Wednesday, April 26, 2006



A few months back I received a request from an under 30 female lawyer I had photographed. She wanted to know if I could "fix up" the "marks" under her eyes. Fortunately for her I had taken a course in Photoshop CS and I knew all about the Patch Tool. Her marks were history in seconds.

In 1992 I got to photograph Swedish actress Viveca Lindfors (right). She was thrilled to know that I had seen her in The Adventures of Don Juan with Errol Flynn and that I remembered her. The movie had been released in 1948 and I had seen it as a boy in 1951 at the General Paz on Cabildo in Buenos Aires. We walked together to my nearby studio from the Hotel Vancouver where she had been interviewed by John Lekich. She faced my camera and said, "Make sure every detail of my face shows. I am very proud of it." In November 1995 I received a call from writer Sean Rossiter who told me, "Jane Jacobs (above) is in town. I strongly recommend you take her picture. Let me arrange this for you, if you are interested." The softspoken urbanologist knocked on my door and stepped in. She stood where Viveca Lindfors had stood and told me, "Don't try to soften up my face, this is who I am."

Viveca Lindfors died in October 1995 and Jane Jacobs died yesterday, April 25.

The Adventures of Don Juan
Jane Jacobs