Below, Laura is seated in her "Cinderella" costume with the remarkable Anamarie Sarazin standing next to her. This photo was taken in the dressing room at the Tienchou Theatre, Beijing, during the Boston Ballet's tour of China.

I'm very sad to report that the beautiful, sensitive and talented Anamarie passed away in 1999.

I take this card out and look at it sometimes when I'm feeling blue. It cheers me up. I don't know why. I guess it's the eternal hope that "better Days are coming."

It's a great place to go before dawn to watch the sun rise over the hill country of central Texas. On this particular morning, there was a tremendous and fast-moving thunderstorm that swept just north of the Rock, then on to the east. There was much lightning in the distant dark as Paula and I were climbing to the summit. At sunrise, clear in the east, we could see the thunderstorm, still flashing lightning, adjacent to the rising sun. A memorable event.

I'm sure I have a shot of that sunrise somewhere. In the meantime, here's one view from the summit, looking east shortly after sunrise.

Wally was a dancer with the Boston Ballet Company and married to the lovely Wardrobe Mistress, Krystal. Here is a photo of Walter and Krys together.

Wally used to show up at my house unexpectedly. He always had three things with him: some kind of hand tool in his back pocket (pliers, screwdriver, etc.), a six-pack of beer (although I'm not a beer drinker), and at least one story so funny it would set me to howling. He would pester me to take his picture and pepper me with funny anecdotes until I laughed my goofy laugh and did as he pleased.

Here's another shot of Wally at my house, apparently taken the same day in 1974.

It's a good memory. I've lost track of Wally. I'd like to find him.

But the flash didn't fire, and I was left this image without resolution, the face turned away from the camera, arms and body seeming to fail, the ominous trace of red...a touching image that I hadn't planned.

How many times in life do we experience the beautiful by accident?

As a newbie to the world of advertising and fashion photography, I used to annoy Kent by deliberately copying (emulating, really) his work . I never denied it. To the left is my copy of the Kent Kirkley photo that is propped against my Speed Graphic camera shown in the picture. The model is Mitzi Smith, a dancer who was and still is a friend of mine. Here's a dance photo of Mitzi.

I first met Mick in Austin, Texas, in the late 60's, when I was just getting into photography. Mick was an excellent amateur photographer at that time and a big influence on me in a number of ways.

I couldn't get over how consistently he produced memorable images. "The secret is in underexposing the slide one-third of a stop," he would say; or "The secret is in exploiting the hyperfocal distance;" or "The secret is in understanding the psychology of the subject."

Nowadays his secrets are in the kitchen.

This is a copy of an original print given by Maria Tallchief to her sister, Marjorie. Marjorie Tallchief, also a ballerina, was married to George Skibine and, together, they ran the Dallas Ballet .

In the late 70's, the Dallas Ballet held a fund raising ball which was attended by Maria, who looks very much like Marjorie. I was already on friendly terms with Marjorie and worked up the nerve to ask her to dance. When I asked her something about the Dallas Ballet, she replied, "You're talking about my sister." I had been dancing with Maria Tallchief...my claim to fame.

I remember that she was a very good dancer.

Here's a brief biography of the Tallchief sisters.