Tomato Maniac!

Have you guys been to "Tomato Mania" at the Cal Poly Plant Center?

It's exactly what it sounds like.  Hundreds, maybe thousands of tomato plants...  dozens of varieties...  bazillions of tomato-crazed gardeners.  See that guy with the rake up there?  That's the biggest tomato maniac in California.  He's also my dad.  Every year, he and my stepmother drive up from San Diego to buy their tomato plants from Cal Poly during the annual event.  They FILL their car with more tomato plants than anyone would ever need, park it in the shade- hang out with us, and drive home.  I'm serious.  

This year he shocked me by suggesting that they might not make it.

Dad: *flipping through the "Tomato Mania" plant catalog*  

"Yeah, I went a little overboard last year and had more tomatoes than I knew what to do with"

Me: "YOU, overboard???  Nooo..."

Dad: "Well, I planned to give some of them away- but then I just couldn't bring myself to do it."

***At this point, he seemed resigned to skip it.  I was shocked.***

The day before the madness, he called back...

Dad: "Maybe if I limit myself to 5-6 plants..."

Me: "That's a great idea, dad.  But is it really worth driving all that way for tomatoes?  You know, they sell them in San Diego too, right?"

Dad:  "Yeah, it would mean a little over an hour of driving per plant." 

***At this point, I assume he's not coming.  Right?***

Wrong.  Meet the maniacs:

That woman at the top is my stepmother.  Notice the pop-up chair, and the tomato catalog.  They sent this photo at around 7am.  Tomato Mania starts around 10:30.  Needless to say, they were first in line to "beat the crazies".  Umm...  They left San Diego at midnight the night before; is it necessary to point out that they might just be "the crazies"?  

Some of my favorite quotes from the tomato-twosome:

"The strategy is to work as a team, but split up.  One gets the cart, we divide up our picks into two parts, and then we each branch off and get half the list.  We got 12 this year.  Last time we got 16... it might have been 18.  We contained ourselves a little bit this time."

"The second day is for the laggers... the ones who think they don't have to go out of their way for tomatoes."

"Well, we're regulars... so if we didn't show up, they might worry and wonder where we were."

"We go for the camaraderie, being there in the tomato frenzy and the rush at the gate is fun!"

"Top of the line tomatoes!  They do better than other tomatoes at any nursery."

"We share gardening tips, tomato stories... 75% of it is getting there early and chatting with people about which tomatoes do well.  We all have like-interests.  The camaraderie is a huge part of it.  Most of the people are expecting us.  We all show up from different parts of California; there's Bob from Orcutt, the gals from Paso, and Atascadero Phil- he's always there."

"The varieties I'm most excited about this year are: "Anna's Noire", "Kellogg Breakfast", and the "Mexican Midget".

"It's all about something they can't live without."

So did my dad limit himself to "5-6 plants" like he intended?  Of course not!  It wouldn't be tomato mania without a carload!  But that's ok.  Like he said, it's about the camaraderie and the friends they've made.  Tomato mania is so much more than tomatoes.  It's supporting the school, the students, the agricultural department.  It's gardeners and enthusiasts coming together once a year- sharing tomato stories, growing tips and having an opportunity to ketchup.  ;)

magic shots...

I started taking photography pretty seriously in high school.  I remember the very first photo I developed and printed on my own.  It wasn't very good, but it was so satisfying to unravel my negatives and see the images, sharp and contrasting in the light.  In college, my bathroom/closet/study was also a slash-darkroom.  It was necessary!  Little else compares to that magical moment in the darkroom when the projector is raised and focused, you're adjusting... you're adjusting... and then *pow* you see that perfect crisp line.  You turn on the light, you say a little prayer.  You plunge the paper into chemicals...  developer, stop bath, fixer.  Even in the red light, you see that it's perfect.

It's tough to maintain that level of focus when children come into the picture...  I've forgone film for the ease and speed of digital.  There's still a magic moment, but it's no longer in the technicality of the process, it's in catching that wry little smirk at just the right nanosecond.  I live for that smirk.

I take so many shots of the babies, in pursuit of it- that it's sometimes easy to overlook the rest of the family.  My parents, in particular.  I've taken snapshots of them, sure... but I'm at an age now that I truly appreciate and admire them; I want portraits that reflect who they really are and what they mean to me.  I had a very happy realization recently that in the past year, I had captured separate images of both of my parents that embodied exactly who they were, and what they are in my eyes.  A magic shot.  Technically-speaking- no, these are not my best photographs, but what does that matter if they're my favorite...

The first one is my mother.  In the photo, she's holding Elliott when he's just ten days old.  She was out of state when he was born, and throughout my very difficult pregnancy, and the look on her face here says everything about the worry of the past 9 months evaporating. I often worry about my mom and the stress in her life; but in this photo I see all of that just melt away.  She's just completely serene, and it makes me so happy.

The next one is my dad.  To say he's a beach guy is a gross understatement.  He's a waterman.  He comes to visit every year for James' Birthday (New Years Day) and they do the Polar Bear Dip in Cayucos.  I captured this shot of him coming out of the water.  Freezing!  But look how happy he is.  My dad's smile turns into a laugh, and that turns into this great, loud, "haHA" sort-of backwards cackle.  I can actually hear it in my head when I look at this picture and it makes me giggle to myself.

I can't tell you how happy it makes me to have these. I highly recommend capturing your own magic shot of a parent or loved one.  Take 25 shots of someone you love, heck, take 50, or 100! We all shoot digital now anyway, right?  Then go through each of them until you see that special thing that there's no word for.  That thing that captures the essence of them.  It need not be particularly posed, or technically correct, or even perfectly dignified- it just needs to make you smile.  :)