Mackenzie Rollins | Weblog

m: ay yay yay.

i’ve been so busy shooting. sounds so wrong, but is so right. i sometimes forget how much i love documentary photography. in no other pursuit am i am so in my element.

mary ellen has been surprisingly encouraging about my work. says over and over that i don’t bullshit mackenzie, but you can do this. you’ve got what it takes to be a documentary photographer. and remember, i’m not bullshitting you.

i have come to love and respect her more and more with the passing of each day. she’s a very strong woman. opinionated. shoots it straight. wears the oddest and most eccentric jewelry. (which, by the way, got her robbed in the market. three guys pinned her against the wall and stole everything she had, which, unfortunately was a lot.) loves cold beer and good tequila. wants things done her way and only her way.

that said, her kindness and desire to encourage me as a young photographer is astounding.

my time with the family is going well. it’s a difficult story, as she’d wanted for me, as not much goes on day to day. but the challenge is to find the beauty and depth in that simplicity. the mother is 22. very poor. and when pregnant with three tots under the age of 5, it’s hard to get out of the house.

i’ve danced a lot with the kids, and i’m the first junglegym on which they’ve ever played. i suppose that’s another great use for woman-thighs.

they bought me a lollipop yesterday. the new spicy-flavored pokemon lolly that i noticed was packaged in 1998.

sounds new to me.

it tasted like fire with a little added sugar. thanks confectioners!

on a different note, i was personally defended by kramer yesterday. we had a guest photographer come show work and speak to us and he decided to attack young photographers as not being aware of the world and not doing quality work anymore. with the passing of my generation of photographers, good documentary photography has died. its a real tragedy with these young people.

he then proceeded to look at me and say what do you have to say about this?

jaw still open and before i could formulate a sentence, kramer spoke and defended me (us.)

i kept my mouth closed and thought kramer’s words were enough. i’m going to thank him today for the defense.

case closed.

off to shoot again.

with all of this shooting, i will need a good defense team.

goodbye for now. i love you.