Casino. May 1, 2004 By Virginia Smith , FOB. (* Friend of Blogfinger.)
Virginia Smith of Ocean Grove was out this morning after a torrential rain last night. She found that the casino was flooded. But she also said that it “was not quiet on the eastern front.”
There were workers busy with the new Middle Beach boardwalk. Their work had been delayed by some FEMA static, but that is evidently over.
Thanks Virginia—-Citizen Reporter for Blogfinger—dramatic image. Click it to see more.
Klezmer band. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. 2005 By William Meyers
SOUNDTRACK FOR THIS PHOTO: “FREYLACH #8” BY KLEZMER JUICE.
By Paul Goldfinger, Photography editor at Blogfinger.net.
Every once in a while I will post a guest photographer segment which might be about a famous artist or just someone who sends us an image. Or, as in this case, it could just be a photographer whose work I stumbled upon. I don’t know William Meyers personally, but I saw one of his images (above) recently and I saved a copy for this post. I can’t even recall where I saw it, but his work has been exhibited and published extensively.
William Meyers was born in 1938, and perusal of his web site indicates that he shoots mostly black and white, and mostly in New York City. His themes include NYC lifestyles, music subjects, and Jewish life here and in Israel. He seems to like music, and his photos seem to like women. He seems to be like one of his heroes Garry Winogrand, a pioneer of street photography.
Meyers has been a photography writer for the Wall Street Journal as well as a successful photographic artist.
I am drawn to some of his work because his sensibility seems to be similar to my own. In 2015 he published a book of images from the outer boroughs of New York. Those black and white photos are all made with film, and all his photos are silver gelatin darkroom prints. Myers does not do digital.
Darkroom work is exhausting to do, requires great skill, and is very time consuming. For those photographers who have gone digital from film, many consider the new technology to be a relief. The finished products, digital based photo prints on light sensitive papers or digital reproductions viewed on digital screens, are now said by many to be indistinguishable from dark room printing, but others may disagree. However, that debate seems to now be over even for those who display photos in books, magazines, galleries and art shows including museums.
William Meyers has first-rate printers do his prints for him. Many famous photo artists in the past including Cartier-Bresson did the same. Bresson thought his job was over when he hit the shutter release button.
In my case, I did my own darkroom printing when I was still using film, and I loved the results. But now my OG darkroom is used for other photo requirements like reviewing images, sorting, scanning, and editing. I also gave up matting, mounting and framing. I am pleased with my images as seen on Blogfinger.net. My gallery can be seen by clicking at the top of my home page.
But Myers is one of many who still use film, and some photographers have gone back to film. The use of film as well as darkroom developing and printing are making a comeback and are taught in college photography classes. In Japan, use of film still prevails.. It should be noted that darkroom work is still a very satisfying way to pursue photography. It is a true craft.
Now I use digital cameras and I mostly show my work on the Internet; however, when I need a print, my digital printing is done by an expert lab, printing on special paper for black and white images. Color is another story. Some digital photographers do their own printing on paper at home, but that is expensive and requires skill.
Many of my darkroom prints are available signed, in limited editions, and are available for purchase. Some are matted and/or mounted. Contact Blogfinger@verizon.net if interested or look for us at the 2026 “Art on the Porch” event.
“Busker” Union Square Subway Station. NYC. Feb. 2011. William Meyers
San Francisco Girls Band. Photographed at Banjo Jim’s on the Lower East Side. November 2011. William Meyers
Deborah Rosenthal, painter. New York City. 1998. William Meyers
Greetings from Manhattan and Happy New Year. We’re having our first snowfall of the year, and it comes as a welcome relief after the hectic rush of the holidays. There is nothing that so quickly changes the tenor of life in the city as a covering of the white stuff. Here is “Manhattan Snow” from my 2008 poetry collection, Father of Water.
By Paul Goldfinger, Photography editor @ Blogfinger. Original post 2013. Ocean Grove, NJ.
I found this “Season’s Greetings” photo card at a flea market/art show. I was intrigued by it. Clearly the work was by a serious artist. The name George Hukar sounded familiar, and a Google search revealed that he was a photographer and painter from California.
