Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2014/03/02

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Subject: [Leica] Migrant father: backstory and THANK YOU
From: j2m46 at hotmail.fr (Jean-Michel Mertz)
Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2014 17:43:05 +0100

Thank you Philippe, Jayanand, Geoff, Luis, Dr Ted, Tina, Ric, Steve, 
Douglas, Jay, Alan, Gerry, Peter, Jim, Nathan: I love your comments and 
appreciation, thanks for looking and responding! Sure, when the picture 
appeared on my screen in B&W (M8, summicron 35 asph. + lightroom + 
silvereffex) I couldn't help thinking of Dorothea Lange's 1936 series - the 
way the boy gazes into some vague and uncertain future, the dirt on his 
face, the comforting presence / arms of his father, the focus on his eyes 
... I thought there was a slight similarity. Sorry to compare this to 
someone as famous as D. Lange! The difference is that my picture is 
absolutely spontaneous: this is a single picture of a single event! We met 
this migrant family in the South of France ,on our way to Albi - there are 
still many such migrant families in Europe, traveling from place to place in 
their mobile homes or trailers. There's indeed a fierce controversy as to 
whether they should be asked to settle down or travel back to Romania, their 
country of origin, supp
Jean-Michel Mertz
Strasbourg