all the men and women
wore long coats. And they
gathered in the square
to peer through small panes
of dark glass or between
their fingers at the noon
sun as it was slowly
eclipsed by the moon.
My stepfather, Eugene Atget
said, “Léon, set the tripod here.
Quickly, while the people are still
so engaged in watching the eclipse.
I did as he instructed and
removed a glass photographic
plate in it’s protective frame
and handed it to him.
He stuck his head under
the black cloth draped over
the heavy wooden camera
and composed his shot.
Never look directly at the sun
he warned me. If you wish
to become a photographer
you must protect your eyes.
I did very much want
to become a photographer
and my mother, Valentine had
persuaded Eugene to teach me.
Which at this time mainly
consisted of me carrying
the big tripod and a case
of sensitized glass negatives.
It was fascinating to see him work,
to notice where he set the camera
and what he chose to photograph.
Sometimes I wasn’t sure
what he was looking at until
we returned to his studio and
developed the plates and made
the seemingly magical process
contact prints darkened by the sun.
Sometimes it might be an quiet
street or just a stairway, a door,
a crooked tree in a garden.
The photos of people on the street
were some of my favorites,
a man with a heavily loaded handcart,
someone reading a newspaper,
a prostitute smiling from a doorway.
My very most favorite ones though
were the shop windows.
With mannequins looking like actors
on stage or sometimes like spirits
from another world, ghostly
when seen in juxtaposition with
reflections off the window glass.
The eclipse was over and tthe people
were dispersing, but our day had
many hours yet of walking the streets.
First we were to meet Monsieur Degas
at his favorite cafe in Montparnasse.
To discuss a commission to provide
photographs for one of his paintings.
I hope that one day Monsieur Lautrec
will ask for some source images
at Moulin Rouge. Perhaps I could
have my first experience of absinthe
and perchance have a conversation
with one of the danseuses.
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