Mike Johnson the principal of the TOP blogsite referred to in the post below sprang a competition on his readers two weeks ago.The theme was working "People Working" and as he gave no notice and an imminent closing date entries really had to be at hand in your files.He was offering very generous cash prizes ($1000 first prize) and he attracted over 900 entries at short notice.The results have not yet been announced but here is my entry and I'm hoping.
This genial bookbinder has been binding books and applying the block lettering using traditional techniques at a bench in the window of a small shop on the prestigious Rue du Cherche-Midi in Paris for 23 years.He is a friendly,softly spoken man who does not speak any English and he explained to me that that there is still just enough work for him even in the ebook/internet age.Photo taken in July 2011.I hope that he is still there.
And in response to those who have emailed me after the previous post to say that they would like to see me continue to put the camera details for the photos as it encourages users of compact cameras you have persuaded me and I will continue to show the camera details.This was taken on my Leica X1.
John,
ReplyDeleteGlad you will still keep us informed of the instrument employed! I continue to be in awe of what you pull out of a now-ancient pocket camera with a fixed focal-length lens! This shot reminds me of an Industrial Arts course I took in high school - Print Shop, where we learned to set little lead strips bearing letters, punctuation and spaces in a hand-held print vice.
Best regards,
George (in the USA)
Thanks George, you are not alone in asking me to put the camera details back on.
ReplyDeleteIn the UK we used to have a craft toy called John Bull printing which had individual rubber letters which you put into a wooden holder using a pair of tweezers.then you put it onto an inking pad and hey presto print.It would take about an hour to do two sentences.a newspaper would have taken a lifetime.It does look as if he uses a similar system with metal letters.