The Joy of Photography

In a beautifully written piece about Flickr, Ferdy Christant reminds us why photography matters — not for the numbers, the likes, or the attention, but for the joy it brings.

His words hit a nerve:

“For amateurs and enthusiasts, . . . first and foremost . . . enjoy your hobby. Enjoy photography itself as well as your topics, be they a landscape, a model or a freaky insect. Or even a Snowy Owl. This is your hobby and you should learn to enjoy it even if not a single other human being notices. Start with this. Your joy and self-worth should not depend on others.

I’m serious. Look at people having other hobbies. Reading, hiking, tennis, wood crafts, brewing beer, collecting stamps, watching movies or playing Tetris… none of these people spend hours per day seeking validation as to whether their hobby is worthwhile or has meaning. It has meaning because it is your time and you enjoy doing it. None of them determine meaning based on others as if they are monitoring a stock market of self-worth.”

I needed to hear that.

Like many photographers, I sometimes slip into caring too much about reactions — checking stats, wondering if a photo is “good enough,” comparing myself to others. But the truth is, my favorite images are usually the ones that meant something to me when I made them — not the ones that performed well.

Photography has brought me joy, calm, connection, and surprise. That’s more than enough.

You can learn more about Ferdy Christant in this 2015 interview

How Are Photos Chosen for Flickr Explore?

I’ve often wondered how photos are selected for Flickr Explore. The images featured there are consistently striking and often inspire me to try new things in my own photography.

In a 2020 blog post, Flickr explains that Explore showcases a rotating collection of about 500 photos each day, chosen by an algorithm. The key factor in getting selected isn’t the number of followers you have, or whether you’re a Pro member. What matters most is authentic, organic engagement — the number of comments, faves, and views a photo receives shortly after being posted.

In other words, Flickr is looking for photos that resonate with the community, not just those from popular accounts.

If you’re curious, you can browse the latest selection on Flickr Explore.

Remembering Constantine “Costa” Manos (1934-2025)

Constantine “Costa” Manos was an American photographer best known for his vivid images of Boston and Greece. A longtime member of Magnum Photos, he was born in Columbia, South Carolina, the son of Greek immigrants.

In 2002, I took one of his street photography workshops in Maine. His critiques were sharp, honest, and always insightful. To this day, I often find myself wondering, What would Manos say about this photograph? The experience was both humbling and transformative.

What impressed me most was his approach to color. His photographs are bold and crisp, alive with saturated hues and deliberate composition. He taught me to see color in a completely new way. At the time, I had never encountered photographs quite like his.

In the preface to his now out-of-print 1995 book, American Color, Manos wrote:

My favorite pictures have always been complex ones which ask questions and pose problems, but leave the answers and solutions to the viewer. These are images with a long and evolving life, in which the photograph may transcend the subject and become the subject. Central to the strength of these images is photography’s most precious and unique quality, believability: that the moment preserved on a piece of paper is true and unaltered, that it really happened and will never happen again.

The photographs in American Color are uncaptioned — and they don’t need captions. They invite reflection. They remind me that powerful images can be found close to home, and that beauty often emerges from the ordinary.

As Magnum President Cristina de Middel observed:

“[H]is ability to capture the poetry of everyday life with unmatched sensitivity and a keen eye for light and color has left an indelible mark on the history of photography.”

Guided Tour of the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence, Paris

The residence of the United States Ambassador to Paris is at 41 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in the 8th arrondissement. It is known as the Hôtel de Pontalba. It was built by Louis Visconti for the New Orleans–born Baroness Micaela Almonester de Pontalba between 1842 and 1855. Edmond James de Rothschild acquired the building in 1876.

During the German occupation of France, the mansion, then owned by Baron Maurice de Rothschild, was requisitioned as an officers’ club for the Luftwaffe. After the war, it was rented out to the British Royal Air Force Club, and then to the United States.

In 1948, the American government purchased the building, primarily for the United States Information Service. These offices were moved to the Hôtel Talleyrand as restoration was completed in 1971 during the tenure of Ambassador Arthur K. Watson. The building then became the official residence of the ambassador. This magnificent structure has only been the Ambassador’s residence for a little more than fifty years.

