This past week I was back at my high school in the Berkshire Mountains, meeting with students, showing them my work and talking with seniors about applying to colleges to major in photography. I looked at portfolios and critiqued printing as well. Darrow is  a small preparatory school located where the first Shaker Village was built on the side of a mountain in New Lebanon, NY. This is a picture I took the first morning from the same spot where I stood  47 years ago in June of 1965, with my sister and parents, proudly holding my diploma for all to see.

I am sure many of you have had this same sensation, that to be back in a place where you lived and studied and played so long ago is very strange. To the left of this frame is the football field where I dislocated my shoulder in my sophomore year. I can still feel the bump. 

I stole away for an hour or so the first morning and made these pictures in Great Barrington, about 30 minutes away:

The last morning I was there I drove over the mountain and headed towards Pittsfield, MA. These were made at the Hancock Shaker Village. This is the village with the famous stone barn. I believe that living for four years in a Shaker building and going to school on the  grounds of what had been a Shaker community influenced me and my aesthetic greatly. 

I really enjoyed working with the kids at the school. They were bright, motivated and curious about what I do and what I have done during my career. I stayed with Nancy Wolf, who is the long-term head of the school and is retiring after 11 or so very good years. She has done a wonderful job. The school is now a first rate school.