Rosie Devine

Realist painter, Alex Tzavaras accidentally produced one of the masterpieces in contemporary art in September all while recording a painting tutorial video about how to paint eyes. The lucky model is the Instagram personality, Rosie Devine, an amateur stylist and an aspiring entertainer who lives in Brighton, England. In our estimate, it didn't take Tzavaras more than a couple of hours to come out with this portrait which we think is a marvel with its making helped by the potentials of Rosie's qualifiable facial features.

Rosie posing for a portrait 

The Baseball Sextette

Female stars in physical training, April 04, 1925

Los Angeles: How Film Beauties Keep In Trim. Here are the athletic girls of Hal Roach's comedies known as the Baseball Sextette. Left to right, they are: Blanche Menaffey, Kathleen Collins, Martha Sleeper, Fay Wray, Katherine Grant and Marjorie Whiteis. The Baseball Sextette was organized for the purpose of keeping the girls physically fit, not only do they play the grand ole game, but also include in their training, boxing, running and jumping; the camera caught them as they flashed over the finish line after a fifty yard sprint.

 

 

Gladys Is Not Taking Credit

In this 1927 publicity photograph of 'Three's A Crowd', a famous supplier of editorial photography writes an 'unidentified actress' alongside Harry Langdon. Other online print stores do not even mention it: It's Gladys McConnell. The film itself has an interesting note mentioned by the writer Gabriella Oldham that Harry and the director recreated a tenement neighborhood of 3 or 4 blocks on the studio, with 300 extras. Snow was realistically created in 90-degree California heat. Film reviewer Doug Gibson says 'The sights of tenement life, morning to evening, are captivating. I love the 'snowstorm' scenes and individuals braving their way through the winds, bumping into poles, or the early-morning milk wagons, the busy late-morning afternoon streets, the lonely, steep staircase that leads to Harry's home.'

 

 

Of The Best Marches Performances

The American March: One of the greatest performances of The Stars and Stripes Forever is that of the concert held in Hill Auditorium at the University of Michigan on March 31, 2017, conducted by Michael Haithcock. The overall harmony and result was marvelous and enthusiastic; the rendition was sophisticated with a special mention of Cassie Mullinax the Piccolo player, a Senior at the time, and the third and final repetition of the famous tune of the march by J.P. Sousa. This performance was filmed by Dave Schall and Cory Robinson.

The Egyptian March: Or Aida's 'Gloria all' Egitto' by Giuseppe Verdi performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker Orchestra, conducted by Claudio Abbado at Berlin Waldbühne in circa June 1996. The distinguished part of this piece is the female choir performance when they start singing 'S'intrecci il loto al lauro': Heavenly and remarkable.

 

 

The Crisis That Is Human Resources

 Employment Agency from Chumps at Oxford, 1940.

What is called Human Resources departments do not really represent the vision of the business owner although they are hired to execute it. These departments are separated from the management of the business; they have their own vision and decision even if they claim otherwise. In fact, their main purpose is to disappoint and make it almost impossible for any one to get the job, and when they choose the best candidate in their opinion, that person may not be of the best interest for the company. The business owner is the one who should sit and talk to the applicants no matter how many of them. The process should be direct for fairness and for success and progress. If the manager is unable to meet with the job seekers, then he is unfit to even administer his own business. Lately, the Human Resources was re-branded with a new name: Talent Acquisition, and this shows that there is something wrong with this section that exists in almost every business. On the other hand, employment agencies are a different thing as their job is to send seekers to whoever wants to hire people. The Human Resources poses a risk and is detrimental not only to the business it works from within, or from the outside, but also to employment and society in general.

The Internet Top Picture Colorist

Olga Shirnina

By Ehab H.

Olga Shirnina is the Internet top picture colorist and probably one of the world’s best. Besides the House of the Romanovs, she colorized other royal families photographs, Hollywood stars and many old miscellaneous pictures. Her colorization style is very special, real, authentic and full of life. I had the pleasure to ask Ms. Shirnina a few questions:

 

 

Editor: Who or what encouraged you to get into the world of photo colorization?

 

Ms. Shirnina: I'm a German/Russian translator. When one has to translate a long and boring text there is always a temptation to do something else, at least for a while. First I just played with graphic editors entertaining my friends with photomontage. Some images worked out well except black and white. I searched the Internet for ways to add colors to black and white images and made my first attempts. Then I got a book about color theory to translate and it helped to structure my knowledge about colors, I learned a lot about color harmonies, complementary colors, etc. And of course I wanted to put it into practice. It was so interesting that I got involved in this more and more. Then I was invited by Mr. Doug Banks from the UK to a Colorists community and saw how many people from different countries, professions and ages have the same hobby as I do. It was amazing and gave a new impulse to my work.

