Pictures with a story, post yours

[Andrea Taurisano]

One of the things that fascinate me the most, when I watch interviews to great photographers, is when they tell the stories behind their famous shots. No matter how good or iconic the image, there is always much that one photo alone can't tell. Once that story or background is known, that image becomes even more valuable. I guess someone shares this, or not?

Anyway, I would love to see a photo that means something to you because of the story it has behind (whether that story comes easily through or it needs additional text). I'll start with one of mine.

This is a portrait of an Afghan man I met in the Hindu Kush mountains while surveying village threatening landslides just over a year ago. This man was walking for two days (each way) across steep mountains, with a piece of old bread in his pocket and the sky as a roof, simply to give some news to a man who lived in the next valley. As most Afghan men, he kept staring into my lens proud of being photographed. And there, at the closest focusing distance of a Summicron, you had two men face to face: one with a Leica, a PhD, a blog and the latest iPhone in his pocket, the other who owned virtually nothing but his great dignity (Badakhshan is among the world's poorest regions, where 1 of 4 children die before tuning 5yr).

 

[NY_Dan]

June 20, 2013 Eighth Avenue 43rd Street, New York City. The man on the ground had just suffered a seizure. His wife and two children are on the left. During the latter part of his seizure, the two policemen put the man on his side. What we see here is the man just coming out of the seizure and trying to figure out what happened to him. Rolleiflex 2.8f, f/11 1/250th Yellow filter, Tmy 120.

 

[Bob Michaels]

edit: Whoops! I thought we were supposed to post photos that told a story with no words.

 

[kuvvy]

I've posted this shot before some years back. This lady lived in an old folks sheltered housing scheme which my wife runs. We held a 'reminiscences day' for the residents to encourage them chat and share memories with one another. This lady turned up with the photo she's holding and as soon as I saw it, I recognised it as a shot taken in the seventies by Martin Parr. The man in the photo was her father and she only had this tiny copy of the shot. I got in touch with Martin Parr and told him the story and he kindly supplied a large copy of the shot for her. I got it framed and said nothing to her. Then on Christmas Eve I left it outside her door, all wrapped up for her to find. She was over the moon with it. Sadly she is no longer with us having passed away.

 

[Andrea Taurisano]

Now, that is a very sweet story Paul. Thanx for sharing it

 

[mfogiel]

LETTER by mfogiel, on Flickr

This was taken in 1977 in a rented room in London. I was studying and trying to make sense of what was going on in the politics of my home country (Poland) at the time. I remember my life was defined by a couple of lectures a week, a couple of visits to the library to change the books, a recurrent need to put coins into the machine, that was dosing my electricity in the room (yes !),occasional walk to the nearby Greek store to get the supply of Digestive biscuits, and writing letters to a girl I wanted to marry.

 

[John E Earley]

One of the more interesting threads as of late.

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

Bert Tizzard was a survivor of the infamous Burma Railroad camps. He made this razor while actually a prisoner of the Japanese. Because he was a member of the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, the Japanese set him to maintaining vehicles and other machinery used in the construction of the railway. Bert and his colleagues took a simple view of their position: "The Japs were denying us our rights under the Geneva Convention so, the way we saw it, we didn't have to obey their rules. The guards didn't understand the half of what we were doing, so we made all sorts of things. If anyone got suspicious, we just made sure there was a convincing use for whatever we were making, in one of the machines."

 

[Monz]

Rollerskating Octogenerian by *monz*, on Flickr

I met this gentleman whilst strolling in the park a few years ago. At the time, he was nearly 80 years old and had been roller-skating for about 5 years. He had very major abdominal surgery 2 years previously but that didn't slow him down! Skating with the grace and poise of a ballet dancer he is indeed a remarkable man. I met him again a couple of years later... he was still going strong.

 

[JoeV]

LETTER by mfogiel, on Flickr

This was taken in 1977 in a rented room in London. I was studying and trying to make sense of what was going on in the politics of my home country (Poland) at the time. I remember my life was defined by a couple of lectures a week, a couple of visits to the library to change the books, a recurrent need to put coins into the machine, that was dosing my electricity in the room (yes !),occasional walk to the nearby Greek store to get the supply of Digestive biscuits, and writing letters to a girl I wanted to marry.

Great story and wonderful photo. Do you recall what make and model of typewriter that is?

~Joe

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

Squadron Leader Tony Svensson (RAF) held and possibly still holds, the dubious title of the fastest ejection from an aircraft. During December 1964, he was flight testing a Mirage fighter for the Australian air force, when the aircraft failed to pull out of a deliberate full throttle dive test. He left the aircraft at an estimated Mach 1.2, spent three days immobile in the Australian desert and was only rescued when a search helicopter made an accidental change to its pattern. After three years in hospital, having had almost every bone in his body broken either by the ejection or by his landing, he retired from the RAF and set up a windsurfing school on Dartmoor in Devon. He died in 2009.

