EB : I was there for a year , and I interviewed for a position in the Attorney General ’ s Office by radio phone from Circuata , because that was the only way I could do it . I got a job in the Consumer Unit , where I stayed until February , 2015 .
JEB : For Consumer Protection ?
EB : Yes , for Consumer Protection the whole time . I am so grateful to the administrations in the AG ’ s Office for having allowed me , periodically , to go back overseas . In 1993-94 , I took a sabbatical for a year , and they hired someone to take my position in the AG ’ s office . At that time , we were a family of four : August , Asher who was ten , and Julien who was five , and we went to Central America , where we spent half the year in Costa Rica and half of the year in Guatemala . August again did public health work and I homeschooled the kids .
JEB : Wow that is amazing . It is something to be grateful for ; to take a year off , and then to come back .
EB : Absolutely . We also lived in Madrid for six months in 2001 , the kids went to school there , and I supervised Susan Palmer from Spain . She handled my cases in person , but I would communicate with her from our apartment in Madrid every afternoon and supervise her remotely .
JEB : I was going to ask if you weren ’ t going to get there !
EB : That was last summer , 2015 , in Minneapolis . There were 19 different sports . It ’ s like the Olympics ; it took over the city . There were 10,000 athletes who came from all over the U . S .
JEB : Yes , our readers learned a little bit about it in my last interview with Bernie Lambek who is trying to qualify now for Alabama in ping pong .
EB : I found out about the Senior Games in 2014--I play racquetball . I was discussing with a fellow racquetball player friend of mine the dearth of tournament opportunities for racquetball players . We play at First in Fitness , but there are no tournaments or anything .
JEB : Not like there is for ping pong apparently .
EB : That ’ s right . My friend said , why don ’ t you try out for the Senior Games , they are going to happen next year and the tryouts are this year , 2014 , and I said , “ I have no idea what you are talking about .” He explained what the Senior Games were , but the critical part of the conversation was when he told me that he had gone to the Senior Games in Cleveland in 2013 , and during one of his free mornings he went over to the track and field venue and watched the 100 meter dash for women age 90 and over .
Pursuits of Happiness
JEB : So for this trip , as opposed to the others , your kids went to school there , so they probably speak Spanish now , very well . EB : Right . I did photography pretty sporadically after that , and it wasn ’ t until 2015 , having worked for 27 years in consumer protection , loving the job , and on some level not wanting to leave , that I realized that if I didn ’ t step out of law practice and really concentrate on my art , I was never going to be able to do what I wanted to do with it . I had completed that project so many years before in Bolivia , which was a labor of love , but I hadn ’ t undertaken anything like that since then , and I thought , I have to do this now .
So I left the AG ’ s Office in February of last year , and I joined a group of photographers in central Vermont called f / 7 . We all have different styles . We get together every six weeks or so and assign ourselves a particular kind of photograph or topic , and we critique our work and do joint shows . We have a show at River Arts in Morrisville in September . I have learned so much from this group . That was a spur to me , in deciding to get back into this project-oriented photography idea . The first project was the National Senior Games .
JEB : 90 and over ?! EB : Yes . 90 and over . I was a little dumbfounded to hear this . And this mental image came to mind of these women of advanced age , competing at a high level and very seriously , and I thought , I want to see that , and I want to photograph that .
JEB : Yes !
EB : So I went out to Minneapolis , and I had a press credential , because I was going to do a story for Vermont Sports Magazine . I went there with all my camera equipment and my racquetball racquet .
JEB : Both .
EB : I got knocked out of racquetball in the first round , which was a blessing in disguise . It was fun , but the competition was very stiff . Being knocked out early freed me up to spend the week at the track and field competition . I was there every day from 8 in the morning until 5 in the evening . I tried to cover as many events as I could , and I also focused on Vermont athletes Flo Meiler and Barbara Jordan . They are amazing , and I followed them around . I was really interested in being there as an art photographer , that is , you have this multiplicity of events , and they are all very different , from a photographer ’ s point of view .
JEB : Visually , they are totally different . EB : Visually they are totally different ,
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