Showing posts with label Stieglitz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stieglitz. Show all posts

Thursday 21 March 2024

Food and Ambulance


Last night I had the pleasure of a visit from my favourite Great Nephew!  He has a dew days of and motored down to Duxford to see the great airfield there, the vast collection of aircraft and the tanks at the far end.  Even he found it much larger than he thought.  It is a great huge space.  
I did not go.  
Twenty or so years ago I was there twice, both time with an attractive young woman, and we both found it exhilarating and tiring at the same time.  The 'Battle of Britain Ops Room' a room where part of the  Battle was directed from, the Fighter Collection, USAF, several aged passenger liners and the large Tank collection at the far end make it a great day out.  It cost him  around £30 however.  These places are not cheap.
When he arrived, eventually, he found following my clear directions difficult, I fail to comprehend this as there are only two main roads in this town, he arrived and we set off  down the road for dinner.
The 'Yak & Yeti' is a Ghurkha themed restaurant which turned out to be quite quiet, apart from those collecting their online orders, or taking them to the customer.  Cleary the place is popular.  
Our hot stuff was very good, the Ghurkha lager also excellent, far better than the stuff the yobs drink, and as he paid, in spite of my desperate pleading to pay, the evening went very well.  
It has been many years since I saw him, and most of the others, one day I will make it up there, and not for a another funeral!  


After he had left, I sat here attempting to sort the day out in my little head when there was a knock on the door.  This means it could only be the downstairs woman.  I heard some chatter down there and thought they were discussing who should take the dog out last thing.  
It was very different.  
I had not realised an ambulance was standing outside the door.
He had begun to have a stroke, the conversation was about calling an ambulance, he not bothered, she worried.  The ambulance came, told him he was going with them, and off he went.  No arguments with them.  
She came up to inform me of this problem.  One he has had before, and the lass was understandably worried.  She remained here, probably for the best, and this afternoon I can hear him return to the fold.  No doubt I will here soon about the result.  
We can worry about global warming, WWIII, Freeports, and who will replace Sunak, but for most of us it is the reality of life that matters, strokes, arthritis, leg breaks, schools, and holidays are more relevant.  As always, great happenings are occurring all around us, but it is where we are and what is happening to us that is really important.

Stieglitz

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Old Photos





This is Paris 9111 by Alfred Stieglitz. I like this, especially enlarged.  This is not a great subject but it is real life and I like that sort of thing.  Photographic fashion changes over the years, possibly reflecting society, possibly reflecting the photographer, possibly just folks playing around with the camera.  Stieglitz didn't 'play around,' and produced some interesting pictures in his day. Born in New Jersey in 1864 he was presenting his first pictures by the 1880's. Considering the bulkiness of the cameras and the difficulty of developing and printing in those early days it is amazing how quickly photography caught on. Alfred was a man at the centre of the American photographic world until his death in 1946.



Henri Cartier - Bresson 1908-2004 came later and was the master of the candid picture. He was not however keen of being photographed himself which is a bit unfair.  Considered one of the greatest of his time he was aided by the invention just before the Great War of the Leica Camera. The compact nature and quiet workings enabled him to pry on people take candid snaps.


Bert Hardy 1913-1995 came to fame as a Picture Post cameraman. This magazine combined news stories with good quality pictures and was popular until the days of television took away the public. Bert's pictures combined gritty reality of life in Britain before and after the Second World War. Whatever the subject Hardy gave realism a human edge, these were real people and readers of the magazine could easily identify with them. He is without doubt one of the great British photographers. 






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