Laura Boston Thek Imagery » West Virginia

What Good is a Broken Camera Anyway?

lthek — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:40:42 +0000

While at a BBQ in WV, I met a very precocious little girl, in my humble opinion the best kind, but she asked me to take her photo. I was shooting that day with my vintage Rolleiflex medium format film camera so I helped her perch herself on her lawn chair like throne.

She was a patient little model, sitting still and giving me various adorable expressions while I set the exposure for the changing light. SNAP, went the old camera….whir whir whir, I cranked the handle advancing the film. Off she jumped and came running…”SHOW ME, SHOW ME”. I had to giggle, there I was trying to explain to this inquisitive little person that there was no TV on the back of this camera. It was too old for that. She looked at me eye brows furrowed and a face that simply said….”So sad…what good is a broken camera”.

With that she ran off down the grassy hill to play with the other much more interesting kids.

If You Build It…They Will Come

lthek — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:18:48 +0000

On my first morning in West Virginia, (or as it is commonly known, WEST BY GOD VIRGINIA), my mother took me up the street to see the start of a local farm movement. Each Saturday a group of local growers and crafts people are gathering in a vacant lot on Main Street in Sisterville, WV. They creatively display their home grown and home made wares, as country music fills the air. A lovely group of friendly faces shared with me their goals and expectations for this new endeavor.

If you are in WV and make it to Sistersville it is worth trying to get here on a day that they are having their market. Country crafts frame around the deliciously fresh picked veggies while local ladies chat while selling jams and jellies and tenderly cared for plant cuttings.

Wild and Wonderful

lthek — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:10:12 +0000

Several yeas back my family made the great migration to West Virginia, following some friends who were basically priced out of NJ by spiraling costs and taxes. After many tries in different towns, my mother and her sisters settled down ironically in a picturesque town along the Ohio River called Sitstersville. With a town ferry and mansion like Victorian homes still present as a reminder of their bountiful oil and gas history, it is a peaceful place for my family to find a home.

Sometimes I feel as if I have lived many lives. The New Jersey Laura, big hair and all, the artist Laura who lived in Florida, the European Laura and luckily for me, the Laura the West Virginian. Before I was married I was blessed to spend time getting to walk in the hills and meet the amazingly colorful locals who added much to the depth of my life and knowledge. Never a truer person has been met than a West by God Virginian. It was here that I learned your word is your bond.

As interesting as I found meeting my neighbors here I believe they too enjoyed meeting the fast moving fast talking New Jersey-ans. I learned much about life from my quietly brilliant neighbor Norman. His life lessons I still hold close.