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Culture Wars, 1963-Style
Continue ReadingI have a modest collection of ephemera from different periods in recent history. This piece I got from material collected by the Warren Commission after the assassination of President Kennedy. The handbill was circulating in Texas, attached to telephone poles and other vertical surfaces in Dallas prior to November 22, 1963. As you can see, […]
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More Strangeness From the Streets
Continue ReadingWhen editing an image one occasionally makes extravagant changes — necessary I thought in this case to express the strangeness of our subject. Professional clowns cultivate oddness and dress routinely in garish, cobbled-together outfits. Their faces can only be described using hyperbole. This fellow had wrapped himself in balloons twisted into bizarre shapes. He […]
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Portrait of a First Sergeant
Continue ReadingThe man is an actor. More precisely a re-enactor, part of an American tribe in whom history lives organically, the past daily inhabiting thoughts and feelings. He does a good job portraying an aging sergeant of the Civil War. Anyone holding that rank would have served prior duty, meaning the Mexican War, the sieges of […]
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A Good Kind of Pride
Continue ReadingThe fireman in our foreground with polished ax seems swollen with pride in his occupation, however not from self-inflation or hubris that comes before a fall. On the contrary his demeanor seems to me without such vanity or arrogance. I see pleasure and satisfaction with his place in life, dignity in his bearing, a healthy […]
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Ebullience, Page 2
Continue ReadingSuch jaunty enthusiasm lies beyond my emotional range; indeed, it might transcend the abilities of all but a tiny percentage of mortal creatures. I was that odd child not entertained by clowns — instead was afraid of them — finding their androgyny and buffoonish behavior unnerving. Throughout history these tramps and jesters have been allowed […]
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WYSIWYG, Portrait #1
Continue ReadingI am neither related to — nor acquainted with — my subject. I do not know how she occupies her time and have no biographical data about her. Her face interested me while I watched a Veterans Day parade from the sidewalk; she looked straight at me when I raised my camera, then gifted me […]
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