Inspirado por André Kertèsz

Colorado State University
Fort Collins, USA (1988)

O fotógrafo Don Eddy, inspirado por André Kertèsz, criou uma série de imagens também elas dedicadas ao tema da leitura. Algumas delas são muito bonitas. Don Eddy escreveu sobre a experiência com o livro "On Reading" e também sobre o encontro com o próprio Kertèsz. Reproduzo abaixo o texto:

"Regarding the On Reading series

Accidentally one day I stumbled upon a small book of photographs taken by André Kertész. The book encompassed a great many of his photographic years and were images of not only people reading, but birds, statues, and paintings! They were taken, for the most part, on purpose for depicting "reading". Not too long after seeing the little book, I was going over many of my old contact sheets and discovered that I had also captured many people "reading", but quite by chance. So I put together this series of my “On Reading"

I’d met André, a quiet and simplistic photographer, while he was with six other Magnum photographers covering the Xerox stockholders’ meeting near Rochester, NY in an outdoor setting under huge, white tents. At the time I was the staff photographer at the George Eastman House and was asked by Beaumont Newhall if I’d like to give a tour of the House to several Magnum photographers who were in town. André was not on the tour and I did not know the extent of the photographers until they asked if I’d like to assist them while they covered the meeting. Who could have refused!

At the event Inge Bondi asked me to have a hundred copies of model releases made at another tent that Xerox had set up just for the purpose. At the time, 1966, Xerox was heading the high speed copy equipment market. The attendant said he would be happy to and for me to have a seat on a supplied garden bench they’d placed nearby. I watched as he set the copier into action. It began scanning the original I’d given to him and spitting out copies at the rate of maybe 10 per minute!

I took a seat.

There was an elderly gentleman sitting there to my right. He seemed to be resting and perhaps was a stockholder—but he looked familiar. I’d seen him before or at least thought I had. Then it struck me, he might be André Kertész. I turned to him and said in a questioning way, "You’re André Kertész . . ."

He turned, smiled with a twinkle in his eye and responded quietly, "I know that", with a slight emphasis on I."