I Didn't Know That

From The Sissman Chronicles

A Brief Discussion of Photographers

In 1955, the Museum of Modern Art mounted an exhibition of over 500 photographs, called “The Family of Man.” Its enthusiastic reception, followed by foreign showings in most western countries, firmly established photography as an art in addition to being a form of documentation.  

The list of famous photographers over the last century and a half is long, and there is not enough room to list them all. One of the earliest Americans was Matthew Brady (no relation to our beloved Kendal photographer, the late Arthur Braady), who created a portable studio with which he traveled to record the carnage of our Civil war battlefields, he also took famous portraits of Lincoln and Grant.

Matthew Brady

In the 20th century, the most famous and accomplished was Henri Cartier-Bresson, who coined the phrase “the decisive moment” as the important component of his work. Equally accomplished, but much less known, is a Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, who roamed South America recording the abominable condition of workers in factories, farms, and mines.

Cecil Beaton portrayed the rich, beautiful, and famous of Britain; his American counterparts were Richard Avedon and Irving Penn. Ansel Adams and Eliot Porter brought us the beauty of America’s wilderness. Adams’ photos were recently featured on a sheet of US stamps.

Ansel Adams Forever Stamps

Among others of note were Margaret Bourke-White, Dorothea Lange, Alfred Stieglitz (who is most famous for his remarkable photos of his nude wife, the painter Georgia O’Keefe), Man Ray, Alfred Eisenstaat, Yousef Karsh, and Robert Capa.

“Migrant Mother,” Dorothea Lange

“D-Day Landing,” Robert Capa

One remarkable but little-known figure is Vivian Maier, whose biography has always fascinated me. She worked her entire life as a nanny to the children of New York’s richest families. But on her time off, she roamed the streets of Manhattan with her Rolleiflex, capturing on film citizens of all levels of affluence and of all ages and identities pursuing their ordinary public activities.

Vivian Maier

After her death, a carton containing thousands of her negatives was discovered. Once they were recognized as extraordinarily beautiful and moving, the best were published in book form!

Vivian Maier

My favorite photograph, after decades of viewing thousands, is by Salgado. While traveling through Ecuador, apparently, he asked a middle-aged peasant couple to pose for a portrait. They stand side by side in the sun with an out-of-focus mountain behind them. They are dressed in their best clothes, neat but black and shabby. Their faces are lined, probably from long hours farming in the open. They gaze benevolently into the camera. Their faces express a calm, unassuming self-satisfaction with their lives and accomplishments, despite their poverty and isolation—conveyed with total dignity. He is holding in his arms a small white lamb; she is cradling, in her cupped hands, a tiny bird!

“The Family,” Sebastião Salgado

Norman Sissman

Made in NYC: 123 Brands, Trends, and Inventions That Began in the Big Apple

Domino Sugar

Domino Sugar began life in 1807 as the W. & F.C. Havemeyer Company, a sugar refiner on Vandam Street in Lower Manhattan. After a half century, the company moved to its iconic Williamsburg location on the East River. A couple of name changes along the way resulted in Domino becoming the official branding in 1900. Domino remains the largest sugar company in the US, headquartered now in Yonkers.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

It may seem like a classic Italian dish, but this dinner-table staple is actually a creation of New York City. Immigrants drew on an age-old combination, but took advantage of better access to meat in the New World. The first recorded recipe for spaghetti and meatballs appeared in 1888, published by New Yorker Juliet Corson in her book Family Living on $500 a Year.

Lionel Trains

Joshua Lionel Cowen founded the Lionel Manufacturing Company near City Hall in 1900. His original business was electronics. The company’s first train, the Electric Express, was built as a storefront display. When the public took interest, Cowen changed tracks and made the trains themselves the focus of the business. Lionel is still making trains today and has the honor of having the first electric toy inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame. 

Source: “Made In NYC,” by Ethan Wolff, March 2024, City Guide New York

Contributed by Bobbie Roggemann

Oxymorons to Spare

Why do you press harder on the buttons of a remote control when you know the batteries are dead? 

Why do we put suits in garment bags and garments in a suitcase? 

How come abbreviated is such a long word?  

Why do we wash bath towels? Aren’t we clean when we use them? 

Why doesn’t glue stick to the inside of the bottle? 

Why do they call it a TV set when you only have one? 

Christmas : What other time of the year do you sit in front of a dead tree and eat candy out of your socks?

Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?

Contributed by Bobbie Roggemann

Art and Poetry by Sheila Benedis

Hope 2, Collage

* * *

Weeping Beech Tree

weeping beech tree

I come upon your closed side

like a wall of leaves

 

it seems

to exclude the world

people who are

 

bitter

cynical

divisive

 

but then I see your other side

I watch the sunlight

filter through your leafy canopy

 

oh you

you that is open to the world

you that tries to be inclusive

 

you that lets in the light

protects people

you that cries out

 

safety

dignity

justice

 

you speak                             

peace and unity for all

for all American people

In and Around Kendal

It’s a Puzzlement!

Fulton puzzlers intent on getting those last pieces in!

Photo by Carolyn Reiss

The Penguin Puzzle

A mysterious new member of the Kendal community showed up on Halloween. Upon conversation with the old bird, its voice sounded oddly like Sharry Lukach. Strangely, Sharry did not appear at dinner that night . . . perhaps she was out trick-and-treating.

