Boris Yaro’s photograph of Robert F. Kennedy lying wounded

Boris Yaro’s photograph of Robert F. Kennedy lying wounded on the floor immediately after the shooting. Kneeling beside him is 17-year-old Juan Romero,[1] who was shaking Kennedy’s hand when Sirhan Sirhan fired the shots.
Location	Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles,California, USA
Coordinates	34°03′35″N 118°17′50″WCoordinates: 34°03′35″N 118°17′50″W
Date	June 5, 1968 12:15 a.m. (Pacific Time Zone)
Target	Robert F. Kennedy
Weapon(s)	.22 caliber Iver-Johnson
Deaths	1
Injured (non-fatal)	5
Perpetrator	Sirhan Sirhan

NUDE YOGA INSTRUCTOR SHOWS OFF AMAZING POSES (NSFW)

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Photographer Peter Hegre did the whole world a favour when he decided to upload a set of photos of his wife in 2012. A talented yoga instructor, Hegre got her to pose in some of her favourite positions in a tasteful display of talent. Not a single bit ostentatious, the photos are a beautiful tribute to the art of yoga and also a testament to the benefits it can bring. Have a look for yourself.

Labels: 2014, Culture, Life, NSFW, Nude, yoga

The Royal Photo Opportunity Gets Misrailed

Will Prince George Be Photographed Down Under?

Starving the press of pictures of Prince George and smuggling him in and out of royal boltholes may ultimately prove counterproductive for William and Kate.

When Prince William was born, back in the 1980s, the Royal Family and the British press were, for the most part happily, in bed with each other.Young Diana, guided by a now-forgotten breed of royal press secretary who embraced the royal press pack and counted many of the reporters as personal friends, was willing, perhaps naïvely, to allow the press frequent opportunities to photograph her young son in a variety of personal situations.

William was born in June 1982, and first photographed (after the hospital departure) at his christening in August, a set of pictures which included a memorable shot of the Queen Mother clasping him on her knee. Then, in a special series of shots taken just before Christmas in the same year, a pool photographer was actually invited into Kensington Palace for a series of intimate photographs of the baby playing with mom and dad.

In January 1983, William was photographed being carried by Prince Charles down the steps of an airplane in Scotland, and then, a few weeks later, when Charles and Diana went on a Royal tour of Australia, William, aged ten months, was photographed over and over again by the press pack following the royals. Some of the most memorable images of William as a baby were taken on that tour, particularly when the royal party made a stop in the town of Alice Springs.

And on it went through his early years, William’s first steps in the gardens of Kensington Palace, William and his parents with new baby Harry, William’s first day at kindergarten, his first day at school. Diana was happy to share. Perhaps she would have been an enthusiastic patron of Instagram were she alive today.

As new parents themselves, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have taken a diametrically opposite approach. Prince George has been photographed exactly three times since his birth—once when he was carried out of the hospital for the first time in the Duchess’s arms, once when he was carried out of the hospital in a car seat a few hours later and placed into the back of William’s Range Rover, and a third time at his christening.

The only other time that photographers have got close to being able to photograph the young Prince was when he was taken to Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s Christmas lunch. However the Duke and Duchess made sure that no snaps could be taken by covering the young prince’s car seat in a shawl and driving in and out of the gates at high speed.

“William and Kate know the good behavior of the press cannot be taken for granted when traveling overseas”

This has become their modus operandi when leaving the confines of their various bunkers with the baby—he is smuggled in and out with more secrecy than once surrounded the movements of Blanket Jackson.

Predictably the British press are highly irritated by this, mainly because whenever they run a story about Prince George, there is only really one picture to choose from. Privately, they accuse William and Kate of creating the kind of ridiculous artificial stand-off that blew up when Kate refused to disclose the name of her dog to the press, on the grounds that it was a “private” matter. In the end, Lupo’s name was only discovered when a schoolkid, to the great relief of Britain’s tabloid editors, asked Kate what she had called her hound, and she was forced to spill the beans rather than tell a ten-year-old, “It’s a secret.”

As absurd as the Lupo affair seemed to the public, Kate and William may have had their reasons—there were rumors at the time that the name of the dog was being disclosed only to members of staff suspected of being less than loyal, so that a possible leak could be identified and plugged.