 

Editor: What makes the colors of your pictures look ‘real’?

 

Ms. Shirnina: In my first steps, I followed the lessons I found on the Internet but the results didn’t satisfy me for reasons: 1. the techniques were too complicated and 2. the colors didn't look ‘real’. So, being a lazy person, I tried to find an easier way. The main idea was very simple: I took colors from modern color photos and used several layers to achieve the result ‘as if that old picture was taken with a smartphone or a modern camera’. It is not always possible because of the quality of old photos but if people say ‘it looks as if it was taken yesterday’ then it was a success.

 

Editor: Is there a story behind the handle ‘Klimbim’ or why you decided to use it?

 

Ms. Shirnina: I needed something short and simple to mark my colorings and since it wasn't something serious to me, kind of entertaining, so I thought of ‘Klimbim’ ⁠— a German word meaning something like ‘knick-knack, odds and ends, bits and bobs, etc.’

 

Editor: What was the first picture you colorized that became trending, spread like wild fire and brought unprecedented attention to you?

 

Ms. Shirnina: No idea! I enjoyed my hobby peacefully and felt comfortable among the Colorists community where all were so friendly to each other at the time. I didn't think about publicity because I was sure that colorization is not to everyone's taste. And then I noticed that I am getting more and more visitors to my pages. The reason probably was that from Hollywood beauties, which is very good for trying new techniques, then I changed to historical photos and there are many history lovers and experts. After someone posted my colorings on Russian websites, I got tons of critics: they noticed the smallest buttons on the uniforms and if the color was ‘wrong’, etc. But it taught me indeed to be more careful with details. Anyway, I think the most popular coloring I have made is that of the Romanov family. Firstly, it really turned out well and secondly, it still causes discussions because of the Tsar’s shirt. Many people think that it should be Khaki or ‘Russian green’ but in fact it was Raspberry-Red! Mr. Andrey Malov, an expert in military uniforms, helped me to colorize this image correctly in the historical context.

 Colorized photograph exclusively presented by Ms. Shirnina: A.P. Chekhov reading his play 'The Seagull' to the artists of the Moscow Art Theater, 1899.

Editor: Do you know if any of the descendants of the House of Romanovs expressed their admiration of the colorized photographs or your work?

 

Ms. Shirnina: Not that I know of. Actually, most of their photos I colorized are for the book “The Romanov Royal Martyrs”. May be some of the descendants have seen it.

 

Editor: Are there any other hobbies that you have besides colorization?

 

Ms. Shirnina: Reading, traveling and sometimes cooking. Lately I discovered a great recipe of how to fry delicious quails fast and easy. And tomorrow I'm going to buy strawberries from local farmers and make a flavorsome jam.

 

Editor: What is your favorite music or who do you usually like to listen to?

 

Ms. Shirnina: My music collection is sort of eclectic: classic, pop, folk and rock but almost all not modern things. Liana "Fado", Russian folk songs, Maria Callas and Orthodox Chants, Eugen Cicero and Glenn Gould, etc., depending on what I'm doing or in what mood I'm in. A friend told me, not long ago, about Jeff Buckley and now I'm a fan of him though his music makes me sad sometimes.

In turn, I’d like to say on behalf of the Herald Tribune magazine, keep up the good work Ms. Shirnina, you really are doing a unique job and we truly wish you the best of luck in your life, career and hobbies.

 

Profile: Mary Costes

Mary Costes with a high toque made of black feathers with a side arrangement of yellow flowers by Louise Bourbon. Photo by d' Ora. Credit: Ullstein Bild

 Photo dedicated to Egyptian magazine, Al Lataif Al Musawara in September 1930

 

 

 

 Mary, a candidate at the Grand Prix of Elegance at the Great Palace, walks in front of the jury on June 23, 1932 in Paris, France. Credit: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone

After September 2, 1930, Mary Costes, the 27-year-old film actress, became a world famous personality when her husband Dieudonné Costes, along with Maurice Bellonte, flew from Paris to New York in 37 hours and 18 minutes. Their house at 14 Marronniers Street was teeming with visitors and well-wishers. At the time, Mary had only been in Paris for 3 years and was willing to go to Hollywood once her contract with her film company would expire. Mary, born Princess Mary Vatchnadze, is of Caucasian origin and descends from an old Georgian family.