small lakes of Oakland County MICHIGAN Keego Harbor
CASS lake PhotographY, poems and designs
by
Richard Stocker
I am forever enriched by the strengths, beauties and flow of changes in these calm crystal glass waters of Cass Lake. Cass Lake My Love.
CASS lake small lakes of Oakland County PhotographY, poems and designs All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the copyright holder and publisher.
ISBN Design & Layout: GISELA SANCHEZ T www.giselasanchez.com
small lakes of Oakland County
by
MICHIGAN Keego Harbor
Richard Stocker
CASS lake Richard Stocker My lake is a page of a book you need sunglasses to read fish all wear winter suits and the apples have all gone to seed
The
naked afternoon light
Stays naked all night
small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
small lakes of Oakland County
I believe
that in a curious way, our childhood surroundings shape our souls. It imprints our senses leaving a distinctive mark in mind and heart molding the way we look at life. Years go by. We move to different places, meet new friends, make new loves, live in new cities, but always our childhood keeps a space of its own in our memories. Richard Stocker grew up looking at the soft light reflections in the ripples of lake water. Listening to the silence of open space and the myriad of voices from the surrounding trees, his heart fused with the heart of the lake, setting the foundations over which the man and the artist would develop. Time after time, he kept going back to the lake. He took photos, thousand of them. He drew, painted, wrote, compose songs, and relaxed by the waters. He keeps coming back in a never-ending love story. There have been many changes through the years... the homes... the boats... the buildings...the people... but the lake remains the same. These images are memories of the way it was and the way it is today... Shared by an artist who continues to document the life of Cass Lake. Gisela Sรกnchez Tinoco Graphic Designer
Richard Stocker
10 small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
11
Waking up I hear the squirrels before I get out of bed then silently close the screen door My red row boat is munching on small waves and the catfish under the dock feel me coming
12 small lakes of Oakland County
Blue
line
drop off
my summer day
Richard Stocker
13
My dear father did something unusual He gave me an expensive Rolleiflex medium format camera and a Omega D2 enlarger at a young age. I was making contact prints in a closet darkroom and now the negatives were large and the enlarger looked like a old steam engine with a huge glass condenser that lit up like the beam at the front of a train. I was on the way to becoming a professional photographer and I promised myself to one day focus my lens on my boy hood playground:
Cass Lake at Keego Harbor, Michigan.
14 small lakes of Oakland County
There
is a party at the lake
where every star dancing
is a candle on my birthday cake
Richard Stocker
15
When you need
prayer
pass through my door I’ll be in heaven half mile off shore
16 small lakes of Oakland County
Then
there’s another alone
a most wonderful shock everyone is off to work but I stay on the dock
Wind, the prehistoric bird flies into the shimmering gold off the dock listening to the lake kiss the shore I haven’t said a word and it’s after six o clock alone like never before
Richard Stocker
17
I was
time
itself
I actually saw
The dust on the floor somehow make it to the shelf With a little help from the faces in the window
18 small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
19
20 small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
21
Come
all ye faithful
there is room in the boat and extra wings on the seat no wonder kids could stay out all day and forget they have to eat
22 small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
23
I see
where I want to go
and so I row
I get there and swim then I row back
“The slower the boat the bigger the lake� Victor Egrem
24 small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
25
The
lace of Winter
hangs on the walls of my room
26 small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
27
I like to see the lake before go to the office I like to see the wind ruffle the surface
28 small lakes of Oakland County
Skipping
stones
off my reflection
each touch a kiss one skip‌ three skips five skips or more sending kisses off the rocky shore
Richard Stocker
29
I wear
gray on gray days
and purple on purple haze walking to the end of the dock waving at the lake
30 small lakes of Oakland County
she
waves back
Richard Stocker
31
32 small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
33
One
purple drop on
The red face of the lake
34 small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
35
36 small lakes of Oakland County
I once
got lost
in a storm
walking on ice knowing that when i got home Milky Way tea would be nice
Richard Stocker
37
38 small lakes of Oakland County
Outside
blue
getting colder inside blue
getting warmer
Richard Stocker
39
40 small lakes of Oakland County
Actually every boat is one of my dreams of being on the water
Richard Stocker
41
42 small lakes of Oakland County
Save heaven so you have a place to go after your sugar runs out
Richard Stocker
43
ahhh
another day
44 small lakes of Oakland County
I have a
lake fever
a bad case of Mid-Lake-Crisis what is life worth if I can’t be by the shore
Richard Stocker
45
All
the homes and people
