ADIEU, L’ANCIEN RÉGIME
On a street in West Berlin c.1953. This man’s expression says it all as a new order replaces a tumultuous recent past.
Archive for ‘August, 2017’
THE OIL PUMP JACK
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal of August 21, 2017 (pp. B1-B2) the iconic oil pump jack is making a comeback among small and medium sized oil companies seeking to turn a profit despite an oil glut. These pump jack oil wells can be set up for under $1 million as compared to a fracking oil well running between $6 million to $8 million. We have several images of oil pump jacks including this recent arrival of a National Oil Company pump jack in Montana (August 1956).
HONG KONG HARBOR
An iconic image taken in Hong Kong Harbor approximately 70 years ago. Better late than never for DPI. Many more images of China and Hong Kong can be found in our Dispatch on Assignment collection.
BORN IN THE RAIN ON THE PONTCHARTRAIN
We review thousands of photos weekly. Sometimes alarm bells go off as a photo illustrates to us a particular theme from literature, music or elsewhere with obvious clarity. You know it when you see it. The photo’s relevance to an issue makes an evident connection.
BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS
Beware of False Prophets. Those who would seek to offer a twisted view of the truth through their own media group should be treated with extreme vetting. If you prefer to see the world in virtual terms watch the film “Tomorrow Never Dies” and see what happens to Elliot Carver and the Carver Media Group Network. For those of us who remember reality this photo of the main gate and selection ramp at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland in 1979 is a constant reminder of barbarism carried to the extreme. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
SIMPLE MAN
Mama told me when I was young
“Come sit beside me my only son
And listen to what I say
And if you do this it’ll help you some sunny day.”
Chorus
“And be a simple kind of man
Oh, be something you love and understand
Baby be a simple kind of man
Oh, won’t you do this for me, son, if you can”
From “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Words to live by.
DEAD MAN’S HAND
In this high stakes poker game we catch a glimpse of this man’s hand. Note the upside down Ace of spades. “Wild Bill” Hickok was assassinated in Deadwood in 1876 during a poker game and his cards were picked up from the floor. The story has changed some over the years, but it is now accepted that Hickok was holding a pair of Aces and a pair of eights. This became known in lore as the Dead Man’s Hand.