___ and ___

[Dennis Bishop]

There is a series of reasons I haven't been around lately. The latest one was a 13-day trip to France. The shots for this image were taken there. Normally, I'd tell more about it, but I'm not going to do that this time -- at least not right away. It's hard to tell from what you can see, but the figures are atop a long slender column. It's not one of my best images visually, but I have a strong emotional attachment to it that started the instant I saw the figures and has since grown because of something that seems to have happened by chance. But maybe not . . .

I'm guessing that one of you will know who the figures represent. If someone does, I'll disclose the rest of the story, then. If not, I'll do it on Monday, the 28th.

Nikon Coolpix P7000, ISO 200, zoom at 25.4mm, f/6.3, four-exposure HDR at 1 EV increments, +0.7

processing highlights

• Topaz Simplify -- saved preset, 76% opacity, masked off faces
• Alien Skin Snap Art -- saved preset, 44%, Color blend mode
• duplicate sky layers from a different shot; the second at Linear Light, 38%
• Nik Color Efex -- Darken/Lighten Center
• Flypaper Textures texture -- Vivid Light, 25%, masked to statue
• Photo Filter adjustment layer -- Warming 85
• four black & white layers, Multiply blend mode -- two Fractalius (one partially masked, the other at 51%); Snap Art Stylize Line Art, 42%, masked off faces; Simplify edges, 62%, masked off hair
• gradient vignette

[Anita Bower]

Great to see one of your images. I trust you had a wonderful time in France.
I assume these are WWI persons, the seated one an aviator. The standing one is a nurse. That is as far as I can guess.
You've done your usual excellent processing. I especially like the face of the aviator--it looks almost real. Nicely composed. The sky makes a lovely bg. You did a good job eliminating the surroundings, which could have been distracting.
I'm looking forward to your story.

[Randall Farhy]

Good to see you back! Hoping the trip was a fun experience. I'm with Anita on the seated figure being a WWI Aviator, no clue on the female but Nurse makes sense. Also looking forward to the back story. Easily recognizable as a "Bishop" piece. Interesting framing and tonal balance.

[Diane Miller]

A very nice rendition, whatever it is. Will love to hear the story! The statue is certainly telling one!

I showed this to my husband, who is a walking encyclopedia of aviation history, and he couldn't ID it either. His best guess was Charles Nungesser, just on the basis of his being a famous aviator from the era that seems to be consistent with the clothing. He took off shortly before Lindbergh's famous flight, attempting the reverse direction, and disappeared. But Ted couldn't come up with an explanation for the woman, so he's probably not right.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Dennis, I'm glad you're back and looks like your trip was a success. I'm intrigued by the statue and can't begin to guess so I'm anxiously awaiting the 28th Your work, as always, is impeccable.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart. I like the graphic quality of the image. regards~Bill

[Diane Miller]

Faces aren't right. Lindbergh was a late 20-something handsome dude when he became famous in 1927 and Earhart wasn't really a contemporary -- she was famous 5-10 years later. She flew the Atlantic in 1932, 5 years after Lindbergh, and disappeared on the ATW attempt in 1937, in the Pacific, 20 years after Lindbergh's NY to Paris flight.

This is an older guy with a sagging face and an odd angle to his feet. An artificial leg? In a wheelchair, maybe? (Why is he seated?) A Frenchman, I'd bet. And the woman?... obviously a good story there.

Anxiously awaiting Monday! Sounds like a good story, especially the personal part!

[Dennis Bishop]

A Frenchman, yes. And an aviator. But so much more. The woman . . .

Stay tuned.

[Mitch Carucci]

Louis Blériot? Just a guess, but we have a replica of an early Blériot on display at our local airport...

[Hazel Grant]

looking forward to tomorrow!

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Dennis,

Greetings. I'll let you have the honors of revealing these princely characters since I'm pretty good at web searches to discover the identities... I really like your processing style. Thanks for posting.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Dennis Bishop]

. . . I'll let you have the honors of revealing these princely characters . . .

Michael, I think you got it right. Here is another image and some ramblings that tell the story.

Early in the tour of France, there was a stop at Cassis on the Mediterranean coast. The group boarded a boat and headed out to see the calanques, small inlets with steep rocky walls that look something like fjords. I grabbed an outside seat, set up my tripod and started taking photos. Fast forward to when I got home and started downloading from the memory cards. There, in the midst of all those calanque photos was one of the sky with fluffy white clouds. I know I didn't take it on purpose, and I have no explanation for how it got there. Ordinarily, I'd have deleted something like that instead of downloading it, but I opted to put it in one of my texture folders.

Back to France . . . A number of days after Cassis, we stopped in Lyon. The first thing on the agenda was lunch. However, I was standing at the foot of a long, slender column and looking at the figures on the top. A retired English teacher in the group did the same thing and exclaimed, "That's the little prince and Antoine de Saint-Exupery!" With that, everyone but me headed off to the restaurant. After setting up my tripod, framing the shot, and shooting five bracketed exposures, I managed to see the group and ran down the street to join them. I had no idea if we were going to return to the statue (we didn't), and I wasn't going to miss the shot.

