Category Archives: Photographers

Paris revisited

Bio, Photographs

One last visit to The City of Light.

My first visit in September, 1974 had been nothing but joyful, confirming my love of all things French.

By October, 1977 my utter disillusionment with England saw a one way ticket to America in my baggage but, before boarding that Pan Am flight, a second and final visit to Paris was indicated. I simply wanted to cement the images of that gorgeous city in my mind. And in my Leica.

These are among the very last monochrome film images I ever took. Thereafter, once in America, my salary would double, my taxes would halve, my suit count would rise from one to three and my prospects would improve two orders of magnitude. And Kodachrome and the local printing place would obsolete TriX and the smelly chemicals and enlarger in the home darkroom/bedroom.



At the Arc de Triomphe


Self portrait with Leica




At the Elysée Palace, Cadillac and all




Wedding in Parc Monceau, quite possibly the most perfect public park …. after the Tuileries Gardens


Parc Monceau


At the Holocaust Museum. Appropriately spiky and threatening


At the Holocaust Museum


Café Cher(ie)


Working girl


The Venus de Milo has seen better days



Gorilla



Mailman


Train conductor


Gendarmes








If the English are a nation of animal lovers then the French are a nation of dog lovers


Pipe and pigeons

Leica M3, 35mm Summaron, TriX. What could be more perfect for street photography? All images ‘scanned’ using the Nikon D800.

Terence Cuneo

Book reviews, Paintings

Steam train painting master.

Ask me which photography book I would choose if I could only have one and the answer has been unchanged for decades. It’s O. Winston Link’s (1914-2001) Steam, Steel and Stars. A masterpiece of nostalgia, composition and technique, it’s so good that I own two copies, the lighter paperback joining me on my travels:


Everyone should have two.

But a photographer can only go with what is there. Yes, he can change the lighting and composition but he does not have the creative freedom afforded a painter whose limits are those of his imagination. And if you want something of the same caliber as Link’s photographs on a canvas the only choice is the work of Terence Cuneo (1907-96).

High drama is a given in his moving train canvases:


High drama.

Yet the more mundane images are no less powerful and nostalgic:


The signalman.

Cuneo would generally make pen and ink sketches first and completed many commissions for British Railways. In this example, where the cab is being lowered onto the wheels and chassis, he arrived too late. Because he was well known by the operators it was a moment’s work for them to raise the cab so he could complete his sketch:


Preliminary sketch.

And then, Boom!, an absolute masterpiece:


An Engine is Wheeled.

Imagine an advertising campaign today with this ‘backroom’ approach? Pictures of Chinese slave labor assembling iPhones? I don’t think so.

And if you desire Impressionist genius, Cuneo is happy to oblige, as in this image on the Orient Express:


Impressionism on the Orient Express.

These images are from a splendid book titled ‘Terence Cuneo: Railway Painter of the Century‘. It’s long out of print but available from used sellers and the quality of the printing on very thick stock does justice to Cuneo’s canvases.

Train movies

Movies

A wonderful genre.

As a kid I well remember taking the Flying Scotsman from London to Dundee to both visit my sister, then a student at St. Andrew’s, and to pick up her gift of a Scottish Terrier. This was in 1960 and the trip inculcated in me a love of all things Scottish – terriers not the least of them – and of steam trains. Yes, you arrived grimy and smelly (my opening the window in a tunnel did not help matters) but the journey was truly greater than the arrival. The Scotsman was finally retired from long distance service in 1963 after a long and distinguished life.


The Flying Scotsman. Power, majesty and beauty.

So it’s little wonder that my burgeoning movie collection contains no less than 29 films where the train is mostly the star:


Train movies.

There are probably more, which I may have missed, but this is a decent start. The other day my son and I watched the latest ‘Mission Impossible” offering, part VII, and on our 123″ screen with a killer sound system it was a thrilling experience. Forget plot and dialog, the stunts and special effects were the best we have seen, with the last 40 minutes or so showcasing a thrilling train disaster.

Yet …. all the technology apart, this is far from the best train movie made as none compares with Buster Keaton’s ‘The General’ made in …. 1926. You not only disregard the script – there is none in this silent movie which makes it better than the asinine one in MI Part VII – it’s not widescreen this and seven channel that, but the strength of the story line, the timing of Keaton’s acting and the sheer hilarity of some of the set pieces beats anything made since.


Buster Keaton sacrifies a perfectly good real train.

So encomiums to Mr. Cruise for his death defying stunts but if you want to see the real thing, go no further than The General.

Saul Leiter revisited

Book reviews

Now famous.

While I was an early aficionado of Saul Leiter’s (1923-2013) work – see Early Color – he has since become renowned and there are now several books of his work in print.

Christmas saw one of those join the library and it’s named The Unseen Saul Leiter. As ‘Early Color’ is now high priced ‘unobtainium’ this is as good an introduction to Leiter’s work as there is, at a modest price.


Click the image for Amazon US.

Leiter’s vision is as fresh today as when he made these images and the book is highly recommended.

Classic cocktails

Book reviews, Photographers

Of the Prohibition era. Book review.

Churchill, who hated mixed drinks, once remarked that “Americans will always do the right thing, having first tried all the alternatives.” His belief falls down when it comes to mixed drinks for Americans have been mixing cocktails since the Prohibition era (1920-33) and continue merrily doing so to this day. And while Prohibition itself is a shining example of the accuracy of his dictum, mixed drinks survive and prosper.

Indeed, the stupidity of Prohibition was the driver behind many of the mixed drinks profiled in this book (not to mention the foundation of the Mob’s fortune), which I purchased some 25 years ago for Sam Sargent’s outstanding photography. I just rediscovered it in my chaotic, randomly sorted library. That’s the best way to store art books as pleasant surprises crop up daily when a long forgotten favorite surfaces, as in this case.

Why mix drinks? Because when all you have is bathtub gin (made in the Bronx) and yucky sweet rum smuggled in from Cuba, you have to kill the awfulness somehow. Today our ingredients are a tad better and mixed drinks survive and prosper.

Amazingly, a quarter of a century later the book remains available.


Click the image for Amazon.

Here’s another example of Sam Sargent’s work – each libation is displayed in a period glass – and like the book Sam appears to still be ticking along:


The TNT!

Unless you are a purist like WSC, I encourage you to buy this book for the great staging and photography – and maybe for some high end mixology!

For an index of all my book reviews, please click here.