I'm late in relating the story I promised about Bob.
It starts because I am short of shirts. I've become obese since I had all my heart trouble, and most of my shirts no longer fit. So I've made repeated attempts to buy shirts online and even in person, with limited success. I won't rehearse my problems and complaints, but mostly they have to do with cheap materials: the shirts I buy, even the supposedly good ones, seem to almost disintegrate. (See: "Enshittification," Cory Doctorow's American Dialect Society Word of the Year for 2023.) Then I got the idea to find a Mennonite seamstress to have a shirt custom-made. There was a trail. First I stopped at the sewing-machine shop, where the proprietress had a photocopied sheet that showed a map and listed the names of local women who took in sewing. I called a shop listed in Dundee, and got no answer, but I was headed to Dundee anyway, so I found the small street-side shop in what passes for Dundee's downtown. It was closed not only Monday but Tuesday too. But the principal of that shop returned my call that afternoon. She recommended another fabric shop, which turned out to be rather large, which I've probably passed a hundred times on one of my routes to town, without noticing. (Oops. Photographers, David Vestal once said, are professional noticers.) It turns out it is where one buys the things one needs to be a Mennonite: there were piles of brand-new black men's hats (Mennonite) and straw hats (Amish) for one thing. She too had a sheet with a map and names, but when I told her I wanted shirts she gave me the name of a woman who had a variety shop. "She likes to do shirts. She might help you."
Most Mennonite farms will have some small roadside enterprise advertised to passers-by. Most are farm stands, in season, or sell flowers or fresh baked goods. A few are variety shops, which are stuffed with, well, as the name implies, a variety of things. Useful trinkets, I would say, if I had to describe them. I have mainly a visual impression of profusion. I drove out to the heart of the country and found a neat little farm of many mostly 19th century buildings, surrounded by mature deciduous trees. There was a small sign by the roadside that pointed to a low, nondescript building with no street facing apertures. I walked all the way around it the wrong way before coming to the door, which was unlocked. Inside was...no one. So I went to the farmhouse door and knocked. Then knocked again. I had started back to the car when I realized I had a phone number, so I called it.
Presently a young matron (Oxford Languages says the word means "a married woman, especially a dignified and sober middle-aged one") appeared. Her name was Esther. She said she did have one pattern for an overly large person like me. I told her she could use the shirt I was wearing for measurements, as it was one of the few I have that fit; it was expensive, and I'd had it tailored, and I've had it only a short time, but it was already showing unexpected wear. (What happened to all the shirts I used to buy that would last ten years if not twenty? Where have they gone?) She rather briskly expressed her preference to work from freshly-laundered garments, so I said I would return the next day.
The next morning, Bob arrived.
Now, Bob has been here before, and has seen some of the obvious sights. We had lunch, and then I asked him if he'd be interested in a visit to a small Mennonite farm way out in the country. Since I had the errand to run anyway. He was agreeable. Esther was in the shop this time, and I gave her the clean shirt and she brought out a stack of patterns and began to compare my shirt to her pattern to see where the differences were. Bob wandered around. But we got to visiting, and presently it got out that Bob was a bird photographer.
Well, had we ever come to the right place. It turned out that Esther is a devoted, energetic, and apparently passionate birdwatcher. Have you ever had that experience when two people in a group will discover a common subject of interest or expertise, and the conversation will suddenly collapse into an active core around the two of them? As I stood by gently amused, Bob and Esther were off. Bob wanted to know all about the local birds, and Esther was full of information, naming species and where they could be found, local happenings in bird-dom, unusual events, etc. Bob told her all about the birds where he lived. He showed her pictures on his phone. As the two of them chatted animatedly about sightings, behaviors, unusual species, and all manner of related things that went largely over my head, I looked around and it suddenly snapped into focus: a decent amount of the items in the variety shop related to birds. Guidebooks about them, food for them, a rack of binoculars, items decorated with birds including some printed pads of lined paper with Esther's own bird drawings printed on them (I bought several, for another birdwatching friend), and so forth.
Just one of those serendipitous confluences. But I think they both enjoyed it.
