I was asked to illustrate

A writer friend of mine, Mike Munsil, asked me about a month ago to try to illustrate his three newly accepted poems at Haruah. I told him that I would give it a try and he gave me an idea for each poem.

I finished the shot for poem #1 a couple of days after the conversation. I used my husband the boy I baby-sit as actors. We took a trip to the local park and Dan played football with Caleb. I ended up with a shot with Caleb’s feet off the ground. I emailed Mr. Munsil the shots so he could choose which one he liked. I submitted that one to Haruah, “The Handoff,” and they have accepted it.

I waited for about 2.5 weeks for the shot for poem #2. I need rain and a leaky porch. After three trips out in the rain and getting damp to very wet, I ended up with some shots. I emailed Mike the best ones I had, he picked one, and I sent it to Haruah. But they rejected it. They said the rain looked too much like ice. After looking closer, I saw what they meant. I told them that I’d give it another try.

Well, we were to have rain this morning (about a week after I found out the first one was no good) so I went to bed early to get up early so I could take some pictures before the kiddos got here at 10. But I woke up to a beautiful morning. It started to rain, once the kiddos showed up. I called Dan to see if he could come home and watch two of the kids while I took Caleb out to take some more pictures at the museum (the shot that Mike liked before). He wasn’t too thrilled about it, but he came home and set the camera up at 250 shutter speed. I went out, took some shots, came home, and they were no good. Dan adjusted the camera to a 500 shutter speed and I went out again. But the rain had died down. Dan then went back to work.

Of course then it started to rain again. I im’d him to see if he would humor me again and come home, but he was on the phone. I ended up putting on an adult disposable rain poncho on Caleb, a rain jacket on Anna, and a garbage bag with a hole on the top over Grace. I pulled the three children (ages 1, 4, and 5) in the stroller for about 3 blocks to Dan’s job.

I left Anna and Grace with him and Caleb and I went back to the museum to take more shots. After taking several, I came home and downloaded them onto the computer. Then we went to the grocery store to buy peanut butter and candy treats for each of the children for being so good.

After lunch, I went through the shots and I had maybe 5 decent ones. I emailed them to the Haruah editor who has been very helpful in helping me to get the rain shots. He said that they needed an “active” shot and sent me an example. I told him that I could have gotten one like that, but the author wanted a shot with a leaky porch.

I then told him that if the shots were no good, to either publish the poem without a photo or use one of his own (which he says he doesn’t want to do, since the other ones were going to be mine). I told him that I guess rain photography was beyond my ability. I hope that I didn’t sound too many or upset as I told him that it had been a hassle to get those shots as I’m preparing for vacation and as I drug all the children out in the rain. But I was a little perturbed. I just don’t know what they are after. I mean my shots aren’t 100% perfect, but I do believe that there is one there good enough to use.

Anyway to go on and quite ranting, I had taken several shots for poem #3 a few days after the ones at the park for poem #1. I then emailed Mike five shots for him to choose which one he liked best. He has been very busy with family life, but today I did find out which one he liked. He picked #1 and chose #4 and #5 as back-ups. I liked #1 because of the natural lighting, but I don’t like the glare off Dan’s neck. Mike said it something about “pesky red-necks” when I told him about it. I like #4 because of the boy’s expression. Well, I sent #1 to Haruah today, “My Heart Aches: But Good-Bye.” I’ll let you know what they say when I know.

I’ll also let you know about my rain shots.

So, keep coming back....to find out the answers.