Seagrams on water, please.

No, that is not a drink... but it could be.  Rather I am referring to Blair Seagram's photography.  www.blairseagram.com.   Yes, Seagrams  Whiskey ( remember the famed Crown Royal  and its purple gift bag aka best marble bag ever) is one of the  pillars of Canadian spirits.  Photographer Blair happens to be the great great granddaughter of Joseph Emm Seagram (link) who founded the distillery in the Waterloo Ontario area where my business is located.  Blair shoots water that quenches our aesthetic thirst! Blair is also a great BBB customer who lives in Sag Harbor, New York and focuses her lens on its ocean vistas.

I met Blair several years ago when she visited my BBB studio with a friend. Then, I had no idea about her art or her family roots so connected to where my bag studio is. In chatting we discovered her friend’s mother was a favourite customer of mine from my first bag company called Thalassa.  Oh that ocean connection goes on….

This past Dec I spoke with Blair and took a peak at her website and was transported into the watery abyss. Now it's January and as a new years resolution, like many, I revisited my commitment to do a weekly hot yoga session.  Encountering hot yoga is not unlike ones first swig of whisky - I remember as a 14 year old saying I would never do that again.  An upward slog for me as i suspect it is for many. Focusing on that so called serene face in the mirrrored distance  in a blur of sweat . Afterwards I sing its praises, during I curse. However, in my recent admiration for Blairs photos , especially the time lapse surfing  - I discoverd a mental trick  while holding the interminably long yoga pose caled " asldfhalsfjladsf'  In my mind’s eye I picture one of  my favourite  Blair photos of  surfers frame frozen at the top of the wave ... and hold that damn pose.  Then gracefully - well that's the intention -collapse to the floor in a heap - as one would fall off the wave. How funny? But there is something oddly cartoonish as well as meditatively beautiful about her time lapse images.

And as I mentioned, it helps me keep my balance and breath in those onerous hot yoga classes.  A way better New Years resolution would be this summer to actually be on top of one of those waves off Montauk .  And I wouldn’t be thinking about hot yoga... but okay I concede it will help me keep my balance and breath.   Or I will settle for a Blair Seagram photograph framed and hanging 10 on the wall - equally exhilarating. . Thank you Blair for your inspiring and beautiful work..