Michael Ducey NY to Portland » Artists

Katarina Witt – Just Being Herself!

admin — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 01:00:57 +0000

The CBS plaza has never drawn as many as NBC, probably because there are so many things to see at Rockefeller Center, but it was a place I enjoyed visiting often when I lived in New York. One afternoon, I was sitting at the far end of the plaza and I spotted Katarina Witt leaving CBS with a friend and she happened to look over in my direction and although I never met her before, somehow I took the initiative and I shrugged my shoulders as if to say “what are you doing here”; somehow as silly as it may seem, Katarina and her friend turned around and walked all the way over to me.

I’m sure when Katarina got over to where I was, she realized that I was just a fan and not someone she knew, but she was as warm and friendly as could be. I’ve always found the best in their fields were gracious and caring; at least that has been my experience so far.

Katarina was visiting CBS, because she had a special planned to air that week and she was promoting the show. She was so excited talking about her TV Special and I have always made a point of telling people that complain about stars not wanting to talk, that it is simply that so-called fans don’t show any respect and allow the celebrity to be gracious. Tons of people shove pieces of paper in front of a star and feel that it is their obligation to sign their name. I didn’t do that and because of just showing appreciation for someone that I admired, I had a chance to meet a really special person and I just wanted to say thank you, many years later!

Bert Monroy – Light Painting

admin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:07:38 +0000

I’m a big fan of Bert Monroy and his graphic ability. My uncle was a graphic artist and he invented “Instant Type” the dry press lettering. I was one of his helpers and delivery boys to CBS’s 60 Minutes. So, to see someone that moves graphics in a fascinating direction such as “painting with light” well, that grabs my interest, let me tell you!

Since Photoshop is something most people have at least heard of, and most people are fascinated by; you very well may be interested in knowing that Bert was the coauthor of the first book on Photoshop entitled “The Official Adobe Photoshop Handbook”. It was released in 1990 and then came another book that was the definitive book on one of Photoshop’s most challenging features called Channels. The book was named “Channel Chops” and was released in 1996. Bert himself was gracious enough to correct my error in thinking that Channel Chops was the first Photoshop Book – thanks Bert!

So, why didn’t I just say that Bert Monroy is a graphic artist that uses Photoshop? Well, it goes way beyond that. The first time you look at a Bert Monroy picture you may be overcome by its size, some being as large as your wall. You may remark, what a huge Photo, but his pictures are not photos. His work has been called photorealism, but Bert prefers to demonstrate that his pictures are not photos or just photorealism, but a presentation of his ability to paint with both light and color to capture what he sees in moments of time.

We may never be able to experience creating anything, even on a small scale, that exhibits this kind of talent, but we may love improving our own visions and abilities and Bert has been a great educator. One of my favorite sites is Bert’s weekly videos presented at the following:

http://revision3.com/pixelperfect

Also, to build one skill at a time, check out the following.
Under Author, just type in Monroy, Bert.

Lotte Jacobi – Jazz Age Beginnings

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:01:39 +0000

Years ago, I went door to door speaking to people about the Bible. It was something I grew up doing. It was on one of these times going door to door in Dearing, New Hampshire that I came upon a little woman that was in her mid seventies. She opened the door and said “come on in look around and I will be right with you.”

I was quite surprised that someone up in years, would be so trusting, but I thought maybe I have a friendly face. When she came back and asked “are you ready”

I was surprised, and then she realized that I wasn’t there to have my photograph taken. As I could see in the few minutes I was there, she was a wonderful photographer and had pictures on her wall of people that anyone could identify as well as others that just looked important and interesting. I saw before me pictures of Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Robert Frost J. D. Salinger, Paul Robeson and Max Planck.

After laughing at the fact that we both assumed to know who the other was, and were both wrong, she told me a little about herself. Her name was Lotte Jacobi and she had been a photographer since she was a young girl in Germany.

About a month after first meeting Lotte, I asked if I could interview her. I would love to write a story about her for Readers Digest, I told her. I brought her some cut flowers the day of our meeting and she spent about 10 minutes looking all over for a vase that would accommodate them, after which she told me, should I come back again, please don’t bring me flowers. She had plenty in her back yard and she even had her own beehives too, as she was a beekeeper.

Lotte told me that she had been a friend of Albert Einstein in Germany and that her friendship continued after they both arrived in America, after fleeing Hitler. You will see Lotte’s pictures in many books on Einstein, because he always insisted that her photos be used.

A few years ago, while I was still living in New York City, I had a chance to visit the Jewish Museum. The museum was having a full exhibit of Lotte Jacobi, who has been called by some to be the finest female photographer of the 20th Century. Gracing much of a full wing of the Museum, I was able to view many of the same pictures I had seen back in 1973 on the walls of her studio there in Deering, N.H. Lotte was someone that befriended many of the talented musicians, dancers and scientists of her day. She portrayed them in ways that no one else did prior to her. Lotte was very clear to point out that she didn’t wish to have any preconceived ideas about any of her subjects.

Recently I was thinking about the game that is played called “The Six Degrees of Separation Of Kevin Bacon”. The idea of the game is that Kevin Bacon as an end point can be linked in Hollywood by six degrees or less to almost any other performer. It made me laugh, because using that premise, having known Lotte Jacobi means that there is only one degree of separation from me to Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, J.D. Salinger or Robert Frost as well as other very famous people. Of course, in reality it doesn’t mean anything, since I never met any of them. But, what is something I’ll always be grateful for is to have met such a gracious artist as the one and only Lotte Jacobi herself!