Ruth Bernhard ~ Doorknob

Reflections always attract me. They stop me in my tracks whether I'm outside or inside. Seeing the reflected light in Ruth Bernhard's Doorknob photograph not only made me take time to look closely at her image, it also compelled me to find out more about the woman who had taken the image. Who was this woman?

Ruth Bernhard lived to be 101. She was a photographer and a teacher of photography most of her life. She knew Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. Ansel Adams said she was the best photographer of nudes ever. She and Edward Weston were very close friends. Close enough that Weston's wife was at times unhappy with their professional rapport. This story about Weston and Bernhard always makes me smile...

"Ted Hartwell delights in telling the story of his visit to Ruth Bernhard's home in San Francisco. He's the photography curator at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA). He was in her kitchen when a tiny portrait caught his eye. Stuck on the fridge door, it was a younger Ruth, with her hand up to her cheek. "Just a small print," he says. "Maybe 2 and a half inches square, signed by the great Edward Weston. On her refrigerator! Amazing! Amazing! It's worth a fortune!" The whole Ruth Bernhard story seems studded with tiny treasures, and happy opportunities."

Bernard's story can also be told by this recipe for life...


I especially liked her answer to the question about never having married...

"Well, first of all, there wasn’t anybody there! There wasn’t anybody there I could bond with. I didn’t make any friendships that were love affairs. There were people that I liked, but I didn’t have any romance. I had close friends, but no romances. So there wasn’t any question of marriage and family. There was a young man in New York who always felt that he would be my ‘future ex-husband,’ but we never had a romance. And I have had very good, wonderful friends, photographers and artists, but that was as far as it went."

You have to love someone who kept men as future ex-husbands.

Today's image of Ruth Bernhard was taken by John Reiff and is part of a Flickr set. Her image reflects out as does the light from the doorknob. Like Amy, I'm looking forward to this week. Photography inspires me and Ruth Bernhard is an idol.