THE CAVENDER DIARY

There is power in the masses.

Just last night we posted about this self-portrait of the photographer Edward Curtis.

He was 30 when he took this self-portrait. This dude knew how to grow some righteous facial hair. I’m infatuated with his (possibly cashmere?) turtle neck and canvas field coat with the cordoroy collar. Sure, they are both easy pieces to grab from J-Crew now…..but in his day? And who would wear such a thing for a formal photograph? And that felt “lady’s?” hat with the leather band…just too cool.

We wrote about him, and his image of Chief Sitting Bull from our den, last year.

Even though we were born 100 years apart, I’ve always had a connection to this dude …. hopefully just the passion …. not the extreme poverty or insanity.

One Kings Lane was selling this portrait from the New Normal set.

And we missed the sale.

Enter Tara – a fan of our site, quickly becoming a dear friend, and brilliant photographer herself.

She sent me to Wikimedia Commons a free file-share community for public domain and freely licensed educational media content.

…and there he was, just sitting there for anyone to use. Go get one for yourself – Edward S Curtis

I just have to upload the file, print it on something (Tara suggests Ilford pearl paper), and then buy another $8 frame at Ikea.

Who am I kidding? This could be a job for a professional framer.