[UA] Edward Kelty

[Greg Stolze]

Okay, so Friday's Chicago Trib ran a piece on Edward Kelty.  You may not
know the name, but you've almost certainly seen some of his photographs.
He did a lot of circus photos in the 1920s and 1930s, including the famous
"Congress of Freaks" and that picture of the elephant picking the guy up by
his head.

Kelty served in WWI, apparently surviving some fairly hairy shit, including
the flame-wreathed sinking of his transport ship.  The only objects he
saved when fleeing that doom were his photos.  So, the guy cared about
pictures.

Then he gets a job taking circus pictures and develops an eye that experts
say is outstanding and nearly unique, a photosensibility which drives
collectors even today.

He gets married, has two sons, never bothers to divorce his wife but
becomes estranged.  He leaves her in New York and moves to Chicago.

Chicago is where his story gets weird.  And obscure.

Because no one can find any evidence that this man, who was so passionate
about his craft, ever took a single picture after moving to Chicago.  Nor
can anyone find evidence that he KNEW anyone in Chicago when he moved
there.  Apparently he worked as a vendor at Wrigley Field.

So.  What can we, as good UA goobs, do with this strange character and his
mid-life transformation?

1) Was he a Chronicler who saw something so horrible that he developed an
incurable phobia of photography?  (It does seem that he was a problem
drinker.)

2) Was he cursed to die the next time he took a picture?  That's the route
you go for a good novel, and then establish the image he had to capture
that was so compelling he died for it.

3) Possession?

4) Renunciation?

Discuss.

-G.

Living with a toddler?  Well, I guess it's not that much different from any
other room mate who thinks that squatting naked on the kitchen floor eating
pretzel sticks is a good way to start the morning.

Oh wait.  It is different.

www.waylay.com
www.thehungersite.com



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