ashleyonmusing: dinner with Hemingway

michelleattala.com

I feel as though I had dinner with Ernest Hemingway the other night. Sunday night was AMC's old work's Christmas party. For the last two years now, they have chosen a delicious restaurant in Denver in which to dine and share a chat. But, this is no stuffy crowd, these are artists. That night it was a table mostly of nature photographers since John Fielder (Ernest Hemingway) is a landscape nature photographer, mostly of Colorado. It's a safe bet that at least one of two homes you visit in this Rocky Mountain state will have a John Fielder book on their coffee table or in their collection. Most likely it will be Colorado: 1870 to 2000, in which he took old photos from across the state shot in 1870 and in 2000 stood in the exact same spot as the original photograph and snapped a shot. It's amazing to see how the earth has changed, the size of towns and architecture has changed. Anyhow, that is the best selling book in Colorado history. He's a little bit famous, but not like GaGa or anything. Actually, that night we had to explain to him who Lady Gaga is and how she wore a meat dress. But, anyway.

One of my most favorite things is to ask people who have so obviously found "their work," how they found it. Here is the story of John Fielder. (this story is from my recollection, so don't burn me at the stake for, you know.) He was a businessman in marketing or accounting for a big department store here in Denver in the 70's, and photographed as a hobby. He was married and had a few young kids. One day he said to his wife (who has since passed away from Alzheimer's) "I want to be a nature photographer full-time." And then the key words, "I have a plan."

Now, from what I gather, no one was a full-time photographer in the 70's. It didn't exist really, at least not in a 'pay your bills' type of way. (what a rebel.) He probably looked a little bit cuckoo, which is usually a good sign in the long run, right? His wife said, "I'll give you a year. If it's not working, you'll go back to Marketing." (I never met her and I love her for saying that.) And John set off, and never looked back. Today he has a gallery (for which our very own AMC was the Gallery Director) is a key note speaker all the time, is friends with the Governor and other important people, does trips all over the world with people to teach photography....he's a busy very successful guy who in his older years, drives his corvette on shoots and doesn't sleep in a tent in freezing tempuratures like he used to. Been there, done that.

As I mentioned before, John's wife passed away something like 6 years ago now. To me, there is always a thin layer of sadness upon him, I think he naturally misses his wife. But, let me tell you, he certainly seems to be enjoying his position these days in a way too, especially with the women. I saw a photo of him in the 70's and he was no hot stuff (sad but true) Today though, with his confidence and success, plenty of women want to be his friend. He is very classy about it though, which I like. Plus, there is a woman who has just stolen his heart (that's my hypothesis) and she was at dinner. (! exciting)

Enter Michelle Attala. A blonde from Zambia, Africa. Oh that accent! And get this, she's a nature photographer....of Africa. We are talking stunning photos of elephants, African sunrises and native children. We are talking National Geographic. She's very intelligent. It's almost like she's the woman version of John Fielder! She's extremely spunky, and pokes lots of fun at John, which is good, because he needs a little bit of fun since he has the propensity to be somewhat (ok,very) serious. Last year, not long after meeting, John asked Michelle to take him on a photography expedition.... in Zambia. And so, together, they woke up before the sun and rode in Jeeps in the African bush, both snapping photos. (romantic? I'm sure!) No one knows what happened on that trip romantically, but, she was at dinner, sitting right next to him, teasing him the whole time and giving him hell for being "the John Fielder." Actually, she kept calling him JTF (his initials) which I loved since I also have a thing for 3 letter names (AMC). Her sister and mother were also there, along with a table full of great people who work with and for John, as well as pursue their own photography. And so, it was a table of photographers, which is pretty cool it turns out, because as a young girl I said I wanted to be a National Geographic photographer. So, I got my moment of it on Sunday, in an extremely vicarious sorta way.

Now, for the Ernest Hemingway thing. It dawned on me when John asked down the table where AMC and the new director went. I said outside to smoke a cigar and catch up on gallery business. John said he also smokes cigars and why wasn't he invited. (ha! The boss always thinks he should be invited!) I said that I also like cigars and so he asked if I'd ever smoked a Cuban. I have, we have. Just after we got engaged in Venice, AMC and I found a tiny little smoke shop that was selling Cubans for nothing. We bought all that were in the box and went to smoke two at the end of a dock, with our feet in the water, just where the canals open up and it's a big expanse of Meditterean water. Because he's John Fielder, of course he could top that. He said that while he was in Cuba he developed some kind of relationship with someone who would send him the same cigars that Fidel Castro smokes (smoked?) The reason he knows this is, at the tip of the cigars sent, there was a special way that the extra leaf end was rolled and cocked to the side, which apparently was the signature of Castro cigar. In short, JTF said, he has smoked with Castro. Only a Colorado Hemingway could say that. And I'll take it!

I took one photo of the party that night. Voila!

John is the one eating. Michelle is the blonde on his one side, talking to her sister at the end. Michelle's mother is nearest.

To see Colorado at it's most beautiful, or to view photos of the Africa expedition he and Michelle went on visit http://www.johnfielder.com.
Michelle's work can be found at www.michelleattala.com

Just for fun, I did a Google image search and found these: