The Author and the Photographer

Patricia Lyon-Surrey (photographer)

  Ron Thompson (author)

Last Sunday, the book On Cue, Managing Anxiety, Inviting Excellence was launched with a party at Lost Nation Theater in Montpelier, Vermont. About 40 people attended. Ron talked about the book and played the trumpet--a real treat for the audience.  I was happy to see my large, framed photo, Autumn in Black and White on display along with the books.  

On Cue covers the management of anxiety, the importance of skill mastery, and the cultivation of loving attitudes toward's oneself and one's performance.  I contributed the black and photos that illustrate the stories in the book.  On Cue is available from Ron's website.

A Very Personal Account

I'm taking another photo class and this assignment was to record your identity through three images: reality, representation and fantasy.  This is my identity--at least right now!

The reality is that I love doing many things and love being in the outdoors.  I felt a little foolish taking this photo with 3 feet of snow and temperatures hovering in the single numbers in Vermont.

Since I have a Slavic heritage and a Catholic background, I focused on these in my representational image.  If you have read my blog on Scannography, you know how much I am enamored with the images that result from the process.  I therefore, did a scannography of family things: my grandmother Buchta's babushka, my dad's St. Christopher medal, a St. Anthony medal and relic that my dad had given me when I traveled alone to New Zealand.  (St. Anthony is the patron saint of lost things).  I added a Russian nesting doll and a nodding babushka doll that I bought when I traveled in Slovakia.

 

My fantasy image is very personal and a lot more revealing of my life.  In it I am able to visit the past.

I can be with my husband Bob again and feel what it was like to have a family together.  I can pet my former grand-dogs who have both recently died.  I can hug my dad and my Grandmother Buchta once more. I can experience my three sons as children.  I can once again see my mother's spunk.

The past is in black and white while I am in color.