As some of you know, my photograph of Paris waiters was chosen for the cover of a book called “A Waiter in Paris.” A number of publishers around the world asked for permission to use my original image. Finally the Chinese version appeared. Here it is. If you get to China and see this book, please take a photo. The photo credit is inside the dust cover. Paul Goldfinger. Blogfinger.net.
THE WESTERN SWING AUTHORITY:
I responded to this letter. It is flattering to receive such a commentary about one of my images. I sent Jag a digital print which he can use to make a print.
He asked why this image might have “stopped him in his tracks.” I don’t consider my photos to be successful unless they might elicit an emotional reaction of sorts.
Years ago I gave up successful color photography for black and white because color was mostly for pretty pictures, but B&W, for me, is about feelings including those to be found in art.
Paul
This is a letter to the editor which came in today:
Dear Paul,
I write from Australia. I saw your photograph of waiters on a book and like many others it stopped me in my tracks. I don’t know why. You might.
I lived near there in the 90s and that picture is an imagined past. Hiraeth.
Could you let me know if I can buy a digital copy of it? I’d like to print it. Explain it to the kids sometime.
Thanks, Jag.
Editor’s note: “Hiraeth”.
Hiraeth is a Welsh word that means longing, yearning, nostalgia or sadness for the lost or departed, especially in the context of Wales and Welsh culture.