Pedro Meyer, The Meyers, Mexico City, Mexico, 1940/2000
There are only three people in this image. Pedro Meyer is the man on the left and the boy on the right.
From his website (Self-Portraits > VI. The Imaginary Self).
Mike
(From Fred Ritchin, via Foam, thanks to Ed)
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Original contents copyright 2011 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.
A quiet humanism, combined with a keen sense of time, irony, and courage. Thanks to Mike for drawing attention to this fabulous photographer.
Posted by: Animesh Ray | Thursday, 02 June 2011 at 12:43 PM
Dear Mike,
Errrmm, stage left or audience left???
pax / confused Ctein
Posted by: ctein | Thursday, 02 June 2011 at 01:50 PM
P.S. Whichever way, I love this photo.
Posted by: ctein | Thursday, 02 June 2011 at 01:51 PM
Ctein, you can't tell which just by looking? The clothes are obviously from different eras. Hint: look at the ties. And the hair, I guess.
I don't like the photo myself. If it were myself or a friend, it would be a fun shot to post on Facebook or stick in a photo album. But something worth sharing, let alone passing off as highfalutin' art? Not by a long shot.
Posted by: James | Thursday, 02 June 2011 at 05:05 PM
And I just scrutinized the pic again (actually, I just scrutinized it for the first time, I just glanced at it earlier), and the photoshoppery isn't even that good. The arms, legs, and feet show the figures are obviously pasted in and the new kid's face looks nothing like the rest of the picture exposure-wise.
Posted by: James | Thursday, 02 June 2011 at 05:08 PM
Mike,
This is the most opaque, infuriating website I have ever encountered - had to shut down my computer to get out of it
Granted, I don't relate well to much of Spanish culture but this is too annoying
Posted by: Bill McFadden | Thursday, 02 June 2011 at 05:32 PM
I think you can answer that Ctein, at least with a high probability of being right.
The man on (audience) right appears to be under 60. This is important because the boys are not newborns, and the photo caption tells us that the source images are from 1940 and 2000. The man on the (audience) left could well be around 60 or older.
In addition, the style of dress (notably the absence of tie clip on the man on the audience left), and what appear to be partially darkened glasses lend more credence to the older Meyer being the man on the audience left.
Posted by: kiwidamien | Thursday, 02 June 2011 at 06:55 PM
Dear James & Kiwi,
I have no sense of clothing style nor era even for the US, let alone some other country. For what little I know, either kid could be wearing contemporary "formal" dress in Mexico.
But yer right about the dates being a clear givewaway. 'Cept I didn't bother to read the caption carefully before. Sigh. My bad.
Thanks!
pax / unconfused Ctein
P.S. Still love the picture.
Posted by: ctein | Thursday, 02 June 2011 at 08:43 PM
Pedro Meyer wears a beard , and nobody wears a tie clip in the last 30 years
Posted by: hugh crawford | Thursday, 02 June 2011 at 11:18 PM
Reminds me of what my photo professor in the UK was doing.
http://www.chino.co.uk/gallery/IFM/ifm_intro.html
Posted by: Chris | Friday, 03 June 2011 at 07:37 AM
The bearded one has more paunch. The price of participating the world wide, American diet of the last half of the 20th Century. The World War II generation did not have a problem with mass obesity. Well shined shoes on the right too, not very common these days.
Posted by: Dave Ralph | Friday, 03 June 2011 at 07:57 AM
Come now. Pedro is not obese.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Friday, 03 June 2011 at 09:26 AM
It's funny, but what instantly strikes me from a technical standpoint about this collage is that the light on the two sets of people is not coming from the same direction. Funny that no one mentioned that.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Friday, 03 June 2011 at 09:38 AM
Dear Mike,
Oddly, the light didn't (doesn't) hit me as wrong at all because of all the shade trees around and the obvious lighting variations within the scene, as indicated by the shadowing on the grass.
Not saying you're wrong about this, just that it doesn't register for me.
~~~~~~~~
BTW, to all the people who mentioned that no one wears tie clips any more-- I think I last wore a tie in 1972. I might have one in a drawer somewhere...
... just checked, I have TWO! One's got little cameras printed all over it. Maybe I should start wearing it as a headband, Rambo-style, when I give talks and workshops?
pax / ever-stylish Ctein
Posted by: ctein | Friday, 03 June 2011 at 01:13 PM