samuel-alexander-dixon

[samuel-alexander-dixon]

Yang Yongliang, Bowl of Tapei series

[samuel-alexander-dixon]

[samuel-alexander-dixon]

[samuel-alexander-dixon]

justice joslin

[samuel-alexander-dixon]

angela w*

[samuel-alexander-dixon]

[samuel-alexander-dixon]

She wasn't much like her school friends at all. Here she was, lacking the perfected hair she had at school, the fancy clothes... and the shoes. Not to mention lacking her posse that kept her isolated and held on a pedestal the rest of the school saw her on. He liked her like this. She was... normal. It was weird. He could actually see himself hanging out with her again. This Layla, the wild haired, smacking gum, muddy feet and nosy questions, Layla. He was sure School-Layla wouldn't be any different. But the fear that she might be still lingered. Staring down at his muddy boots, and her muddy toes, he listened to her resistance to the description. "You're pretty like a Barbie though," he muttered half distracted and unmeaning to. The worlds tumbled out before he even realized what he had said. But once he did, he looked away, his cheeks blushing and his hands clenching on the edge of the bench."I mean... uh... Just. You got blonde hair like one. Yeah," he cleared his throat, and kicked at a loose nail. 

"Dynamite, huh?" he hurried to the next topic, hoping to use the adoration he had heard in her voice to distract them both. "Isn't it hard.... I mean... to ride such a big thing? Don't you get a little scared sometimes?" The wonder honestly struck him. Her horse was massive, and she was even smaller than him. And yet, something told him, that she was also a lot gutsier.

"School? I... It's weird. I was always home-school. And... I dunno. Kind'a the odd kid out. Not my favorite thing." The offer made him pause and look up at her. "Really?" he was skeptical, and raised a disbelieving brow at her. "You got your own friends. It's fine. I don't mind being alone." His shoulders lifted into a shrug, before turning his attention back to the horizon. 

It was strange, how meeting this girl had started out so tension filled and volatile, and now here they were, sitting on his porch swing.... getting to know each other. Ew. That was the stupid thirteen year old boy side of him talking. But in reality, underneath it all... He really was enjoying himself. So much so, that he didn't even realize the sun had already gone down, which brought the tell tale purr of his dad's sleek black Audi coming up the long drive to the main house. He jumped to his feet not a moment later. "Oh no. My dad's home," he muttered more to himself. "I uhm... I gotta go! I'll see you at school!" And he was off, leaping off the porch as he sprinted across the field back toward the house. "Bye Layla!" he yelled behind him as his legs carried him not nearly as fast as he needed them to. 

The Meeting || October 2, 2012

For a minute she had panicked. his question about her secret hide out made her think that maybe he had been spying on her too. she was sure that no one knew about her treasure box. wouldnt that be funny if hes spyin on me right back. 

"yeah goin down by the river is muh favrite. ive found some purty cool things. i think ive almost explored every part of muh lot." she gazed over to her family’s plantation thoughtfully. she never got tired of exploring around her land, there was always something new to find or dig up. "hey i aint no barbie. not one bit. but i do want tuh be uh vet someday. good guess." she nudged towards him. Layla looked down at her dirty feet. she suddenly flushed red and wished she had put shoes on. oh well, she internally sighed. 

his answer had surprised her. she hadnt stuck him as musical. she wanted to hear him play. Sam asked her about her horse but she wanted to learn more about him. Layla frowned in thought,”thanks, his name is dynamite. hes muh pride and joy. i spend a lot of time with’em. Maggie tells me if i wanna keep him i gotta keep him up.” she looked at Sam, she wondered what he was thinking. he looked as if there was so much he wasnt sharing. “so, how do ya feel bout school? ya should come eat lunch with me.” it was a forward thing for her to ask. she was usually more reserved about her questions. 