It reminded me of Bill Jay and David Hurn's lovely little book On Being a Photographer (paperback for $13.52 here, for Kindle and other e-readers for $5.95 here). If you had to summarize that book in a sentence, it might be: photography is not about photography; it's about whatever there is out in the world that you are inspired to take pictures of.
My new shirt is due three weeks from when it was ordered, and we'll see if the trail ends there.
Mike
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On the subject of quality (work) shirts -
Several decades ago my mom bought me two long-sleeve, button-front work shirts from a small farm store in rural Missouri where I'm from. They were a moderately thick 50:50 cotton/poly blend, which was somehow both (extremely) durable and relatively breathable. Most importantly, they had triple-stitching along the major seams and double-stitching everywhere else.
I wore those shirts for outdoor fieldwork during my graduate degrees and multiple wildlife and conservation jobs I had afterwards, taking me from tropical jungle to the grasslands, mountains, and deserts of the American West. It would not be an exaggeration to say that each shirt was worn for thousands of days, in the worst of conditions, often without (machine) washing for days or weeks at a time.
A year or two ago I started to notice that I could see through the fabric at the elbows and shoulders and I distinctly remember thinking "What the heck?" only to quickly realize that I had been wearing these two shirts for over half of my life and it might be time for them to go into gently retirement.
Of course, you might wonder if I can find these shirts for sale anywhere at any price? Sadly, despite my best efforts, I cannot.
Posted by: ASW | Saturday, 26 April 2025 at 10:31 AM
Great story, and photography related.
Posted by: Andy Munro | Saturday, 26 April 2025 at 11:29 AM
Either you have the world's nastiest washing machine or you're cheap to a large degree. I too am heavier than normal. I used be way heavier than normal but, thanks to Mounjaro I have gone from morbidly obese to obese and have just slipped over the line into plain overweight. I buy most of my shirts from L.L.Bean. They are expensive but they last, and last. I have ten and fifteen year old shirts that show almost no wear. Reminds me of the story about the rich man buying a very good pair of shoes that last and the poor man having to buy new shoes when the cheap ones that he can afford wear out. In some time he has spent more on shoes than the rich man.
Posted by: James Weekes | Saturday, 26 April 2025 at 11:32 AM
All airlines are awful. You can't choose to pay for a slightly better one, they don't exist. All car rental companies are unreliable. You cannot choose to pay a little more for a better rental company that actually has the size vehicle you reserved. And on it goes. And yet we are told we live in a service-based economy. Is that some kind of bad joke or just irony. We are also told that the free market will efficiently respond to market needs. More irony? Isn't it amazing what we put up with. Luckily we have the freedom to drive to unending miles of big box stores that all sell the same lousy junk. It's an existential question, is this a culture worth fighting for?
Posted by: Robert Roaldi | Saturday, 26 April 2025 at 11:52 AM
Thank you very much for writing one of the most beautiful texts about what inspires us.
Posted by: vasco riobom | Saturday, 26 April 2025 at 01:47 PM
"She rather briskly expressed her preference to work from freshly-laundered garments"
That was worth the read (and uhhh... can't blame her).
Posted by: Stan B. | Saturday, 26 April 2025 at 03:35 PM
...photography is not about photography; it's about whatever there is out in the world that you are inspired to take pictures of.
Exactly!
Posted by: Peter Conway | Saturday, 26 April 2025 at 04:09 PM
I dearly love that little book. The only book that taught me more about photography was "Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs" by Ansel himself. Not so much the technical stuff anymore (though I find it interesting in many ways) but the aesthetic choices still ring true - especially for the much less well known images now decades later.
Posted by: William Lewis | Sunday, 27 April 2025 at 12:46 AM
I’m in a holiday cottage with floor-to-ceiling windows that look out onto the Welsh valleys. The owner kindly provided us with binoculars and a copy of Collins Complete Guide to British Birds. I wouldn’t know a skylark from a sparrowhawk, but I’ve been having fun giving myself motion sickness trying to track birds in flight. I checked TOP to fix my eyes and settle my slight nausea and, what do you know, more birds. Not only more birds but also words that sang off the page, a perfect fit for where I am, physically and spiritually.
