February 2012
24 posts
A close examination reveals that in addition to being crippled as a result of polio, FDR was also apparently blind. The two disks on his eyes were evidently meant to represent his sun glasses but being opaque they render him sightless. They also bring to mind coins placed on the eyes of the dead. From one angle, the President appears to have only one hand; from the back it seems he is missing his...
If that wasn’t strange enough, some distance away is a massive wall and five tall bronze columns containing braille inscriptions and numerous bas-reliefs of faces and hands.
Visually the bas-reliefs are fascinating tactile works; conceptually however they seem a bit flawed.Apparently the braille is more symbolic than legible: blind visitors report that the dots are too large and widely...
No comment on the strangest fact of all: the work seems to have little to do with Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Meanwhile a distance from the illegible bas-reliefs a strangely truncated President sits in a wheel chair, his sightless eyes fixed on the tidal basin in the distance.
January 2012
31 posts
Panasonic Torture test
It was a quiet almost moonless night with a light snow on the ground when I decided to torture my Panasonic GH2 camera. Racking it up to the maximum ISO, 12,800, I managed to get a hand-held exposure despite the fact that it was too dark to see much, requiring a manual focus at infinity. The camera managed to see more than I could albeit with a great deal of noise – being old-school I prefer to...
Book Preview:
I am working on a book, a small remembrance of my English mother-in-law, Daphne Jean North. Daphne died in October of 2011 after almost a century of joys and sorrows. She was 90.
As part of the tribute I am photographing some of the residues and mementos of that long life. Here is a dress from her younger years and a few of her scarves. Daphne was never without her scarves, sometimes worn on her...
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