Jess LeClair Photography Blog

Sorry this update is a day late! Flickr has been having the hiccups and was slow and temperamental yesterday! But it seems to be working fine now!

So my first theme was Ice and Snow. It was a good week for it, as we got almost 2 feet of snow just before the new year. But near the end of the week, I decided to stretch a bit and see what would happen.

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The theme for next week is Red. Check back and see how I do or keep up with my daily work on my flickr site!

I have always loved cemeteries and graveyards.  Some people may find that strange or morbid (or a slightly pathetic attempt to be goth).  A friend told me recently that she finds it disrespectful to be in a cemetery when you don’t know anyone there who has passed.  She felt that cemeteries are for the grieving and as such, should be left well enough along.  I disagree.  Cemeteries are for the grieving certainly, and must be approached with respect, but they are also a place where people go to remember the people they love.  Cemeteries for some act as a place they can go to be near the ones they have lost.  People put up beautiful monuments to honor the love they have that lives past death.  And people can do some pretty cool things when they love.  So grieve, yes, but remember and love, too.

There is also a slightly sentimental part of me that feels sorry for the stones of people who died so long ago that no one living remembers them.  So I visit them to make them feel less lonely.  Silly, maybe, but I find it leaves me feeling very peaceful to walk among the monuments to the dead.

Anywho.

I’ve mentioned before that I lived in Ireland for the first half of 1999, while attending the Burren College of Art (see the post about my friend Alahna). One of the projects I worked on while I was there was a photographic study of the local cemeteries and graveyards. More specifically, the things people would leave on graves to remember their loved ones.

The things I found most often were these little globes. Filled with a small plastic religious icon (Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were the most common followed by any number of saints and holy people), water and fake flowers, they were simply every where.

Each slightly different, each beautiful and eerie in its own way.

The graves themselves were often covered with gravel and/or small colored stones (the kind you’d find in a fish bowl, only slightly larger) instead of grass.

Some had been there so long they’d broken or simply just rotted away.

This was one of the last photos I took while photographing the series. I’d seen other graves with a small stone platform, low to the ground, with an elegant engraving encouraging the visitor to “Kneel and Pray”. This family must have simply run out of money for the professional engraving, but wanted the sentiment nonetheless. The idea that their love and faith was stronger than their lack of money was moving to me. In fact, I found the image so powerful that it became representative of the whole group of images and I eventually used it at the title for and main image of my senior show at Brown.

I met Alahna when I was living in Ireland in 1999 and attending the Burren College of Art for a semester. Amazingly enough, she was also from Maine and struggling with so many of the same issues I was. We bonded very quickly.

I photographed her a lot while we were in Ireland. She is infinitely photograph-able and put up with me quite well.

I mean really, how could you not like this woman? Besides her kindness and HUGE heart, she is just, like, totally adorable!

Though this picture is kinda crappy (taken with a disposable camera in low light - yikes!) it is a great reminder of all the fun we had (and all the Guinness we drank).

One of my favorite photos of myself in Ireland is this one that Alahna took of me:

It really has nothing to do with the photo itself and everything to do with the story behind it. We were at the Cliffs of Moher (for probably the 3rd or 4th time) and Alahna noticed this little display that was playing Irish music. And she said, “Oh! Music! Stand in front of it and I’ll take your picture.”

Um, you want to take a picture of me with the music?

Hence the look on my face.

Our friendship survived the long voyage back across the pond and has strengthened so much in the intervening years. We both finished college and struggled with what to do next in our lives.

And then this guy happened.

And then this happened (as these things tend to).

She is five months pregnant in this picture. I took this at her baby shower in August of 2006.

At the time, she and Tom (the guy) were (and sadly still are) living in Colorado. So when she was home in Maine on a summer visit, her parents took the opportunity to throw her a big ol’ party. It was amazing and sweet to see the huge outpouring of love for her and this new life growing inside of her. The party was held in the gym of the elementary school where her mother works and where Alahna attended once upon a time. I stole her away from the party for a few precious minutes to take some photos.

Much to my dismay, these are the only pictures I was able to take of her during her pregnancy. The next time I saw her was almost a year later and by then the baby was very much on the outside.

Armando Mael, AKA Manny, is almost 8 months old in these pictures. Hes got such a great expression on his face here. Like he is not quite sure what the thing strapped to my face is or why its pointed in his direction.

Alahna can make him laugh SO HARD. There are very few things better than baby giggles and his are some of the best.

Alahna and Tom were both very excited I caught this face on film. Evidently he makes it all the time, but this is the first time they’d gotten him to do it for a camera. Holy Strange Face, Batman!

I love how concerned he looks in this picture.

Alahna’s sister is also named Jessica, so I will be his Auntie Jess while she gets to be his Aunt Jessie. Terribly confusing, I know, but what else are we to do? He has to call me something! Hopefully they’ll all move back to Maine in another year or so when Alahna is finished with her advanced schooling. And then I’ll have this little guy and his momma to photograph to my hearts content! Just as with Laura and her family, it is so much fun to have a whole new generation of friends to play with. I love my work!