Sunset, Saturday, 1 August 2009

Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on paper, 16 x 20.

Today’s the birthday of Washington, D.C., photographer Del Ankers, my uncle, who died in May 2008. Del’s remarkable life and even more remarkable personality are so difficult to convey in a short space, I thought I’d cheat and refer you to the obituary in the Washington Post by Matt Schudel and the appreciation, also in the Post, by Lauren Wilcox. 

If you want to go straight for the entertainment values, Del’s work as a film maker included commercials made with the earliest versions of Jim Henson’s Muppets, and these can be sampled here and here, among other places on the web.

I’ve also posted a few photos and anecdotes related to Del, starting here.

In a nice bit of numerical and family symmetry, since Del was my uncle and would be 93, today is also the birthday of the wonderful Amy Pine of Durham, N.C., who is 39. Friends would drink turpentine for their Amy Pine, that’s how great she is. Happy Birthday.