Category: photography

Never Forget, Don’t Pay To Remember

This statue in Pere Lachaise doesn’t cost a cent to see. It’s haunting memory brings sights and smells of the Holocaust to your senses without charge. To make visits to the shrines of dead jews the equivalent of paying to ride at an amusement park devalues the debt humanity owes the dead.

With all the money in the world spent on campaigns to elect people or to promote international sports or to get people to fritter their money away at gambling casinos, one might think that some things are too deserving of veneration to be commercialized. Not if you are Trumpian.

Charging to see the artifacts of death from Aushwitz and making a profit offends me. No charge to see the memorial in Miami. No charge in Berlin. No charge in Berlin. And, when we went to Stutthoff, a work camp in Poland, we went in free. October, we are going to Terezin. I will let you know.

I don’t do fund raising, but give to the cause of preserving the memories of the dead for all, especially those without the funds. Some of these financially challenged might be dissuaded from turning to killing to earn a living.

DIANA, ACTAEON AND DONALD TRUMP AT THE NORTON MUSEUM IN PALM BEACH

Being museum rats that we are, Sharon Duckman and I went to an Atget show at the Norton Museum. Because of the construction of a new wing (a condition which makes it free), we entered through the main entrance, as opposed to the one near the parking lot, strange and true. As far as we know, Donny and the clan didn’t make a donation.

On each side of the door way, were two Paul Manship sculptures which I had never studied, let alone paid any attention to. You may be familiar with his work, if you ever visited Rockefeller Center and looked at Prometheus. Manship ranks at one of America’s most treasured sculptors on a par with Daniel Chester French.

So, while museum visits are part of our normal stretch, we have increased our visits to cultural sites to drown out the noise on TV and the words in print about our country’s Constitutional Crisis. Everything seems to turn into a discussion about Donald the Romanov and the royal family Trump. Why should this be any different?

The sculpture here features Diana. While bathing in the nude, she was observed by a mortal hunter, Actaeon. Sort of like being groped, eh. She turned him into a stag and let her dogs rip him apart.

I will get the dog’s picture on the next trip.

PURLIFE

What I really need to do is stick to a fitness plan. When I travel or shoot, I am moving. To keep abreast of the worlds of photography, US Government and art, including movies, books and museums, I sit. While my knowledge grows, my health suffers. Mmmmm.

This guy works at PURLIFE, a gym for the healthy in Del Ray. Too far to drive. 1/2 hour in the car for exercise leads to more sitting, even though NPR or a podcast is on the radio which defeats ignorance. Tough choices. I will go for a walk.

Felix is Dead

So I walk around with a camera, using it to document the race, humans etc. It may not make me smarter or stronger, but I feel better about life. Meeting and talking with others makes me less stupid and more aware how we are all different. I don’t ask for stories. I ask if I can help. Felix didn’t want help. He said he was ready to die. No one knows for sure, if he went. I learned when I went to the food pantry and my images of him were on the door. Last people heard, he had been taken to a hospice.

Felix lived here, right off the highway. He lived in the woods. He could have had a place if he wanted one.

His front yard.

Garage and reading room.

Stanley Green, Another Photographer, Dead

Now, why didn’t I have the courage to do this when I could? I guess it’s because I wanted to use words instead of images to change the world. I failed. Stanley Green didn’t.

Very sad. The world will miss his work. To replicate it, if that was possible, a photographer would need to be connected to the universe by strings, like he was. He could feel the beat and see it. I got the feeling from his work that he knew the answers. I wonder if he felt the same way.

Walker Evans – Crate Tool

In 1955, Fortune Magazine published a piece by Walker Evans entitled, “The Beauty of the Common Tool.” Previously, he had shot portraits of workers at their jobs. This studio work was designed to show the tool, highlighting its shape, form and metallic color. along with its price and manufacturer. Like any glamour picture, the beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. The viewer didn’t need to know the function to appeciate its looks.

Shelly Isaacs, Cafe Cinématique

Not much good to say about where I live. Lots of ill-mannered New Yorker/New Jerseans who rush everywhere, drive madly and think they know it all. Arts and crafts. Cards. Golf. Restaurants, especially early bird specials. Lots of lines, people who talk about grandkids and coupons.

Not a lot of culture, even though we have several museums, nature walks and a plethora of movie theaters. People who watch MSNBC and CNN talk like they have a seat at the table, never mind the ones who watch Fox who control foreign policy. One day in the gym, three televisions had Fox news on, entertaining people on treadmills and stationary bikes.

But, we do have Shelly and his movies. He introduces movies you might not go to see and leads discussions at their conclusion. Always upbeat and tolerant of dumb comments, he increases awareness of cinematic art.

Now, remember, I am a photographic artist, a cult that people know little about, despite the democratization of cameras and photo making. I constantly strive to see better. Shelly’s incisive comments help me to watch movies more critically, though he’s more reviewer than critic. Going to his movies makes life a little more bearable down here.