Read more

Audiobook: ‘The Liberation of Paris’

Jack Downey, U.S. Office of War Information, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Liberation of Paris is a gripping book that is packed full of interesting details about Nazi-occupied Paris and its last commander Dietrich von Choltitz.

Dietrich v. Choltitz — Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R63712 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE via Wikimedia Commons

At the end of WWII, Adolf Hitler ordered Choltitz to hold Paris, but if that wasn’t possible, to destroy it. Although General Choltitz had been very loyal to Hitler, he could not bring himself to obliterate the City of Light. He ultimately surrendered Paris to French forces on August 25, 1944. He’s been called the “Saviour of Paris” for preventing its destruction.

After his surrender, Choltitz was held for the remainder of the war in London and the United States and was ultimately released from captivity in 1947. He died in Baden-Baden in 1966.

The author of this exceptional book was the distinguished political scientist and biographer Jean Edward Smith. Smith’s work includes highly regarded biographies of Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower. He died on September 1, 2019 at the age of 86.

The audiobook is ably narrated by Fred Sanders, who has narrated many fine audiobooks including Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance.

London’s Wiener Holocaust Library Celebrates 90 Years of Service

Philafrenzy, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The Wiener Holocaust Library in London is celebrating its 90th birthday. It is the oldest continuously functioning archive documenting Nazi crimes.

The Library has its origins in the work of Dr. Alfred Wiener (1885-1964). Dr. Wiener was a German Jew from Berlin who campaigned against Nazism during the 1920s and 30s and gathered evidence about antisemitism and the persecution of Jews in Germany.

Dr. Wiener and his family fled Germany in 1933 and settled in Amsterdam. Later that year he set up the Jewish Central Information Office (JCIO) at the request of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Anglo-Jewish Association. This archive collected information about the Nazis, which formed the basis of campaigns to undermine their activities.

Following Kristallnacht (the November Pogrom of 1938), Wiener prepared to bring his collection to the UK. It arrived the following summer and is believed to have opened on the day the Nazis invaded Poland. 

During the war, staff gathered evidence to document and publicize reports of Nazi efforts to annihilate European Jewry, including an eyewitness account of Kristallnacht.

Throughout the war, the JCIO served the British Government as it fought the Nazi regime. Increasingly the collection was referred to as ‘Dr Wiener’s Library’ and eventually this led to its renaming.

Wiener’s recognition of the danger posed by the Nazis didn’t begin after Hitler came to power in 1933. Instead, he can justly lay claim to having been one of the first intellectuals to raise the alarm about the rise of antisemitism after World War I.

Horrified by the surge in anti-Jewish right-wing nationalism that he encountered when he returned from the trenches to his homeland, in 1919 Wiener published a tract, “Prelude to Pogroms?”, in which he warned: “A mighty antisemitic storm has broken over us.” If left unchecked, Wiener predicted, this antisemitism would lead to “bestial murders and violence” and the “blood of citizens running on the pavements.” 

The Times of Israel

Sources: The Holocaust Explained | The Times of Israel

Remembering Maisie Hitchcock

I recently learned that, Maisie Hitchcock, a guide on a Rick Steves tour of Switzerland I took in 2018 died peacefully of ovarian cancer on August 9, 2023 in the company of her family.

Maisie is the third from the left.

Maisie was a kind, gentle guide who did an excellent job showing us the highlights of Switzerland. Although she was English, she lived in Berlin and spoke fluent German.

Maisie enjoyed people and knew how to relate to each person as an individual. Maisie’s father, Robyn Hitchcock, is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. He wrote a loving memory of his daughter on Instagram.

During that 2018 trip, my suitcase broke and I asked Maisie where I could buy a new bag. Maisie helpfully sent me to Manor in Lugano where I bought a bag that I continue to use on my travels.

May Maisie’s memory be a blessing for many years to come.

Podcast Pick: Travel with Rick Steves

Travel with Rick Steves is a weekly, one-hour podcast featuring guest experts and listener calls about travel, cultures, and people around the world. In my view, it’s the best travel podcast available.

Rick Steves is well-traveled, articulate, and endlessly curious. While his guidebooks and organized tours focus mainly on Europe, the podcast ranges far beyond, covering destinations and cultures across the globe.

