Updated April 13, 2012
Memories of the circus coming to my home town, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Original Photo: National Geographic Traveler, January-February 2009 issue. Name of photographer is not available. I contacted the magazine several times but had no response.
Note added 04/13/2012: My grateful thanks to a reader who searched and searched until she found the photographer of this picture I like so much. The picture was taken in 1963 by a photographer for the AP.
She did a bit more Googling, and found out that the elephant's name was likely Targa. That led me to the below photo archive, and the photographer - Paul Rice. Ta-da! I searched for him within the New York Journal-American archive, and only came up with two additional photos:
http://bit.ly/woDWeu
http://bit.ly/z51EEM
I am delighted that she was able to find this information and shared it with me.
The children sitting on the curb are representative of my size and age when Dad and I began watch the rail cars unload the circus. The elephants were always the first off because they were the ones that raised the tent poles and raised the tents.
Every year our plan was to arrive at the Tulsa Train Depot before the circus began to unload the cars. It was an active, exciting time inside the depot and intensified as we hurried down the stairs to the railroad tracks and the many circus cars.
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI recently came across this photo, which I'd torn from the pages of the January/February 2009 National Geographic Traveler 7th Annual Photography Issue. All I knew was that it appeared in that issue's "America Then & Now" cover feature, but like you, I wanted to know who took the photograph. I thought I remembered that perhaps the name of the photographer wasn't given, which was the case.
I just love the image of the circus elephant emerging from the Ringling Brothers train, the three children sitting on the curb, and the other photographer in the background. I came across your post, and used the photo to upload to Google. That directed me to the following AP Photo website. It was taken in New York, in 1963. But, still no photographer given, just "AP Photo."
http://bit.ly/yAMSAX
I did a bit more Googling, and found out that the elephant's name was likely Targa. That led me to the below photo archive, and the photographer - Paul Rice. Ta-da! I searched for him within the New York Journal-American archive, and only came up with two additional photos.
http://bit.ly/woDWeu
I tried to find out more about him online, but didn't get far, as it seems there are definitely others with the same name. All I was able to find was the following post via the New York Press Photographers Association. It appears he passed away in 2011.
http://bit.ly/z51EEM
Shame on National Geographic Traveler for not doing the research and giving him credit for this lovely photograph, and for not writing you back!