"Dark Room" Photograph

The back room of the house sat off of the kitchen. I would venture to say that over the years more conversations took place in that room than the whole rest of the town combined, but I digress. We’re talking about the family room with a worn, comfy couch and a table where a future children’s book author spent a great deal of time drawing and pouring over photographs. In the evenings it was the social hub of an ever growing and changing group of friends. If one knows the players, it is possible to see a pattern and recognize those with the strongest bonds to the artist who lived there. I like to think of myself as one of them. Looking back, a great deal of conversations took place in the late hours of the night among those who visited. Discussions of important revelations with regard to people we were seeing, questions and plans for the future, and self-deprecating tales one only shares and laughs at with the closest of friends. The house is gone now and most of those conversations take place in email or on a cell phone as most everyone has scattered to different states across the country: California, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio. Others still remain in Pennsylvania but are separated by distance. This photograph was taken in that room on an evening of experimenting with lighting.