Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/08/08

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Subject: Re: [Leica] New photos of Normandy uploaded
From: Christer Almqvist <chris@almqvist.net>
Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2003 01:04:57 +0200
References: <002f01c35de0$fd269ed0$6f00a8c0@Markslaptop>

During the last twenty years I have been visiting Normandy half a 
dozen times a year, at least, and the visits have lasted between a 
week and several months. I have also visited a reasonable number of 
WWII cemeteries, and here my (short) visits go back to the 1960s.

Your asked for feedback on your Normandy pictures. I am sorry to have 
to tell you that generally I think they show nothing of what Normandy 
means to me. The pictures give neither an impression of the people of 
Normandy, nor of the land or the sea, which often is so much part of 
the landscape. The pictures do not compress reality for us, and do 
not make us see something which is below the surface.

Perhaps you should have labelled the pictures 'Normandy cemeteries', 
but even then they do not convey what the label suggests. My first 
visit to one of these cemeteries was with my then English girlfriend, 
whose father most certainly would have been buried there, had he not 
had an appendicis (spelling?) operation on June 1st 1944. During a 
more recent visit to a German cemetery I read the visitors' book: 'My 
father who died in June 1944 is buried here. I was born in August 
1944. This is the first time I have been able to muster the force to 
come here.' Visits to these places are highly emotional for me even 
if I have had little direct contact with the war, having spent my 
youth in Sweden.

But back to your pictures; I think you need to get up real early in 
the morning to get some shots with good atmosphere and good colors. 
Most of your pictures seem to be shot in the glaring midday sun (and 
still do not convey the glaring heat we have had this year) and 
convey little atmosphere. Generally I found your pictures to be 
reproductions, rather than impressions. But perhaps that is what you 
wanted, and if so disregard my comments.

Best regards,
Chris




>I'm nearly finished scanning my colour slides from our holiday in Normandy
>(all taken with Leica or CV glass),
>some of which have been uploaded into new galleries on my site.  They can be
>viewed at
>
>http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mark.pope4/Galleries/travel-landscape/france/normandy/index.htm
>
>There's a whole shedload of black and white/infra-red stuff to print and
>scan later on.
>
>Feedback appreciated.


- -- 
Christer Almqvist
D 20255 Hamburg and / or
F 50590 Regnéville sur Mer

please look at my NEW  b+w pictures at:    http://www.almqvist.net/chris/dozen/

old pictures still at:     http://www.almqvist.net/chris/new
- --
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In reply to: Message from "Mark Pope" <leica.user@ntlworld.com> ([Leica] New photos of Normandy uploaded)