Saturday Photo

SATURDAY PHOTOS - G-I

Gift Wrapping
Photographer - Anne Geddes

Anne Geddes is 49. She was born in Australia and now lives and works in New Zealand. She began to use a camera in her mid-20\'d5s and specializes in photos of babies and motherhood with the intent of protecting and cherishing children. Her books have been published in 50+ countries and she\'d5s sold 11 million+ books and 15 million+ calendars. In 1997 she was awarded a Lifetime Membership in the Professional Photographers of America and an Honorary Fellowship with the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photographers (NZIPP). In 2004, she collaborated with C\'8eline Dion on a project called Miracle, that combines music and photos about new life and babies. Thirteen years ago, Anne combined her interest in creating a calendar of her images with her commitment to \'d3giving back.\'d3 Through sales of her premiere edition 1992 calendar, she raised more than $50,000 toward the prevention of child abuse in New Zealand. Since then, designated funds from the range of Anne Geddes products totaling US $2 million have been donated through the non-profit Geddes Philanthropic Trust to help prevent child abuse in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In early 2005, more than $83,400 of nominated returns from the Anne Geddes Bank of America credit cards was donated to the UNICEF South Asia Tsunami Relief Effort to help children suffering from the devastating earthquake and tsunami. To aid in the relief effort following Hurricane Katrina in the U.S., more than 20,000 items of Anne Geddes Baby clothing were donated to benefit the babies affected by relocation, and in many cases, separation from their parents. Here is her biography.

Audrey Hepburn
by Philippe Halsman (1906-1979) Gelatin silver print, 1954 National Portrait Gallery

In 1958, a poll conducted by Popular Photography named Halsman one of the "World's Ten Greatest Photographers" along with Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Ernst Haas, Yousuf Karsh, Gjon Mili, and Eugene Smith. He was born in Latvia and when he was 15 years old he found his father's old view camera and started photographing family and friends. He was super bright (not unlike these young xangan photographers Im_Moses and katgirl_09 - check them out and subscribe, you won't regret it) and graduated at the top of his high school class. He studied electrical engineering at college in Germany. When he was 24 he moved to Paris and started to work as a portrait photographer. By his late 20's his portraits of famous people began to appear in European magazines. He had his first major exhibition, in Paris, when he was 30. In 1940, when the war began, he and his family got out of Europe with the help of Albert Einstein who knew a family member. He arrived in New York with one suitcase, a camera, and 12 prints. The next year he met Salvador Dali and they began a lifelong collaboration. In 1942, when he was 36, his first cover of Life magazine was published. He became an American citizen in 1948 when he was 42 and over the rest of his life produced many famous photographs and books, including the famous Jump Book (see here). He died at 73 in New York City. See more of his famous photos here.)

I Touched a Bulb Yesterday

Im_Moses (aka Lukas Mary)

Arriving in our community something over 2 years ago, he is now 16, a wildly inventive and talented photographer, and a simply delightful example of what precocious means - curious, energetic, friendly, and bound to grow into something spectacular. From a fast flyover of the entries since he arrived here, I can relate a few items about him that are really all I know and maybe just figments of my imagination:

1. He apparently was inspired by our very own JennyG to take up photography in earnest after receiving a Xmas 2004 digicam.
2. He has a Moses costume which may or may not be related to his xanga name.
3. He often does stream-of-consciousness-Kerouac-
all-on-a-long-piece-of-paper-type writing.
4. His Mom is a painter of Diego Rivera like paintings. Well the few I saw.
5. He likes to photograph food and the inside of his nose.
6. He had a particularly not fun dental period during these two years.
7. He's a self-confessed fingernail biter.
8. He lives in or near the woods but I have no idea where.
9. He has many friends and started a photo contest recently on xanga.
10. Today he wrapped a tree. But it's free now.

So on days when you think maybe there's not a damn thing to smile about, visit Lukas Mary, or just remember there's a generation coming up that may find some answers we couldn't.