Sunday, February 12, 2012

Thoughts On Eric, amongst the revelry

It has been an extremely busy past few days here. Photographing various shows and events, a couple of video shoots, writing for a possible project with Dwight Moody (who is doing much better, I'm very happy to report). When you're running like this, you sometimes forget that all of this can be rendered meaningless in the blink of an eye.

Last week, my friend Eric Krauss passed away. Eric had been part of the Charlotte music scene for a long time, playing with various bands that I photographed. Lou Ford, Come On Thunderchild, Virginia Reel. I would go for long stretches without seeing Eric, but whenever we saw each other again, we would pick back up on whatever music conversation we'd had before. I always thought I would see him again. I really did.

On Thursday evening, I attended his memorial. A lot of my friends were there, and we laughed, hugged, cried and talked. Twenty minutes after leaving the memorial, I was at an event, and found myself doing photos of Sugar Ray Leonard, and Roberto Duran. I immediately went into photographer mode, and got some good photos. However, in the midst of what was a really fun shoot, this feeling kept coming over me. I just saw my friend off, and yet here I am, enjoying this gig. Is this wrong?

Eric might have said it was not wrong. He would have told me to have to have a good time, and might have asked for copies for the photos. What that emotion reminded me is that we sometimes need to address, and acknowledge the passing of our friends and loved ones, even when our hearts and jobs push us elsewhere. The world moves too fast, and we can sometimes forget to take care of ourselves, even when we are outwardly trying to help others. Eric, you may not be here, but I'm thinking of you, and I hope to see you again someday.

FYI, I posted a few photos of Eric on his memorial page on Facebook, and hope to post some more soon. See you all again soon in my travels,
-Daniel
February 12, 2012

No comments:

Post a Comment