Vittorio Sella: Summit

[Darin Cozine]

I was in a new/used book store in Santa Cruz over the weekend. I came across a book of photos by Vittorio Sella titled 'Sumit'. He did some amazing work while climbing mountains the likes of the Matterhorn, K2, and others. QT has a good reveiw here.

One of the amazing things about this work was that it was done from 1890-1909.
I was wondering if anyone knew what type of equipment he used during that period. I would think that lenses would have been prone to flare from the snow, shutters frozen shut, and film plates subject to warping and moisture.

I did not get to buy the book (since it was in the new section). I would like to hear about the hardships and solutions with turn-of-the-century technology.

[Keith S. Walklet]

His accomplishments with a camera are equally celebrated as are his MO. Not to diminish his accomplishments--which are extraordinary given the state of equipment at the time--but he didn't travel light, having Sherpas haul his gear, including a full-size brass bed, whereever he was photographing.

[Hans Berkhout]

how does explain his skies, assuming he used ortho film?

[Pete Caluori]

Vittorio is one of my favorite vintage photographers. A brief description of some of his equipment is in the back of the book Summit; it was all ULF.

Regards, Pete

[John Kasaian]

Darin,
Signor Sella's first "mountain camera" was borrowed. Most of his famous photos were done on glass plates. 30x36cm format which was used in the panorama from the summits of Monte Mars in1879, and later in 1882 a 30x40cm camera bought from Dallmeyer of London (built for Sella)was the camera he used for at least the next 15 years(there is a footnote in that book somewhere that Sella found the 24x30cm format too square!) He also had an enlarger illuminated(I think I recall reading somewhere) by the sun.

[Tad Cornwell]

Sella and his work are inspirational. As well as Bradford Washburn's work. But I admire Sella's work perhaps more due to his tenacity and willingness to haul the immense LF equipment.

BTW, the brass bed was a regular part of the expedition ammenities of the Duke of the Abruzzi!

[Bob_5791]

I was just going to add the note of the bed as well... indeed, 6 porters were needed to get it from place to place.
Having been to K2 and the Baltoro region myself, hauling a 6x9cm Brooks Veriwide and loads of Ilford B/W film, my respect for Sella grew more and more. I consider him top notch in this field of play, together with Ansel Adams. Adams had the advantage of more refined equipment though as in the early years of the last century there was a tremendous development in gear and material. While Sella had to prepare his own emulsions on glass plates [30x40cm !], Adams already used sheets. Impressive as a "Monolith, face of Half-Dome" still is to me, it was done in 1927. The panoramas on Concordia on the Baltoro Glacier date from 1909 and that's still some considerable gap in time, gearwise.
I'd settle for making a "Monolith" any day, don't get me wrong. It is still one of my absolute icons, being a photographer as well as being a climber. But Google up the cover of Sella's book "Summit". It depicts the brutal face of Siniolchu, a mountain close to Kangchenjunga [Nr. 3 on the list of highest mountains on the globe]. Ask any climber who's ever been there and they'll admit it is the best portrayal ever of that magnificent wall.