Monthly Archives: January 2019

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

A unique accomplishment.

In 1964 the French director Jacques Demy made a unique movie, a story of star crossed lovers where all the words are sung. Not a single one is spoken. This was not an attempt to compete with the great American musical. After all, how do you compete with perfection? No, rather it was a unique approach to telling a story where the quality of the singing is secondary to the narrative of the story in song. And it succeeds spectacularly. The lush score was written by Michel Legrand who passed away last week. Such were his accomplishments that he garnered three best song Oscars with “The Windmills of Your Mind” in the Thomas Crown Affair being the best known to American audiences.

But it’s the raw visual appeal of the movie, photographed by Jean Rabier, which is a standout. The very high contrast rendition – think Kodak Ektar on steroids – coupled with the bubble gum colored sets makes for a special visual statement. And throw in a very young Catherine Deneuve in what would become her breakout movie, and the no less lovely Anne Vernon as her mother and you have the makings of something very special.

Here is a collection of favorite images from this masterpiece:

You can turn on subtitles but why when you can listen to the glories of French instead?

For the follow up musical of 1967, click here.

A few more good ones

On the streets of SF.


Mahatma rules. Nikon D700, 180mm f/2.8 Nikkor.


Ethnic mix. Nikon D700, 80-200 f/4.5 Zoom Nikkor.


Superman drives. Panasonic G1, 14-45mm kit zoom.


Ghost man. Panasonic G1, 14-45mm kit zoom.


On Market Street. Panasonic GX7, 14-45mm kit zoom.

Candidly

Everyone has a camera.

The population of photographers, however, remains as small as ever.


Tooth. Downtown SF. Panny G1, kit zoom.


Roll-up. Downtown SF. Panny G1, kit zoom.


Duck, Embarcadero, SF. Nikon D3x, 35mm f/1.4 AF-S Nikkor.


Vet and white trash at Crissy Field, SF. Nikon D3x, 85mm f/1.8 MF Nikkor.


Union Square, SF. Nikon D2x, 85mm f/1.8 MF Nikkor.

The Capitol, Phoenix

The seat of government.

The Capitol, in the center, is flanked by the Senate at left and the House of Representatives on the right.

The image is a Photomerge in Photoshop of three images taken on the Nikon F100 with the 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 AFD Nikkor Zoom – a lens which was free after I sold off the IR and ND filters it came with, both of no use to me. It may not be optically perfect but excels as the ‘one lens for everything’ in street snapping.

Here’s the story:

iPhone 7 snap.