Things we have enjoyed in 2010.
‘Just Kids’ by Patti Smith (Bloomsbury)
…..she writes about having her picture taken, by (Robert) Mapplethorpe, for the cover of her debut album, ‘Horses’. It’s an image that established Patti as an icon and one that I’m sure you all know as well as I. It’s quite something to be taken by her into that room, on that afternoon, when that famous photograph was taken, and what she writes is pure poetry. I found it incredibly touching;
The clouds kept moving back and forth. Something happened with his light meter and he became slightly agitated. He took a few shots. He abandoned the light meter. A cloud went by and the triangle disappeared. He said, “you know, I really like the whiteness of the shirt. Can you take your jacket off?“ I flung my jacket over my shoulder, Frank Sinatra style. I was full of references. He was full of light and shadow.
“It’s back, ” he said.
He took a few more shots.
“I got it.“
“How do you know?“
“I just know.“
He took twelve pictures that day.
Within a few days he showed me the contact sheet. “This one has the
magic,” he said.
Whenever I look at it now , I never see me, I see us.