or so of 
cautious sniffing, the raccoon turned and disappeared back into the trees. 
I was at the window taking pictures. A few minutes later, it returned and 
inspected the cardboard head again, before heading back to the trees.

When the lure of cat food finally overcame the fear of a cardboard 
dinosaur, it was time for Plan B: A live-trap in the middle of the yard, 
baited with cat food.

 From the window, I photographed as the critter sniffed around the cage, 
before cautiously walking into it. SNAP! I have never seen an animal go 
into a total frenzy as that raccoon did. Running out side, and armed with 
thick welder's gloves, I introduced the trapped mammal to the great 
earthquakes of the world. Shake shake kick kick -- "Here is Anchorage, 
1964!" The animals screamed, growled, snapped! Kick the cage, kick the 
cage, "San Francisco, 1906 and 1989!" And so on. With a completely 
terrorized raccoon in the cage, I carefully opened it and WHOOOSH! A big 
brown and black blur diapered into the woods. The raccoon stayed gone for 
the rest of that year, before turning up the following Spring. The raccoon 
was a female, and this time, brought along one of the kids.  I made a few 
good photos from the window as they sauntered around the yard.

Fast forward to one night, last month, when I heard a meow at the front 
door. Opening it, I was greeted by the outside cat begging for some food. I 
looked up, and where the light from the porch meets the dark of the yard, 
stood a big raccoon, catch lights reflecting from behind the black mask.

I wondered if they ... 'Say, this guy knows you. You go up to the door and 
get the food, see? I'll wait here."


>My son is the only child member of the Houston Photographic Society. He won
>2nd place last night in the Color B category (a category in which all new
>members start out in no matter what experience). It's the very first time
>he's ever entered a print. I just got the notion when I paid my yearly dues


That's great! Good for your boy!  I hope he enjoys himself in your group, 
and am happy he could ruffle a couple of stodgy feathers! :)

We will be looking for his work on the Gallery --

Carl


e-mail: clcook{at}olywa.net
http://www.clcookphoto.com

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