Ice Skating ON the Eiffel Tower: A Decisive Family Moment

Not exactly a Henri Cartier-Bresson decisive moment, but a family story: in January of 1970, as a young man full of wanderlust and slowly wending my way from the Scottish highlands through England and into France, I spent several near-penniless days in Paris. I took the elevator to the "second floor" of the Eiffel Tower, and as the old iron gate opened, there was the utterly unexpected sight of schoolchildren, perhaps 6-8 of them, ice-skating. I took a photograph of the scene. In 1985, as my wife and I were walking toward the Eiffel Tower, I told her about this remarkable event. She refused to believe it. Her French is good, so I asked the lady selling entrance tickets "is there still an ice-skating rink on the second floor?" She looked up haughtily, her eyeglasses at the tip of her nose, and replied: "yes, sir, indeed, and on the third floor there is a swimming pool." Of course, she thought I was nuts. Needless to say, this didn't help my case. When we got home I tore the house apart looking for the black and white negatives from 1970, and I found them! I sent them off to have a print made, and showed it to my wife. Over the years she forgot that I showed her the photographic proof, and I can no longer find the negative or the print! So for years the "truth" in the family has been that I could not possibly have ever seen kids ice-skating on the Eiffel Tower. Fast forward to a few years ago, when I mentioned to French teachers in my school about the ice-skating rink on the Eiffel tower, and that's when I learned how to say "ice-skating rink" in French, and I told them that no one believes that I saw what I saw. They suggested "googling" for info, and lo and behold, the result was a newspaper article from about 2004 stating that "for the first time ever, authorities will allow ice-skaing on the Eiffel tower." Well, of course they are mistaken, very mistaken. While cleaning the basement recently, I found the contact sheet of the photo (though the negative and print remain elusive), so I scanned the tiny image at high resolution, improved it as best as I could in Photoshop, and submit it here for anyone who cares! You may click to enlarge; in any case the iron structure of the tower is visible upper-right. Now, if that wasn't in the photo...UPDATE 1/17-11 I have found the original negative! Will scan it when I get a chance, to replace the existing poor image.

Patin à glace sur la Tour Eiffel: Une famille "moment decisive"

Pas exactement un Henri Cartier-Bresson moment décisif, mais une histoire (blague) de famille: en Janvier de 1970, comme un jeune homme plein de nostalgie du voyage et lentement, se frayant mon chemin de la Scottish Highlands à travers l'Angleterre et en France, j'ai passé plusieurs jours à proximité sans le sou en Paris. J'ai pris l'ascenseur à l'étage "deuxième" de la Tour Eiffel, et comme la vieille porte de fer a ouvert, il y avait la vue tout à fait inattendue d'écoliers, peut-être 6-8 sur eux, patin à glace. J'ai pris une photographie de la scène. En 1985, comme ma femme et moi marchions vers la Tour Eiffel, je lui ai parlé de cet événement remarquable. Elle a refusé de le croire. Son français est bon, alors j'ai demandé à la dame de vente de billets d'entrée "est là encore une patinoire au deuxième étage? Elle leva les yeux avec hauteur, ses lunettes au bout de son nez, et a répondu: "oui, monsieur, en effet, et au troisième étage, il ya une piscine." Bien sûr, elle pensait que j'étais fou. Inutile de dire que cela ne vous aide pas mon cas. Lorsque nous sommes rentrés, j'ai déchiré la maison regardant de côté pour les négatifs noir et blanc à partir de 1970, et je les ai trouvés! Je leur ai envoyé pour avoir une impression faite, et l'a montré à ma femme. Au fil des ans, elle a oublié que je lui ai montré la preuve photographique, et je ne trouve plus le négatif ou l'imprimer! Aussi pendant la «vérité» dans la famille a été que je ne pouvait pas avoir jamais vu des enfants patiner sur la Tour Eiffel. Fast Forward à il ya quelques années, lorsque j'ai dit au personnel enseignant le français dans mon école sur la patinoire sur la tour Eiffel, et c'est là que j'ai appris à dire «patinoire», en français, et je leur ai dit que Personne ne croit que j'ai vu ce que j'ai vu. Ils ont suggéré "googler" pour info, et voilà, le résultat fut un article de journal d'environ 2004 indiquant que «pour la première fois, les autorités permettra de glace skaing sur la Tour Eiffel." Eh bien, bien sûr, ils se trompent, très erronée. Pendant le nettoyage du sous-sol récemment, j'ai trouvé la planche contact de la photo (bien que le négatif et imprimer demeurent hors de portée), alors j'ai scanné la petite image à haute résolution, elle a amélioré du mieux que je pouvais dans Photoshop, et de le soumettre ici pour quiconque who cares! Vous mai click to enlarge, en tout cas, la structure de fer de la tour est visible en haut à droite. Alors, si ce n'était pas dans la photo ...

