THE NUDE LITTLE OLD LADY

Last night, I watched the film 'ELOQUENT NUDE' on the OVATION channel. The film documents the relationship of famed photographer Edward Weston and his wife - collaborator - model Charis Wilson. The film reminded me about an incident that occurred years ago in a community college BLACK & WHITE photography class in which I was enrolled. Pete Larkin, a photographer friend and I, had enrolled in the class largely to obtain darkroom privileges. We were both significantly older than the other students in the class. One evening, Pete and I showed up at class with some items we had obtained during a visit to the University of AZ Center for Creative Photography. One of the items was a photograph taken of Ms. Wilson by Edward Weston when Wilson was twenty one years old. The photograph was a quite famous one, a nude of Ms. Wilson lying face down in the Oceana Sand Dunes. Richard Senti, the class instructor, had formerly been editor of a major photography magazine based in California. I had the Charis Wilson photo on a table where the students could view it. As Richard passed by, he looked at the photo, then at me, and commented, "Oh, Charis Wilson." Then he added, "I knew her in California. She was such a delightful little old lady." The students appeared confused by his comment. I had to laugh. I pointed out that the photo was taken in the mid 1930's. Ms. Wilson, who lived to the age of 95, passed away in November of last year. LARRY ELKINS - ELKINSPHOTOS FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY