Sun's Set View

February 13, 2010


The words at the end of this blog are about a long time friend. Ralph was a person who with his friend Jim walked up to introduce themselves. It was after the first set of a gig I had with a band at a small club in San Rafael, California. Jim was to become a friend as well. They were both with Ralph’s wife who at the time everyone called, Blondie. Another woman both he, Blondie and Jim knew and also with them was Kyle. All were to celebrate relocating to the sunsets of the west.

The year was 1975 but don’t quote mme; that year was the beginning of a long friendship. After a few years because of mmy constant relocating, our friendship still continued but mostly at long distance. The small group had not long before relocated from their home state of Florida; Fort Lauderdale I think it was. As far as I recall that’s where the rest of Ralph’s family lived.

In the following decade or so, once in a while we’d connect by telephone; cell phones not being the norm at the time. Another few decades later cell phones did become the norm but our connections were still infrequent. It wasn’t until I relocated to the town where he had bought a house/sign shop combination that visits were more often. The distance was about 15 miles and a few towns away.

During that same gig, Ralph’s party was not a quiet one but as this was a small club, they were pretty much the only one’s there. It was still early when our first set had begun. From then on they stayed the whole night which lasted until one o’clock in the morning. After each set we seemed to gravitate to each other and had a great time; the whole night, especially Ralph’s image still in mmy memory.

Just relocating from Florida and in a new mmusic club Ralph was kind of flabbergasted at the quality of the mmusic. He said it was unlike what he and his group of friends had experienced in similar places they’ve frequented in Florida. Needless to say they were all quite complimentary the whole evening; and years to follow, they would follow wherever we performed. Ralph the camera clicker.

Three decades later he still had favourite songs that he continually talked about and listened to from those early days. Ralph was a fan and we (our band) were fans of Ralph. A great guy with a great family. A photographer with an eye for yes

Anyone who knew Ralph would realise sooner or later, mostly sooner, that he had a free flowing vocabulary. His letters to editors, frequent home town radio interviews or just plain call in to banter on the air programs are well documented. Depending on the subject and that I loved listening to the guy, a conversation with him was a glad long listen with short bursts of interjections or to push the buttons of ‘hear more,’ in order to help his passions intensity and once in a while to join in.
His language was colourful, his eyes filled with compassion and passion for others

Every weekday at three o’clock his favourite TV program kept his eyes wondering from that screen to the work at hand; or he’d just drop the work at hand to pay attention to the craziness conversations of those troubled souls Springering their guts over the err waves directed at their mates, the audience or just to the public.

He was captivated by and glued to the insane ramblings of those sad individuals who confessed their crimes, their inhumanity to friends, relatives and to the world of humanity. The crazy die hard TV audiences more times than not ridiculed their every extramarital affairs, baby sitter woes or just plain cruelty to others and self.

Ralph’s inherited genius was that of a sign painter. He owned a sign painting business handed down, taught by his father. He in turn taught his son who I met when he was two years old and who in turn is teaching his son the same vocation.

Kam the son teaches his son Michael a bit more stuff besides the creative processes of sign painting. Michael is quite an accomplished artist himself. Like his granddad and dad before him, he too is winning many awards. He’s a good kid.

Ralph’s sign painting encases the town he worked and lived. No matter where one looks, his creative works had a special glow with his well recognised stamp of approval signature. For a long time, his prices were competitive with a new adversary competitor until it came time to change to digital, which he didn’t or couldn’t, I’d imagine mostly because of the new technology; although his son did.

Besides being an amazing sign painter; artist really, Ralph was also an equally great photographer. His black and whites have won numerous awards. He has won first place in many photography contests competing against thousands of entrants from all over the U.S. His photo awards were a great pride to him as well as those who published his photography in any number of top line magazines.

I remember one particular black and white photo he shot of a lake not far from where I was living at the time called, Phoenix Lake. Petersen’s Book of Photography used that photo as an example to present to other photographers the intricacies of depth of field. I still have the huge signed poster Ralph gave mme.

It’s a great distance shot of the lake; rolling hills in the background layered with various trees; the thick to thin mist of a soft fog; very clear shot. Eerily like the Robert Frost poem the fog seems to be creeping over the landscape on cat’s feet.

Ralph’s position was perfect as usual. He also took many chances with his life to get those perfect shots. Like others who witnessed his many times unusual shots, he was always enthusiastic about his work. His photography was chocolate. Before digital he spent many hours in his dark room experimenting with light and shadows. Cityscapes, winery fields, clouds, name it really and Ralph had a photo.

Incredible composition and magical forms almost seemed like the norm when perusing through his vast portfolio. The mman knew his crafts and worked hard while like any pro he would make the finished product look like it was easy.

Anyone could feel the love and see the technical knowledge he had transferred from his eye to the camera or the brush flow through his hands into his work. The way he moved his arms to his wrists that held his delicate sign painting brushes was like an ice skater’s difficult challenge become a smooth glide to a perfect ten.

The photo at the beginning of this blog is one he shared and said it reminded him of mmy signature. Where the building is or when he took the shot is unknown to mme. He had another one of a mmoon with a lake on the left with what looks like caves to the right that also seemed to form mmy first two initials. Like the above, the bottom photo is black and white.

As Ralph’s eye for invention clicks our snap to attention you’ll notice quite striking contrasts. His unusual scents of artistry, imagination, form and composition shake the reigns of creativity for our wild ride to in joy meant.