[samuel-alexander-dixon]

The humidity of the setting sun made the air thick and sticky, his skin suddenly feeling uncomfortable and too tight beneath his cardigan and long sleeve shirt. As she sat down next to him, he tugged off the garment, slinging the dark blue sweater over the back of the chair, leaving him only in a thin grey long sleeved henley. He loved sitting out here on evenings like this; with the next step of his process done, and the ease returned to his usually stiff shoulders, while the sun sunk lazily beneath the horizon, like a marble slinking through warm molasses. It was one of the many reasons he loved Louisiana, and he couldn't help wanting to photograph the waning sunlight. As the swing began to move beneath him, unexpected but gentle, he was pulled from his usual isolation of his thoughts. 

"Ya find any cool thing out on your adventures?" he asked, peeking sideways at her, but keeping his gaze mostly out over the land. Colorless images of buried treasures, fresh washed from their muddied and impermanent graves, cradled by delicate yet dirty fingers, sneaked into his head as he asked her the question. "Or any secret hide outs or somethin'?" his voice returned to that excited tinge, brought by the prospect of more places to explore, more pictures to take other than the ones of his own land he'd taken a hundred times, a hundred different ways. 

His boots skimmed across the surface of the porch, making a soft scraping sound without slowing the swing. He might have even kept it swinging just a bit. "Maybe yer like one of them Career Barbies. The Veterinarian, or Lawyer ones. Doesn't mean you aren't a Barbie," he posed, smirking at her sideways. But her next question made him pause, made him pensive and thoughtful, and an answer didn't come as easy as it should have. 

"Just... Study... practice piano. Stuff my parents make me to do. Sometimes Joe teaches me about cars. I like runnin' too. But that's nothing special," he shook his head, wanting to take the attention off him as quick as possible. And as little as he knew about girls, he knew enough to know they liked to talk about themselves. "What's your horse's name? He's real pretty. Must take good care of him." She'd want to talk about that, instead of him... hopefully.

The Meeting || October 2, 2012

strangely enough Layla found herself realizing how calming Sam’s voice was. she enjoyed hearing him ramble or explain things to her. He had smiled a real smile at her and it made her stomach feel warm and jumpy all at once. it was the same sensation she got when practicing jumps in the field with her horses. the jumps made her heart soar and gave her an adrenaline rush. it was incredibly addicting…so was that smile. oh no. im in trouble. she couldnt help but give him a smile back, his was so contagious. 

"uh, well, i uh…i dunno. i explore muh family’s plantation and play with muh brother i guess." she chewed on her gum self consciously and looked down. lord, hes makin me nervous. WHY?! she didnt expect to take such a liking to this boy. she had always noticed him..always thought he was different, but not in a bad way. of all the boys in her school, of course she had to crush on this one. she reached up and attempted to tuck a strand of her wild hair behind her ear. it stayed put for less than a second and went right back to being in a crazy mess.

Layla looked back up just in time to see him turn on the power to something and jerk his head towards the door. she hopped down from the counter excitedly and followed him outside. a smile had crept back onto her face. now dont act like an idiot. i wonder if he will want to hang out with me again? the sun had gone down quite a bit since she had snuck into his studio but the humidity was just as thick. when he invited her to sit down with him on the porch swing she eagerly joined him. Layla glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. seeing him in the sun made him even more attractive. his dark hair and light eyes had been so striking and now that it was even clearer it made her heart race. his question made her come back to reality. 

"oohhh you callin me smart now?" she teased back. "hmm. thought i was uh barbie." a proud smile crossed her lips. "and fer yer information i don’ win aaalll the smart kid awards. jus’ some." she pushed her feet off the ground to swing the bench a little. she looked at him directly and asked,"what else do you do Sam….i mean besides take cool photos." she was enjoying his playfulness, it made her sass come out more. but besides her enjoying the teasing opportunity she really did want to find out more about him. Sam intrigued her. 

[samuel-alexander-dixon]

should she be the Face for the girl he dates in high school?

