Chas Geer Photography, Arlington - Acclaimed Photographer Charley Geer was Official Photographer of the U.S. Senate

[DonRocks]

It's never too late.

My good friend (and long-time dr.com member) Charley Geer owns Chas Geer Photography, and is one of the finest photographers in the area. I've known Charley and his wife Shirley for many years, and we've shared many glassesbottles of wine together. He was a regular in our old tasting group, and let me tell you about how we met.

We were both active on an internet wine board - I can't remember which one - back in the mid 90s, and having noticed we both lived in Northern Virginia, we naturally began emailing behind the scenes.

Charley was just getting into wines at the time, but plunged head-first, having made the logical progression from California to Bordeaux, (and, of course, eventually winding up in Burgundy as we all do). The 1989 Bordeaux had been out for a couple of years, and we somehow figured out that he had a bottle of Château Haut-Brion, and I had a bottle of Château La Mission Haut-Brion, neither of which we had ever tried. We decided to meet for an evening-long cross-taste to see how the wines would develop over the course of several hours - just me, and him, and Shirley.

We had never met before, and yet, here we were, tasting these crazily extravagant wines (these were released at $60-70 a bottle, so they weren't *that* extravagant, but they're now worth more like $1,000 - if only we had known! Actually, even if we had …)

Charley, who was contracted nearly full-time by the Heritage Foundation, used to be official photographer of the U.S. Senate, but took an entire day of his time (and then some) to photograph my wedding. Of course he wouldn't take any money - "You can just pay me in wine," he said. I don't think I ever did. As I type this note, my cooling unit is sitting in his wine cellar - his had broken down a couple of years ago, and I offered to give him mine. He wanted to give me some money for it - "You can just pay me in wine," I said. He never did - we both knew it all evens out over time.

Charley is no longer available for weddings because he passed away earlier this month, and so you won't find this honorary thread in the indexes. In his typical, "love of life" fashion, he and Shirley were spending their 40th wedding anniversary in Venice. He made it back home during his acute illness, and then left us peacefully.

I'll miss you, Charley - we all will.

Your friend,

Don