George (c. 1895-1975) was a founding member of the San Dieguito Art Guild. He taught painting and photography and he published an article about dark room work in the 1940 Christmas edition of Popular Photography . (Note the cover below.)
It is a bit of a “leap of faith” to believe that the George Hukar from the San Diego area is the one who made my 1931 holiday card, but I am going to assume that it is so.
This is not an ordinary “Season’s Greetings” card. It actually is a limited-edition hand-made silver-gelatin photograph which was sent as a card in 1931. I suspect that George Hukar was known to his friends as someone who would send out an original work of art each December.
The color of the print indicates that he tinted it with some darkroom chemical (toner) such as selenium or a variant of sepia or gold. The lighting makes the image. The model’s face is made dark using a darkroom technique called “burning.”
Perhaps this image was the inspiration for “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” I also like the idea that George would make his own Christmas cards in the darkroom. I have been doing that myself, in small limited editions, inspired by George’s work, although I have never photographed a nude subject other than my kids bathing in the kitchen sink. (That would be when they were very small.)
George Hukar’s article is mentioned along the left side.
Years ago, when all photographs were black and white, there were many creative things that could be done in the darkroom. George Hukar’s article in Popular Photography was called ” Studio Tricks,” so I can see why he did so well with this photo card.
Editor’s note: The post above is originally from 2013, and since then we have heard from others who knew George Hukar.
In 2018 we said this:
In 2013 I spoke to a woman from the San Dieguinto Photo League in California. But she had no record of this photo, however, we could verify George Hukar’s roll in the League.
Today (4/29/16) we got a comment from someone who recognizes our George Hukar as the artist who did the Christmas photo card.
Then, re-posted on September 15, 2018, it’s not every day I get to write about photography, solve a photo mystery, and post a nude on Blogfinger. We did get some additional information then.
July 28, 2020. We just received the following letter from Chrystal Snyder who is in Tempe, Arizona where it was 115 degrees yesterday, and 109 degrees today.
Hello, Paul
I just happened upon your Blogfinger post from 12/26/2013 that mentioned George Hukar of the San Diegito Art Guild. George was a friend of my father, Dick Snyder. He became an informal “uncle” to me and my sisters from the time he moved to San Diego in about 1960, becoming a key part of our extended family.
George was part of the Taliesin Fellowship in Spring Green, Wisconsin, in the 1930s. Through Olgivanna Lloyd Wright, George became a student of the teachings of Georgy Gurdjieff. I heard many stories of his time at Taliesin during my childhood.
My dad and George were friends and fellow commercial photographers in Chicago in the 1950’s. I haven’t seen the 1931 Season’s Greetings card you posted so I can’t confirm whether that one is his. I can say that George was a wonderful mentor to me. I spent countless hours with him in the darkroom and countless more roaming the city, the beach, the zoo and botanical garden, studying light and shadow and getting lost in the thrill of capturing a composition that expressed my own slant on the world.
Chrystal included a rare old photo of George.
Thanks for an unexpected opportunity to relish memories of a beloved friend and mentor!
Chrystal Snyder
Thank you Chrystal for adding to our collection of George Hukar information…a far cry from picking up a photocard at a flea market.
Paul @Blogfinger.net
FRANK SINATRA.
THE JACKSON 5:
Attn Grovers: You will recognize the name Tali Esen Morgan, the long time musical director in Ocean Grove. His beautiful house stands today on Abbott Avenue, the Tali Esen Morgan House.
Girl Lifts Boy ( 1st and 3rd images courtesy Mina Son)
New York City (Internet photo)
Levitt’s most important book
By Paul Goldfinger (re-posted from 2013 on Blogfinger) We have featured a group of important female photographers.
Those of you who follow photography on Blogfinger know that I am a big fan of black and white street photography. Some of the finest photographers in that genre were active in the 1930’s through the 1950’s in New York City and Paris. Among the best are Walker Evans, Eugene Atget, Andre Kertesz, Lee Friedlander and our guest photographer Helen Levitt, who was one of the pioneers.
Helen Levitt (1913-2009) photographed on the streets of New York City for over 70 years, both in black and white and color. She worked with Walker Evans in the 1930’s, and her work was shown at the first photo exhibit held at MOMA in 1939. She was an innovator in the street photography genre.