So it will give you THAT much more reason to hate her? HAHAHAH

[samuel-alexander-dixon]

[samuel-alexander-dixon]

A man feeding swans and ducks from a snowy river bank in Krakow.

[samuel-alexander-dixon]

Weeping Flower

[samuel-alexander-dixon]

[samuel-alexander-dixon]

He wasn’t used to compliments, not sincere ones like this from anyone besides Joe. His father sure as hell never complimented or praised him. Instead, always pushed him to be better, to work harder, to improve. And even when he did, it was never enough. But her compliments filled him with an odd sense of pride that he never got from his mother’s weak attempts at praise. He always got the feeling that the only reason she praised him was because she read it in some parenting magazine, or she saw it on TV. It wasn’t like she paid enough attention to him for long enough to find something to praise him about. Maybe Layla was a ‘nice gal’ after all. Her stupid twang ran through his head. Part of him resisted strongly to any inkling of fondness toward the girl. “Men aren’t soft, Samuel,” his father had often said to him when young Sam got emotional. He cleared his throat.

“Yeh. It’s Joe’s pond. He keeps it all pretty an’ stuff. It out back behind the house. He won’t let me catch frogs there. Says I gotta do it down by stream on the edge of the lot,” he caught himself rambling, explaining and speaking more than he needed to. “Men don’t ramble, Samuel. You say what you need to, and that’s all.” It angered him that his father’s voice was so often in his head, made him more bitter and resentful toward the dictator of his life. Glancing at Layla perched on his counter, he wondered what it was like to have a father that rode horses with him.

He hadn’t noticed she’d started calling him ‘Sam’, too wrapped up in what his hands were doing to realize she even knew his name at all. Maybe she paid more attention to me than I thought. But he liked the nickname, and found himself wanting one for her. Too soon, too soon. It has to be natural.

“Thanks…” he smiled at her, a sweet, innocent smile that was so rare on his face. It felt weird. “What do you do?” he quickly chimed, wanting to distract himself from thinking too much. “Other than horseback riding, I mean.” He didn’t want to bring up the fact that he had pictures of her again, and immediately regretted doing so. It was kind of embarrassing that she saw those. But she just photographed really well, even in black and white. Gingerly removing the washed film, Samuel opened the closet dryer along the wall, and hung the still curled roll of film. He flicked on the power and a just barely too loud whir took over the hair. After setting the timer for it, he jerked his head, and motioned for her to come outside with him. He sat on the porch swing, and tried to invite her to sit as nonchalantly as possible (which wasn't very much at all considering he was a fidgety thirteen year old boy in a very foreign situation.) “Do you do anything besides get all the smart kid awards at school?” He smirked at her, a relaxed and friendly teasing for the first time.

The Meeting || October 2, 2012

She thought she sensed a sort of distain towards Sam’s dad in his words. It was the same way she spoke about her mom. She wondered what kind of relationship they had. Layla shrugged at his comment about talking to him at school, little did he know she was too nervous to speak to him at school. She wasn’t about to let him know that. She was watching him carefully. He moved around the room with the same ease that she had when moving about her stables. It made her respect him. Sam moved towards her with photos in hand and sat them down beside her. He told her it was ok to look so she gingerly picked up one of the pictures. It was a stunning image. Yes, it was just a pond but there was something about it. There were lilies and what looked like a frog sitting on one of them. How did he make this look so pretty? She thought.

“Wow Sam. This aint lame at’ll. Is this pond on yer groun’s?” she asked, still chewing on her gum ferociously. Layla felt like complimenting him a little more. “you gotta cool talent.” She added quietly.

Suddenly she had the urge to do something artistic as well. He inspired her a little. Maybe he’ll let me come again. Layla had been given a sketchbook for her birthday last year, she hadn’t been sure what to do with it before but now an idea had struck her.

[samuel-alexander-dixon]

[samuel-alexander-dixon]

[samuel-alexander-dixon]