I won’t mention his name here in reverence to Ralph but as I recall, Ralph never liked this particular comparison because like a true original he was his own mman. On the other hand he did admit from time to time that his work especially that of Half Dome in Yosemite, appeared on par with the mman made famous for taking all those shots of that same huge rock. He and Blondie traveled there often.

In winter’s, in summer’s in the fall, in spring, no matter the time of year, Ralph took many a trip to that same area to photograph the same landscape near and around that whole region. Being the second one to do so, the comparison just couldn’t be avoided; especially since Ralph’s shots were just as great. He went so far as to have a painting in his sign shop that he painted himself of Half Dome.

Wouldn’t you know it; his son is doing the same thing. When I lived close to him, the boy called a few times to ask for a traveling partner or if I’d just like to tag along with he and another friend for the drive to Yosemite. There was a break in the winter weather; the roads were cleared, the sky was blue but there were still many cumulus clouds to enhance any scenery in that wilderness. Knowing the son, I went with more than a slight feeling of trepidation. His license is from Sears.

The son being the younger of course had a ‘souped up’ car with wheel rims that appeared to touch the pavement. Being the front seat passenger I found the seat belt to be the life saving rule of thumb. Unfortunately for this calmer soul, when the boy drove it was like he needed to feel his sometime rocket ship, gravitational pull acceleration seem like his dashboard should be located on the car he was tailgating and appear to be its back bumper. One could touch taillights of any car.

It also seemed that one could smell its license plate while sitting in the back seat.
While using what I thought were calmer examples from years of experience, and no matter how one tried to convince the Danica Patrick wanna be otherwise, the boy thought the two foot snowfall would melt before we got there in less than two hours. Time was of the ass sense. In retrospect, a helicopter would have been a better choice. I’mm sure if that were the case a jet Cobra would have been his.

In ANY case, I’ve enjoyed all those years with Ralph and his family. Good times, bad times, happy times and sad times. The saddest one really was when Ralph passed away a few years ago. It was devastating to mme really. Losing a friend one has for over three decades isn’t taken lightly mostly because of all the conversations, stories and memories they may have shared in that time; not to mention just the near and far physical presence of it all. Earth; now Ralph’s home.

Maybe because of distance some people would think that Ralph and I weren’t really that close, but like in the beginning the end was the same when it came to passing Ralphs passing to the people we both knew. He helped our band with his photo’s as well as his wit and kindness. His topics of talks are legendary in town.

From the very beginning, the very first night he shared his heart when he offered his ‘Earth Sign Shop’ as a rehearsal space we needed desperately. He said, ‘in the back,’ free of charge, come on in boys, mmy house is your house. His only stipulation was to be able to photograph us while rehearsing and that he did often.

Many of his shots could be seen in our past, present and probably the future as well. He’s part of the history we all share. It was an honour to call him friend. A few years ago like his father, he had cancer. It didn’t take long before he wasn’t with us anymore but a last party at his house is where many of us got a chance to say goodbye in a celebration of the mman. Like many of his photos that only he had and now his family has, there’s a shot of all of us during his ending days.

When he passed it seemed way too fast but fast it was. After the funeral I went back to his resting place to sit and talk to him for a while; to visit like old times really; to just repeat what I had told him many times before. I’mm not sure but I think he had already picked out the spot before he passed. While sitting there it looked like there’s no way he couldn’t have. Homage to a Mom Nature setting.

Everywhere I looked I could imagine Ralph taking a photo of the surrounding landscape. It was and is beautifully blessed with colours painted by the greatest painter of all; Mother Nature. Fitting for a mman with Ralph’s eye for perfection.

Not unlike his old world, birds fly in, around and through his new world. A place in California where it doesn’t dip to freezing very much; his earthen bed is within a constantly running water fountain. The steady but changing sound the fountain makes is like a mmelody a number of Ralph’s photos would play for us too, in joy.

After visiting at different times of the day; one last time I had stayed for a few hours before the end of a beautiful day. True to Ralph’s amazing photographic scents at one particular time when the sky just exploded with colour it had an awe inspiring and most majestic peaceful feeling. For Ralph and I it was a magnificent:

Sun’s Set View

We feel the place you lay to rest
The view, wind’s lure, ridge, sum its crest
The gentle’s sway, boughs tender bend
The trees pure heart, reminds us friend

The nature’s spell, lush blossoms tune
The fragrance bouquet dwells in your room
The sun’s wash rocks, the fountain’s cooled stone
The water’s announce, your splendor home

The grass, land’s lift, knolls rolling trend
The voice in whisper’s peek, no end
The shadows abridged, pro found bequeath
The point of view’s, the visions speak

The angle’s rite, the all weighs eye
The soft test touch, the seen’s reap, ply
The mmusic’s heard, reflections glance
The figure’s fleeting, the picture’s dance

The dark room craze, the form’s re: born
The image phrase, fine textures, storms
The seconds passed, the song’s required
The mmelody’s cast, the mo’ meant’s in spire’d

The vista’s shared with life’s help hands
The Half Dome’s height, climbs, beach you stand
The summers, falls, the winters, springs
The daze flew by, remember rings

The circle’s wholed, wheels never end
Husband, dad, grandpa,
Brother, cousin, uncle, friend
The seen is played, the best ‘fore you
Eternal joy of Sun’s Set View.

Good heart, kind soul, noble peace

(Thanks for sharing Ralph)