The Online Photographer

Our old friend Peter with Annie Seaton, Director/Curator of the new Leica Gallery in L.A., and Tom Smith of Leica. Photo by Antonis Ricos.

TOP reader Antonis Ricos wrote to say that he went to the opening of Peter Turnley's exhibit at the new Leica Gallery in Los Angeles on Saturday. He reports that the opening was well attended, Peter's hour-long presentation of his career highlights was inspiring, and that there were long lines of people waiting to get their books signed.

Peter signing books on Saturday. Photo by Antonis Ricos.

Antonis knew about Peter "entirely from TOP" so he used that as an icrebreaker for conversation. And then another interesting thing happened to him....

"As I was speaking with him, people were coming into the gallery and Peter saw a couple of ladies he knew. So, he interrupted our conversation to take pictures. Next thing I know, he hands me the camera asking if I could take his picture with them! Then, later, while he was signing the books, I suggested that I could take pictures of the proceedings with his camera if he wished. The result was that for the next couple of hours I ended up 'covering' the event with his M Monochrom and 35mm 'Lux ASPH. People in the pictures would occasionally ask where they could get a copy and were surprised to find out who the owner of the camera was!"

Sounds like fun.

"Visual Lecture" at Leica Gallery Los Angeles. Photo by Daniel Shaefer.

If you're in the Washington, D.C. area, Peter will be at the Alliance Francaise for a "visual lecture" and book signing this coming Friday, June 6th, at 7 p.m.

Although the copies they had sold out at the Leica Gallery in L.A., Peter's book French Kiss is still available (Peter's website is all new, too). Of the printing last Fall of 3,000 copies, there are 600 left. You know how it is with books—often, once they're gone, they're gone. If you want one, plan on getting it soon. I will say that the book has held up for me—I still really like it, and it has taken its place on my shelves next to my other two favorite Turnley books, Parisiens (out of print) and McClellan Street, the latter in collaboration with twin brother David.

Mike
(Thanks to Antonis and Peter)

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

-et-: "As another attendee on Saturday night (and the most prominent individual in the last photo, by chance) I can attest that it was a very interesting and enjoyable evening. My only negative comment would be that there was not enough time available. Looking at the catalog of images on Peter's laptop that remained to be projected, he could have talked for another three hours without running out of material—even if his vocal cords might have given out.

"Definitely a worthwhile evening, and I would encourage anyone who has an opportunity to go to a similar Turnley event to grab the chance."

Ned Bunnell: "I was also at the Leica Gallery Saturday night for the opening of Peter's exhibition. I joined him on a photo tour of Cuba in April, which was probably the best photo experience I've had in many years. I was really interested in seeing the prints from French Kiss since, as you know, they were done by Voja Mitrovic. Needless to say knowing Voja's reputation, but the prints were exquisite. Beautiful tones and gradations, and I marveled at how you could not tell which prints were originally shot with film versus digital since Peter's images spanned over 40 years of photographing Paris."