Erika in desert by Gary Menten, on FlickrNote: Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant) Erika von Stroheim, New Mexico desert, undated photograph but believed to have been shot in the fourth or fifth year of the Great Anarchy. She is seen here wearing an Afrika Korps uniform, which according to some sources was her great grandfathers, and according to others a tailor made copy, the original being too valuable as a family heirloom. She carries a WWII issue Germam MP 40 submachine gun, also believed to have been illegally retained after the war by her great grandfather and was noted for also carrying either a WWII issue P38 pistol or a post war West German P1 pistol. (The two are almost identical). Erika, a Bundeswehr veteran, was known to be both a history buff, and an admirer of WWII German Field Marshal Rommel, and liked to emulate his Afrika Korps dress as much as possible.
Blah! My boss in my daytime job--the one where I'm not moonlighting as a photographer--gave me Friday off because of how hard I've been working to cover for other people who've been absent from work due the the COVID crisis and other things. For those who don't know, Montreal (where I live) is on lock down, with only essential businesses allowed to be open. The one I work in is an essential business, so I'm working. But suddenly I have an unexpected long weekend and bugger-all to do with it because of the COVID thing. I had thought to do some outdoor photography with some of my growing collection of TB League figures (7 for now) but the weather on Friday sucked. Saturday was gorgeous, but I'd pulled a muscle in my chest somehow on Friday, making it very painful to move in certain ways, particularly getting down and getting back up off the ground which I would have to do to shoot any photos outdoors close to where I live. I did not want to travel anywhere I did not have to, again, because of the COVID thing, so....Saturday was a write off.
Sunday the chest muscles were not hurting, but the weather sucked again, so...unable to take the boredom, I decided to try my hand at another Photoshop extraction with one of my figures, and tedious as it was, the result seen above, was kind of rewarding, so I thought I would share it with you and let you judge the final result. This photo might actually be one image in a story I've written for some time, but not photographed, as I was waiting for the Canadian winter to recede before trying it. Maybe I'll do the illustrations this way. Maybe not. We'll see. In the meantime, I appreciate all your feedback, as always.
It seems I had some spare time in the evening as well and had the opportunity to an extraction of Kamiko in her kimono and brandishing her suppressed Walther PPK.
Kamiko with PPK by Gary Menten, on FlickrNote:
A personal photo from Kamiko Takahara's collection, clearly taken during her time in Japan. She is seen brandishing her treasured 7.65mm Walther PPK of mysterious origin, complete with it's Brausch suppressor. As private ownership of this sort of firearm is completely illegal in Japan, this photo remains the clearest evidence of Kamiko's involvement with the nascent Japanese secret service. Kamiko keeps this particular pistol nearby at all times, usually concealed. It is said that however many firearms she is carrying openly, you always have to count at least one concealed gun and this would usually be it.
Stay safe, stay healthy to all members of OSF.
Stay safe to all of you.
