Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/06/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Everyone should have a print or two of his as well - they are easily available, immaculately printed and affordable, especially when there are discounts! (-: Cheers Jayanand On Wed, Jun 19, 2013 at 4:11 AM, Leowesson <leowesson at gmail.com> wrote: > I think that everyone on a Leica list should be familiar with Peter since > he is a Leica using photog who photographs every day. > > Leo Wesson > www.leowesson.com > > On Jun 18, 2013, at 3:28 PM, Tina Manley <images at comporium.net> wrote: > >> PESO: >> >> For those not on Facebook, here is Peter Turnley's latest post. I thought >> it was very interesting: >> >> I first met Josef in 1975-I had made a phone call to my twin brother David >> from Paris on a Saturday morning, and while on the phone, he asked me if I >> had come across a Czech photographer everyone was speaking about. Later >> that day, I went out to take a walk with my girlfriend Karen, and stopped >> in a magazine shop and saw a set of photographs in a French photography >> magazine that really caught my eye, made by a man named Josef Koudelka. >> Later that afternoon, as I sat on a bench kissing Karen in the Luxembourg >> Gardens, Karen said-Pete-did you see that guy just took our picture. I >> looked up and saw a man walking by with an amazing Leica, beautifully worn >> with gold underplate shining, walking by with his camera at his hip aimed >> towards up. I jumped, up and ran after him-excited to meet someone with >> such a Leica. I called out in French, "did you make our photograph". The >> man stopped, and said a bit nervously with heavily accented english, "I am >> a just a tourist". As he spoke, I saw a second Leica hanging from his >> neck, >> as beautiful as the first, and I said, "where are you from". He said, "I >> am >> Czech". I said, "are you Josef Koudelka?". He replied with a laugh "yes". >> I >> patted him on the back and said, "come on, come and join us" and he came >> over and sat down with me and Karen. This began a first hand connection >> and >> friendship for me with someone that has profoundly inspired me for now >> more >> than 35 years. A few weeks after this first meeting in 1975, he invited me >> to join him in the evening at Magnum in Paris when everyone was gone, and >> laid out a newspaper and opened a can of sardines, with some butter and >> bread, and opened a bottle of wine, and we broke bread together. He looked >> at my photographs and when finished, said, "you have a good eye and a good >> heart". "You can do this, but you must find your own way, no one can do >> this for you, if it is important enough for you, you will find a way". At >> the time, I thought this was possibly the most generous honesty anyone >> could offer me and I knew he was right. At one quiet moment that night, he >> looked up and said something incredibly powerful and simple, "my idea of a >> good life, is that I wake up in the morning, and go out and look around >> and >> make 4 rolls of film a day". I have seen now Josef over the years many >> times, in Paris and elsewhere-also the gentleman who has printed his >> photographs (and HCB's), Voja, is also my printer, and we speak often of >> Josef, always with profound respect and admiration. In my own way, I have >> chosen a nomadic life over the past three decades, and the power of >> example >> of Josef, his passion, intelligent curiosity, amazingly personal >> penetrating vision, and his way of life, has been a constant inspiration >> for me. I don't use superlatives very often when speaking of >> photographers, >> but Josef, is in a class of his own. My thanks to a truly great man, and >> photographer. >> The above photograph of Josef was made at a Gypsy festival in the Dordogne >> in France in 1982. My thanks to a truly great man, and photographer. >> ? Peter Turnley. All rights reserved. France, 1982. >> >> Tina >> >> -- >> Tina Manley >> http://tina-manley.artistwebsites.com >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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