We did their engagement shoot where they first met, The Sea Scout Base right on the Columbia River. They told me stories of sailboats they went on, rescues, trainings- it was a great way to get a look into what they do and what lead them to each other.
Thanks guys for a great experience and making sure I didn't fall off the docks!
"Friends are like good books, few but well chosen." Herman is not sure where he read that quote but if there is any truth to it he should have about 2,000 well chosen friends.
Herman lives in a little one bedroom apartment in NW Portland, Oregon. If you ask him his age, he'll tell you he is celebrating his 50th anniversary of his 29th birthday. When I first met him over a year ago it was in our neighborhood bar, Serratto. I sat right next to him and he was drinking a Heineken and he turns to me and says, "So, have you read anything good lately?" We've been great friends ever since.
Herman told me that he has never completed anything in his life. Never married, never finished high school. Nothing. So he made a deal with himself to read one million pages before he dies. He made that promise to himself in 1985 and completed it in January of 2008.
He has kept a compulsively detailed log which he likes to call his "Legacy." It is of every book he has ever read from the beginning until now. The Legacy shows the year, the day, the number of days it took to finish a book and the amount of pages in the book. From his first book: O' God of Battles, which was 242 pages long and it took him 31 days to complete it. To his million page goal which ended with The Return of the King, the third and final volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. And it only took him 24 years to get there.
When he said a million pages he meant exactly that. He counts only the pages that are part of the story, and he doesn't count books that are under two hundred pages-he'll still read them, they just don't count towards his goal. He also kept a running log of averages, the average number of pages he reads in a day, the average number of books in a month and the average number of pages and books in a year.
His favorite book is October Sky. Says it's about a boy reaching his goal. Even if everyone is against him. Shows determination and perseverance.
I asked Herman if that book resembles him in a way, finishing a goal no matter what? He pauses for a moment "I never really gave it much thought."
View his complete story by pressing play in the middle of the slideshow screen.
------ Photographer's notes:
I photographed this assignment with a canon 40d and a 35mm f/2 lens. ISO remained around 400 and the camera was set in B&W mode.
Voice recording was done on my Mac book pro using the internal mic. Later edited with Garage Band.
I was inspired by a piece in the New York Times titled: One in 8 Million.
