The Fezziwig News by Stu Jenks

"Scorhill Stone In Thick Deep Mist"

"Scorhill Stone In Thick Deep Mist, Dartmoor, UK" & "Gidleigh Wood Folly, Dartmoor, UK" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

I read Shelagh's map. I thought I knew the way to Scorhill Circle. I did not. I got lost in Gidleigh Wood. Or rather, as Daniel Boone once said, "I've never been lost but I've been a might bewildered." That I was.

Yet sometimes when I get lost, I find wonders. I found a folly that evening, a Victorian building built for no particular use other than to employ the manor's workers. I asked around. Oddly, no one except one person knew of this folly. It seemed I wandered onto private land. Oops. One person said if was where two mad sisters lived a hundred years ago who only ate snails. The Snail Sisters. OK.

I retraced my steps and eventually found my way to the Scorhill Circle. Socked in deep mist, long exposure night photography was out for the mist coated my lens. Disappointed? Only a little. I sat on a nearby fall stone, had a smoke, and prayed in the dimming light and the thick damp mist. It was a very good walk in spite of a very large little toe blister I produced that hobbled me the rest of the trip. It was worth it.

In Tucson again. Wind blowing hard. I love the wind. But I'd be lying if I didn't say I long for mist. Thick deep mist.

Some people leave their hearts in San Francisco. I left a part of mine in Dartmoor. I may have to return to get that piece back or leave more heart there. I haven't decided yet. Leaning toward the latter.

"Paris Hoop Dance"

"Paris Hoop Dance, Rue Fabert & Rue Saint Dominique, Paris, France" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

"Chagford Hoop Dance"

"Chagford Hoop Dance, Devon, United Kingdom" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks (For Terri, Howard, Tilly, Shelagh, Rex, Jason, Lock, Virginia, Steve, Jenny, & Dave)

"Forgiveness doesn't mean you absolve the other person for what they did. It means you don't want to hurt them anymore." - Levi Neill.

"Forgive everything. Well, almost everything. At least try." - Stu Jenks.

"Avebury Hoop Dance"

"Avebury Hoop Dance, United Kingdom" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

"Modern Lights, Ancient Flames"

"Modern Lights, Ancient Flames: Avebury Flames Spirals, United Kingdom" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks.

"St. Mary's Whitechapel Episcopal Church, Lively, Virginia"

"St. Mary's Whitechapel Episcopal Church, Lively, Virginia" (c) 2000, 2013 Stu Jenks.

My phone conversation with the NRA

"Michael's Gun" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks (From the book Step Zero.)

The NRA just called to survey me on my views on the recent gun legislation.

"Are you sure you want to talk to me," I said, "for I'm a Southern Liberal Democrat who owns a pistol."

"Yes, we would," said the lobbyist.

He got an ear full.

From high capacity magazines to background checks to mental health issues to how money is power in Washington.

I think my favorite line of the conversation was "Senator Jeff Flake is a friend of Gabby's, but he voted against the bill. Makes me wonder how much money he gets from the NRA that made him vote that way."

Another fine line, if I do say so myself was, "If Jared Lochner had regular sized magazines, more that 1/2 of those people at the Safeway that day would have never been shot." 

I was firm but fair with the lobbyist, didn't say the word fuck once. And he was polite with me to his credit. But money is power in Washington, D.C., and everywhere else on the planet.

 

"Ancient Rockaway Beach"

"Ancient Rockaway Beach, California" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair: Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, California"

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair: Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, California" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

"The Biscuit"

"The Biscuit, Mustang Mountains, Arizona" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

"Ancient Saguaro"

"Ancient Saguaro, Arizona" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair: An Installation

Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair: An Installation

Photography by Stu Jenks. Lighting by Jeff Smith.

The Arizona Biennial is coming up. I'm heading to the post office in a few to mail my submission. It's a crap shoot. Yet this year, I think I have a better chance than average, for this piece falls into the wheelhouse of Contemporary Art quite nicely, if you ask me. (Why my other work doesn't is for another time and discussion.) Wish me luck. I'll know in the First of May.

"Little Colorado River Gorge Hoop Dance"

"Little Colorado River Gorge Hoop Dance, Arizona" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

"18th Annual Piano Burn, Avra Valley, Arizona"

"18th Annual Piano Burn, Avra Valley, Arizona" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

Dan is a master piano tuner (truly a magician what he did for my spinet), yet he (and others, I assume) find pianos that are just beyond all repair. They would end up in the landfill. But it just so happens a friend of Dan's has land in Avra Valley, miles from anything, so they burn these old pianos once a year.

I found it quite the moving, life-affirming experience. Circle of life and all of that.

The one thing I did say over and over again last night, was, "You just don't see this everyday."

"Stained Glass Light at Grace Cathedral"

"Stained Glass Light at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, California" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

"The 28th Kaleidoscope"

"The 28th Kaleidoscope" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

"Tree In The Rock"

"Tree In The Rock, Dragoon Mountains, Arizona" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

"Cradle Rock Kaleidoscope, Arizona"

"Cradle Rock Kaleidoscope, Arizona" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

Three images from Council Rocks...

From top to bottom: "Lizard Man", "Boo Says The Ancient Mogollon Indian Mortar", and "Council Rocks Kaleidoscope". All (c) Stu Jenks, 2013

Peter and Chartreuse's Kaleidoscopes

"Peter's Kaleidoscope" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

 

 

"Chartreuse's Kaleidoscope" (c) 2012 Stu Jenks

 

"Adams Street Rooftop Kaleidoscope"

"Adams Street Rooftop Kaleidoscope" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

Images from the Saum family Bible...

