Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/01/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I would never be so presumptuous as to review Ted Grant's images...but I do want to say something about them. Ted is one of 12 Leica Users in the book, by that title, that just appeared. Ted's photo of the Sleeping Cowboy is on the cover, he leads off the book, and he offers five of his celebrated, famous images. So this is a short appreciation of Ted's images... by an amateur, who is Ted's friend. The first of Ted's five leica images... Sleeping Cowboy in Bunkhouse/ bw, cover and page 7... he sleeps, his boots on, under a window with radiant beams of daylight entering a relatively dark room. The photo is shot across a bunk bed toward the cowboy, and a cowboy hat is lying in the foreground, right...prominent and illuminated. Other cowboys are seen distantly in the background, around a table. A great image, tranquil and radiant. The second image, very famous, is Prime Minister David Ben Gurion of Israel/bw...white hair, eyes sharp, serious, intently listening. The third image, classic and playful, is Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau of Canada/bw, sliding down a banister, like a kid, arms outstretched, unusual to say the least for a great political leader. The fourth image, a classic, is Wild Horses, Alberta , Canada/bw... racing across a dark horizon, under a dramatic sky highlighted by low,dramatic, fluffy clouds. The fifth, yet another famous image is Diver, Barcelona Olympics 1992/ color... the diver, laid out, fully extended, form perfect and floating high, is seen isolated, against the buildings of Barcelona sprawling on the distant hillside. Truly great stuff, a hard act to follow for the other 11 photographers ...who do their very best to live up to this challenge, showing many differing subjects and styles, doing an absolutely masterful job... Altogether, a quite magical collection of great images...by 12 of our Leica photographers, edited beautifully by Geoff Hopkinson... my sincere thoughts....many thanks, Steve Barbour