Certainly, William and Kate have every right to feel paranoid about their privacy, and not just because of Diana’s tragic death, for which William blames the paparazzi chasing her car. At the end of last year, for example, the London hacking trial revealed the horrendous, violating behavior of reporters who regularly broke into Kate’s phone messages to provide gossip items for their papers.

So the argument being made by the press that there is a public interest in being able to photograph the young Prince have cut little ice with William and Kate, who remain obsessed with ensuring as much privacy as possible for Prince George.

Given what they have been through as a couple, it’s an understandable and protective reaction, however their privacy arrangements for George will shortly face their toughest test yet when, just as William’s parents did when he was about the same age as George, they travel to Australia and New Zealand in March this year. A senior courtier told The Daily Beast that it was “too early to say what media opportunities there would be with Prince George yet in New Zealand and Australia.”

It seems debatable, to say the least, that they will be able to maintain the cloak of invisibility around the young Prince when they are overseas.

Part of the reason for this is that the security arrangements at Kensington Palace and elsewhere in the UK are well practiced and can easily allow for George to be spirited in and out of royal residences or the Middleton’s family home in Berkshire without the press pack being any the wiser.

There is another factor at play as well though. The British press is still treading very carefully on privacy issues as the country continues to wrestle with the question, post-Leveson inquiry, of how to regulate its once famously fearless press corps. With the hacking trial still going on, and very much at the forefront of proprietor’s minds, no UK editor would risk running a sneaked photograph of Prince George.

But, as William and Kate well know, the current self-imposed good behavior of the British press cannot be taken for granted when traveling overseas. It was while they were holidaying in France for example, that Kate was snapped topless by paparazzi who photographed the couple from a public road a mile away. The pictures were printed in the French magazine Closer and spread like wildfire on the Internet. William has since been locked in a legal dispute trying to sue, personally, the French photographer who took the pictures, but the process has been fraught with delay and is no nearer being resolved now than it was then.

The French debacle will have done little to frighten off aggressive Aussie photographers who will now see the possibility of a big payday if they can manage to take a photograph of Prince George. Ironically enough, Kate and William’s very successful efforts to prevent so much as a single picture of George leaking without their permission, have only served to make the prize the snappers are competing for all the fatter.

The fact-checker: What is really keeping African migrants out of Israel?

Israel built a barrier along the Sinai border, but is trying to convince the public that it’s the law keeping African migrants out.

The new border fence going up on Israel’s border with

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“This is the law that stopped the wave of infiltration. People think it’s because of the fence, but it’s not because of the fence. It’s the fence and the law together.”

MK Ayelet Shaked ‏(Habayit Hayehudi‏), on “The World This Morning” TV show

“If we hadn’t legislated the amendment to the Prevention of Infiltration Law, Israel would now find itself with 80,000 infiltrators, 100,000 next year, 120,000 the year after that, and − in my estimate − a geometric increase, with many more the year after that.”

Attorney Yochi Gnessin of the State Prosecutor’s Office, at a High Court hearing on the Prevention of Infiltration Law

Earlier this month, the High Court heard a petition from human rights organizations against the amendment in the Prevention of Infiltration Law that makes it possible to detain a person who enters Israel for up to three years without trial. There are currently about 60,000 migrants from Eritrea and Sudan living in Israel, a majority of whom entered the country before a fence was built on the Israel-Egypt border. The barrier has almost completely halted the influx of asylum seekers and migrant laborers from Africa to Israel via the Sinai Peninsula.

The statements by Ayelet Shaked and Yossi Gnessin, arguing in favor of the law, are more or less the official explanation for the legislation: The more hostile Israel is to migrants and refugees, and prevents them from obtaining economic and human rights, the less attractive it will seem as a destination, and so they will choose to go elsewhere.

But the facts say otherwise: The so-called “infiltrators” amendment was passed by the Knesset in January 2012. Since then, approximately 2,000 people have been imprisoned without trial and are being held in detention camps in southern Israel. In the first half of 2012, after the amendment was passed but before the border fence was built, government data show that 9,071 migrants from Africa entered Israel. By the end of the year, construction of the fence was completed and, in the first part of this year‏(through the end of March‏), just 18 illegal migrants entered Israel.

