Poland, a few years before the fall of the iron curton. Warsaw was very dull then, still under the influence of the Soviet Union, but the southern part of the country, near Zalipie, had remained like Europe before WWII, beautiful but alas still strongly anti-semitic which I found profoundly disturbing.

From Beth. A particularly remarkable collage.

A letter from Valery Lorenzo is like the fireworks on a 14 Juillet. Oooohhhh !!!!! Aaaahhhh !!!! All his talents in photography, in drawing, in spirit combined in one letter. Beth and Valery have revived the art of mail like no other. Less e mail, more mail !

Here comes the sun. Let's grab it.

Pierre Le Tan, as an inspiration with his own paintings used three of my photographs. Pierre was the first person I showed them to. At that time he was working on his own exhibition. Turned out to be a little mano a mano...

Dear Fellow Bloggers BEST WISHES FOR A VERY HAPPY YEAR 2011 XO IVAN And as a special treat for you, here are a few photos of Mary Randolph Carter, as never seen nor published before. I photographed her at Elm Glen Farm, her estate upstate New York. We had a jolly time, but how could we not? Carter is talent incarnated and so much fun !

The photographer Robert Polidori working at the Chateau de Versailles. Polidori became world famous with his first book on Versailles and later on Tchernobyl and Cuba. In the early nineties I assisted him on a couple of shoots. We were good friends and still are. Robert has a show opening next week, at the Galleria Carla Sozzani, 10 Corso Cuomo in Milan. A very prestigious venue.