April In October At The Safeway Milk Counter
Friday, October 13, 2006
I spotted the woman, a week ago, at the milk and egg counter at Safeway. I said to my wife, "April is the important month in our garden." The woman stopped momentarily and moved on. I repeated, "April is a very important month." The woman turned back and said, "My name is April." I countered, "I know but I wasn't completely sure."
The last time I saw April was on Wreck Beach 30 years ago when I photographed her with a Pentax Spotmatic-F and a 120mm lens. I had Kodak b+w Infrared film in the camera. A few weeks later we found out that April had been involved in a terrible head-on collision on her way to Whistler. I have always remembered April because she was my first nude model.
But reflecting on it I must say that April wasn't first. I photographed my wife Rosemary and daughter Alexandra in our apartment on Herodoto Street in Mexico City 38 years ago. The reason Ale is smiling here is that she had just relieved herself on her mother.