Andrew takes a lot of pictures.  If you've ever been to his site, you know what I mean.  There are a lot of pictures over there, and he takes more and more each year.

I incorporated Andrew's photos into my life in many different ways: saving them as my desk top image at work, taping a small printout on my purse to do list, and now I'm using them to illustrate this blog.

The first year we were married, I kept journal with photos.  Every day I wrote about what we did, how our lives were going.  I loved doing that, and I'm glad I have a record of that year, but we seem beyond words now.  Since then, Andrew's pictures have become a visual history of our life together.  I can go to bluepanic and step through the years, each image a reminder of our adventures.

We often go on photographic adventures.  Andrew will grab his camera and we'll drive somewhere specific, or sometimes we just leave our apartment and walk.  Recently, when I wanted to go to the opening of a craft store, Andrew brought his camera along and, after 5 minutes looking around the store, we spent an hour walking around the Northern Liberties.

There are some things that I just know will grab Andrew's attention.  Like the doll above.  This tiny crime scene hints at violence, real and imagined.

Andrew takes a lot of photos.  Sometimes I look at what he's doing.  Sometimes I wander a little.  But even if I paid the closest attention to his subjects, I would never see what he saw.  He has the ability to extract things from their context - to see the balance and composition in the shadow of a fence, a crumpled pile of leaves.  In my world, I want to convey the experience of standing on that deserted street strewn with trash by explaining every detail, but Andrew can do it with a picture of a doll.

[photo taken 11-11-2006 in Philadelphia]

[title from the lyrics of "Baby's on Fire" by Brian Eno from the album "Here Come The Warm Jets"]