lane cooper's feet

Hey Ya'll -- nothing's better than an Alabama girl barefoot!

being in banff...

Pictures: Roadside view from on the way to the Columbia Ice fields; 3 images from Castle Mtn., Rockbound Lake Hike with Scott Dorman, Susan Bowman and Charles Tucker; 2 images of My Studio at the Banff Centre

At the halfway point. The clock is ticking.

How do I explain this place to you? A brilliant idea I must admit. Whoever thought to put so many creative people into a single place and then to fund it, brilliant. It allows for a focusing on work that other places and spaces don’t quite. No worries about food. A forced separation from the concerns of real life. A complete freedom from stress. No need to think really except about work. Jazz in the evenings and places to walk, hike, think, be alive.

First one must find a rhythm. Get up. Get coffee. To the studio. Decide what must be done today. Set goals. Make plans. Mid-afternoon, a break please. The only danger, too much time to think. Affairs blossom like mushroom spores here. The waiters will tell you, “Don’t you know what this place is known for?” A bit of drama, a thrill to push the blood and make sure we remember we’re the passionate ones. I’m in luck. I brought mine with me. (A smile here).

In my studio, a fairly square room with white walls. In our room, beige. One big bed and maid service. Meals in the Dinning Hall remind me of the assisted living place my mother spent her last months. Dinner is too early. Meals at set times. The food, well above average, never-the-less becomes routine.

The jazz and the players. All young, earnest, sweaty palms and false bravado. I know their names. They don’t know mine. Beautiful, talented. I long for my youth and the possibilities of naïveté.

The land takes your breath away. It is almost, on the edge of, sublime. The sun is like Miami but the wind is its own thing. Yesterday we climbed a mountain.

a new blog...

It occurred to me that I live a very different life than I once imagined, or maybe it's very like I imagined... At any rate, I go places and hope to go more. I find myself documenting these travels and in the course of them ruminating on various and sundry topics. I like the ether. It gives me a place to put things and I don't mind if you look over my shoulder.

My most recent travels include a last minute trip to New York and a drive across the continent from Cleveland, OH to Banff, Alberta, Canada, where I'm participating in an artist's residency. Also on location are three of my colleagues who also happen to be my friends and in one case my partner: Charles Tucker; Saul Ostrow and Amanda Almon. I will spend the next couple of days writing about that drive west and my impressions of the place I am in right now.

The images on this post are of my last trip to New York. I've been going there a lot over the past year. I'm trying to conquer my own demons and claim a place for myself. It's a source of great pride for me that I'm comfortable traveling alone. That's not to say I don't very much enjoy traveling with companions but there is a certain freedom and sense of accomplishment when one gets there alone. I become my own companion and I end up photographing my travels as if I were a tourist in my own life.