Posted by: Sean | Sunday, 27 April 2025 at 05:52 AM
I assume you meant "entsh*ttification". ;-)
Posted by: John Bour | Sunday, 27 April 2025 at 09:25 AM
Rehearse his problems and complaints?
Nooo, not Mike. He ad libs them!
(I do see "rehearse" could be appropriate here. But I couldn't resist.)
Posted by: Kevin | Sunday, 27 April 2025 at 10:34 AM
Hi Mike,
For what it's worth in my own quest to avoid enshitifcation, I've been quite pleased with shirts from Filson.
Keep up the good work good fight.
Posted by: Jeff Johnston | Sunday, 27 April 2025 at 10:41 AM
A good quality man's shirt in the 1990s was roughly $100 retail at Nordstrom. I haven't shopped for men's shirts in a long time, but I just peaked at the Nordstrom site and saw that the prices are now under $100. How is this possible? Of course it is because of cheaper labor and possibly cheaper quality for both the fabric and sewing.
I love to shop for fabric and was recently in Britex, a high-end fabric store in San Francisco. They have a wide selection of men's shirtings from Europe. These fabrics have a sheen and a hand that is wonderful. Swiss and Italian shirtings have been the top of the line historically, but these fabrics are expensive. There is no way you could make an $80 shirt with them...so I am not surprised that you cannot find the quality you used to get. You can see the selection here: https://britexfabrics.com/collections/cotton-shirting
If you go with a custom made option, is your seamstress using this kind of quality fabric? If not, but you like the fit and her workmanship, it might make sense for you to get the fabric yourself and then have her make you a shirt from it. The Italian shirtings feel incredible...worth the high price if you can swing it. I always say that if you want to know how to be comfortable, look at how rich men dress.
Posted by: cecelia | Sunday, 27 April 2025 at 01:55 PM
Charles Tyrwhitt Shirts in the UK, Mike. I don't know whether they have a presence in the USA. They are well made, beautifully cut and consequently easy to iron. They offer a wide variety of fabric choices from polyester cotton to 100% cotton. Hope this is of some help.
Posted by: Nick Davis | Sunday, 27 April 2025 at 02:22 PM
In reply to James Weekes - I know this as the “boots theory”.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory
I’ve been aware of this particular explanation for some time, but have only just started reading Terry Pratchett - the idea of a combination of fantasy and humour leaving me cold. More fool me.
My photographic link would be that I bought L series lenses (that we couldn’t really justify or afford) when I bought my Canon 20D. When I finally sold them, I got all my money back. Not so much on any of the cameras, of course.
Posted by: Andy S | Sunday, 27 April 2025 at 04:03 PM
Photography isn't just about the act of taking pictures; it's about capturing the things in the world that move you, inspire you, and spark your curiosity. It's about translating your unique perspective into visual stories that connect with others. Let your camera be the bridge to explore and share the beauty and essence of the world around you.
Posted by: Mudassir Khan | Monday, 28 April 2025 at 04:00 AM
At the conference in Charleston South Carolina I almost didn’t attend in the late 1990s, so beautiful is that town, I found a fantastic clothes shop. If it’s still there, the white shirts looked like they’d last half a good lifetime.
Posted by: Richard G | Monday, 28 April 2025 at 06:30 AM
Back when I used to have to wear a “dress” shirt everyday to work I mainly bought Supima cotton shirts from Lands’ End of Dodgeville, Wisconsin. They came in many styles from formal to casual and I wore them one time and then sent them to my local cleaners to be washed and pressed. I still have a dozen of them hanging in my closet that look good as new. Lands’ End used to make paying attention to detail in choice of materials and shirt making techniques one of their selling points (such as how they created their button holes or stitched their seams). I’m not sure that survived their various permutations through the years including their purchase by Sears, their spin off back to to a publicly traded company, their various CEOs, etc. I kind of doubt it. However, they are presently having a half off sale and carry up to 5XL sizes so trying them would be an inexpensive experiment.
Posted by: Steve Rosenblum | Monday, 28 April 2025 at 07:48 AM
Esther is trying to reach you!