Two More VERY MODEST examples of "decisive moments" in Photography

Both of these pictures were taken in London, in February. The first is a composition that presented itself to me as dusk was approaching, in Trafalgar Square. It is of interest only because it has eight people in it all caught at an instant when they were "doing something," however trivial. Of course, we are all always "doing something." But in this case, although the photograph is admittedly mediocre, I think that both the composition and timing were just right. Of course, if most of the subjects were doing even more interesting things, besides just trying to relax or get into a good pose for taking pictures of their own, then it would be a better shot. The second photo is of my son playing a hand-held video game while we were on the Bakerloo line of the Underground. The older man seated next to him is most likely unfamiliar with the Nintendo DS, and was wondering what on earth my son was doing. In this shot, it is the cast of the gentleman's eyes and the expression on his face that makes it (almost) a fine "people pic". I DO have better examples but I will need more time to use a film scanner and get some older material digitized. My aim, at this moment, is simply to elaborate on my ideas about what makes one photograph better than another. And, to reiterate, I make no claims of greatness here! Both of these were taken with the Leica M8. If you are using any kind of advanced digital camera, and the controls allow it, some good rules of thumb would include: (1) GET THE "WHITE BALANCE" OFF OF THE "AUTOMATIC" SETTING and adjust it for the type of light conditions. And (2) set the camera to produce two images of simultaneously, BOTH a JPEG Fine at the best possible resolution and a "RAW" of NEF or DNG image. You are going to need larger capacity and higher speed memory cards for this!

"The Decisive Moment" in People Photography: A Modest Example

OK, back to tips, FWIW, about people pictures. Please do not misunderstand, I cannot and do not produce images like those made by Henri Cartier-Bresson or some of the other great people / street photographers whom I admire tremendously, such as Walker Evans, Helen Levitt, Garry Winogrand, Ruth Orkin, and Margaret Bourke-White. Another disclaimer is that I am no expert when it comes to technical matters about cameras per se. I got a Brownie when I was about 11 and was instantly hooked. It is easy to forget that the photographer takes the picture, not the camera. If I came off like a Leica snob in my last post, I am sorry. But let's be realistic, you are probably NOT going to go out an get a fine old used film camera, a bunch of used lenses of different focal lengths, and have everything professionally cleaned, lubricated, and adjusted, even though it would be REALLY REALLY SMART of you to do so! It's hard carrying all that heavy equipment around. But, please, don't follow the crowd, and definitely listen "with a grain of salt" to the salesperson in the camera store (especially if its a national chain store and not an independent dealer) because they have inventory they gotta move to make room for the new stuff that is coming in all the time! And, as for most (young) people with their tiny digital cameras, please try to remember that most of their pictures are (a) poorly composed and exposed, (b) vanity shots of their friends being BFFs, pretending to be hot models, or sticking their tongues out, (c) produced by cameras they they think of as fashion accessories rather than as image-making tools, and (d) less important than the convenience and instant gratification that the digital medium provides. YOU, on the other hand, are much smarter than they are! You have a worldview and wish to document it photographically. My last post stressed the merits of the Leica or other rangefinder type of camera for street photography because they are quiet and have a shutter that operates more in "real time," with virtually no lag or waiting between the instant that you see the image that you want to capture, and the instant of exposure. Whether the exposure you are making is on ye olde film or on a digital sensor both does and does not matter, but let's be realistic. You're going to get a digital SLR: there are a gazillion of them out there and they are improving all the time (and hence. nota bene, also becoming relatively obsolete more quickly). But even with all their merits, DSLRs are still relatively noisy and, for the purposes of streeet / people photography, inconveniently conspicuous beasts, particularly when fitted with long lenses. OK, enough about that. Have a look at this picture of the two guys that I took in the "Old City" of Jerusalem about 40 years ago. My camera was a Kodak Retina rangefinder, probably set to f5.6 or f8, loaded with ASA 400 Tri-X, and focused at the "hyperfocal distance." I had to be very surreptitious for this one. Their expressions were great. It was A DECISIVE MOMENT! I got a good shot, but as soon as they realized that I had just taken their picture, they got really angry about it! Nothing bad ensued, they didn't come running after me. My point is simply that you have to act fast, and you need equipment that facilitates it. A propos, after tens of thousands of shutter clicks, I am certain that my BEST photos ever were taken: on low ASA speed black and white or color film, low ASA speed slide film, Kodachrome or Ektachrome, without automatic metering,and on clunky slow equipment like the rangefinders or various Rolleiflex or other TLRs. 'Nuff said, for now, more later.