Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 11

Thread: Olivier Meriel in Lenswork

  1. #1

    Olivier Meriel in Lenswork

    My wife gave me a subscription to LensWork for Xmas. Today I got the issue #56, which has a portfolio by Olivier Meriel, who shoot 8x10 and 11x14 - he is French (with a name like that what else?), and I am really impressed with the work in the magazine.

    Would those of you who are much advanced be so kind as to look at the prints-he makes contacts, and see if you can figure out how he made these?

    I can do a crude approximation of the dark sky etc in Photoshop, but he is working in contacts, something I am getting into-got a box of AZO from Michael White, etc.

    I have never heard of this guy, but he is really really really good!

    I can guess about sepia, etc, but would be groping in the dark.

    You can download photos from www.lenswork.com, titled "Inland from Normandy" one of his best is on page 13.

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Posts
    49

    Olivier Meriel in Lenswork

    Herb,

    Gotta tell you something.


    http://largeformatphotography.info/lfforum/topic/500572.html


    Have a good day.

  3. #3

    Olivier Meriel in Lenswork

    Michael White?

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Dec 1997
    Location
    Baraboo, Wisconsin
    Posts
    7,697

    Olivier Meriel in Lenswork

    I looked at these pictures when LensWork arrived. I was appalled at the printing in some of them . Somewhere else I saw a discussion of these photographs and particularly the printing. Some people maintained that he really wanted big black blobs in the skies and other places, that it's part of his artistic vision. Maybe so, I don't know anything about the photographer but in my opinion the apparent haphazard burning looks so bad in some of them that I can't believe it was intentional. If it was then I think he's misguided because it's distracting and causes more attention to be paid to the printing technique (or apparent lack thereof) than to the photographs.
    Brian Ellis
    Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
    a mile away and you'll have their shoes.

  5. #5

    Olivier Meriel in Lenswork

    Funny,

    I enjoyed the photos a great deal! Not really my printing style, but they certainly evoked a dark emotion to them. ...more than some "safe" and "stale" B&W work.

  6. #6

    Olivier Meriel in Lenswork

    Thanks to ISO2 for the link. Great comments, and to William, it 's Michael Smith-it was late when I wrote the post.

    The comments on the link show such a spread of opinion (I hate the word diversity these days), but the reason for photos being "ART" is whether or not they evoke a feeling or emotion, if you like.

    As you can tell by my original post, the Meriel work did evoke an emotion, his stuff is dark and brooding for the most part, and it works for me, and as near as I can tell, the group says he is burning in during contact prints. I was not sure how that is done, as I am just gathering stuff to contact print after almost 50 years.

    The article did say he uses both 8x10 and 11x14.



    Is this a great forum, or what?

  7. #7

    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Posts
    49

    Olivier Meriel in Lenswork

    "Uses Kodak Ego and Dammitol for his prints."


  8. #8
    Abuser of God's Sunlight
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    brooklyn, nyc
    Posts
    5,796

    Olivier Meriel in Lenswork

    Michael White taught me how to photograph back in the day. I learned all about controlling contrast by peeing in the dammitol, and sharpness controll by taking steel wool to the back element of the lens. I know there's been a lot of discussion about his lenses; at the time he used a tack-sharp antichromatic metaphotar and rare-earth kodak emotagon.

  9. #9
    Mark Sawyer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Stuck inside of Tucson with the Neverland Blues again...
    Posts
    6,268

    Olivier Meriel in Lenswork

    I've spent hours searching for metaphotar and emotagon lenses on ebay, but I guess they're fairly rare. Still, when I find one, I bet it makes me a much better photographer. I'll go down to my local dealer on Monday and see if he can special order some Dammitol. Thanks for the information, everybody! This forum can be such a fountain of, ummm... knowledge.
    "I love my Verito lens, but I always have to sharpen everything in Photoshop..."

  10. #10

    Olivier Meriel in Lenswork

    I went to the local photo shop and they were out of Dammitol, but said they would have a few gallons in next week.

    Meantime, I went to Meriel's web site and looked at a lot of his stuff. After the few shots in Lenswork, the rest gets pretty Wagnerian, if not downright depressing.

Similar Threads

  1. Brooks Jensen on print pricing in Lenswork
    By Henry Ambrose in forum On Photography
    Replies: 72
    Last Post: 23-Jan-2006, 16:21

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •