Archive for November, 2008
Yousef Karsh A Photographer For All Times
Portraitist Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002) is one of the great masters of our modern times. He captured the emotion of many such as Audrey Hepburn, Fidel Castro, Mother Teresa, Andy Warhol, Ernest Hemingway and Winston Churchill, just to name a few.
Karsh is from Armenian descent and immigrated to Canada in 1925. In his owns words he describes how this new world appeared to him, “My first glimpse of the New World on a steely cold, sunny winter day was the Halifax wharf, covered with snow. I could not yet begin to imagine the infinite promise of this new land. For the moment, it was enough to find myself safe, the massacres, torture, and heartbreak of Armenia behind me. I had no money and little schooling, but I had an uncle, my mother’s brother, who was waiting for me and recognized me from a crude family snapshot as I stepped from the gangplank.” And this picture he paints of his arrival comes through in his art dramatically.
Karsh is a legend, an artist for all time. I am reminded when I can just click on an internet page it was not always that easy for us regular folks to enjoy the arts. There was a time when art was offered only to the upper class. Now thanks to the internet we all have an opportunity to enrich our lives with serious art. Karsh has influenced many other photographers as well as those who can transport themselves into his world of art.
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CLOGGING!
My friend Ann is 67 years old, she is a delightful person. Attractive, intelligent, engaging and to add to her attractive personality she tells me she loves to go clogging! “What the heck is that??” I ask her? She tells me it is kind of like a “hillbilly tap dance”. But in truth it is more akin to Riverdance. And Ann loves it! She has asked me to come along and I have to admit…the temptation is growing. So where did clogging come from? What do those darn cloggers look like and do you need special gear to partake of this age old custom?
Clogging has its roots in Scots-Irish ancestry. You might conjure up images of little ladies coming out of a cuckoo clock to tell us the hour is starting. Far from it! Those darn cloggers look like you and me. They do wear costumes but this is usually just when they are performing. And unlike days gone by, wooden shoes are not usually worn for clogging. In today’s clogging world attaching small “jingle” type taps to the bottom of the shoe suffices. As you hear these folks “clog” around the floor you can hear the jingle under foot.
There is usually a leader or “cuer” that calls out the routines much like a caller does in square dancing. Clogging is a simple two-tap movement known as the double toe that is seen by kicking up the knee forward then letting it fall again naturally. According to the Southern California Clogging Association, “Because you don’t lift the foot very far off the floor, this kick forward and back makes two quick sounds: a tap as the ball of the foot brushes forward and another tap as it brushes back. The double toe is then usually followed by stepping onto the ball of that foot, which also makes a sound. Together, all of that makes a “double toe step.” The first two sounds of the “double toe step” fall on the upbeat (“and a”), and the step falls on the downbeat.”
So are you ready to try your hand–or should I say foot–at clogging? Age is not an issue as my friend Ann clearly has proven. The most important thing is to have a good time, enjoy the company, and get some fun loving exercise in to boot! Come on ya’ll let’s all go clogging!
