Romantic Image...Part 2

Following on my theme of romantic emotions that images can create, I come back to Lartigue and Bibi. Here she sits in the passenger side of a car in the late 1920's. You can see the top is down, she has an expression of pure joy, and we have what appears to be a beautiful day.

Again we have a nostalgic feel for a car from a different time. This was not built for transport, it was built for pleasure. Obviously Lartigue always shot the upper class and he was often criticized for it. Even today there are people who consider his photography as a second class to other masters simply because he shot the joy of upper class society.

In the memories of experiences we never had, we picture the wonderful life of the wealthy. We do not ponder the challenging life of the lower classes. Lartigue's photography feeds that imagination. Capturing a simple image, like the one above, fills me with happiness and a desire to do something for the pure joy of doing it.

Documentary photography is meant to capture events, as they happen. Travel photography, some art photography and even vacation snapshots are meant to remind us of a happy time even if we were not even there.

My Grandfather had an old green Fiat. It was the last car he drove and it reminds me of trips to the countryside to a vacation house and trips to the ranch. When I ran across a similar vintage car I had to stop to take a few pictures. While this picture means nothing to anyone aside from me, it reminds me of that green Fiat and the trips we took in it. The emotion of seeing it approach and leave.