Memories of Eden – A One Shot Story

I had forgotten about this picture. Last I thought about it was a couple of years ago when I entered it in a gallery’s call for entry. It placed as honorable mention. The gallery used it for this year’s call for entry. When I saw the social media post, took me a second to remember it was even mine.

We had taken nephews on my wife’s side of the family to Europe as a graduation reward. This ridgeline is part of the Dolomites as seen from Bolzano, captured on the long end of a Lumix 100 – 300, F4 attached to the original E-M5. When I edited the image for submission a couple years ago, it was enhanced by more recent Lightroom capabilities.

We got back from the trip on Sunday and I sat down at my home office desk on Monday morning. It was my birthday. I started working through the mountain of e-mails that accumulates over a two-week absence. My boss called. They were giving me a check letting me go. I was an IP threat. They were about to execute what was referred to as the “Big Merge”. Merging data from a prominent social media network, our warehouse of online ad placement information, with financial records from one of the big card issuers. A tricky thing to do while staying on the legal side of the fence. I had been involved in test runs that involved harnessing insights from less high-profile data sets. In the overall scheme of things, I knew too much and cared too little. The age of big data aggregation was upon us, and Marc knew I hated everything about what was coming down the pike.

Looking back nearly 12 years later. Best day of my life.
I had to tend the garden for two years before my non-compete wore off. During that span I had the time to spend with my mother as she faded into the shadows of dementia. I picked up adjunct teaching again at what is now Indiana University – Indianapolis. I spent a lot of time with my camera, it helped me through. Despite the financial and emotional struggles, after the non-compete was up I decided I wasn’t going back. From there, a year later, I found a full-time faculty lecturer appointment at Butler University. Our lives are different, we can’t just hop on a plane and go somewhere on a whim. I can’t do the things for people (my nephews, for example) like I used to, but I am more content and at peace than at any other time in my life.

I miss Bolzano and the Dolomites. In May and June, there is no place on this planet quite a beautiful. Any time I have a student taking a semester abroad anywhere near there, they hear my stories. I show them the pictures.

Last spring I received an e-mail from an advisee. She had taken a semester in Florence and on the way back home, she and her parents took the time for a bus tour. Her words were excited and she wanted me to see the pictures she attached.

They were of the Dolomites. Inspired by the pictures I had made, Eden had come back to me through the eyes and lens of another.

You can find me, my personal work on my Site.
I also am the founder of F2.8Press, Publishers of Undiscovered Photography. We have an open call for submissions for our Zine: “Archive”. Follow F2.8 on Bluesky.
When I am not wandering aimlessly with a camera, I am a Lecturer of Economics and Statistics at Butler University.

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