Thursday, March 17, 2022

 

Salem

 

I have borrowed for the title one of my fave poems by Emily Dickinson A charm invests a face.

Cara

Del lat. vulg. cara, y este del gr. κάρα kára 'cabeza', 'rostro'.

1. f. Parte anterior de la cabeza humana desde el principio de la 

frente hasta la punta de la barbilla.

Rostro

Del lat. rostrum 'pico¹', 'hocico'.

Retrato

Del it. ritratto.

 

I have photographed at the very least 600 beautiful women in my photographic life not counting the countless photographs I have shot of my Rosemary, daughters and granddaughters. And I am not considering female lawyers, female actors and politicians.

Because I am bilingual (a bit more since I speak both an Argentine Spanish and a Mexican one) I like to think of words in both English and Spanish. As a portrait photographer (I buy postcards when I have the urge to shoot a landscape or a sunset) my fascination has been always with the face. I marvel how two eyes, one nose and one mouth (and perhaps two ears) can have such a variety and how I never tire at looking at faces.

On a rainy and cold Vancouver afternoon I like to go through my files to look for a face photograph I may have overlooked in the past. Because I live alone with two cats and I am 79 I have, I believe, time to waste until oblivion beckons.

So Spanish for face is cara and the best on-line dictionary around, I believe, is that of the Real Academia Española (RAE), it informs me that the word comes from the Vulgate Latin cara and that from the Greek kára which means head.

This is interesting if you think of flipping a coin. In English it is heads or tails. In Argentina and in Spain it is cara or cruz (cross) and in Mexico because it involves a very Mexican coin it is Águila o sol. The one peso coin used to have an eagle on one side and the sun on the other.

Returning to the RAE the definition for that lovely synonym for cara in Spanish rostro I was amazed to find out that the word from Latin means snout.

Retrato (portrait) is from the Italian rittrato.

As a portrait photographer I have long known that what I think I see in a person’s face is usually what the person wants me to see. There is then no real accurate portrait. Even if you shoot a person unawares the face is only a coating of the soul or spirit.

Perhaps I can one day persuade Bard on the Beach Artistic Director Christopher Gaze to pose for me and with tight face shots I want to suddenly say, “Hamlet,” “Romeo”,”or “Lear.” Could he pull it off ? I think he can. How about,"Lady Macbeth?"

All the above is a prelude.

Preludion

Del lat. mediev. praeludium, der. del lat. praeludĕre 'preludiar'.

It is a prelude of a portrait I had not noticed until today that I took of my often photographic subject Salem who in the last century I photographed for 5 years. 

 

A Charm Invests A Face

By Emily Dickinson

 

A charm invests a face

Imperfectly beheld.

The lady dare not lift her veil

For fear it be dispelled.

But peers beyond her mesh,

And wishes, and denies,

'Lest interview annul a want

That image satisfies.

More Emiy Dickinson 

Yellow she affords

The mighty crocus

A glee possesseth me

Twere Thanksgiving Day 

A Slash of Blue – Emily Dickinson