It's maybe a little bit weird to put a picture of my Dad here. . . but it's such a handsome photo, and there's a lot of subtext here, as in any photograph, that's maybe not visible to the naked eye:
1. My mom took the photo with a small digital camera. She's not a trained photographer, though she clearly has a good eye and the day and the sky were really cooperating--because the set up of the shot and colors and the composition blow me away. So, for me, this is a photo both of my Dad and my Mom.
2. Dad is standing amongst soy beans near the end of a particularly difficult growing season in Ohio. Flooding after planting. Scrapping corn for soybeans. Then too dry conditions. It's a miracle these plants--the Plan-B plants--are there and so handsome for the shot. And a triumph for my Dad after a season of worry.
3. This photo is where I came from--people who work hard and make things with their bare hands. It's a proud start for me. It's a humbling start for me.
4. Nature's design is often the best design. . . which we all know, but sometimes, I think, forget. Especially those of us living in cities. Green and brown. Grey and green.
5. Plus, you know, subject/object, signifier/signified, Roland Barthes, yadda yadda. . .
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