Back to the time machine . . . In 1918, my Great Aunt Is (Isadora) graduated from nurses training. She worked at that hospital throughout her career and was in the delivery room when I was born there. (She's one of the nurses in the portion of the graduation photo that's shown with the book.) In many ways, my brother, sisters, and I were closer to her than to any of our grandparents. She was a remarkable person in many ways. When I was 14, she gave me a copy of The Little Prince. I don't remember why; it was in the middle of June and wasn't an occasion. On its own, the book is special, but its connection with Aunt Is made it even more so to me. It's the only non-photographic book in the room where I work on images.

Why did I mention anything about the sky at Cassis? Antoine de Saint-Exupery was an author, an artist (he painted the illustrations in the book), and an aviator. Early in his flying career, he piloted planes carrying mail to Africa and South America. In July of 1944, at the age of 44, he was flying a reconnaissance mission for the Allied Forces when his plane went down over the Mediterranean near Cassis. The wreckage was finally found and recovered in April of 2004, almost exactly 10 years before our visit to Cassis. When I processed the HDR shots of the statue that had been erected in his hometown of Lyon, the sky was a featureless blue. I had to replace it with that mystery sky from Cassis.

The Little Prince is fiction. I'm now reading a non-fiction book by Saint-Exupery titled Wind, Sand, and Stars. Diane, I don't know your husband's connection to aviation, but I'd recommend his reading the book. In fact, I'd recommend it to everyone. It's about flying but is filled with metaphors about human relations. Early aviation with limited instrumentation was an adventure not suited for many. It was fraught with danger, and there were those who flew out and never returned. Here's an excerpt from a chapter about the pilots who carried the mail. He's talking about the loss of a fellow flier, but his insight can be applied more widely. "Old friends cannot be created out of hand. Nothing can match the treasure of common memories, of trials endured together, of quarrels and reconciliations and generous emotions. It is idle, having planted an acorn in the morning, to expect that afternoon to sit in the shade of the oak."

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Great story. Thanks, Dennis. The Little Prince... I think I'll go read it again.

(Google images "famous French aviator statue" does the trick)

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Diane Miller]

Isn't it amazing how pieces can come together! Thanks for sharing an amazing story!

Both were probably two of the first books Ted ever read, and they are both in his huge bookshelf of aviation books. I'll have to re-read both. It's been too long. And I second your recommendation!

He is a serious aviation history nut. Serious. (I'm surprised he didn't make a better guess!) His father flew Clippers for Pan Am in the golden age of flying the Pacific, and I think it's hereditary. (He's a retired 747 captain for United.) We've flown through Lyon, on an around-the-world flight in our single-engine Bonanza, on our honeymoon. But missed the statue. Or maybe it wasn't erected then -- that was in 1971.

[Diane Miller]

Great story. Thanks, Dennis. The Little Prince... I think I'll go read it again.

(Google images "famous French aviator statue" does the trick)

Cheers,

-Michael-

Michael, that's cheating! Besides, I tried it and didn't pursue it far enough to get a hit.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Dennis, a captivating story - thanks for sharing! The Little Prince is my favorite book of all time. I've read it many times but I'm going to drag it out and read it again - it's such a wonderful story. I also have Night Flight by Saint-Exupery - I'll read it again also. Your whole story is so serendipitous - I love it when that happens

Diane - I just finished a fiction book - Night Over Water by Ken Follett and it was very interesting. It's about the last flight of the legendary Pan Am Clipper (which was like a flying luxury cruise ship) right before World War II. Good read.

Dennis - thanks so much for sharing this with us. I think OOTB is much more than sharing our photography - it's also about the things we share in our lives.

[Dennis Bishop]

[QUOTE=Diane Miller;991208 . . . We've flown through Lyon, on an around-the-world flight in our single-engine Bonanza, on our honeymoon. But missed the statue. Or maybe it wasn't erected then -- that was in 1971.[/QUOTE]

It wasn't, Diane. The statue was erected in 2000, one hundred years after the birth of Saint-Exupery.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

My favourite tome as well. I like the heads both cocked to the right and they have sort of dreamy expressions. Antoine St E seems to have a child-like pose with his legs dangling over the edge.

[Dennis Bishop]

. . . I think OOTB is much more than sharing our photography - it's also about the things we share in our lives.

I agree, Cheryl. Probably for all of us, our images are -- at least to some extent -- a reflection of our pasts and our thoughts of the future. So, no matter where we show them, we're sharing something of ourselves even if it's not with that intent. For many of us, I think that learning is an important part of OOTB, and that is built to a great extent on sharing of techniques and resources. Beyond that, a good number of us are passionate about what we do and being in a place where we can share that with others is all too unique. It's important in the continuing growth and development of what we do, and it provides an outlet for thoughts, ideas, and emotions that wouldn't be understood in some circles.

[Diane Miller]

Well said, Cheryl and Dennis -- making art is putting ourselves into it.

Cheryl, I gave him the Follett book recently, on the strong recommendation of a friend -- don't think he's had time to read it yet. I'll grab it when he's finished. So many books, so little time...