A Beautiful Sanctus

This recording of John Sheppard's Sanctus from his Missa 'Cantate' is one of my favorites. I was first introduced to it over ten years ago when a friend sent me this album. I tear up almost every time, not only because of the high treble voices, but I love the tenors and the bells at the consecration as well.

This is also an interesting recording in other respects. It's a recreation of a Sarum Use Mass for Christmas day. The Sarum Use is one of the pre-Tridentine forms of the Roman Rite, in use in parts of England before the Reformation. The oddest part about the recording is its attempt at recreating how Latin would have been pronounced in England at the time of John Sheppard (i.e. more like English and less like Italian). It takes some getting used to.

I'll pass some information on the my friend shared with me at the time, to explain the bells. This piece is only the first half of the Sanctus, and it would have been sung while the priest was praying the Eucharistic prayer up until the consecration (it excludes the Benedictus, which would be sung after the consecration). In the Sarum Use at Salisbury Cathedral, on high feast days such as Christmas, Mass would have been celebrated simultaneously on more than one altar. That's why you hear multiple sets of bells ringing at the consecration. Each altar has its own set of bells for the consecration, which are rung at each consecration.

(I've probably shared this before, but it's always worth a re-share).

Ektachrome

For Christmas, my dad gave me a photo scanner. I asked if I could scan some of his old slides to test it out. He gave me a tray and I got scanning. They were pictures from 1981, when my dad was about the same age I am now. Strange to think about.

I love the look of color positive film. It's almost like stained glass. My dad used Kodak Ektachrome, which, if you're interested in trying, is going to be rereleased by Kodak this coming year. I think I'm going to try it.

Well, it's out of focus, but there aren't many photos of my dad smiling so I like it.

My dad working. He designed and built this huge gazebo in our back yard, which can still be seen behind our old house in Opelika.

Life lately

It has been a while since I've blogged in earnest. A lot has been going on lately.

I was sick for over a week. It was weird because my nose wasn't even stuffed up. I had one of the worst headaches ever and I was sore all over and got this awful fever. It all came on so fast, too. I felt fine at breakfast but by dinner I was delirious. I thought it was the flu. My mom took me to a doctor and it turned out to be bronchitis. I've never had bronchitis. I felt sick for over a week but I feel fine now.

I haven't read much over the past six months other than a photography book, but in the past week I devoured three books. The first was The Dictator Pope, a book about all the scandals and issues associated with Pope Francis. Honestly, I wouldn't recommend it, unless you want a recap of many of the concerning stories that have come out over the past few years. I guess what I found most interesting was some of the backstory on Pope Francis, the conclaves before his election, and some of the figures he has clashed with. It was fascinating in parts, but perhaps indulged too much in unsavory curiosity. The author's purpose, though, he said, was to convince Cardinals to be more careful about choosing an unknown figure at the next conclave. He argues that Pope Francis is one of the most capricious, divisive, and authoritarian popes since the middle ages, and that Bergoglio from his youth was formed along the lines of Argentine dictator Juan Peron, hence the title of the book.

The next was a book on the history and general concepts of nonviolence, The Nonviolence Handbook: A Guide for Practical Action by Michael Nagler. It traces nonviolence from Gandhi through MLK and beyond and explains the concepts involved in applying nonviolence to life. I really enjoyed it.

On Thursday I saw the new Star Wars. Which, by the way, I really liked, although I got home and read all the devastating critiques and began to question whether I should have liked it. I guess I would say I liked it as a stand alone movie but I don't like what it means for the overall Star Wars universe.

Anyway, while I was waiting for my friend to get to the theater, I was looking at movie posters. One stood out, which was Love, Simon. When I went home I watched the trailer on YouTube and was even more drawn in. Then I saw it was based on a book called Simon vs. The Homo sapiens Agenda, a young adult romance novel. The reviews were all about how good it was, mostly by women. So, stepping out of my comfort zone a little, I got it on my Kindle (I've never read a young adult book, or a romance novel, much less a gay romance novel). It's true, though, I loved it. I think it's about 300 pages and I read it in two days. I started Thursday night and finished it after lunch today. I could not put it down, and I had to force myself not to skim through it since I wanted to see what would happen next so eagerly.

I think I needed something light. No intricate plot, no obscure vocabulary, no heavy subjects. Just a simple love story. I had the hardest time with the pop culture references, but this was mitigated by all the references to places in Atlanta that I'm familiar with. The book took me back to the first time I fell in love. It took me back to my old friendships and late nights hanging out with my sister in high school. I think it would have been good for me to read in high school, but things were so different even back then.

I don't know, Simon seemed so real I feel sad now that the book is done. I just want him to be okay and be happy.

A song mentioned in the book that I liked:

In other news, my sister learned yesterday that she'll be having a boy in June!

'Wintersun'

As I mentioned previously, the first daffodils of the season came on November 29 for me. The cultivar was 'Wintersun', a paperwhite-like narcissus. I had them in the ground last year, but I dug them in spring and kept the bulbs in a basement over summer. When I potted them up in October they bloomed within weeks. I gave the same treatment to another paperwhite, 'Nir', and they haven't bloomed yet. They might bloom in January.

I took some photos this year on film:

Narcissus 'Wintersun' (Kodak Ektar 100 film)

Narcissus 'Wintersun' (Kodak Ektar 100 film)

Narcissus 'Wintersun' (Kodak Portra 160 film)

At first I'd say the film looks lovely but didn't capture the colors very faithfully. The closest color match is the middle one with the blue background. However, this may be due to the color correction the film lab applied when scanning the photo. I'll have to wait and see what the negatives look like when I get them back. For comparison, this is a photo I took of 'Wintersun' last year that gives an accurate portrayal of the colors:

Narcissus 'Wintersun' (Canon 5D MkII)

Iron Bowl 2017

When I got my Hasselblad camera I read some sites that said never to use the camera without a tripod. For the Iron Bowl this year I decided to ignore this and try shooting the camera handheld. I'm glad I did. I took the camera out during the game and the morning after and took spontaneous photos as I was walking around. Not only were they all sharp, I think I like how they look more than many of my tripod-composed photos.

When I got to this spot to take a photo, there was no one around, but when I took out my camera a lot of people started gathering behind me and taking photos also.

I walked up the municipal parking deck to see what the view was from there.

From the parking deck

Tailgaters during the game by the student center

Outside the stadium

The stadium during the fourth quarter

Tailgaters behind the baseball stadium

About 6:45am the next morning. I'm glad I got there early. I heard later in the day people couldn't find parking downtown it was so crowded.

It was like snow

Another handheld shot from a different roll and a longer lens. Yep, I think I'll do more handheld shots in medium format.

One of my uncle's horses

Cindy (and recent photos)

I recently took some photos of my mom's dog Cindy with my Hasselblad camera. Cindy is 11 years old and lost an eye last year due to cancer in sinuses. The vet actually gave her only four months to live, but it has been almost a year now and she's livelier (and more spoiled) than ever.

"Can I please stand now?"

"Are you still playing with that camera thing?"

 I used Kodak Portra 400 film.

Some big changes ahead in my family. I have another niece or nephew on the way. Both of my parents are also engaged to be married.

My niece with the Hasselblad. Not sure if she's blinking or looking down.

Enjoying her Saturday at Granny's house

Star trails at the lake house captured with Portra 400 with a 6 hour exposure.

My grandfather's Brownie Hawkeye (that I took to Tallassee in the last post) as seen by my Hasselblad. 

Oh, and daffodil season has already begun. 'Wintersun' first opened on November 29. Photos to follow.