Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/03/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Uh, Adam. I would prefer you not call me "hon" in public. See you in 24 hours. Love, Sam S Adam Bridge wrote: >Hi Hon, > >This was posted on the Leica list. You have liked Graham's photography. I think >you'll find this moving. > >Love you! Only 24 hours!!!!! > >Adam > >On Wednesday, March 10, 2004 Graham Battison thoughtfully wrote: > > > >>I am sitting in the churchyard at Flore eating my lunch. The service has >>been over for some time, a few stragglers are leaving the church after >>spending some time chatting. The sky is a typical English mix of blue with >>white clouds in some parts and black as thunder in others. >> >>I watch what I take to be worshipper set out on a footpath across a field in >>front of the church and think to myself that she must be very devout to walk >> >> >>from the next village to attend services. The path although fairly dry today > > >>can be >>very messy. I take a shot, my usual stuff, landscape with lone figure. >> >>When I look again the lone figure is on the far side of the field and turns >>to come back toward the church. She is walking slowly, head occasionally >>bowed, obviously lost in thought as if reluctant to complete the field >>crossing. >>I toy with the idea of another shot but my sandwiches are good and I let the >>moment pass. I have since found out that her late father used to walk his >>dog on that footpath. >> >>Eventually she returns to the churchyard and stands over a grave for a time >>then approaches me. She stops a distance from where I am sitting (very >>English) and asks if she might ask a favour of me (decidedly un-English). >>She explains that she used to live locally and had been visiting her mother >>in nearby Daventry and that the grave she had been looking at was that of >>her father. She was on her way back to Devon, where she now lives after >>returning from several years in America and had stopped by the church to >>take a photograph of the grave (she pays someone local to tend it). >> >>Finding that the camera she thought was in the car was not there she was >>considering where she might buy a disposable on a winters Sunday in the UK >>when she saw me take a shot of her walking across the field. She asks, "Was >>I a photographer?" and "would I take a photograph for her of her fathers' >>grave?". "In the loosest possible sense" and "yes I would" I replied. >> >>I took a couple of shots, she thanked me profusely and with her emotions >>running high and my web address in her purse she left at about 1:30pm. I >>finished my lunch and as insurance against looking an idiot I took a few >>extra shots of the grave before I left. >> >>Devon is quite a drive from Flore but at 7pm I got an email (maybe she has a >>Lear jet) and she tells me that she has been smiling "about life's little >>co-incidences". Not only does she "meet a chap with a camera but >>a real photographer" (she has by this time visited my web site) >>and "you just never know your luck, do you?". >> >>She closes her email with a post script: >>"I wonder if you know the work of James Ravilious? I think you would >>appreciate it. I had a small hand in the last published book of his >>photographs with text by Peter Beacham called 'Down the Deep Lanes' >>published by Devon Books. I'll give you further details if your >>interested." >> >>I checked him out. He was born 1939, died 1999 and wandered around Devon >>shooting local stuff with a Leica M3. It's a small world. >> >>http://www.geebeephoto.com/temp/Flore/Flore.html >> >> >>Graham >>http://geebeephoto.com >> >> >>-- >>To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html >> >> >-- >To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > > > > - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html