Alice Austen

Well I'm ashamed to say that I haven't set foot outside the door today. The weather has been wet wet wet and it was dark before 5pm. I did bake a cake, paint a picture (extra) and read a book, so all was not lost :-)

This photo is of a postcard which I bought four years ago when I went to visit Luke in new York and stayed on for a week on my own (how faraway those days of travel and exploration seem just now..our exploring has had to be diverted along quite different avenues this year). Anyway, I had a kind of love affair with the Staten Island ferry, and I did actually stay on the island for a couple of days (you know how much I love islands).

Staten Island was the Home of Alice Austen, a famous photographer who is practically unheard of by most people I speak to. Her former home (Clear Comfort) has been turned into a museum. Her work was pioneering and her unconventional life ended sadly. You can read all about her here.

The photo is a self portrait of Alice and her tennis playing friends, taken in August 1886. Alice is on the far left with her pug dog. If you look carefully, you can see the wire to the camera hidden underneath the tennis racquets.

I have found the blip I did after my visit - here it is! 2016