I’ll have to find a way to see this show when I’m in NYC in a few weeks. The International Center of Photography is holidng a retrospective exhibit of over 100 images by the official photographer of Murder, Inc – Arthur Felig, aka Weegee. The New York Times has a good review (registration required) of the show and the history of the archetypal spot-news photgrapher who often arrived at the scene of a homicide before the NYPD in the 40s and 50s, and whose work has been printed by a good friend of my brother, Sid Kaplan – one of the last masters of the black-and-white print in the world. Most of these images have never been seen before. The Times does, I believe, get one thing wrong. They suggest he took the name ‘Weegee’ to mimic the future-telling power of the Oujia board. I’d always heard that the name came from his time spent as a gopher in a photo lab early in his career, when a printer would yell for the ‘Squeegee!’ – and in would run Arthur to clear excess water from the just-washed prints – so his name became the onomatopoeiaic ‘Weegee’. Either way, it’s a great story of a unique character.
I love this particular image, as it’s very similar to a photo I took back in the early 90s in Savannah at the scene of a multiple homicide. In that image (which I’ll have to scan one day), a father is covering his son’s eyes as the bodies are removed from a car – that image took first place in spot news that year for the state, and is one of my favorite, though not so cheerful images from my photojournalism career. Like Weegee, photojournalists of today step from scenes of society’s highbrow to horrendous settings of pain and anguish in an instant – and the best ones capture something close to what Felig captured years ago.
Amy put Sam in the rocking chair in the nursery this morning, and he decided to start reading without her. He was very intent on ‘Ten Apples Up on Top’ – and stayed there for a while checking out all of his favorite books. No sign of Ulysses, though. More photos here.
You have to appreciate a restaurant where one of the servers suggests that by the end of their eight-course blind tasting menu that you certainly would not have room for a ‘wafer-thin mint’, recalling the seminal scene from Monty Python’s Meaning of Life involving a particularly rotund man in a fine dining establishment who (a) throws up for roughly five minutes of screen time and finally (b) explodes after eating a mint petit-four.
Amy treated me to a wonderful meal last night at The Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton last night to celebrate my 40th, and it was quite honestly one of the most amazing meals I’ve had in a very long time. Chef Arnaud Berthelier is a star – having only been here in Atlanta for 9 months or so, the food is just stellar, comparing favorably with the very best New York has to offer. I had the seven-course tasting menu with paired wines (by their rising star 24-year old sommelier Chantelle Grilhot), and won’t soon forget the meal. Highlight for me – the ‘Fruit Soup’ – a warm compote of fruits and fresh herbs in a translucent bag, snipped open dramatically at the table, allowing the infusion to waft around the table. The wait staff then placed a scoop of lemon verbena ice cream in the warm fruit, allowing it all to meld. Amazing! Update: Didn’t want to forget to mention this. Also very cool was the so-called ‘molecular cuisine’ technique used in the course pictured above. The egg-like object at left was the sauce for the filet of daurade, using calcium chloride and sodium alginate.
Taking the day off has been good for my creativity. I took a break from working on some docs for work (so not completely a day off I guess) to pull out my macro 50mm and see what I could capture in the yard. I’ve been pondering a new macro – like Canon’s spiffy 100mm version – to replace an off-brand not-so-sharp one I have now. But these images do look pretty cool. I like the bee and this weird bug above – almost as much as the sort of soft images of Sam’s face. You tell me what you think…Full gallery is here.