Photo by Jane Hart

The mysterious new avian Kendal member seems to be a contract-holder; it votes. Clearly a penguin with a community spirit. But will it show up for the Election Run-Off?

Photo by Joe Bruno

Rockwood Magic, by Carolyn Reiss

An early morning moon

'Tis the Season . . . the Dwali Season

Have a fun and festive Diwali! This is but one of the traditional greetings for the celebration of India’s biggest and most important holiday of the year. Diwali, which generally lasts five days, is celebrated during the Hindu lunisolar months of Ashvin (according to the Amanta tradition) and Kartika — between around mid-September and mid-November. This year (in the western calendar), it on October 31! Thanks to Meera Srinivasan alert, we can delve into this fascinating (and gorgeous) holiday while it takes place.

 Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, symbolizes the spiritual victory of Dharma over Adharma, light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. The word Diwali comes from the Sanskrit word Deepavali, which means "row of lights." During the festival, celebrants illuminate their homes, temples and workspaces with diyas (oil lamps), candles and lanterns. "The light from these lamps symbolizes the illumination within all of us, which can overcome ignorance, represented by darkness," the Hindu American Foundation says.

In northern India, they celebrate the story of King Rama's return to Ayodhya after he defeated Ravana by lighting rows of clay lamps. Southern Indians celebrate it as the day that Lord Krishna defeated the demon Narakasura. And, in western India, the festival marks the day that Lord Vishnu, the Preserver (one of the main gods of the Hindu trinity) sent the demon King Bali to rule the nether world.

 As with so many celebrations around the world, food is a major focus of Dwali, with families partaking in feasts and sharing mithai. The festival is an annual homecoming and bonding period not only for families, but also for communities and associations, particularly in urban areas, which organize community parades and fairs or music and dance performances in parks. Some people send Diwali greeting cards to family near and far during the festive season, occasionally with boxes of Indian sweets. Another aspect of the festival is remembrance of ancestors.

In the lead-up to Diwali, celebrants prepare by cleaning, renovating, and decorating their homes and workplaces with diyas (oil lamps) and rangolis (colorful art circle patterns) and jhalars (colorful fabric and fringes). Meera’s own entrance shelf holds Diwali decorations.

And she’s sent along a video of the preparation of a rangoli by a rangoli master.

Rangolis can be small, medium-sized, or huge. Click on the button below to see a large variety being prepared in a public place.

We started this piece with a traditional Diwali wish. Here are a few others: 

May your Diwali be free from darkness and abundant with light.

 Have a fun and festive Diwali!

 Hoping your Diwali brings health, wealth, and happiness.

 May your Diwali bring peace and love to your life.

Source: Wikipedia (where else?)

I Didn't Know That

From the Sissman Chronicles

A Brief History of Photography

Following the wide variety of interesting and excellent photographs taken by Kendal residents in each issue of this website has stimulated me to review briefly (and selectively) the history of still photography.

The inventor of photography, in 1839, was a Frenchman, Louis Daguerre; for many years thereafter photographs were called daguerreotypes.

Louis Daguerre

He coated glass plates with silver oxide which turned gray to black when exposed to light; where these “negatives” were “printed” the dark areas were light and thus the print resembled reality.

The first cameras were very large (using film plates the size of letter paper) and needed to be mounted on sturdy wooden tripods. The ensuing decades led to steady progress in making larger more accurate lenses and faster shutter speeds that finally could open and for as short a period of time as 1/1000th of a second.

Many refinements followed, most significantly when an American, George Eastman, added the chemical to a celluloid roll. By designing a camera in which the roll could be advanced after each shot, photographers could take as many as 24 exposures without reloading.

After Eastman incorporated this technique into a light easy-to-use camera called a Kodak Brownie, photography was available to the general public.

In 1935, Kodachrome was developed, the birth of color photography. Around 1957, digital technics were introduced, resulting in photographs that did not require negatives or printing. The refinements that followed led to our current universal IPhone cameras.

Norman Sissman

Made In NYC: Brands, Trends, and Inventions That Began in the Big Apple

Hip Hop

By Bigtimepeace - Own work, Public Domain

DJ Kool Herc gets credit for Hip Hop’s birth, at an August 11, 1973 back-to-school party in the recreation room of his apartment building at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx. He used two turntables to extend the instrumental breaks of songs, allowing people to dance longer, and laying the foundation for “breakbeat” DJing.

Hare Krishnas

Photographer: City of Toronto Planning and Development Department, ca. 1971. Flickr

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness or ISKCON, better known as the Hare Krishnas, has a worldwide reach. There are millions of followers today, but the organization can trace its origins to New York City, where A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada founded the movement on July 13, 1966.

Fantasy Sports

Fantasy sports are a monster, worth nearly $30 billion in economic activity every year. The start of this behemoth was low key, a not-much-loved French restaurant on East 52nd Street. La Rotisserie Française was where the first players of modern fantasy baseball met for lunch and the game became known as Rotisserie Baseball accordingly.  Journalist Daniel Okrent gets credit for pioneering the competition, back in 1980.

Source: “Made In NYC,” by Ethan Wolff, March 2024, City Guide New York

Contributed by Bobbie Roggemann

© Kendal on Hudson Residents Association 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 all rights reserved.  Please do not reproduce without permission.

Photographs of life at Kendal on Hudson are by residents.