The Dark Side of Dior
WSJ: Raids Find Luxury Handbags Being Made by Exploited Workers in Italy
Dior paid a supplier €53 apiece, roughly $57, to assemble a handbag that it sells in stores for €2,600, or about $2,780, according to documents examined as part of the probe. Armani bags, meanwhile, were sold to a supplier for €93, then resold to Armani for €250, and ultimately priced at around €1,800 in stores, the probe found. The cost prices don’t include leather or other raw materials. The companies separately cover the costs of design, distribution and marketing.
See also, La Galerie Dior, Paris
Quatre lieux interdits prisés par les photographes à Paris - RadioFrance
How Long Are Cars Designed to Last?
I was chatting with a senior engineer at a Detroit automaker. “We design the car to last 10 years or 150,000 miles,” he said. He explained that component manufacturers try to torture-test the components so as to meet the same standard and then the entire car is given an accelerated aging beating on a test track, e.g., with a road so bumpy that the car needs to be driven by a robot to avoid employees developing back problems. What about other car companies? “As far as I know, all of us use the same standard.”
Candid Photography
The great majority of my works are candid, meaning I don’t ask people for the photo nor do I tell them that I took their photo. I do this because I want to keep the moment pure as I saw it. The moment a person knows they are being photographed, they either get self-conscious or their behavior becomes more exaggerated than normal human behavior allows. It’s all about capturing that ‘unguarded moment’ and trying to make the people in the photos look as true to that moment as possible.
Also on Flickr
‘A Touch of Magic’
My goal is to document the ordinary moments of life that we too often take for granted that are simply part of the human condition. I try to capture not only the authenticity of the ordinary moment, but the precise moment when the ordinary has a touch of magic associated with it.
Peter Turnley’s Impression of the Leica M11-P
As many of you may have recently read-I recently acquired a new Leica M11-P camera. I don’t really like to speak much about cameras-and actually do really believe that if I saw a moment that moves me-I could frame it with ancient Brownie probably about as well as with the most modern camera.
But-it is a joy to walk with this new camera that responds quickly in all light conditions and the speed with which I can see, feel, perceive and frame, offers my senses the thought and confidence I can communicate spontaneous mood, well, and in ways I’d never want to try to describe.
I reckon I’m not alone in having trouble understanding passkeys: Michael Tsai’s Tech Blog. Are they practical, reliable and trustworthy?
If I knew what the photograph was going to look like, I wouldn’t bother taking it. It’s the voyage of discovery that fascinates me.
On Intimacy
Maybe it’s just me but the more time I spend online the more I enjoy consuming content from people who are not afraid to share content in a very honest and sometimes vulnerable way. People who share without an agenda, people who share because they think it’s important to communicate both the ups and the downs of this shared experience we’re all going through called life.
Why Photograph?
Taking an image, freezing a moment, reveals how rich reality truly is.
— Anonymous
Source: Sam Benari, who I just added to my list of interesting street photographers.
What Makes Paris Special
There are few things more beautiful in life than sensuality, with the word being used in its’ most elegant sense-and of all of the cities in the world, few offer such splendor more than the omnipresent scenes of daily life in Paris.
Being a Friend Means Being Truthful
You can’t be a friend if you are not willing to tell the truth. This doesn’t mean that you are right. Being right and being honest are not necessarily the same thing.
Source: Annie Mueller
Camila Giorgi Has Retired From Tennis Under Cloud of Tax Evasion
Italian tennis star Camila Giorgi has announced her retirement from tennis on social media amid speculation she wouldn’t return to the court after reportedly fleeing her native country. The news comes after it emerged earlier this week that the WTA Tour had been unable to reach the 32-year-old after leaving Italy.
Italian authorities are understood to be keen to question the tennis star over gaps in her tax returns. And speculation grew this week that she may have quietly retired from the sport after she was listed as ‘retired’ on the International Tennis Integrity Agency’s website.
Constantine Manos - A Great Street Photographer
Constantine Manos (1934-) is among the great street photographers of his time. I was a student in one of his workshops in Maine and learned so much about composition. He offered his students candid and fair critiques. Manos was born in Columbia, South Carolina of Greek immigrant parents. This video does a nice job of summarizing his work.
I just added the Théâtre du Châtelet to my suggestions for Visiting Paris.
I updated my photography website to focus on travel with one personal essay (mainly street photography) and an essay of black and white photography.
I just updated my list of Photographers Worth Exploring to add Larry Beckner, a talented photographer in Bigfork, Montana. Suggestions are always welcome.
A Peek Inside Patek Philippe
SWI:
Together with Rolex, Audemars Piguet and Richard Mille, Patek Philippe is one of the “Big Four” watchmakers, the four independent brands that generate around half the profits of the Swiss watchmaking industry.
Founded in 1839 and owned by the Stern family since 1932, Patek Philippe employs around 3,000 people worldwide, including 2,050 at its Geneva headquarters. It is run today by Thierry Stern, who joined the family business in 1990 and took over as its president in 2009.
Unlike the directors of Rolex, a watchmaking company that has based its success on the cult of secrecy, Stern regularly speaks out in the Swiss and international press. SWI swissinfo.ch met him at the recent Watches and Wonders trade fair in Geneva.
We have a complete manufacturing facility and 95% to 98% of our added value is produced in-house. Of course, we purchase screws and straps from external suppliers and, for safety reasons, we duplicate certain production lines – dials, for example – with outside companies.
But I don’t see the point in outsourcing more, because the best way to control quality from A to Z is to do everything in-house, even if it is more expensive. We go so far in terms of craftsmanship, development and research that we really can’t contract these tasks out.
Since our founding in 1839, we have consistently produced watches and maintained an unchanged strategy: making Swiss watches entirely in-house. Our customers and retailers, who have known us for several generations, bear witness to this constancy.
Fifteen very useful tips from Christian Möhrle for using Lightroom masks.
I just updated my list of Photographers Worth Exploring to add Sarah M. Lee. Lee is also interviewed here. Suggestions are always welcome.