Click on small image to see larger picture.
There was never another subject like Valeska Gert on the day I
photographed her. That session is one of the truly greatest photo
portrait sessions ever. And I don't hesitate for a moment to say that.
If ever anyone cried out for the precision photography of the
Messraster focusing device, that was Valeska. Her essentially
rubberized face and fluidity of expression needed absolute precision
and ease of focusing for two reasons: 1) in order to simply keep up with her and, 2) more importantly, in order to capture and perfectly
differentiate the various magnificently subtle differentiations
between all of her expressions.
One of the great pleasures of scanning my photos from my time in
Berlin is having the time to finally enlarge all the great photos of
Valeska Gert. Slowly that work is getting done.
I have seen many photos of Valeska. None capture her as she really
was. Not even those of the great Herbert Tobias. They are all too
soft. Valeska was as hard as diamonds when she did her "thing". And in
repose, she was still hard as nails, looking right through you and
seeing all the faults of humanity, which she, of course, incorporated
into her pantomime.
These photos match and capture all those qualities with a brilliance
of which I am enormously proud.
The first photo is the real Valeska, as no other photo I have seen
captured her. The rest are her, and her alone. There was no posing
her. No leading her. One set her loose and captured it. Plain and
simple.
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
©2006 Mark B.Anstendig. All rights reserved.
Gallery | People | Places | Pets | Odds and Ends | Messraster | Photos of Me | Anstendig Institute Artwork | Contact Me
Click on the Gallery to see the full list of categories.
