Vermont Bar Journal, Vol. 40, No. 2 Vermont Bar Journal, Fall 2016, Vol. 42, No. 3 | Page 11

JEB: Ok. So you didn’t just focus on Vermont senior athletes?
EB: No, the Vermonters pictured are Flo
Meiler and Barbara Jordan, and everybody
else is from somewhere else.
JEB: Ok.
EB: The show was very well received, but
in addition to that, I heard many people
say how inspiring it was. But it wasn’t the
kind of inspiration where people would say,
“When I am 81, I want to do the pole vault.”
JEB: Right. They were just generally inspired. I am inspired, but I don’t want to do
the pole vault!
EB: Right, people said, “I hope that later
in life I’m able to do something active that
is important to me.” I’ve also continued to
work with the f/7 group. We have had a
number of pop-up shows here in Montpelier, whenever there is an art walk Often
there will be a place where the seven of us
display photographs with some particular
theme. The theme at River Arts is “Simplicity.” This is very different from athletes and
people in action.
JEB: No people, no action?
EB: I have some people in some of my
photographs, but the show reflects a broader vision of what photography can be. Many
of the photographs are more abstract, and
this is where the learning curve…..
JEB: Find something new like you said.
EB: Yes. For instance, I went to Myanmar and Laos in February-March of this
year, and I was there for six weeks. I spent
two weeks doing volunteer work in a monastery, and the rest of the time I travelled. I
did a trek east of the city of Mandalay in the
Palaung Hills, and then I went to Laos and
trekked up near the Chinese border. I took
photographs all the way through. I was really keyed on, again, being an art photographer, but focusing primarily on people.
What I am working on now is a show of
photographs from Myanmar and Laos, and
those are color photographs.

case, you found you needed to retire mostly to fully focus on photography. Although
it truly has been a common thread throughout your career, and keeping that balance
and that happiness throughout your life.
EB: That is exactly right. I also have this
daily dose of inspiration from my wife, who
is a portrait painter. We live in Middlesex,
and we have an old farmhouse. I’m upstairs
with my photography, and on the other side
of the garage is an art studio where my wife
does her painting. She’s extremely talented, and if there is ever a moment when I am
thinking that I don’t know if I really want to
put in all the time to learn a particular photographic technique, I remind myself that
she is in her studio 8-10 hours a day and
has demonstrated the importance of the
“10,000 hour rule.”

Pursuits of Happiness

JEB: Is this the one that was in Dartmouth?
EB: It was originally at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library for a month, then at Dartmouth-Hitchcock for three months.

JEB: 10,000 hours, right.
EB: Right, exactly. And from an artistic
standpoint, I think that we both are very
positive critics of each other.
JEB: Yeah, you are inspiring each other as
well. We’ve spent so much time discussing
your photography, but I recall you said you
are still doing some legal work despite being retired?
EB: I am doing some pro bono asylum
work with Erin Jacobsen at the South Royalton Legal Clinic.
JEB: Full circle!
EB: Yes, full circle. She is great to work
with, and the work is very compelling. I
couldn’t leave it completely, as I truly love
the intellectual and social justice side of legal work. And given that both my kids are
into progressive causes, I felt I needed to
keep up my end of the bargain.
JEB: Keep those cases going. That’s
great. I guess we will end here. I appreciate you taking the time to come and tell us
your story, it is amazing. I think it will inspire
others to follow their passion. If our readers would like to check out Elliot’s photography, his website is www.elliotburgphoto.
squarespace.com.
____________________
Do you want to nominate yourself or a
fellow VBA member to be interviewed for
Pursuits of Happiness? Email me at jeb@
vtbar.org.

JEB: I did go to your website that you
gave me and those pictures are beautiful.
EB: Thank you.
JEB: We will definitely put your website at
the end of the article so readers can check
them out. Trying to keep with the theme
of Pursuits of Happiness, we don’t want to
discourage people by saying you cannot
do both at the same time, because in your
www.vtbar.org

THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • FALL 2016

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