On Hinges and Doors
Looking at these photographs I took of a most lovely Anastasia Milne in my favourite room (for photography) at the Marble Arch Hotel (when it was a lazy “den of iniquity” I look at the door and think back than when I took those photographs I was not in any way taking into consideration that the door would be one I would never ever open or close again. As Jorge Luís Borges wrote in two versions of Límites:
Para siempre cerraste alguna puerta
There is a door you have closed forever
My grandmother would often tell me, “Nadie te quita lo bailado,” which translates not too poetically in English as “Nobody can take away the dances you have danced.” She meant that memories, if remembered would remain in one’s soul to ease us into getting old.
I read in today’s NY Times this essay by David Leonhardt called You’re Too Busy. You Need a ‘Schultz Hour’. I recommended Rosemary to read it who after the fact told me, “That has been your whole life.”
And yes, she may be right. I have always had the time to think and reflect and do so in a hot bath tub or in my sleep.
Photography has opened doors for me in a century when access was all important. In this 21stcentury access is via email or phone interviews. Access is by paying money so you can board an airplane first. Money is access to those reclining seat/beds.
Photography enabled me to penetrate all social strata, from hoods to politicians and prime ministers. That is all gone now and I have plenty of time for an extra special and extended Schultz Hour.
Something I have never forgotten came from Brother Edwin Reggio, C.S.C. at St. Ed’s High School. In his religion class he told us that the origin of the word cardenal was from the Latin and that it meant hinge. He told us that a Cardenal was the hinge (go-between) the Chuch and us. I wonder if photography was not my hinge.
Originally published at blog.alexwaterhousehayward.com.
