HOUSE OF CARDS

Funny how years go by and while walking down the street of a city of six million you see someone you haven's seen for 15 years, have a brief conversation with them and become filled with inspiration.

I opened my business, Full of Soup in Manayunk, PA on December 24, 1992 in the Manayunk Farmers Market on Main Street; just a few doors down the street was a great store named Pacific Rim owned by Bruce Kravetz which sold imports of funky clothes, jewelry, pottery, etc. I didn't know Bruce at the time, but always stopped by his store, both in Manayunk and on South Street. The business and I were in Manayunk for four years, and over the years I would see Bruce on and off. I'd toss a tilt and nod of the head and a wave of the hand for a hello; nothing more, nothing less.

Fast forward fifteen years and today I'm walking the streets of Philadelphia, in front of Love Park to visit my former chef of Full of Soup and longtime friend Jeff Davis, who is now chefing at the Franklin Institute. Accross the street and in front of the fountain I see these magnificent life size cards, similar to the ones you would see in your basic card deck, only these are much more elaborate, intricate and just plain beautiful, resting and nestling next to each other just like they did when I was a little kid and spent hours building a house of cards. Since I had my film camera with me, which unfortunately only had six pictures remaining, I thought let me get a few pictures of these great cards before I leave the city; but as chance would have it, I got distracted at the Franklin Institute and used up all of my film. On my return trip to the El ~ there were those cards again, so I crossed the street to visit the tourist center on the remote chance they just might have a roll or two of cobwebbed and dusted film lying around, cause let's face it, other than film specialty stores who is still carrying film. Directly in front of the tourist center on a chair sat Bruce Kravetz; well I recognize you I said, I remember you from Manayunk and I remember you he said; we then actually introduced ourselves to each other for the first time officially.

I knew after his business closed he was doing photography work as I had stumbled accidentally upon his web site; today I stumbled accidentally upon his HOUSE OF CARDS and what a pleasant accidental meeting it was. We discussed photography, both digital and film, full frame and medium format, printers, lighting, studios and I felt I had known this person forever. After our conversation which lasted about a half hour we said our goodbyes; I left, and for the rest of the afternoon I didn't feel that overwhelming feeling of angst and nausea which as of late seems to permeate my being expressing itself with those ever repetitive words "you need a job" filtering through the caverns of my brain. I left and I felt inspired, inspired to check out the Epson 4400 printer, inspired to actually think about renting a studio rather than convincing myself it would be a waste of money, inspired to take a chance with some of my more lofty ideas, change the papers, change the materials, be more assertive and ask if the homeless mind if you photograph them. For an afternoon I did not paralyze myself with analysis of if I photograph this or that am I being exploitive. For one sunny afternoon in September I ran into a passing acquaintance who inspired me enough to let me be me.

On October 22, 2009 Bruce Kravetz will display his HOUSE OF CARDS at the Visitors' Center at Love Park in Philadelphia, PA.