Letter from Paris This Morning

Voja Mitrovic and Peter Turnley earlier this morning in Paris.
Photo by an anonymous passerby.

April 29th, 2012

Dear Mike,

I met Voja this morning in Paris on this beautiful and windy Sunday. I have been meeting Voja almost every Sunday I've been in Paris over the past thirty years. Today was one of our most special meetings. Voja handed off to me a suitcase of 26 kilos' worth of carefully wrapped, handmade silver prints destined for all of the collectors that have acquired a print or prints in our recent special offer of six of my Paris photographs. You can not imagine the special sense of pride and bond of friendship that this morning's encounter represents for me, knowing that six of my photographs that are a result of my special thirty-five year love affair with Paris will be soon in the hands or on the walls of collectors on all the populated continents of the world, and knowing from the bottom of my heart that each print will have been made by one of the greatest printers in the history of photography, in my opinion the greatest.

Voja and I sat down for a wonderful lunch at my home away from home in Paris, La Brasserie de l'Ile St. Louis. As we shared lunch, Voja described in minute detail every gesture of burning and dodging he made for each of the photographs that was printed, the choice of multiple filters used for each print's exposure, the number of seconds in each corner and area of each print, washing and drying time, flattening, and signing.

Voja is already one of the most handsome men I've ever encountered. His good looks emerge not only from his tall and powerful slavic physique, but even more from a profound sense of humanity, pride, and dignity that come from a person that has spent his life doing honest and good work with every part of his mind, body, and heart. I wish I had a film to share with you and your readers to show you the incredible spark in his eyes, and the beauty of his gestures as he described to me his recent three weeks' work on the prints for our print offer.

I write you at this moment sitting at the desk of my apartment in the center of Paris looking out at the blustery clouds of this special day for me. I write to you with gratitude for the chance to share my photographs with you and your readers through publications and our print offers on your site, and with great thanks to everyone around the world that has touched my heart by choosing to have one of my photographs on their walls and in their homes, and with an immense sense of pride that this whole process has put me in touch with the pride and love for visual communication that you, Voja, and all of your readers represent worldwide. Our common love of visual expression and the universal language of vision and photography bring us all closer together in this world, and I am immensely proud to be a member of this wonderful community. Thank you to you and to anyone reading this. I will fly to New York on Tuesday and look forward to begining to ship my photographs—Voja's prints—starting on Wednesday.

With my warmest regards,

Peter

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Original contents copyright 2012 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by Clay Olmstead: "I went to a talk that Mr. Turnley gave in Austin recently. He spoke for over an hour, while a slideshow of his outstanding pictures played on the screen behind him. He is clearly a man who is more in touch with his humanity than most of us. I went away with a resolve to do more digging, to uncover more of my own humanity. I would recommend to anyone to spend some time in this man's company. It's not an exaggeration to say you will be a better person for it."

Comments

[Tony McLean]

I would like to express my heart-felt thanks to Mike for sharing these words. When I receive my print, the newspaper reader, I will print out this short letter and tuck it away within the picture frame. Perhaps, one day—after I am long gone, someone will open the frame and discover these poignant words from the photographer, Peter Turnley. Maybe then they will be inspired to research the history of these two immensely talented men and the wonderful historic process that was known as silver-gelatin printing.

[Ben Rosengart]

I'm looking forward to meeting you in Paris in a few weeks, Peter! I'll be there from Tuesday on, so if you have the time and inclination to meet for a coffee or something before the workshop begins, be in touch -- I'd like that very much.

[John Camp]

The letter created an almost overpowering urge to get on a plane to Paris; I have to work, alas, but I'll go in September or October. In the meantime, after reading the letter, I sat here and stared at the Google Maps photographs of the city. I stay at a small hotel on the Left Bank, a long block or two off the river, and sometimes I walk over to the Marais for bagels and cream cheese, and then on to the Picasso (when it was open -- I think it's opening again soon, I hope) or Beaubourg. I walk down the river past Notre Dame and I take that little slantwise bridge right past the brasserie Peter's talking about, though I've never stopped there. What a great city. There's nothing like it in America -- we like our streets straight. I think crooked, tangled streets have a lot to recommend them.

[Arne Croell]

I am looking forward to receive my copies! Now, as somebody who still maintains and uses a b/w darkroom (mostly 4x5 and MF though), I read with interest about the time it took for printing. Three weeks for close to 500 prints (according to an earlier post by Mike) is something like 33 12x16" prints/day, not counting extras and possible rare mishaps, and of course includes all the drudgery like drying and flattening them, the signatures on the back etc. I have done 30prints/day (from 2 or 3 negs), but never 3 weeks in a row, and that did not include the flattening! That was quite an effort, and at this level of quality (I have his prints from the first sale)!

As an aside, is it a secret what paper was used for the prints?

[Richard Sintchak]

I am so very excited!

[Chris Klug]

Boy, I'd pay for a print of the image with this post!

[Earl Dunbar]

Mike, you need a "Like Immensely" button on TOP. :) What a wonderful letter and the "fresh made this morning" photo of Peter and Voja make it even more special.

[Andre]

I'm tremendously excited to receive my print of Rooftops! Thank you Peter and Voja (and Mike), my print will truly be treasured.

[Susan Buchanan]

Just got notification that my prints are winging their way to me - in Australia! Now to count the days...