around the lake in a circle we share the life of tricks and treats
46 small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
47
Slidering along the bottom
my fingers lifting sand
48 small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
49
Heaven
right here on earth
inside the soul is your place of birth praying here an there for peace and light
50 small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
51
52 small lakes of Oakland County
I love you
Water the way you feel when you are cold the way you feel when I’m cold
Richard Stocker
53
54 small lakes of Oakland County
The
shore has a wisper
speaking of fame every tree that bends plays the game
Richard Stocker
55
56 small lakes of Oakland County
A
beautiful day in November when ducks are not around
that kind of a day lost memories are found
Richard Stocker
57
Way
to nice
it is beautiful outside way to sweet to let this day go by Get out of bed take it on the fly what a wonderful day to get an outdoor high
58 small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
59
60 small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
61
Cream filled
windows
of luscious afternoon light my tongue brush
dipping into a cool Summer night The summer hangs like a old shirt on a wrinkled white sky after work oak cufflinks scattered on the ground Sunbeams etching shadows into a frosted covered lawn morning arms reaching out to kiss the unshaven dawn Great Northern arrow-heads flying South above the pine honking songs of Autumn across the first page of Winter time
62 small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
63
Red white blue
64 small lakes of Oakland County
and green Richard Stocker
65
All Summer
a lady leaf
watched birds in flight
when the Autumn ladies fall before the wind she was not ready to rest With red and yellow speckled tips she circled the clouds in the first snow she returned passing bare trees in the cold sun Like an airplane flying low before it lands she crossed the icy lake and landed in my hands
66 small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
67
68 small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
69
I’m
70 small lakes of Oakland County
not still when I meditate down to one cell and I still vibrate
Richard Stocker
71
72 small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
73
74 small lakes of Oakland County
Monday
morning class at Dodge Park
Richard Stocker
75
On a train
North of Miami
I noticed a line of boats in a parking lot they looked like white ducks each with two black Yamaha tail feathers There was one large duck with a bright blue hood I think they smell the sea… they want the water but with a twelve foot barb wire fence all the ducks can do is line up like it’s feeding time actually every boat is one of my dreams of being on the water so this four eyed Michigan white bald head must be a duck Who’s dreams line up at feeding time
76 small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
77
78 small lakes of Oakland County
Richard Stocker
79
About
the Author
Richard Stocker knows that Cass Lake at
but the lake is as it was.... same weed
Keego Harbor, Michigan, is the biggest
patches, bays, sandbars, drop-offs reflec-
most beautiful lake in the world. Feeling
tions and moods. At sixty four years old
the sun come up over the glass surface
Richard has decided to professionally
and sitting on the dock blinded by bril-
photograph memories and capture new
liant star dancing water was the good life
images.
for a small lake boy. Digging for worms, fishing over weed patches and off bridg-
“ Cass Lake has a magic for me and once
es... showing up with a stringer of perch,
a lake kid always a lake kid.�
bluegill and sunfish was a proud moment. Rowing a heavy wood boat made the lake a sea of adventure. Rowing also made the day bigger since it took hours to get across the lake and slowly explore back to the dock. That was the Summer time and Winter was just as beautiful. Old photographs of those days are rare
80 small lakes of Oakland County
RS grew up on the East side of the lake on
and his grandparents built the cottage
Cass Lake Front.
around 1935. His grandfather Israel So-
About
the Designer
kanoff started the United Dairies in 1916 “I remember walking to Keego with no
and his father Dr. Lawrence L Stocker is
shoes and no curbs way before the root
the oldest practicing Ophthalmologist
beer stand. Does any one recall the large
at age 94 in the country.
orange wooden fruit stand on the North West corner of Orchard Lake Road and
It was in 1946 that Richard first tasted
Cass Lake Road...??? ”
the warm lake and it is now, in 2010 that he is photographically document-
His parents danced at Strongs Pavilion
ing the seasonal life of the lake.
Gisela Sánchez Tinoco received her degree in Graphic design from the Newman Fundation Design Institute in Caracas, Venezuela before going to England to specialize in technichal graphics at The London College of Printing. She has been working in design for more than 30 years from ilustration to books and magazines design, flash animation and advertising. She met Richard Stocker in Costa Rica in 2008 and since then, has been designing, and conceptualizing his books and other products of his creation. She runs GST Art & Design Studio and manteins two web pages where her work can be seen: www.giselasanchez / www.atg.gs
Richard Stocker
81
For more information about Richard Stocker and his work go to: www.richardstockersworld.com
82 small lakes of Oakland County