skyring: (Default)
Skyring ([personal profile] skyring) wrote2008-05-19 02:30 pm

Looking for My Mona Lisa



I've got this photograph loaded on my iPhone, and every time it comes around on the slideshow I think, "By jingo, I love that photograph!"

Looking at the photographs I took at the same time, I realise how incredibly lucky I was. It really was a horrendous environment for zoom photography without a tripod.

Anyway, this is probably a long shot in another sense, but I'd like to find the young lady in the photograph. I think she'd appreciate a copy of the shot - it was a special day for me, just looking through the Louvre, and she probably thought the same. Maybe she's sighing over memories of the trip, just as I am.

I've assembled some clues, some photographs, and Thuh Photo into a Facebook group. I'm also trawling through Flickr to find people in the same place at the same time. Mabe we can find her. Wouldn't it be fantastic to put a smile on her face?

Here's the group: Looking for Mona Lisa

Can We Help?

[identity profile] awaywithfairy1.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 08:37 am (UTC)(link)
Trust you to come up with a challenge like this!

It seems like a long shot, but what about contacting the TV show "Can We Help?". They might have ideas for how to get the photo seen overseas (eg France, USA). Using the media to harnass the power of the media overseas!

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/canwehelp/

Re: Can We Help?

[identity profile] skyring.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 09:16 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks! I've sent them a message, and likewise started a thread on Flickr.

[identity profile] woosang.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 10:42 am (UTC)(link)
Well stranger things have happened. That guy in New York put up a web site to find a girl he saw for a short time whilst on the metro. He found her so no reason you can't find this lady

[identity profile] asterapallas.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 02:00 pm (UTC)(link)
If you'll compose an entry-as-a-mission description for the photo... I'd be happy to feature her picture (and your chosen words) on my website to add another layer to your Mona Lisa seeking quest, if you wish...

:)

[identity profile] skyring.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 11:03 pm (UTC)(link)
When Peter Mackay of Canberra, Australia visited the Louvre on April 9th, he sat down outside the Mona Lisa gallery for a rest after an afternoon on his aching feet.

Noticing that tourists entering the room would glance up in wonder at the ornate ceiling eighty feet above, he aimed his camera on the doorway and waited. This photograph is the result, taken handheld with a zoom lens in poor light, the only photograph of several attempts not to be irretrievably blurred.

On examining the photograph later, he realised that he had caught the moment perfectly - the awed tourist stands gazing upwards while around her the crowds stream past on their way to catch a glimpse of the Mona Lisa.

Now Peter is searching for the lady in the photograph. "She should have a copy for herself," he says, "because it seems like a special moment for her. Young, beautiful, looking at Paris with eyes of delight."

He has set up a Facebook group, where the photograph and associated images are displayed. If you can help, visit the group at "Looking for Mona Lisa".

"I don't need to contact her," says Peter. "It would be enough to know that she's seen the photograph, and I've put a smile on her face."

[identity profile] asterapallas.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
http://www.easysite.com/thistledew

Your photo and word description are now live on my site.
If I receive word for anyone regarding her whereabouts -
I'll let you know.
:)

[identity profile] skyring.livejournal.com 2008-05-20 12:02 am (UTC)(link)
You are an angel!

[identity profile] zemarkable.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 03:39 pm (UTC)(link)
BLINK BLINK
laughs


You are so interesting.
i can't wait to see what comes of this!

[identity profile] islandmomma.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 11:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Any clues as to her nationality? Earphones, so not French? Casual but elegant. American?

[identity profile] asterapallas.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 11:45 pm (UTC)(link)
She "seemed" American to me...

I hope he finds her so that we can find out!
:D

[identity profile] skyring.livejournal.com 2008-05-20 12:05 am (UTC)(link)
American is my guess. No offence, but a Frenchwoman of that age would be dressed in a more elegant manner. Nothing I can put my finger on, but they just do.

Possibly British or Australian, but that "Columbia" jacket points to an American.

[identity profile] islandmomma.livejournal.com 2008-05-20 12:22 am (UTC)(link)
My thoughts exactly. French, Spanish or Italians would be less "casual".

[identity profile] fancyhorse.livejournal.com 2008-05-21 12:30 am (UTC)(link)
I'll post it on my LJ publicly, and somewhere on my Flickr account, maybe in vicar-of-dibley's Lurkation group?
http://www.flickr.com/groups/lurkation/

Between all of us, surely there will be enough publicity that she will see it eventually! (Maybe she's a Columbia student?)

[identity profile] skyring.livejournal.com 2008-05-21 01:49 am (UTC)(link)
Columbia Sportswear, rather than Columbia University, though of course there is a good chance that studants and faculty prefer Columbia clobber over (say) North Face.

Bless you for doing this for me!