Israel is choosing to ignore the moral arguments against the law, the conduct of other states, the UN Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights and international law. It boasts about how quickly the border fence was built and proudly brandishes the monthly statistics showing a decline in the number of African migrants who have succeeded in entering, thanks to the fence.

Perhaps the harsh legislation is causing some refugees to think twice about whether to aim to get to Israel rather than another country, where they would not be immediately detained without trial. But as long as a wall is preventing new migrants from entering Israel, a law preventing those who are already here from working and being free is not deterrence. It’s maliciousness. –

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Six Day War : 6 Photos From the 6-Day War You’ve Never Seen Before

In the Six-Day War (June 5-10, 1967), the IDF fought some of the defining battles of Israeli history and of the 20th Century. But what happened during preparation beforehand, and during those six days in between the battles? These are the people who fought for Israel’s freedom – some famous, some not – and six heartfelt moments that happened behind the headlines.

1.

June 1, 1967: The most difficult thing about going into battle isn’t the fighting – it’s being away from your family. Soldiers stationed in the South get letters and packages from family at home. (Credit: GPO)

2.

June 11, 1967: The IDF mobilized an incredible 264,000 soldiers during the Six Day War. Soldiers, some smiling, some exhausted, listen to the order of the day after the end of their advance on the southern section of the Sinai Peninsula. (Credit: GPO)

3.

Sometimes, even famous military leaders need a moment to rest. IDF generals Ezer Weizman, Moshe Dayan and Motti Hod sit alongside the Suez Canal.

4.

June 1, 1967: Man’s best friend. Soldiers with their pet puppies in the Negev. (Credit: GPO)

5.

June 7, 1967: After a fierce battle, IDF soldiers liberated the Old City of Jerusalem. Soldiers rest against the imposing stones of the Western Wall. (Credit: BaMachaneh)

6.

Before he became Israel’s Prime Minister, Yitzchak Rabin was the Chief of Staff of the IDF. Rabin, standing with a helicopter pilot and an Air Force soldier, looks out from a position on one of the Bardavil Islands during a tour of the Sinai.

Ariel Sharon and Moshe Dayan

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Daguerreotypes : Haunting, Beautiful, and Storied Pictures in the Early Photography Collection of Rod MacKenzie

Daguerreotypes Part I: Haunting, Beautiful, and Storied Pictures in the Early Photography Collection of Rod MacKenzie

 

Lot 113: Half Plate Daguerreotype Portrait of Two Hunters with Game and Sleeping Dog, Est. $1,500-2,500

Daguerreotypes are a reminder of a time when photography was very different from the “point-and-shoot” instant pictures of today. Now, you carry a camera in the cell phone in your back pocket everywhere you go. Then, as now, photographers were purveyors of state-of-the-art technology.

In fact, the 19^th century photographers who made these long-exposure images were referred to as daguerrean artists, and quickly supplanted the portrait painters of the day. The artists’ “images,” particularly daguerreotypes, were valued for their clarity and honesty in representation.

Other than the careful arrangement of a composition, the daguerrean photographer almost never altered an image in any way, except for portraits with pink-tinted cheeks, or gold-highlighted jewelry and buttons.

Lot 103: Ninth Plate Ambrotype Portrait of Man Pouring a Milk Can, Est. $100-150

Daguerrean artists did, however, use interesting means to achieve compositional effects that would otherwise be limited by long exposure times. In the ambrotype pictured here, depicting a man pouring milk from a pitcher, the “milk” is actually a white cloth.

The long exposure times needed for daguerreotypes and other forms of early photography also cause families, soldiers, children, and laborers to look out from stiff, unsmiling poses. It could be a long and strenuous task to sit for one of these images.  Yet, if you look closely, the lives and loves of the subjects become clear, and the 19^th century doesn’t feel quite so distant.

On October 30, 2011, the American Furniture & Decorative Arts auction will open with 150 lots of daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and tintypes from the Early Photography collection of Rod MacKenzie.

As a collector, Rod MacKenzie has a sophisticated taste for images that speak to him – and now to us – emotionally, historically, and artistically. He understands well the limitations of early photography, and carefully collects images which, though mainly portraits, show us more than just what the sitter looked like.

