Saturday, May 24, 2008

Benny and Moses



Meet my great-grandpas.  If you look carefully, you can see their cigarette smoke curling in the background.  I think candid shots like this one were fairly rare for the era, and I'm so glad someone had the foresight to take this.  The taker was probably my grandfather, which is actually somewhat surprising.  He was a skilled legal photographer who, when doing the occasional portrait, which he did, liked his subjects to be highly controlled and posed.  Maybe he saw something at this luncheon that he wanted to preserve just as it was at that moment--the light? The camaraderie? The leavings of a really good meal? 

5 comments:

Cece said...

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. This is a nice photo of your great grandfathers. I love looking at old pictures of my family (especially my dad's side) I never got to meet his parents, they both died before I was born. I have always been interested in learning about them, and he has told me so many great stories. He grew up during the depression, and they lived down a winding road. They were some of the more fortunate and always had food on the table. They hunted wild game, and his mother always had a nice vegetable garden, and would can the veggies so that they had plenty for the winter. He said that word got around and a lot of hobos and homeless people would come by their place. His mother would always feed them and send them back down the road with a nice little "To Go" bag. I think that is the most wonderful story he has ever told me about her. I love the humanity that she possessed. She sounds like a remarkable woman, so it always make me feel proud when my dad tells me that I remind him of his mom. I take it as the most highest of compliments.

Skeeter said...

It is a great image. Laughing, smiling ... real life. I wonder what it was that captured his imagination, it must have been in the moment. This is nice.

Best wishes.

kylie said...

yeah, i like this shot.....they look like happy, generous people

Suzanne said...

Hey Brooding Bitch (well, you're the one who said to use it),

Great photo and feeling. I'm a huge fan of candid shots and this one's terrific.

I read Cece comment and it's funny because my great grand parents lived in Westchester during the depression (Bedford) and my grandmother said they barely noticed because they had land and animals that supported them. People would come by to buy or ask for the surplus. Isn't that interesting? The house is now part of a huge estate and no longer exists, but as you drive by you can still see the foundation and chimney. I like that.

XO

faycat said...

I love this photo, I look at it every time I'm at your sissy's. PS - I just ordered another pair of Sissy's, in sand!