Guests often include professional guides and authors who contribute to his tours and books. The conversations are timely, informative, and inspiring. Notable guests have included writers such as Paul Theroux and the late David McCullough (1933–2022).

I found McCullough’s interview especially moving. He began his explorations in my hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and went on to write extensively about American history—from The Johnstown Flood to his Pulitzer Prize–winning works. Listening to him talk with Steves was a reminder of how travel and curiosity can begin close to home and expand outward to the wider world.

That’s the caliber of guest Rick Steves brings to his listeners—week after week.

Why Creating Links to Open New Browser Windows is Probably Not a Good Practice

I want to thank Sven Dahlstrand for taking the time to explain to me why opening external links in a new tab is probably not a good practice. Sven helpfully referred me to a page written by usability experts  Jakob Nielsen and Anna Kaley explaining:

Since 1999, it’s been a firm web-usability guideline to refrain from opening new browser windows for several reasons. All of these also apply to opening new browser tabs and are still valid today:

  • More windows or tabs increase the clutter of the user’s information space and require more effort to manage.
  • New windows or tabs can cause disorientation, with users often not realizing that a new window or tab has opened. This problem is exacerbated on mobile, where the old window is never visible.
  • Less-technical users struggle to manage multiple windows and tabs, especially on mobile. (On tablets, where users can have both multiple windows and tabs for the browser, it’s even more confusing.)
  • New windows or tabs prevent the use of the Back button for returning to the previous page and force the user to spend effort to find their way back to the previous content.
  • New windows or tabs are not inclusive for blind or low-vision users — especially when they open outside of the area that’s magnified.

I had been opening external links in a new tab in the hope of keeping visitors on my site but I had not thought about the confusion this can cause, especially on mobile:

Designers open new browser windows on the theory that it keeps users on their site. But even disregarding the user-hostile message implied in taking over the user’s machine, the strategy is self-defeating since it disables the _Back _button which is the normal way users return to previous sites. Users often don’t notice that a new window has opened, especially if they are using a small monitor where the windows are maximized to fill the screen. So a user who tries to return to the origin will be confused by a grayed-out _Back _button.

Jakob Nielsen

‘The Intern’: A Charming Comedy

I enjoyed watching The Intern (2015).

Robert De Niro plays a healthy but lonely 70-year-old retired widower named Ben Whittaker. Ben worked as an accomplished executive who ran a company selling telephone books. Ben wants to connect and be useful to other people. He starts by going to Starbucks each day but that doesn’t get him the human interaction he craves. One day, Ben sees an ad from an online women’s clothing vendor seeking to hire “senior interns.” The firm is loosely based on Google. Ben applies by uploading a video and gets the job. He’s assigned to work directly for the CEO Jules Ostin played by Anne Hathaway. The interaction between the two characters is charming.

The film was written and directed by Nancy Meyers, who also wrote and directed Something’s Gotta Give, a 2003 film starring Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton. That film is about a man (Jack Nicholson) approaching senior citizen status who has a taste for younger women. I also enjoyed that film so I guess I have a taste for Meyers’s work.

Manolhla Dargis, writing for The New York Times explains in magnificent prose that:

The director Nancy Meyers doesn’t just make movies, she makes the kind of lifestyle fantasies you sink into like eiderdown. Her movies are frothy, playful, homogeneous, routinely maddening and generally pretty irresistible even when they’re not all that good. Her most notable visual signature is the immaculate, luxuriously appointed interiors she’s known to fuss over personally – they inevitably feature throw pillows that look as if they’ve been arranged with a measuring tape. These interiors are fetishized by moviegoers and Architectural Digest alike, ready-made for Pinterest and comment threads peppered with questions like, “Where do I get that hat?”

Although I wish I could write the way Ms. Dargis writes, I think the film has something meaningful to say about the way older and younger people can relate to one another in the workplace and elsewhere.

It seems that the film was a hit in South Korea for just this reason (WSJ). South Korean viewers appreciated the healthy and positive energy emanating from Ben, the character ably played by Robert DeNiro.

I did too. And besides, what’s wrong with some eiderdown in one’s life?