Lot 17: Sixth Plate Ambrotype of a Boy with His Drum, Est. $600-800

There are signs of life throughout the images in his collection – children holding toys close, workmen demonstrating tools of their trade, and soldiers exuding confidence and swagger.

In addition to the portraits, MacKenzie collects images that tell stories. Among the best of these is a set of so-called “occupationals.” There are dozens of images that convey a strong sense of narrative: portraits of beautiful, elegantly dressed women give us a window into the day’s style; prosperous young couples exude airs of optimism; and men show their skill at their daily occupations. This group includes some of the rarest examples  MacKenzie  gathered: an architect seen in his office at a desk with his drafting tools and elevation drawings of Italianate houses on the walls behind him, a blacksmith at his anvil, a mailman, farmers, a banjo player, a string quartet, a bugle player, carpenters, buggy drivers, and firemen.

In Part II of this series, we’ll take a look at some of the highlights of this truly astounding collection. Every time I turn a page in the catalogue, I seem to find something new in one of these images that I hadn’t seen before. Which images speak most strongly to you?

On October 30, 2011, Skinner will offer the first part of the Early Photography collection of Rod MacKenzie in our American Furniture & Decorative Arts auction. Read Part I of this series to learn more about Rod MacKenzie’s sophisticated taste as a collector.

MacKenzie’s extensive knowledge of American history, particularly of the Civil War, is represented by dozens of extraordinary images of military officers and soldiers. The collection includes portraits of soldiers of all types:  officers, dashing men in uniform, and heart-breaking images of very young men headed off to war. In looking at these images, we feel tantalizingly close to the battlefield and to the figures taking part in military history. Notes tucked behind case liners, such as “taken at Newbern, No. Carolina 1863 WLW Private C. E. 44th Mass,” bring us in even closer.

Another focus of the collection is photography of children being children in ways we aren’t used to seeing in 19th century photographs. One highlight is an image of a class of thirty children attending “Petersham School in Miss Laura’s Day.” We must credit the photographer for keeping the kids still during the exposure, though perhaps more of the credit is due to Miss Laura herself.

Rod found a pair of photographs showing a sweet-faced boy and a girl, probably twins, seated in the same stencil-decorated chair. He has an image of a girl holding a chalkware cat, and another of a boy with his paint-decorated drum – both subjects hold their cherished possessions close.

Lot 23: Two Sixth Plate Daguerreotype Portraits of A Boy and a Girl, probably twins, Est. $300-500

Rod made an effort to collect images of leisure activity, too, giving us even more opportunity to peer through a window into the 19th century. There’s an image of two men playing checkers housed in a Union case appropriately called “The Chess Players.” An ambrotype of four men, one wearing a military cap, holding mugs of beer, allows us to view a moment of revelry. A half-plate daguerreotype of hunters posing with game and their hunting dog represents the type of artistic composition that daguerrians often practiced. In another, a gentleman hunter with a stovepipe hat and a frock coat poses with his long gun against a painted backdrop representing a rural landscape, all housed in a case called “The Hunter.”

Lot 137: Half Plate Ambrotype Depicting a Whitehall, New York, Street Parade with Band, Est. $800-1,200

City- and townscapes, another category in the collection, are represented by some rare early photographs of mid-19th century houses including a gothic cottage, a Greek revival farmhouse, and a three-story Federal mansion. Perhaps rarest of that group is an image showing a street parade in Whitehall, New York.

Many of these sometimes haunting photographs are housed in rare thermoplastic or “Union” cases, each collectible in their own right for their unique designs. To create these cases, a specific mix of shellac, pulverized wood fibers and dyes would be heated to create a thick plastic liquid. That semi-solid was rolled out into a sheet, then individually pressed into any one of dozens of patterns which hardened when cooled. Half-plate examples of these thermoplastic cases in the collection are titled “Washington Monument, Richmond, Virginia,” “American Country Life – Summer Evening,” and “The Wedding Procession.” Others show firefighters, military trophies, and more.

In all of Skinner’s years in the business, we’ve crossed paths with and offered hundreds of early photographs. Rarely have those images equaled the quality and beauty of the pictures Rod found, or given us such insight into the people they show.