A documentary film maker named Tanya Sleiman has made a film, “95 Lives,” about Helen Levitt, and we heard about it from Mina Son, the producer, in November. Mina was kind enough to send us two photographs for our blog post and also a link to a very fine short film made by Tanya. I think you will enjoy it, as she tells us about her project. It is a unique treat for our blog. Thank you Tanya and Mina. The fund raising drive mentioned was completed in December 2012.
According to Mina Son, “95 Lives seeks to change the reality that Helen Levitt is a major female artist of the 20th century, someone who innovated in photography and film, yet is virtually unknown outside of elite art circles. This is why we are making this film.”
“Through Helen Levitt’s lens, we have found magic and visual poetry in our everyday lives. In helping her legacy live on, we hope her work inspires countless more generations of photographers to introduce the work and life of Helen Levitt to audiences all over.”
SOUNDTRACK: I guess the thing that has fascinated me about photography, ever since childhood, is the magic—-the freezing of a moment. It is a way to capture that moment and preserve it. Wouldn’t it have been great if photography had been invented one century sooner? We could see Washington crossing the Delaware or Napoleon at Waterloo.
Or, in our own lives, we can see how life was over 50 years ago, as in these images by Helen Levitt where ordinary street scenes back then now become extraordinary. This song matches up with these photos.
National Geographic called Ocean Pathway “The prettiest short street in America.” With numbers 13 and 11 so beautifully housescaped with plants, it’s even prettier.
This photo, taken yesterday, shows but two of the many homes in Ocean Grove that are occupied by master gardeners.
Congratulations to all who work so hard to bring beauty to so many.
By Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor Blogfinger.net. Ocean Grove, NJ. USA. 12/24/23
This is one of my favorite photographs, and Diana Krall’s “White Christmas” is also very special. And so is the Christmas season where sleigh bells ring—are you listening?
Christmas music can be monotonous after awhile in December, but so much great music is about Christmas, so I like to post it out of season to show its uniqueness. It’s like the jewelry store principle: just take one diamond out at a time and show it by itself on black velvet in a light that makes it glow —–
“The White Night” Central Park, Christmas Eve, 1932. By Adolph Fassbender Re-posted from Blogfinger. 2014.
This photograph is from the January 27, 1997 issue of the New Yorker magazine. It was part of a photography exhibit review featuring the work of Adolph Fassbender (1884-1980).
He was an artist who followed the romantic painterly Pictorialist style of photography long after it fell into disfavor around 1915. The quote below is from the New Yorker piece about this image. The title of the article was “Slow Dazzle.”
” ‘The White Night,” made on Christmas Eve, 1932, in Central Park, during a late-afternoon blizzard, is one of the highlights of the Fassbender show opening this week at Gallery 292, in SoHo.
“The buildings on the Plaza were invisible but for a faint glow; the artist got off just one three-and-a-half-minute exposure before his shutter froze. Out of raging wind and snow he coaxed this woolly, lamplit nocturne — a tribute not to speed but to contentment and rest.
“Photograph shows a path in Central Park covered with snow, bordered by bare black branches, and buildings in the distance with lighted windows seen through mist.”
–reprinted from Blogfinger. By Paul Goldfinger, Editor.
Untitled. By Anna Murphey Re-posted from September, 2013.
Anna Murphey is a retired professional photojournalist who often vacations in Ocean Grove and whose work we have shown in the past. She is currently visiting our town to be here at its most beautiful time—September.
Anna sent us the photo above and she explains the image in her own words:
Paul: “I am attaching a photo I took at Swartswood State Park one April-a warm day, it’s one of my favorites and it ran in the New Jersey Herald during my tenure as Chief Photographer.”
We also asked Anna to suggest a song for her delightful portrait of a young lady.
This is her reply, “Good Day Sunshine,” by the Beatles. As an aside, I saw the Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1964, I still have my ticket stub, I guess that kind of dates me.”
Asbury Park near the Carousel House. November 9, 2014. By Mike Kalish of OG.
“All the Things You Are” was written for a 1939 Broadway show called Very Warm for May by Jerome Kern (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics.) Susequently it was in the movie “Broadway Rhythm” 1944. Miles Davis said that these lyrics were his favorite.
