The Light Stalker & Sibling Sobriquets
My sister is a stalker. She’s never been arrested or had a restraining order against her. But, when I watch her in action, she’s after something and will go to great lengths to get it.
In reality, she’s a professional photographer. This means she has equipment that costs the equivalent of a single-family home. The gear serves as her accomplice while she stalks the perfect lighting before shooting a subject.
She gets irked when I describe her profession this way. So, like any good sibling, I add insult to injury and tell her I’m impressed she added another individual to her arsenal. She calls this person her assistant. I refer to him as her assassin. He’s often seen holding a reflector that resembles a piece of aluminum foil while directing light at the perfect angle. If you’re looking for a low-stress job, and have arms, this could be the gig for you.
I’m pretty sure Ansel Adams knew all about light. And I’m one hundred percent sure that using his full name is hardly necessary. It’s clear you made it in life when one word for recognition will do. Plus, with a name like Ansel, he was destined for a life in the arts! I Googled my birth name and discovered it means Lily. This is surprising as I struggle with the art of gardening, and my thumb is the furthest thing from the green. The closest it’s come is when a doctor, stitching a wound, mentioned gangrene as something to be avoided at all costs.
When it comes to Mr. Ansel being an artist, there truly is something about the name-to-profession phenomenon. It’s called nominative determinism. This scientific theory demonstrates that people are drawn to professions that match their surname. I’m no scientist, but Dr. Fang removed my wisdom teeth, and Ms. Wisdom herself was a professor I had back in college. If you want to learn more about names, professions, and proctologists named Dr. Butts, you can do so here. S.J. Velasquez from the BBC wrote all about it. Even though his name doesn’t support the topic matter, the article is still good for a chuckle and an informative read on the topic.
Along these same lines, I’ve been known to play what I call the doppelganger name game. This equates to a time-sucking activity of discovering who in the universe shares your name. Google has helped me find all kinds of ghostly doubles that look nothing like me but share my namesake. Obviously, I have an unhealthy obsession with these types of things. But now that you’ve read about it, I’m willing to bet a Bitcoin you’ll Google your name and see who’s out there, living in a parallel universe, sharing your same signature.
I’ve found some pretty cool people doing similar things I like to do! Irony aside, this lady, Suzanne Nelson (my maiden name), is a published author. This one, Suzanne McCormack is a television producer! Although, in fairness, she spells her name slightly differently. But I’m more than happy to hop on and ride her namesake coattails!
Regarding photography, I accept I’ll never be as apt as Ansel. My sister will concur. But I bet I can find somebody who shares my namesake who is! After all, it’s destined by the divine entity of a doppelganger.
