El Amarillo de Jorge Luís Borges
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
 | | Rosa 'Leander' - 17 December 2025 |
On an unusually sunny day
today I was keen to see what was happening in the garden. All the roses and
flowers of my perennials are gone. There was nothing but then I spotted the
yellow leaves of Rosa ‘Leander’.
My grandmother used tell me, “No hay más ciego que el que no quiere ver.”
This translates to, “There is nobody as
blind as one who does not want to see.”
Because I like to
associate this with that, I remembered that the last colour Jorge Luís Borges was
able to discern was yellow.
I went to Google and
placed Amarillo, Jorge Luís Borges. I was surprised to find that first up was
my blog. Here it is: Los Colores de Jorge Luís Borges
Mi Chiripada & Mr. Patterson
Monday, December 15, 2025
 | | Julio Meyer - 1 December 2025 - Coyoacán, Mexico |
Pedro Meyer I Pedro Meyer II
In my portrait photography
of famous persons, many in hotel rooms, when possible, when I was working with a
writer I had the writer sit for me to take a shot to make sure everything was
working. Before digital photography I might have used a Polaroid.
With the advent of digital
I still like to make sure that everything is working. Most photographers know
of Murphy’s Law in which some unlucky man stated that, “Anything that can go
wrong will go wrong.” But I prefer to rely on Patterson’s Law in which a very
unlucky man stated, “Murphy was an optimist.”
In Mexico City on December
1st I was in the house of 91year-old and almost blind photographer
Pedro Meyer. I used my used, bought in 1962 Asahi Pentax S-3 to take b+w film
shots. Then when I switched to my digital Fuji X-E3 I asked Meyer’s son, Julio
to pose in preparation. I took one snap. The pictures of his father all four of
them were just fine.
But when back in Vancouver
I looked at the Julio Meyer photograph I was not prepared to see something so
good that all I can claim is chiripa, that wonderful Mexican word for luck.
I had good luck. Me vino
una chiripada.
Enourmousness or Enormity?
Sunday, December 14, 2025
.jpg) | | Chris Dahl & Malcolm Parry |
.jpg) | | Rick Staehling |
My father
was a journalist and my mother was a poet. Somehow in spite of that background I
became a photographer. But in April 1982, when the war over the Malvinas (I was
born in Argentina so I insist in calling them that!) was raging, Vancouver
Magazine editor Malcolm Parry told me, “Alex you are going to write about your
experiences in the Argentine Navy and that coup you participated in.” A month later my portrait in sailor uniform was on the cover (taken by Parry with
my equipment). The Order of Generals
From then on
I wrote here in there but not before being given advice my writers I worked
with:
John Lekich –
Whatever you put in the first paragraph insert in the last one.
Les Wiseman –
Unless you are Charles Dickens never begin in the beginning. Start in the
middle and work both ways. If you do not know what you are writing about first
consult an expert. And art director Chris Dahl made sure I tried as hard as I could to take good photographs.
Thanks to
Parry, Lekich and Wiseman I wrote for money for many publications including a
monthly garden column for Western Living and many for the Vancouver Sun. In
2006 when I started mu web page it had an ancillary blog. To date I have
written 6750 of them. I was especially proud when I got a call from Rick
Staehling who was editor of a travel magazine. “Alex we want you to go to Cancún.
Because you write and also take photographs we save on an airplane ticket.
I recently wrote
this blog about a friend in Mexico City who is a partially blind, 91 year-old
photographer. I sent the blog to Malcolm Parry. His reply made me smile! Pedro Meyer - An Active Photographer at 91
I believe you may have meant
enormousness rather than enormity. Cheers: Mac
A Persistence of Blue
Saturday, December 13, 2025
 | Borda Garden - 3 December 2025
When I visited the Borda Garden in Cuernavaca in the State of Morelos,
Mexico for the second time in my lifethis past December 3 I was overwhelmed by
its architecture that featured the colours white and red. Had its architect
been the renowned but now dead Luís Barragán the architecture would have been
as simple but in very bright shades of yellow and green. The blue and whites
made my visit a restful one while I was at the same time taking many pictures. In my walk I noticed a blue water bottle. I never really photograph
objects as I am a portrait photographer. But I knew that I had to take the
photograph.
There is something about Mexico that always puts me in pleasant but
uncertain and surprising territory. This was one of them. A Persistence of Enthusiasm You can't go home again - Borda Garden
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Hope & Glory
Friday, December 12, 2025
 | | Rosa 'Zephirine Drouhin' 12 December 2025 |
On an otherwise rainy and
grey day seeing Rosa ‘Zephirine Drouhin’ doing its best to open I instantly
remembered the words hope and glory. They are a title of film about war-time
Britain by film director John Boorman whom I photographed.
 | | John Boorman |
His portrait which breaks
all the rules of good portraiture is still one of my best. Somehow the bloom
and the portrait go hand in hand in bringing a bright spot to the day.
Will this be the last rose
of the year? I just might be surprised. There is that hope.
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