January 7, 2006

• SATURDAY PHOTO

  Audrey Hepburn
  by Philippe Halsman (1906-1979)
  Gelatin silver print, 1954
  National Portrait Gallery

  In 1958, a poll conducted by Popular Photography named Halsman one of the “World’s Ten Greatest Photographers” along with Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Ernst Haas, Yousuf Karsh, Gjon Mili, and Eugene Smith. He was born in Latvia and when he was 15 years old he found his father’s old view camera and started photographing family and friends. He was super bright (not unlike these young xangan photographers Im_Moses and katgirl_09 – check them out and subscribe, you won’t regret it) and graduated at the top of his high school class. He studied electrical engineering at college in Germany. When he was 24 he moved to Paris and started to work as a portrait photographer. By his late 20’s his portraits of famous people began to appear in European magazines. He had his first major exhibition, in Paris, when he was 30. In 1940, when the war began, he and his family got out of Europe with the help of Albert Einstein who knew a family member. He arrived in New York with one suitcase, a camera, and 12 prints. The next year he met Salvador Dali and they began a lifelong collaboration. In 1942, when he was 36, his first cover of Life magazine was published. He became an American citizen in 1948 when he was 42 and over the rest of his life produced many famous photographs and books, including the famous Jump Book (see here). He died at 73 in New York City. See more of his famous photos here.)
  

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  Deep Thought: “When my cousin Billy came and stayed at our house for a week, at first everything seemed okay. But then I started noticing things were missing. The first thing was a bag of garbage we kept under the kitchen sink. Then the piles of ashes and butts in the ashtrays. Then all the weeds in the yard. I never said anything to him, but we never invited him back.”
  Today I am grateful for: Not having been named Cindy Lou
  Guess the Movie: “I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I’ve still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you.” Answer: 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968. WInner: lowflyingsquab.
  The Opposite of Good Is Apathy
  By Cindy Sheehan
  If I hear one more rendition of “We Shall Overcome” and then watch the vigilers or marchers go home and turn on their TVs and crack open a brewsky, content in the fact that they have done something for peace that day, I am going to scream! We can’t overcome unless we take the proverbial bull by the horns and overcome!
  Hold your vigils and marches in relevant places: such as warmongering local Congressional offices. So many Senators and Congresspeople come to mind. Or in front of a recruiting station. Or federal buildings. Or military bases. Then instead of going home and cracking open a beer, or uncorking a bottle of wine, sit down and say “we aren’t leaving until you call for an immediate end to the occupation of Iraq.” Put your butt on the line for humanity.
  Change will not happen until we make it happen. We can’t make change happen by wishing or praying that it will happen.
  We actually have to do something. (Rest of article here.)
  End of Day: 7:47 pm
  + = Got my new Canon Pixma multifunction printer.
  - = Having trouble setting it up.

  • 10:38 am
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