Photographs and thoughts on photography and camera collecting
This was taken on my birthday at one of my favorite restaurants: Le Bouchon, a French restaurant in Cold Spring, NY. I like the bright reds in the photograph, and also the way that you’re initially not entirely sure exactly what you’re seeing. It’s actually a reflection in one mirror of a reflection in another mirror on the opposite wall.
I was out walking with some friends when one of them, knowing of my interest in photography, brought me this interesting looking root. It was essentially all browns so I thought it would look quite ‘muddy’ in color and that a black and white conversion would be in order. I like the contrasts between the lights and the darks and the textures are interesting. I needed a fairly plain background, so I put it on the seat of a nearby chair.
From New Belgium Brewing. They certainly have a good range of interesting looking beers – most of them with intriguing names (e.g. slow ride; fat tire; skinny dip etc.)!
My wife is the gardener in the family. She was away in Europe visiting children, grandchildren and friends for three weeks and while she was away I had to take care of the garden – one of my least favorite activities. It was pretty hot for a while and just watering all of the plants took on average 2.5 hours. I usually manage to kill a few, but this time I was a bit more diligent. When she’s away for 1-2 two weeks I tend to take the attitude that they’ll probably survive even if I do nothing. However, for three weeks I wasn’t at all sure that this was the case. So I was more careful than usual.
Although I don’t care much for gardening I do like it when the garden looks nice, and all the flowers are in bloom e.g. the two roses here (unfortunately I don’t know their names).
Mary Ellen Mark. March 20 1940-May 25 2015 via Famous Photographers
Mary Ellen Mark, one of the great American social documentary photographers of the second half of the 20th century, passed away last Monday of myelodysplastic syndrome at the age of 75.
I’d seen the picture below, but was otherwise unfamiliar with her work. After learning of her death I spent some time reading about her and looking at her photographs. Very Impressive! I particularly liked the rapport she built up with her subjects and the way that she often stayed in touch with some of them for years afterwards. How different from many casual street photographs of homeless people that you see – often taken by people who have no real concern for their plight.
A photograph by Ms. Mark of the Damm family in Los Angeles in 1987. She used a classic documentary approach, usually working in black and white via the New York Times
The Online Photographer also has a second post containing more information in: More About the Remarkable Mary Ellen
The New York Times has an obituary: Mary Ellen Mark, Photographer Who Documented Difficult Subjects, Dies at 75
There’s also a fascinating video of a lecture given by Ms. Mark. entitled Most Influential Woman Photographer: Mary Ellen Mark.. Note that the audio is poor right at the beginning, but stick with it as it improves quickly.
Her own website can be found at http://www.maryellenmark.com/