SandBox
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| + | == Photographic essay == | ||
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| To understand the genesis of Mister Wilson’s photography, one must do a little digging through the roots of his family tree. | To understand the genesis of Mister Wilson’s photography, one must do a little digging through the roots of his family tree. | ||
| - | It all began 120 years ago with his great-grandfatherWilhelm Ratzinger, born in 1880 near Chicago, Illinois, the son of a German immigrant and pig farmer. Wilhelm was an ambitious lad who found the contraints of midwestern society chaffed against his sense of adventure. Thus at the tender age of 17 he made his way westward in search of his fortune. | + | It all began 120 years ago with his great-grandfather Wilhelm Ratzinger, born in 1880 near Chicago, Illinois, the son of a German immigrant and pig farmer. Wilhelm was an ambitious lad who found the constraints of mid-western society chaffed against his sense of adventure. Thus at the tender age of 17 he made his way westward in search of his fortune. |
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| + | Ratzinger made his way to Albuquerque, New Mexico where in quick succession he worked as a roughneck, stable boy, mail courier and finally, down on his heels and contemplating suicide, as his journals recount, he was employed by a "shifty and unscrupulous" character who supplied the local army garrison with pork. Ratzinger could not escape the pig, it would seem, and he dutifully began his life as a swine driver. | ||
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| + | His life on the pig trails was a colorful one, full of hardship but also great whimsy. He took to wearing a bright red poncho and was nicknamed "the Cardinal." On one such swine drive in May, 1900, a National Geographic photographer by the name of Barnabas Atkins accompanied the swine driver as he drove his herd from Albuquerque to Denver. Atkins photographed Ratzinger and the lads, sharing the trail and the chili, along the way showing Ratzinger a thing or two about photography, allowing him to observe the preparation of the heavy glass plates and even to manipulate the camera. At least one picture survives today, inscribed with the words "Colorado City, July 15, 1900. Poob country." Whatever "Poob" means, it was certainly an insult; the three uses of this word in Ratzinger's journals are certainly disparaging. | ||
| - | Ratzinger made his way to New Mexico where in quick succession he worked as a roughneck, stable boy, mail courrier and finally, down on his heels and contemplating suicide, as his journals recount, he was employed by a "shifty and unscrupulous" character who supplied the local army garrison with pork. Ratzinger could not escape the pig, it would seem, and he dutifully began his life as a swine driver. | + | Upon returning from this swine drive, Ratzinger took his earnings and began to amass photographic equipment. By the end of a year he had become proficient enough in the craft that he was able to set up his own studio, where he specialized in portraiture and even made a few extra dollars for the local newspaper. But there was another trade which proved not only to be quite lucrative, but his undoing. It seems that at some point in 1903 he had been contacted by brother keeper for the purpose of making pornographic pictures of his ladies. On May 20th he wrote: "I have decided to take Mr K up on his offer to produce pictures of naked ladies for sale to local prostitutes, as keepsakes for their time in our city." |
| - | His life on the pig trails was a colorful one, full of hardship but also great whimsy. He took to wearing a bright red poncho and was nicknamed "the Cardinal." On one such pig run in May, 1900, a National Geographic photographer by the name of Barnabas Atkins accompanied the swine driver as he drove his herd from Albuquerque to Denver. Atkins photogrphed Ratzinger and the lads, sharing the trail and the chili, along the way showing Ratzinger a thing or two about photography, allowing him to observe the preparation of the heavy glass plates and even to manipulate the camera. At least one picture survives today, inscribed with the words "Colorado City, July 15, 1900. Poob country." Whatever "Poob" means, it was certainly an insult; the three uses of this word in this journal are certainly disparaging. Take this one from march 31, 1901: "Ran across the durnedest cur of a Poob I ever saw today, a duded up like some kind of dandy, throwing coins down on the table as only a preacher looking for more in return can do." | + | The trade in smutty pictures was a lucrative one and for the first time in his life, Ratzinger seems to have begun to accumulate a comfortable bank account. He invested in new equipment, making his own modifications, experimenting with different developing processes, grinding his own lenses. He was especially interested in inventing color photography. He'd found that his hand painted images sold very well, but the process was tiome-consuming and thus less profitable. Another obsession seems to have been to invent a lighter, more mobile camera. He also wanted a camera which could work under low-light conditions, which required neither flash nor especially long exposure times, yet which could produce clear images. In all of these pursuits he was stymied, but not for lack of trying. |
| + | It is clear that Ratzinger's pursuit of a "faster" camera was motivated as much by his private concerns than his photography business. Ratzinger, to put it bluntly, was an ardent voyeur. | ||
Revision as of 09:10, 20 Mar 2011
Photographic essay
To understand the genesis of Mister Wilson’s photography, one must do a little digging through the roots of his family tree.
