When my Father-in Law's health started to fail, Francie
and I moved to Tyler to help with the family photography business. Jim
passed away not long after that. That was thirteen years ago.
One-third of the thirty-nine years that Batten Photography has been in
business.
As many of you know, this Saturday,
we will close the doors for the last time. This is our choice, we are
retiring. It is time to move on to other things. We are happy, and
excited to be starting a new adventure. But
closing a business that has been in the family for thirty-nine years can
be an emotional experience.
In our studio, there is a large electronic
piece of equipment that Jim installed many years ago. It hangs from the
ceiling, and supports 15-ft long aluminum poles that move photographic
backgrounds up and down. For thirteen years I have hated this thing. It
works perfectly in every way except when it comes time to change out
backgrounds. This has become the one chore that I despise more than any
other. One end of the pole has to be removed, and still supported
while you remove the other end. And I for one, find it impossible to
hold both ends of a 15-foot long pole over my head at the same time. I
always had to get someone to help.
I often complained about this, and
Francie would say, "Daddy always did this by himself." And I would
respond, "I wish he'd show me how, because I'm not strong enough or
smart enough to do it alone."
Yesterday, I was dismantling this piece of equipment. It has been sold to another
photographer, a long-time friend of Jim's. As I removed the last piece,
I noticed something that had been almost impossible to see until that
moment. Two coat hangers, bent into loops, were suspended from the
ceiling near each end of the support poles. My first
thought was "Why would Jim do this?" Followed immediately by "NOW HE
TELLS ME!"
Jim, I heard you laughing all day long!
