this is a great photo of the "beat" poet allen ginsberg, taken by harry redl. redl is a truly fascinating character--born in vienna in 1926, conscriped into the german navy towards the end of the war when the germans were desperate for bodies to fill the ranks. his ship was sunk in the north atlantic in 1945 and he was captured by the u.s. navy, then spent the last several months of the war working as a translator for the canadian army.
immigrated to canada after the war, worked in logging camps, and all sorts of other odd jobs, before hitting the road. in the 50's, a friend gave him a camera, and he got really into photos. ended up passing through san fran on his way to mexico, and loved it so much he spent several years there on the way back, eventually befriending and photographing most of the major "Beat Generation" writers.
in 1961, he went to Hong Kong for a vacation, and ended up staying there for several years, documenting the VietNam War for six years.
i think he's still living... in vancouver.
1 comment:
Heh, Ginsberg looks sorta like Carlos in that picture! And/Or the singer from Barenaked Ladies.
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