Hoboken Almanac - Walter Trego

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Walter Trego - March, 2002

To the public in general -

Let me introduce myself. I am Benedict J. Fernandez III, and have been involved with photography for my entire presence on this spaceship called earth. Now you may wonder why I use such voluminous language. It is because I feel that what I am going to speak about has a great deal of importance. Those of you who know me, know of my work in the Sixties regarding the American right to protest. During that period, I met with many important photographers who were like-minded. One in particular was somewhat older than myself and had been photographing and documenting his lifetime. I think we all know who he is - W. Eugene Smith. Well, up at his Sixth Avenue loft in Manhattan, listening to jazz and imbibing in some very good scotch and viewing a number of prints for a current exhibition he was producing, he pointed out a particular image. The image showed a soldier who was wounded in the New Guinea campaign, where Smith also was wounded. The casualty was folding his hands in a religious position. His wounds were to his head and he was blindfolded and he was reciting a prayer. This photographer was taken a few days before Smith was wounded, also to the face, where his nose was disfigured. I guess that he had a much closer relationship with this particular wounded soldier because it inspired him to write some poetry. Smith felt that people would not understand his need to write this poetry so as he pointed out to me, he felt that he needed a nom de plume. The nom de plume that he arrived at, and knowing Eugene, he could not put Alter Ego, so he decided that he would call the poet of this particular poem for this photograph Walter Trego. So as you can see, there are some of us who would like to present an alternate way of expressing ones feelings but for whatever reason, desire anonymity. So I offer to you, the public at large, a nom de plume which will be steeped in the history of photography with Eugene and will give you the opportunity as it did him, to present an idea and maintain your anonymity. My recommendation that if you use Walter Trego, and you would like to have some identification, I would use a number or a characteristic symbol which will identify you. We will not question or ask who sent it. Perhaps we will not censor it, however because we would not want to degrade Smith with obscene language. Now what is obscenity? This in itself poses a question about censorship. I believe that what I am asking is that the writer of the statement use enough thought in their writing that obscenities are not necessary, but if it is an obscenity that you are writing about, it would be interesting to see you write about it without using simple words. I believe this is in the spirit of Eugene and that it would make for some interesting writing. Since I am the first to use Walter Trego, my nom de plume will be Walter Trego I.

All the best,
Walter Trego I
March 19th, 2002

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