'That's Me In the Picture'

I can't believe I didn't know about this fantastic feature at the British newspaper/web news site The Guardian until Chris Grover mentioned it the other day. I haven't read them all yet, but the few I've seen are fabulous.

The feature is called "That's me in the picture" and it features accounts and background of what was going on in widely known photographs. Chris mentioned the article featuring Tony (AJ) Barratt's photograph of Leonard Cohen holding a toddler upside down, written by the toddler, Nikki Spencer (Tony Barratt's daughter). I love that photograph, by the way.

For an even better sample, check out this one, which I believe I featured on TOP after it went viral. It's really fascinating to hear the story from the people in the picture, and calibrate our immediate reactions with what was really happening (you can't guess from the picture, for example, that Scott Jones was kissing his girlfriend Alexandra Homas because she was hysterical and he was trying to calm her down, although you might guess that "When Alex first saw it, she was immediately worried people could see her bottom").

Here's the main index page. You might not have seen every picture if you're not British, but the stories can be outstanding even so. What a marvelous feature—big kudos and much appreciation to The Guardian! I do hope this will be a book one day. And thanks again to Chris.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2016 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Comments

[Don]

It has its share of poor articles but The Guardian is one of the few publications left worthy of the name NEWSpaper.

[Tim Bradshaw]

I like that series: If I'd bern smarter I would have told you about it.

I'm not sure, but I reckon the Leonard Cohen one might have reticulation (the girl's face in particular looks too large-scale to be grain): it's funny how something that would have filled me with horror in a neg of mine 20 years ago now seems rather attractive. The more I look at endless digital perfection the more I want to spend time with my hands wet.

[Andrew Lamb]

Mike, while you're at it, check out the Guardian's obituary of Wolf Suchitsky (sp), a wonderful photographer and talented DOP.

I'm lucky enough to own a few of his lovely photos of London in the thirties. Great body of work.

[Dave I.]

I liked the one with the panda and child. A brilliant headline to match the photo; "Periodically, the panda used to lose its temper and go berserk." Har!