Images from the Saum family Bible: (c) 1882 Holman's Edition and 2013 Stu Jenks

(From top to bottom: "Mary Magdalene at St. John" [My title, not Holman's], "Jesus Healing The Lunatic", "Arrival Of The Good Sameritan At The Inn", "Return Of The Prodigal Son", and "Daniel Interpretating The Handwriting On The Wall".

"...cloudless as a summer day..."

"May your life be as cloudless as a summer day. Your friend, Maud Wright. January 24th, 1884."

I inherited the Saum family Bible after my sister and mother died 18 months ago. I haven't given it much thought, but in the writing of my new novel, Step Zero 2.0, I have good and bad Christians and I need a good King James Bible for research. So off to the musty storage locker I went.

What I found was an beautiful ancient book with the deaths, births and marriages of my mother's side of the family, from the 1860's to a couple decades ago. I had no idea those records were still in the book. I thought those pages had been missing for years. Instead, they were nestled between the Old and New Testament. I filled in the death dates that have occurred in the last few years that I knew: an uncle, an aunt, a father, a mother, a sister. Some questions were answered about my ancestors yet more questions arose, like the twins by Aunt Nan who died in 1941 after having lived only one day. No one's ever talked about those baby's deaths.

The Bible seemed to have been purchased by the great great grand parents after the birth of their second child in 1884. Thumbing through this huge tome I found the above note. I have no idea who Maud Wright was, but my best guess is she was a good friend of the Saums.

"May your life be as cloudless as a summer day," she wrote to her friends. I'm struck not only by the beautiful handwriting but mostly the lovely sentiment.

So did Earl and Nannie Saum have a cloudless life? Doubtful, even though they were wealthy landownders in Northern Virginia. They had sicknesses and successes, failures and weaknesses, births and deaths, most of the fine details lost in Time.

But the kind thought of a friend wishing them calm and peace lives on, in my hands, in my family bible, 129 years later, almost to the day.

I can only hope that a century from now, someone finds a handwritten note from me, wishing a friend love and light. I best get started.

"New Year's Day Surfers"

"New Year's Day Surfers, Rockaway Beach, California" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

"Winter Skies"

"Winter Skies, Dragoon Mountains, Arizona" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

"Easter, 1956, Virginia."

"Easter, 1956, Richmond, Virginia" (c) 2013 Stuart Jenks, Sr., and Jr.

Me at 16 months. Nice photo, Dad. Nice bunny too.

"Cradle Rock Panoramic, Dragoon Mountains, Arizona"

"Cradle Rock Panoramic, Dragoon Mountains, Arizona" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

"El Tiradito" for the upcoming new Fezziwig Press/Stu Jenks website

"El Tiradito, Tucson, Arizona" (c) 1996, 2013 Stu Jenks

The above image was shot with a 1950's Rollei, using Fuji Velvia transparency film. I re-scanned the slide recently, and cropped and fiddled with the color a tad. I like the new photograph even better than the original image, and I like the original quite a lot. A lot, a lot. Why, you may ask? Because this image, this exposure in 1996, started the whole thing.

I had left my creative life behind, even though I had a B.F.A. from Carolina, and had been pretty good at Art. I stopped making art, due to a bunch of reasons, some based in reasonable fears, and others in unreasonable shame. Then my friend Sterling sold me his old Rollei for a song, and I had an idea I would like to get serious about shooting nocturnal photography. So I did, ignoring reason and fear and telling shame to go fuck itself.

After not too long, I thought it would be interesting to bring flame and fire into my night images, not enjoying flashlights and flash that much. And off I went.

Seventeen years later, my life is very different, richer perhaps not in coin but definitely in light, love and with some pretty good artwork too, if I do say so myself. And I own it all to Sterling and that old Rollei and this one image.

Now, I shoot mostly digitally, but I still pull out the old Rollei for those long star circles, and for the occasional hoop dance and flame spiral. Long live film, I say, and the ones and zeros too.

And, friends and neighbors, expect in just a few weeks, a brand spanking new www.stujenks.com website. We will be combining the old Stu Jenks website with the new-ish Fezziwig Press website to make one easy, simple place to buy my wares and see my work. And there will be a lot of new work for you all to see and buy. All eight books will be there, and my four music CDs, and, at this count, close to 600 images. Yes, 600 photographs.

So stay tuned. Film at 11, as we used to say.

"The Imperfect Ornament"

"The Imperfect Ornament: 1890's?, Northern Virginia" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

Found this ornament on a shelf I was cleaning this morning. Another of the old Saum family ornaments. Amazing light in weight, and check out the dent on the right side. That happened when the blown glass cooled, I presume. A beautifully inperfect object. Inperfection makes many things, many people, more beautiful, don't you think?

Eleventh Day & Twelfth Night images from Owl's Head, Arizona.

"Rain Faded Spiral, Owl's Head, Arizona" (c) Eleventh Day, 2013, Stu Jenks.

 

"Dead Saguaro, Owl's Head, Arizona" (c) Eleventh Day, 2013, Stu Jenks.

 

"Owl's Head Panoramic, Owl's Head, Arizona" (c) Eleventh Day, 2013, Stu Jenks.

 

"Owl's Head Kaleidoscope, Owl's Head, Arizona" (c) Eleventh Day, 2013, Stu Jenks.

 

"Owl's Head Fire Panoramic, Owl's Head, Arizona" (c) Twelfth Night, 2013, Stu Jenks.

 

"Owl's Head Campfire, Owl's Head, Arizona" (c) Twelfth Night, 2013, Stu Jenks.