 

[raid]

I got this 3D camera many years ago, to find out later from the son of the inventor Douglas Winnek that this was one of 13 cameras his father built in the 1930's and 40's. He also claimed that this camera (my example Nr.11) was used to take photos of Hiroshima and Nagasaki days before the A bombs were dropped there. It is a part of WWII history. It may be the only remaining 3D cameras left from the 13 cameras built. It is based on the lenticular system. The film has rills which act like ant's eyes.

I am about to complete a donation process to the National Naval Aviation Museum. It has been two years since the Navy is processing my donation request. They had to get clearance from the Navy radiation experts since the lens has some radioactive elements.

It took me many years to uncover what this camera was about. There is no serial number on the Kodak lens, and nobody seems to know anything about the camera, except the Winnek family.

 

[mfogiel]

It was an East German GROMA Kolibri typewriter like this:
http://www.typewriters.ch/collection/groma_kolibri.html
but in grey hammertone finish.
P.S. The letters worked - I am still married to that girl... 😱

 

[Robin3mj]

The rest is on my tumblr page...

 

[Bob Michaels]

There was an explosion in the downtown Havana power plant early in the evening of November 20, 2011 which rendered the entire Habana Vieja and Centro Habana neighborhoods completely dark as Cuban electrical distribution is via direct links and not in a grid. On top of no power, there was no moon and clouds blocked even the starlight. This entire section of Havana was as dark as inside a changing bag.

I tired of sitting in the dark at home so made my way down the short block and around the corner by running my hand down the familiar building to the local bar where I frequently stop for some rum. Amazingly it was full of locals having a drink in the pitch black dark. I recognized a few familiar voices but many just sounded like generic Spanish to me. Of course almost everyone recognized the voice belonging to Bob the American photographer.

A few minutes later, I felt an arm against mine. I reached out to learn the skin was very smooth and had no hair. As I moved in the dark, my thoughts were confirmed when my hand touched a firm female breast. But I could not recognize the voice and was fearful of saying anything as she obviously knew who I was. Her hand reached mine and silently offered a gentle motion towards the door.

She obviously was very familiar with the neighborhood as she led me down the darkened Prado with one hand holding mine and the other sliding down the wall counting doors. I so much wished I could count the doors but there was simply no way I could maneuver to do so. I followed her into a door still having no idea who she was or where in the block we were but remembering a low crime rate results from a totalitarian police state such as Cuba.

I only know that she was tall, well proportioned, had perfect teeth and was either mulatta or negra from the fullness of her lips and texture of her hair. I still stay in the same place when I am in Havana, still stop in that bar to have a shot of rum almost every night. I still look around at the familiar crowd and wonder. I will never forget her even though I never knew who she was.

 

[NY_Dan]

Oh Bob! 🙂

Wasn't Beyonce in Cuba on 11/20/2011?

 

[mfogiel]

So you had a nice interpersonal experience in the world of the blind. 😱

 

[Black]

2013 was quite the unlucky year for me. My Dad was diagnosed with kidney cancer and I was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma. The above shot was towards the end of my chemotherapy, when my hair was thinning and and I was at my lowest ebb - as chemo has an accumulative affect on the system.

It was too costly to insure me traveling abroad and my consultant would not allow it, but I needed a break - somewhere serene, beautiful and tranquil. Somewhere I could rest and re-energise.

It was also the time when I overly indulged in retail therapy (through fear of dying) and bought a Pentax 645D.

I only took a few shots when I went to the Isle of Harris, but this is truly my favourite as it represents to me both me being at one of my lowest points ever but also, conversely, never being happier.

I am in remission now and there are big changes afoot with my life (all good) and by way of coming full circle, I am returning to the Outer Hebrides this month, a bit further north, to the Isle of Lewis, where I should hopefully be in better physical condition to enjoy the beauty of the islands properly.

 

[JoeV]

It was an East German GROMA Kolibri typewriter like this:
http://www.typewriters.ch/collection/groma_kolibri.html
but in grey hammertone finish.
P.S. The letters worked - I am still married to that girl... 😱

Thanks. I suspected it was a Kolibri. Same machine used in the movie "The Lives of Others," if I recall.

I find a common parallel between manual cameras and manual typewriters, perhaps someone should start a manual typewriter image thread.

~Joe

 

[OurManInTangier]

I've enjoyed reading this thread so far. Images that require no words are great but hearing the tales behind some of them holds its own interest.

Chris, glad to hear your on the mend after such a scary time for you and your family. Your posted shot is a beauty by the way.