Angel Parade #13 and #14

The name, Angel Parade. Why call the book that? The simple answer is, I like it. The more complex one: I see the photos here as an endless stream of souls, touched with grace. How are the pictures shot? Not with much technical expertise, I assure you. I have very little idea how to use a camera. What I do have is decades of learning to see as a writer—to see what’s there, and what’s not there; and how it all connects. But surely you’re out there taking pictures. Of course. I go walking. My favorite thing is a walkabout through my home of New York City, and I’ve always done that. These days I take along my camera. That’s it? Just go out walking? Of course not. Key is to get my head into the right place. It’s a kind of zone, as athletes speak about, where things slow down and you can see everything—every color and detail. If I’m not in that place, there’s not much point to taking pictures other than the hope of pure serendipity. But if you are in the zone? Then I’m cooking. I see a flow of pictures. You see a flow of pict— Yes, I see pictures, one after the other. They appear before me, almost like a slide show. Then it’s my job to capture them. How does that go? I miss a lot. But I also get quite a few. Do you know when you’ve gotten a good picture? Usually, yes. It’s being in the zone, and pulling the world outside me into that zone. There’s a kind of click. A click? Is that a pun? Oh. Didn’t mean it that way. The click is more metaphysical—snap, and everything’s fallen into place … and I’ve captured it in my camera. Snap? Oops. So, metaphysical. . . . Angels. . . . And Parades. It’s truly all about the enduring parade, isn’t it? I’m looking at the book. Number one? Number two? Back to back in one book? Yes. Each volume of Angel Parade tells its own story. Putting two back to back accentuates that they’re each to be read as a separate book, like a short novel, with themes, characters, and story arc. Angel Parade Three? Angel Parade Four? The next book is already finished. There are more to come. The parade … it’s always out there, right?