Month: September 2019

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

I think this Mother Goose nursery rhyme was about Mother Nature for she has been quite contrary this summer. I spent all winter and spring dreaming of lazy weekend mornings on my deck drinking my coffee and reading. So far this summer I’ve been able to do so only twice thanks to Mary and her never ending rainy weekends.

Not only has the rainy weather kept me from my lazy weekend mornings on my deck, but it’s also kept me from going to the lake for a sunrise. On a clear day, I don’t think there is anything more beautiful or peaceful than seeing the sunrise over Lake Michigan.

For the past few weekends I’ve been trying to make it to the lake for the sunrise only to be thwarted by cloudy, drizzly weather. Last weekend I decided that if I couldn’t see the sunrise, I could at least get out during the Golden Hour and maybe get a nice photo or two. After walking around for a couple of hours and not seeing anything that spoke to me, I headed home dejected and uninspired. And then, just as I was standing on a street corner about a block from my home I looked up and saw the sky painted in such beautiful colors that it almost didn’t seem real.

I chased the sunset for a couple more blocks hoping to get a few more photos, but by the time I reached the second block the light was gone. In the span of 5 or 6 minutes, the sunset had faded to dusk and I thought about how much change happens in mere minutes.

RIP, Robert Frank

I was saddened to read about Robert Frank’s death in the New York Times yesterday.

There have been several articles about him in the New York Times over the past couple of days. You’ll need a dictionary and art degree to understand most of what’s written, but there was one word that I did understand without any help from Merriam-Webster. Influential.

He (along with Vivian Maier) has probably influenced my view and appreciation of photography the most. Before seeing his photographs, I thought of photography as perfectly composed and exposed pictures. Something pretty to hang on the wall. But his work in The Americans is sometimes blurry and cockeyed, sometimes grainy, and sometimes I’m not even sure what I’m supposed to be looking at. But throughout the whole book I feel like a voyeur peeping in the windows of a funeral or watching people eat a deli counter from front window, maybe even eavesdropping on a conversation at a table behind me in a restaurant. I find his work and the feelings they invoke infinitely more interesting than a perfectly composed landscape.

Please forgive the poor quality of the following photographs. I took pictures of the pictures in the book, The Americans. I probably could have found images on the internet to use, but given the industry I work in I’m a little paranoid about infringing on copyrights. Though I’m not sure that using a picture of the picture is any better.

The above photo is one of my favorites of Robert Frank’s. There’s so much detail. You can see an empty barbershop in his reflection in the window as well as the reflection of the street behind him. You see the texture of the screen over the reflection. The photo feels peaceful to me, like he took it on a Sunday morning walk around town. I wonder what made him stop to take this picture. Are there any other chairs in the shop or just the one?

This photo makes me laugh. There is something so strange about having a shoe shine stand in a men’s bathroom. That poor shoe shiner – does he have to sit in the bathroom all day? Or does he sit outside the bathroom and follow men in(also creepy) hoping they’ll want their shoes shined after they’ve dribbled on them? Which would be worse? I don’t think I would even have the guts to even take a picture in a restroom.

Is anyone else influenced by Robert Frank? Which of his photos are your favorite?