It all began 120 years ago with his great-grandfather Wilhelm Ratzinger, born in 1880 near Chicago, Illinois, the son of a German immigrant and pig farmer. Wilhelm was an ambitious lad who found the constraints of mid-western society chaffed against his sense of adventure. Thus at the tender age of 17 he made his way westward in search of his fortune.
Ratzinger made his way to Albuquerque, New Mexico where in quick succession he worked as a roughneck, stable boy, mail courier and finally, down on his heels and contemplating suicide, as his journals recount, he was employed by a "shifty and unscrupulous" character who supplied the local army garrison with pork. Ratzinger could not escape the pig, it would seem, and he dutifully began his life as a swine driver.
His life on the pig trails was a colorful one, full of hardship but also great whimsy. He took to wearing a bright red poncho and was nicknamed "the Cardinal." On one such swine drive in May, 1900, a National Geographic photographer by the name of Barnabas Atkins accompanied the swine driver as he drove his herd from Albuquerque to Denver. Atkins photographed Ratzinger and the lads, sharing the trail and the chili, along the way showing Ratzinger a thing or two about photography, allowing him to observe the preparation of the heavy glass plates and even to manipulate the camera. At least one picture survives today, inscribed with the words "Colorado City, July 15, 1900. Poob country." Whatever "Poob" means, it was certainly an insult; the three uses of this word in Ratzinger's journals are certainly disparaging.
Upon returning from this swine drive, Ratzinger took his earnings and began to amass photographic equipment. By the end of a year he had become proficient enough in the craft that he was able to set up his own studio, where he specialized in portraiture and even made a few extra dollars for the local newspaper. But there was another trade which proved not only to be quite lucrative, but his undoing. It seems that at some point in 1903 he had been contacted by brother keeper for the purpose of making pornographic pictures of his ladies. On May 20th he wrote: "I have decided to take Mr K up on his offer to produce pictures of naked ladies for sale to local prostitutes, as keepsakes for their time in our city."
The trade in smutty pictures was a lucrative one and for the first time in his life, Ratzinger seems to have begun to accumulate a comfortable bank account. He invested in new equipment, making his own modifications, experimenting with different developing processes, grinding his own lenses. He was especially interested in inventing color photography. He'd found that his hand painted images sold very well, but the process was tiome-consuming and thus less profitable. Another obsession seems to have been to invent a lighter, more mobile camera. He also wanted a camera which could work under low-light conditions, which required neither flash nor especially long exposure times, yet which could produce clear images. In all of these pursuits he was stymied, but not for lack of trying.
It is clear that Ratzinger's pursuit of a "faster" camera was motivated as much by his private concerns than his photography business. Ratzinger, to put it bluntly, was an ardent voyeur.
Carnival Play: A (More-or-Less) Pantomime Script
Characters:
- Bacchus (or a fat roman)
- Harlequin
- A creole woman
- A ditzy secretary
- An angry noble Venetian style
The current time is 05:00.
Archived Text:
- SandBox/Archive8-20-2005 holds text from inception through 8/20/05 (at 15:39).
- SandBox/Archive11-2-05 holds text from the creation of Archive # 1 through 11/2/05 (at 2:16).
- Next archive (http://plastictub.vaporslave.com/index.php?title=SandBox&oldid=10652).
