I’ve been looking at photographs of Howard Carter walking in the desert. Carter was the discoverer (or I suppose rediscoverer), in 1922, of the tomb of Tutenkhamun.
I notice Carter’s walking stick in all the photographs, which might suggest he wasn’t a great walker, I don’t think it was just a style thing. But chiefly I noticed that he seems wildly overdressed for doing anything in the desert - the three piece suit – definitely herringbone, possibly tweed and of course the high collar and the bow tie, and sometimes the handkerchief in the breast pocket.
But maybe he only dressed up like this for a photo-op; these photographs look decidedly set up, and some of the other people in the photographs look overdressed too, especially the soldiers and the guy on the far right in the picture below who seems to be wearing jodhpurs. The guys who are doing the heavy lifting inevitably look more appropriately dressed for the occasion.
Then I started thinking about the few pictures that have been taken of me walking, and sometimes posing, in the desert. I look overdressed too. The one below was taken somewhere near Death Valley (I think) and I honestly don’t remember what the temperature was like, but evidently not exactly blazing.
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| Geoff Nicholson |
And this one was taken in the East Mojave desert in winter when I know it was absolutely freezing:
I can’t say I’ve ever tried to look very stylish or dressed up while walking in the desert, but then I’m no Howard Carter.
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