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LIFE THROUGH THE LENS “Sometimes one feels one has hardly met somebody when you photograph them, because the camera comes between you; it can feel like a real separation: photographer and subject. Usually, it’s possible to find a way through, but sometimes, I’ve just taken the photo and left … there’s nothing more to say.” Dmitri Kasterine (1945, C) attended Radley College from 1945 to 1950, as Europe began its long recovery from the ravages of WWII. At Radley, Dmitri surrounded himself with contemporaries who shared his interest in the arts, particularly those who liked to read and write literature. His enduring passion for the literary world has manifested in the long list of acclaimed authors he has photographed: Roald Dahl, Tom Stoppard, Graham Greene, Muriel Spark, and Samuel Beckett to name only a few. At school, he set himself apart in the OTC (now CCF), and became Senior Under Officer towards the end of his Radley career. Academically, Dmitri professes that he ‘wasn’t a good student’, and considers music to have been his favourite subject, having, as he did, an exceptionally good piano teacher.
“It was extremely cold, and very harsh. In many ways, it was quite unpleasant. When I’ve spoken to young ORs, and from what I’ve seen in the RadSoc publications, it’s just a completely different place these days. In some ways, things at Radley back then were quite lax, and in others they were too strict. I was homesick, no doubt about it.” It was in his teens that Dmitri’s passion for photography began to grow, and he was not alone. Images captured during Princess Elizabeth’s visit to Radley in June 1947 include many that show boys clutching the box-like cameras of the period. Indeed, photography is at the heart of a vivid memory from his school years: a visit of the French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny to the school. De Lattre, 54
the old radleian 2023
