This special blog post is made in memory of the stage show actor Jesse Coleman, who unfortuantely passed away this January. I never spoke to Mr. Coleman in person, I only met him once at this stage show "The Pirates of Penzance". It begins with my participation in a photography program organized by a local meet-up group. This show was my 1st trial in this type of photography. I carried my Canon 5D Mark II plus Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS II to shoot the whole show, and the original post can be seen here.
Soon after I blogged these images, I received an email from Mr. Coleman who wrote the following:
Hey Qing,
I'm playing the Pirate King in Cohoes Music Hall's production of "The Pirates of Penzance"; and I wanted to let you know just how glorious I, and the rest of the cast, think your photos are. You truly captured some beautiful and unique moments in the show, and I thank you for documenting those moments. These are pictures I would want to show to my grandkids and say, "This is what I was doing in 2012! This was Theater!"; Nice job, my friend.
Thanks again,
Jesse Coleman
Well, I was still a newbie in photography when I shot this session back in 2012, and didn't know which direction to go. But right after receiving this comment, I was a bit shocked. Obviously, Mr. Coleman is not the only one who thought my "job" or my "work" was meaning a lot to them. Karen, the mother of the female lead in this show also wrote to me:
These photos are amazing!!! Just got back from NY and saw the show twice – my daughter is Mabel, the female lead, and of course I thought it was a wonderful production! Whatever you’re doing, keep it up because you do beautiful work! Thanks so much for sharing your pics!!
Well, I was motivated, seriously, because of these. And that made me even not to think about it before moving on to shoot another two in the same theater - Cohoes Music Hall, "Hair" and "Guys and Dolls". My images of both continued to draw some attentions from the production team, and they even used my images for their posters. Then I realized that it had gone far beyond a pure hobby and some random "snapshots". I never returned to shoot again when I finally made my decision to achieve a new dream in my life - to become a professional wedding and portrait photographer.
Two years passed and I am getting old. One day I received an email from Eleonore Thomas of Cohoes Music Hall, he wrote:
Qing,
It has been a few years since you photographed Pirates of Penzance at Cohoes Music Hall, but I still love your pictures of our production (I played Ruth). I was very proud of what we did as a cast and of my fellow performers. Unfortunately, two months ago, our extremely talented Pirate King, Jesse Coleman, passed away at the young age of 29. I am trying to put together a video of photos from the show combined with a recording of our vocals from a rehearsal as a memorial for his friends and family. I know I once asked you if I could use your photos on my website and you gave me permission, but I wanted to ask you again in this instance for permission to your photos in the video...
"Yes", that's basically what I replied. I normally would love to say a lot more, but I suddenly lost my words. I never met Mr. Coleman, I know nothing about him. But he is not a stranger to me either. He lives vividly, in my images, forever.
I can't help missing my parents and family in China. In the past 7 years, I only went home once when my grandma passed away right after my arrival. I was not a photographer then, and I had no idea about what to do. My memory of her is fading rapidly, and I knew one day I may forget what she looks like and how she smiled at me before leaving this world. I used to think clicking the shutter button is such an easy and simple action, similar to most of the people who never treat photography seriously. If you ever realized one day you would inevitably lose something or miss someone, you will cherish a lot more with what photographers ever did. I can't calculate how much I've already lost in the past 30 years, but I won't let it leave me so easily right from this moment. As a photographer, I have learnt the magic to delay the passing day and slow down the earth rotation, making it stand strong against the ashes of time.
