Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/02/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Vince, ditto to everything you said, especially this about the Pittsburgh project: > He went and spent most of two years in Pittsburgh taking pictures that, > given the original low-paying assignment, probably required less than a > week's work. They are some of the greatest American photographs of the > post-war years, absolutely astonishing. They were finally gathered > together in significant number only a few years ago and the book he'd > long dreamed of came into being. It's called "Dream Street." Definitely > worth owning. "Absolutely astonishing" is right. The story of the project, which is well told in the introduction to "Dream Street," is equally astonishing.? As you know, he was driven, obsessed, compulsive, and deeply addicted to meth and booze.? He suffered tremendously, and so did many of those closest to him.? The book is still in print, btw. He was printing and editing the Pittsburgh project at the same time that he was living in the NYC loft and creating the photos and sound recordings that make up the Jazz Loft Project.? The musicians who knew him remember him as a very cool cat--generous, easy to be around, and always, always, always working. --John ****************************** John Edwin Mason, Photography: http://www.JohnEdwinMason.com Charlottesville and Cape Town