Johanna - a photo on Flickriver

Johanna

My dear and much-loved friend Johanna, a key figure in the worldwide collaboration to brighten up my life, which thus far has proven to be highly successful. She has made one previous appearance in my photostream. Accompanied by her boyfriend, she appeared for a photoshoot today, which took place in downtown Phoenix after I got off work and proved to be the highlight of my entire day. As soon as this shoot was over -- it lasted about an hour and produced exactly 100 images -- she left for Albuquerque to take care of a family matter, so I probably will not see her again for a few weeks.

I met Johanna when she was an instructor at the Fred Astaire studio, and although I only had one dance lesson with her, it was both fun and memorable. It came to pass on this wise: I dropped by the studio one Saturday morning for no particular reason, and Johanna told me she had a group lesson scheduled and asked me if I wanted to participate in it. At first I said no, but we chatted at some length, and it soon appeared likely that nobody would be showing up for the group class. Knowing that if this happened, Johanna would not be paid for the lesson, I finally told her I would stay if nobody else appeared for it.

Thus I ended up having what amounted to a private lesson with the lovely and delightful Johanna. Since I was her only student that day, she had some flexibility, and asked me what I wanted to do. As I recall, we worked on two or three dances, but one in particular, which I will get to in a moment.

This was a couple of years ago, around the month of June, when it is already beastly hot in the Phoenix area. I returned home after the lesson, and my wife noted that I had been perspiring rather heavily -- more than I would have from the heat alone -- which suggested that I had been involved in some kind of physical activity. I told her my story about dropping by the studio and having an unscheduled lesson with Johanna, then I asked her, rather sheepishly, if she wanted to know what new dance we had worked on. She said yes, and it took me a moment or two to stop chuckling long enough to tell her.

My lesson that day had been on the Charleston! I still laugh when I imagine myself trying to do that lively dance, so emblematic of the Roaring Twenties, but I wouldn't mind trying it again, especially as I have completely forgotten how to do it. Perhaps I can persuade Johanna to give me another Charleston lesson next time I see her.

While I'm at it, however, this little episode might be worth relating here: Johanna came to visit me at work one day several weeks ago, during the noon hour. I introduced her to some of my co-workers, who, knowing how Johanna and I had become acquainted, asked us to dance for them. So I pulled up YouTube on a computer, played this video of "Guantanamera," and performed a rumba with Johanna, right there in that office, with about four or five people looking on. (They included one court clerk who tried to imitate our footwork.) Johanna gave me high marks, especially for leading, and that was the most fun I had that entire week. This happened on a Thursday, and I told her it was okay if the rest of the week was awful, as no amount of crap over the next day and a half could possibly undo the moment of joy she had just given me.

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Taken on: June 18, 2009

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Camera: Nikon D50, f/4.0, 1/250 sec, 85mm (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D50
Aperture:	f/4.0
Exposure Time:	0.004 sec (1/250)
Focal Length:	85mm
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Auto, Fired, Return detected
Exposure Program:	Not Defined
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 Windows
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