Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/11/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Yes, it was a treat, Leo. Completely unexpected. I travelled over with a few others from my camera club to take shots around Paris, visit some photography museums, and have a nice meal or three. Arrived on last Friday morning and went solo to Sothebys to attend their auction of photography as I'm growing interested in collecting. Even though the viewing was Tues, Weds, Thurs, and there was no viewing on the Fri, they made allowances for my late arrival, and kindly showed me a few of the lots I was particularly interested in. The auction was an entertainment in itself and demonstrated that the photography market is so hard to predict. Seven of the first fourteen lots failed to sell and were withdrawn. However lot 15 - the second Atget, an arrowroot vintage print of a nude woman kneeling on a bed with her posterior prominently displayed - piqued the interest of the crowd. Bidding opened, and to gathering tension in the room, a flurry of bids shot it up the price ladder to reach an amazing 350,000 euros on a bid from the American dealer beside me. A pregnant pause followed before a bid for 360,000 on the phone knocked him out, and then a further pause, before yet another phone bidder took the small 7 x 9 1/8 inch picture home for 370,000 euros. Well not quite true, he/she had to pony up a further 74,750 euros in commission to Sothebys! I stayed to the end but was quickly outbid on what I was interested in. In all, 92 of the 208 lots sold or a 44% hit rate. The rest of the stuff went home again. There's a lot of learning in this collecting game! Having taken various pics on the Saturday, and wandered around Paris, we had an arrangement to go to the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation on the Sunday, but as it opened later in the day, I went first to the Maison Europeenne de la Photographie which opened at 11am. There I met a woman who told me about the Paris Photo exhibition in the Louvre. To my embarrassment I didn't even know it was on! She turned out to be involved with a support council for a Californian museum and before I knew it, I was being propelled up to the Louvre, ushered into the show, and then found myself in the VIP area being introduced to a lot of familiar photography names! After lunch, my mentor told me the group were going to Henri Cartier-Bresson's apartment to meet his widow Martine Franck for tea and a talk, and would I like to go along. The fastest "I'd be delighted" in history followed and a short time later I found myself staring down at one of the best views in Paris. I still can't really believe I was so lucky. The only annoyance was I'd only brought my Rolleiflex Planar 2.8 and the winder played up and jammed a lot, so, over the few days, I used almost as many rolls of film as I took pictures. To make matters worse, my little Olympus SP320 started playing up too. So the pictures on the LUG site are not the best. M3 the next time! Douglas _________ Douglas Barry Bray, Co. Wicklow Republic of Ireland ----- Original Message ----- From: "leo wesson" <leowesson at gmail.com> To: "Leica Users Group" <lug at leica-users.org> Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 4:28 AM Subject: Re: [Leica] IMG HCB apartment > my oh my, what a treat! > > Leo Wesson > Photographer/Videographer > 817.733.9157 > www.leowesson.com > > > On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 8:20 PM, Douglas Barry <imra at iol.ie> wrote: > >> A couple of shots taken while i was having tea in Martine Franck's (HCB's >> widow) apartment in Paris. Visited her at her place through people I met >> at >> Paris Photo but only had my very battered Oly SP320 for quick shots. HCB >> lived there until his death. I loved the view over the Jardins des >> Tulieries. Did also take a couple of shots with my Rolleiflex there but >> won't have time to develop and print them for a while. Dennis Callwood >> was >> there taking shots too. >> >> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/DouglasBray/ >> >> Douglas >> _________ >> Douglas Barry >> Bray, Co. Wicklow >> Republic of Ireland >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >