{"id":9246,"date":"2013-12-25T19:44:55","date_gmt":"2013-12-26T03:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=9246"},"modified":"2013-12-26T09:36:20","modified_gmt":"2013-12-26T17:36:20","slug":"disease-cant-shake-photographers-tenacity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/disease-cant-shake-photographers-tenacity\/","title":{"rendered":"Disease can\u2019t shake photographer\u2019s tenacity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photographer Alan Babbitt and his \u201cun-still photography\u201d creation, “Ferris Wheel \u2014 Marin County Fair.”<\/p>\n

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\u201cShake, Not Quake,\u201d an “un-still” Alan Babbitt photo of the Golden Gate Bridge, illustrates the art of motion within a still.<\/p><\/div>\n
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It\u2019s a paradox.<\/p>\n

Alan Babbitt doesn\u2019t see well. But his vision is sharper than most.<\/p>\n

The sixtysomething Fairfax resident is succinct: \u201cI was born with a whole bunch of eye problems, so I was wearing thick glasses from the age of 2 or 3. There\u2019s no question \u2014 without contacts, I\u2019d be legally blind.\u201dBut he refused to let the impairment get in his way.<\/p>\n

It certainly didn\u2019t block his becoming a successful film and video producer, webmaster or award-winning photographer.<\/p>\n

Babbitt\u2019s online site clearly shows his skill. One portfolio spotlights the Santa Cruz boardwalk on a winter\u2019s day. Another contains dramatic, artsy New York City street scenes. A third focuses on lighthearted images.<\/p>\n

Showcased are unusual angles and perspectives, brilliant colors and poignant black-and-white shots.Babbitt\u2019s originality makes the scenically difficult look easy to capture. And he loves peppering his explanatory text with dubious puns and any remnants of humor that happen to be lying around.<\/p>\n

He confesses, for example, that he once \u201cjoined a therapy group for photo addicts based on the \u201812-Stop program.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Ten years ago, though, Parkinson\u2019s Disease invaded his life \u201clike a loud, uninvited house guest who won\u2019t ever leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

The physical shaking made him totally reexamine his life \u2014 and shelf his camera for a while.<\/p>\n

Not that long ago he and I sat in a quiet Thai restaurant in San Anselmo enjoying the sunshine streaming through the windows. He smiled, almost mischievously, like a kid about to let me in on a gigantic secret.<\/p>\n

\u201cParkinson\u2019s adds<\/em> to my vision,\u201d he said. \u201cRecognizing I could use the tremor freed me up like nothing else.\u201d<\/p>\n

I needed no follow-up question; he was on a roll.<\/p>\n

“The disease is about losing control. Finding I could use it was empowering.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you first learn photography, they tell you over and over about crispness, about keeping the camera steady with a tripod. One evening in Las Vegas, where I was alone with a digital camera, I just started shooting. I was able to see right away what I got. Blurs. Streaks.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then people started reacting to it, liking it.\u201d<\/p>\n

So that became his style for some time \u2014 \u201ctremor-enhanced photography.\u201d<\/p>\n

His web site \u2014 www.abproductions.com<\/a> \u2014 contains portfolios dedicated to that innovative technique, \u201cMovement Disorder\u201d and \u201cShake Me Out to the Ball Game,\u201d for example.<\/p>\n

Babbitt grinned as he chatted about \u201ccrossing the border\u201d and journeying to metaphoric \u201cother lands\u201d through his camera lens \u2014 speeding past his disability: \u201cThe tremor is only one kind of movement. I can shoot from a moving car, and move the camera around as well. It\u2019s sort of what I call \u2018un-still photography.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He, too, is very much un-still.<\/p>\n

Babbitt\u2019s taught at the de Young Museum Art School in San Francisco, exhibited at galleries and studios in the city and Marin, held shows at the Richmond Library, Half Moon Bay and Washington state.<\/p>\n

His photos sold out at a December exhibit\/silent auction\/fundraiser in Santa Monica for the Greater Los Angeles chapter of the American Parkinson\u2019s Disease Association.<\/p>\n

In Marin, he\u2019s part of a group show, \u201cArtisans!\u201d \u2014 that will continue, after a holiday break, from Jan. 2 through March 8 at the Falkirk Cultural Center, 1408 Mission Ave. (at E St.), San Rafael. Works from his new \u201cPhoto Blendo series\u201d that fuses \u201csymmetry, synthesis and serendipity\u201d also can be viewed on the walls of San Rafael\u2019s Miracle Mile Caf\u00e9, 2130 4th St., through the end of January.A while ago Babbitt participated in an Art for Recovery program in San Francisco featuring readings from letters exchanged by patients and medical students.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the gratifying things is that people have seen the work and been inspired by what I\u2019m doing,\u201d he tells me. \u201cIt feels good getting those e-mails and letters.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them have been from photographers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd a 12-year-old girl wrote me and asked to use me as the basis of a school report. That\u2019s the kind of thing that inspires me to do more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, it can feel pretty heavy \u2014 until you fully grasp <\/strong>the positive attitude that springs from the bearded, gray-haired guy with brown eyes that frequently display a twinkle:<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no doubt Babbitt cultivates his tendency to be upbeat, his affinity for the amusing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoon after I got the diagnosis,\u201d he recalled, \u201cI thought of occupations that would be possible by using tremors: egg-scrambler, paint can-shaker, human vibrator. Sure, having Parkinson\u2019s can be depressing, but humor can help fight that.\u201d<\/p>\n

His occasionally dark humor is quickly evident online, sprinkled be<\/p>\n

tween his straightforward photos and experimental tremor shots that highlight bright streaks and patches, rings and blotches of light, geometric shapes.Spoofing a Viagra ad, he warns that \u201cif feelings of giddiness\u2026persist for more than four hours, just turn on the news for a few minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want to witness what he labels \u201ctitters, snickers and snorts\u201d? Or, more to the point, want to be visually impressed? Check out his work and see for yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a paradox. Alan Babbitt doesn\u2019t see well. But his vision is sharper than most. The sixtysomething Fairfax resident is succinct: \u201cI was born with a whole bunch of eye…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9246","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"