At the Cantor Center, Stanford University.
Two people, two trees, two pairs of lights.
Panny GX7, 17mm Zuiko.
Mirrored window
Alleyway
In North Beach.
Jasper Place, one of the many charming alleyways in North Beach, SF.
The high dynamic range is easily corrected using the superb Highlights and Shadows sliders in Lightroom 4. Abobe did a tremendous engineering job here.
Whenever I traipse along these alleyways Utrillo’s paintings dance in my head:
Maurice Utrillo. Sacre Coeur, Paris.
Panny GX7, 17mm Zuiko.
Henry Clarke
A master of style and class.
Seldom mentioned in a pantheon which includes such luminaries as Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, John Rawlings, Clifford Coffin, Cecil Beaton and Norman Parkinson, there’s a strong argument to be made that Henry Clarke was the master of them all when it came to sheer elegance in fashion photography around the middle of the last century.
Click the image for the Daily Mail article.
The Daily Mail recently ran an article on the iconic Vogue photographers and had the great good sense to include several of Clarke’s images, which you can see by clicking the picture. Scroll down and compare Clarke’s refined approach with the crass vulgarity of David Bailey. Of course, the New Look Dior dresses of Clarke’s time remain unsurpassed.
Robert Doisneau – Les Halles
All gone.
Robert Doisneau (1912-1994) (pronounced “Dwaano”) is the quintessential Parisian photographer. Where Cartier-Bresson emphasizes composition and the man in the landscape, Doisneau focuses almost exclusively on the people themselves. Doisneau’s intimacy is counterpoint to HC-B’s detachment. Both approaches work in the hands of these masters, but Doisneau’s is uniquely suited to the documentation of Les Halles, the produce market in central Paris which he photographed from 1933 through its demolition in 1971.
As Covent Garden in London and the Fulton Street Fish Market in New York were destroyed to make room for condos and stores that can be found in any other metropolis, so was Les Halles, with its exquisite cast iron frame designed by Baltard, consigned to the scrap heap. Doisneau’s record is priceless and irreplaceable.
Scalding Room, 1968.
The book contains over 120 images with an interesting prologue documenting the long history of Les Halles, and is highly recommended for all who love warm, involved candid photography. Very much a man of the people, Doisneau was clearly welcomed and loved by the people of Les Halles. There is nothing clandestine here as Doisneau was simply not that kind of phorographer.
Click the image to go to Amazon – I derive no benefit if you do that.
Bruno Barbey
Magnum photographer.
Bruno Barbey’s book ‘The Italians’ is a warm 1960s memento made up of his street images taken in Rome, Naples, Milan and Genoa. Though printed a little too dark for my taste, the images are those of a photographer who believes in getting in close to his subjects, invariably depicted with warmth and dignity. Barbey is a Frenchhman born in Morocco in 1941.
1964 – Piazza di Spagna, Rome.
Click the image for Amazon. I do not get paid if you do that.