pt at large

Boston Symphony Orchestra Review Sparkes with Charming Vigor

February 17, 2023

Insight, information, interpretation... Jeffrey Gantz gave me a front row seat at the February 16, 2023 BSO concert at Symphony Hall featuring Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff and St. Saens.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/02/17/arts/lahav-shani-makes-powerful-symphony-hall-debut/

All the way to his final observation, a perfect fit for the closing moment of Rachmaninoff’s “Symphonic Dances.”

Guest conductor Lahav Shani conducted sans baton, using his hands and body language.

Reviewer Jeffrey Gantz conducted with his keyboard.

Both at the top of their game.

 

 

 

 

Homage to André Kertész

Homage to André Kertész (1894 - 1985) American (b. Hungary)

Andre Kertész was a pioneer of street photography and a remarkable still life photographer. In a career that spanned seven decades, he captured everyday life with poetic beauty and elevated ordinary objects to exquisite art.

https://photogpedia.com/andre-kertesz-quotes/

Kertész on Kertész

I like high shots. If you are on the same level, you lose many things.

Everything is still interesting to me. You do not have to imagine things; reality gives you all you need. Everything is a subject. Every subject has a rhythm.

I do not document anything. I give an interpretation. The moment always dictates in my work. What I feel, I do. This is the most important thing for me. Everybody can look, but they don’t necessarily see. I never calculate or consider; I see a situation and I know that it’s right, even if I have to go back to get the proper lighting.

Seeing is not enough; you have to feel what you photograph.

I just walk around, observing the subject from various angles until the picture elements arrange themselves into a composition that pleases my eye.

Kertész high shot

Tamburello high shot

Henri Cartier-Bresson: Relevant More Than Ever

https://photogpedia.com/henri-cartier-bresson-quotes/

If you're not familiar with his name, ask Siri "Who was Henri Cartier-Bresson".

I am guilty of taking photos on my iPhone just because they are in front of me. I'm too embarrassed to say how many photos are in my library. This link, "The 75 Greatest Henri Cartier-Bresson Quotes", is a refreshing guide that, pardon the metaphor, opens the lens in my thinking.

Sure, my phone has many useful purposes.

One of the most valuable reasons to carry my iPhone with me?

I quote the master: "For me, photography is instant drawing. For me, the passion is to look, to look, to look."

Monsieur Cartier-Bresson, I'm looking.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Arizona governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders Republican response to President Biden’s State of the Union address...
brash, tone deaf, vitriolic, delivered with the subtlety of announcing a kick boxing match rather than a counter narrative to the president's generally upbeat address.

Her job, of course, was to provide a counter narrative... but not a speech filled with knee jerk culture war phrases like woke mobs and critical race theory that stoke the flames of division within the country. Easy to throw bombs. Would have been helpful to counter with Republican policies or programs that mend us, not tear us apart.

Characterizing the President's speech as crazy? Her snarky remarks were more appropriate for a red meat stump speech as if she was running for president...which might be the case.