On the day that exhaustion finally overwhelms me, I take Jobe to breakfast, see Lynxton with his eyes open and take a publicity photo for National Book of the Year finalist Debby Edwardson
Sunday, October 16, 2011 at 11:17PM 
I am not quite certain how I managed to get out of bed today, but I did. Then, the only thing that I wanted to do was to go right back to bed, but I decided to try to stay up and make some kind of day of it. So I took Jobe to breakfast at Mat-Su Valley Family Restaurant - just the two of us.
Margie stayed home to have some peace and quiet.
Breakfast was pretty interesting. The table got completely rearranged. Sugar, Splenda and jam packets wound up spread across the table, on the seats and on the floor beneath the table. A packet of half-and-half milk and cream got splattered across the seats, the table, the wall, and the window.
Jobe was content and happy threw-out. He loves to be with his grandpa. His grandpa loves to be with him.
This poor young reflected lady was among those who had to clean up after Jobe. She said she didn't mind. She said this was a kid-friendly place. Lots of mothers work here. I left a big tip... about 45 percent.
On Friday, I mentioned that I had not seen Lynxton with this eyes open since the day he was born, now three-and-a-half weeks ago. I said that I might see him Saturday and maybe his eyes would be open then. That was because I thought that after the Barrow Whalers championship game in Chugiak, I would go ahead and drive the extra 15 miles or so into Anchorage, where I could see him.
But when that game ended, I felt so tired and weary that I could do only one thing - get in the car and drive home. It was not the game that wore me out. It was the way I have been living for how long now? One push on top of another, sleep-shorted night upon sleep shorted night... Once I reached home, I got a blanket, lay down on the couch, three cats came to join me and I fell into a strange sleep, one where I am vaguely conscious of the world about me even as I dance in and out of dreams, for two hours.
Afterward, I did not want to get up off that couch at all. I just wanted to stay there, staying in that strange and pleasant sleep for the remainder the day, through the night, all the next day, the following week and the month afterward.
But I had things to do so I got up.
This afternoon, Lynxton came to the house.
He was here for several hours, during which his eyes were open for maybe three minutes.
Here they are, open.
The rest of the time, he was sleeping.
Just like I wanted to be.
My schedule and the way that I have been living has finally caught up to me.
Lynxton's beautiful mother, Lavina.
I will tell you how tired I am. When I first tried to name the picture of Jobe and me that appears at the top of this post, I could not remember how to spell his name. Joby? Jobie?
I couldn't remember!
Finally, it came to me, slowly out of the haze that my brain now dwells in.
J-o-b-e.
Jobe.
Jobe!
This is not Jobe - this is Charlie and Jim and they are working for me.
This afternoon, I received an email from Book of the Year finalist Debby Edwardson. She wondered if I was going to go into Anchorage for her booksigning at the museum. She needed a publicity photo of herself to send to New York no later than early in the morning, East Coast time.
She said if I was not going to come in, she could drive out with George and I could shoot one here.
At first I thought, well, maybe I will go in. It will be fun.
But I couldn't. I was just too exhausted. This would be the first full day that I stayed home in how long? Long time. I could not go. I feared I might drive right off the road.
I thought maybe I could pose her by the front window, where I could get a nice, soft, shape-defining light, but then it became clear that she would not be able to get here until that light had dwindled beyond usefulness.
Regular readers know that I am an available light man. I rarely ever pick up a flash or any other kind of light. I will use whatever light is there and make it work. I did this even before digital and its high ISO's. Even on film, I shot pictures in light so low that many of my fellow photographers said it could not be worked with, but I worked with it.
If I were to shoot Debby's photo this way, it would mean lamps and such, and ISO's at 6400 or 3200 maybe.
I could get a good photo this way, yet, I knew that her publicity people would not want that kind of photo.
So I dug up a strobe light that I had not used in years. I felt very uncomfortable with it. I needed to do some test work - bounce it off this and that, at that angle and this, until I got it to shape the light the way I wanted.
Charlie and Melanie appeared at the door. So I set Charlie down with Jim, gave Melanie a large, white, flat, paper box to bounce the already bounced light off as fill and then shot a few test shots.
None of them worked. I did not get the light I wanted - but I did get this image of Jim and Charlie.
Then Debby arrived, with husband George and granddaughter Josie. In addition to being descended from a long line of Inupiat whalers, George told me that Josie is also descended from a genuine Norwegian king.
"She is a real princess," he said.
As I had not yet got my light, I conducted a couple of experimental lighting shots on George and Josie while Debby combed her hair.
I didn't quite have the light I wanted yet, but I was getting there. It would be a tight head and shoulders shot, so all that distracting stuff in the background would not be a problem.
Then I did a couple of light experiments on Debby herself, with Josie peering over her shoulder.
I still did not quite have it, but we talked Josie out of the frame and I shot it anyway - and somehow, it worked out just right.
I am not going to post the picture here, but will leave it to the publicists to do with it as they will.
Debby's book, My Name is Not Easy, a finalist for the Young People's Literature Book of the Year Award, was released October 1. As of this afternoon, that first printing of 5000 is completely sold out. Book stores across the country are asking for more.
The second printing is coming soon - I don't know how large it will be, but much more than 5,000, I'm sure.
Reader Comments (2)
well my eys are not trained enough to tell the difference between the lighting , to me all the pictures are great. Love seeing your beautiful grandsons and congratulation to Debby.
yes, awesome about debbie. young adults love reading about different cultures. thought of you when i watched a Times video about the start of whaling system in barrow. fascinating to see how the whale is sliced up for everyone. wonder how it tastes. hope you get plenty of good rest.