Believe me when I say this is the oddest and most interesting shot you'll ever see of Betty.
Click on image to see it larger.
Perhaps she was lying on the grass watching clouds roll by when she suddenly realized the earth was turning and she might fall off.
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It looks sort of like a mannequin.
ReplyDeleteThere is an unearthly feeling to it.
DeleteWeird double exposure thing going on.
ReplyDeleteFloating weirdness.
DeleteMan, are you ever obsessed with this Betty... how fun! This looks like a photo from the Peculiar book series... better send it to Ransom Riggs.
ReplyDeleteNot really obsessing over Betty, I just have thousands of slides that her dad took. I have yet to look at all of them. Betty is one of those people you find through an estate sale whose life you think you can piece together.
ReplyDeleteRansom contacted me years ago about using a photo I had for the Talking Pictures book. Unfortunately it didn't make the final cut.
A strange photo, both ethereal and spectral at the same time. Is she smoking a cigarette?
ReplyDeleteThis photo and the other art quality photos in the Schnabel collection reminds me of a fascinating documentary on Netflix called "Finding Vivian Maier" that I watched last week. It is the oddest story of a photography genius. I had read about the discovery of this woman's photo negatives a while back, but this film reveals far more about how her obsessional work resulted in extraordinary beautiful vernacular photos. You can see more here: http://www.vivianmaier.com/
Though Betty was often seen with cigarettes, in this one she is cig free. It's just the oddness of the double exposure that creates what appears to be wisps of smoke.
DeleteYes, I've seen the Vivian Maier film. What a strange woman. The images are wonderful, but oh my she was disturbed. How fortunate was the fella who found them? I can only imagine how breathtaking it was as each image appeared for the first time.
Vivian was one of those unique artists, like some great painters and composers, who saw the world from a special perspective. The man who discovered her negatives will have his life work revealing her work.
DeleteCompare Betty's photo with theses two famous paintings of Ophelia. First by Waterhouse:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/JWW_Ophelia_1889.jpg
and Maillase:
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/millais-ophelia-n01506
Have you ever read "Born Under Saturn" by Rudolf and Margot Wittkower? Fascinating. Puts Vivian in some context.
DeleteYou're right, Ophelia. This has prompted me to put up a new photo.
That's an excellent find. A perfect example for the
ReplyDelete"What is going on here?" category.
Oh yes, I like the idea of that category!
Delete