Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 26, 1995 TAG: 9508280048
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANN MANSFIELD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When Flora German of Roanoke read Friday about Alfred Eisenstaedt's death, it called to mind an item from her family album: a 5-by-7-inch portrait of her father the photographer shot in the late 1930s or '40s.
Eisenstaedt was vacationing near Natural Bridge and staying in a tourist home called Forrest Tavern when he took a liking to some of the handmade furniture in the residence. He asked the owners who the woodworker was, and they directed him to John McClelland, whose workshop was less than a mile from Forrest Tavern.
Initially, German said, Eisenstaedt was just interested in her father's work. The photographer commissioned a walnut plant stand for his office and came often to see the work progressing.
On the day Eisenstaedt wanted to take his photo, the woodworker protested and asked the artist, who had photographed Hollywood stars and heads of state, to wait until he could shave.
``Eisenstaedt said, `No, no, no, I don't want you that way,''' German said. ``Eisenstaedt told someone once that when you see something that will be good, you should take a picture without thinking, because if you think, you might lose it.''
German says that her father signed papers allowing Eisenstaedt to use the images in displays and magazines, but neither she nor her family ever saw them reproduced.
As for McClelland's eyeglasses, German said that, at age 70 or 72, her father actually had quite good vision and used them only for reading or doing close-up work in his workshop.
``He bought those glasses at the dime store,'' she said.
by CNB