Posted by: Anna Mae Newswanger | Monday, 28 April 2025 at 09:36 AM
This was my blog post on May 29, 2020
The Subject of Photography Is Not the Subject of Photography
What I mean by that is that photography is not about photography. Photography, at least the photography I care about, is about life. It's about the subject of the photograph, not the act of photographing the subject. Most of us who think of ourselves as photographers are interested in the tools, techniques, and processes of photography, and that's good. But that in itself is not photography.
Involvement with equipment and with the photographic process are necessary stages in the development of most photographers, but they are not what photography is about. To learn the true meaning of photography, to come to a place where we can make photographs which are truly our own, we must learn to become involved with the subject.
Our knowledge of equipment and the photographic process is not forgotten or set aside; these things take their proper place as means to an end. And that end is the presentation of the subject.
Dorothea Lange kept a quotation by the English essayist Francis Bacon on her darkroom door: "The contemplation of things as they are, without error or confusion, without substitution or imposture, is in itself a nobler thing than a whole harvest of invention."
Photography reaches its highest plane when the photographer has so mastered its tools and processes that he is able to use them to take himself out of the way and allow the subject to speak, to reveal itself through his skill. Paradoxically, it is only then that the photographer fully and truly expresses himself.
Another paradox is the fact that looking at a photograph of something is often the best way to see it. "...the camera's innate honesty... provides the photographer with a means of looking deeply into the nature of things, and presenting his subjects in terms of their basic reality. It enables him to reveal the essence of what lies before his lens with such clear insight that the beholder may find the recreated image more real and comprehensible than the actual object." (Edward Weston, "Seeing Photographically," The Complete Photographer, January, 1943.)
Our work as photographers is to so isolate and clarify that others may through us see the things that are around them. Our equipment and our skill at using the processes of photography are enjoyable in themselves, but are ultimately pointless unless they become the channels through which we empower our subjects to reveal the essence of themselves.
alifeinphotography.blogspot.com
Posted by: Dave Jenkins | Monday, 28 April 2025 at 11:13 AM
I half-expected you to comment that you could have had the shirt finished by the time Bob and Esther had finished talking about birds. :>)
I'll have to check L.L. Bean the next time I need a heavy duty shirt, as suggested by J. Weekes. Try to find a decent spring jacket though. I haven't had luck with them or other retailers I've tried. Everything comes in black or undesirable colors. I guess black is the new tan. It's difficult to find a jacket with zippered pockets (or at least a button), unless it's a winter coat or a "spring jacket" with a liner that makes it too warm to wear in 60 degree F. weather.
Actual rain-repellant fabric is difficult to find. Everything seems to be plastic of some sort which guarantees a camera bag will not stay on your shoulder. (I suppose I could carve a piece of old tire tread, drill holes for the thread and hand sew it onto the camera bag strap. It would probably be uncomfortable, possibly rub against my neck and be a waste of time.)
Supposedly, a Japanese company bought up all the old sewing machines that Levi Strauss got rid of (too slow to make a profit) and is selling blue jeans for $350 a pair and can't keep them in stock.
Meanwhile, we get substandard clothing because for most of the middle class, it's the only affordable choice we have, with our substandard wages. You have to really look for smaller companies, rather than the bigger stores that do all the advertising.
Posted by: Dave | Monday, 28 April 2025 at 02:20 PM
I am in a similar situation.. Im only 5'5" but in the last year I have beefed up to 195. At least 25 pounds above any healthy limit. I am rather active for a 70 YO but still..
Seems all I do is take photos of my dogs. I look forward to finding a worthy contest photo.
Posted by: Mike Ferron | Tuesday, 29 April 2025 at 02:50 PM
"photography is not about photography; it's about whatever there is out in the world that you are inspired to take pictures of"
My thoughts exactly. And for me right now, that's birds. Lots of birds. And maybe that's why your recounting of Esther and Bob's enthusiastic discussion was an enjoyable read: it brought together birds and photography. Add dogs (which you did a couple of posts later), and you're covering practically all the bases for my interests!
Posted by: Ken | Tuesday, 29 April 2025 at 04:49 PM