Firstly, if you were wondering where Bryn gets the middle name Lewis, it's in honour of the sailor and author David Lewis. A brave, curious, humble adventurer. Here's his obituary, a great overview of his very full life:
The sailor who set out to see it all
I was looking for a photo of the moon on the night Bryn was born, and found a Facebook page where people post their moon shots from around the world. It's a really lovely thing to have pop up in your Facebook feed. Sean, there might be an Instagram equivalent.
Lunar101-Moon Book Facebook page
And this is a curious article by the photographer behind this image, often called the 'hand of hope', of a tiny hand reaching out from the womb during foetal surgery. He got caught up in a race to publish the photo before Life magazine published a similar image, and later, the surgeon who performed the surgery came out with a conflicting account of how the photo was taken. The crux of the argument is about whether the baby reached out or if his hand was taken out to pose the photo. Some classic questions about what makes a photo authentic, and also how an image can be used by different interest groups.
The story behind the picture- Michael Clancy
It's an incredible picture, but I wonder why Dr. Bruner said it was posed if it wasn't? Perhaps to stop pro-lifers appropriating the image for their own cause? Or in his enthusiasm did the photographer persuade himself that the foetus actually reached out? The story opens up more questions than it answers. Would be fascinating to hear more about this.
ReplyDeleteYes my guess is that if the surgeon changed his story, it was to make the photo less of an instrument for anti abortion activists. Hard to tell who's right, interesting how the photographer uses technical details about camera settings and motion blur to prove his case that the hand reached out. And interesting how whether he reached out or not changes the whole meaning of the image.
DeleteAnd the Lunar 101 group is interesting - of course I scrolled right down to check out Feb 23. I reckon if Bryn ever decides to rebel in his teenage years, it'll be to take on a firmly land based activity like bushwalking or rock climbing! But I'm sure he'll always be drawn back to the sea.
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