Picker and the New England Esthetic

[Kirk Gittings]

Sandy, "I would highly recommend the book, Landscape as Photography, by Estelle Jussim and Elizabeth Lindquist-Cock". That book was has influenced my thinking dramatically as has Barbara Novak's book Nature and Culture from about the same time.

Mark, "Kirk- did your thesis confront the dichotomy of the east-west approaches to the image? And is it accessible anywhere?" My master's thesis like so many others is an unpublished academic paper. The central point in my thesis is that American landscape photography from the last century was the first uniquely American esthetic contribution to modern art as opposed to Abstract Expressionist painting which has been argued by so many post war academics. I think that Adam's and Weston and others taught the world to see in a new way.

[Kirk Gittings]

"I don't think that Weston should be lumped under the heading "West Coast Landscape Photographner." Most of his best work (still-lifes, portraits, nudes) were in fact studio shots, and could have been done anywhere."

Much of Weston's best work to my taste was landscape, particularly from Mexico and around Point Lobos, but there is more to it, at least to me......to me "natural landscape" is not the totality of "landscape" but landscape is more inclusive, say urban landscape for instance. I actually like to think of the pepper photograph as a landscape photograph-metaphorically speaking at least. Caponigro once wrote about "the landscape of the mind" a phrase that dissolves categories but to me describes something very real-a " landscape esthetic" state of mind.

To be honest I don't consider myself to be an "Architectural Photographer" even though that is what I am known for. I started out as a landscape photographer, architecture to me became simply something on the landscape that particularly interested me.

Also of course Picker is not in the same league as Strand and Caponigro, however he did do some good work and his influence was very evident in that show. he clearly has an esthetic legacy in New England. We should all hope for such a legacy.

[Steve Sherman]

I knew my zip code should start with an eight instead of a zero!

[Anthony Windsor]

It's like skiing, mountain biking, kayaking or other adventure sports. The big mountains and rivers of the West - along with abundant fair weather - make it easy. Eastern conditions are more difficult, and thus the practitioners are more dedicated and proficient.

There are more championship skiers and paddlers from the East, even though their sports are more popular in the West. Ask any ski school director who they rather hire - an Eastern or Midwestern skier who grew up skiing ice and rock on a 500 foot hill - or a Western powderpuff?

I'll argue the holds true in photography. There ain't much good work coming out of Carmel these days...

[Eric Biggerstaff]

Kirk,

I think the "East" school is really more of an influence of Minor White than Fred Picker. Minor of course had strong ties to Paul Strand, Alfred Stiegltz and Edward West (as did Adams, and lets not forget that Minor worked for Adams).

Minor used photography as a means of self exploration and thus his images are MUCH different than Adams who, in my view, wanted to use photography as a means of communicating the value of our natural world to a larger audience.

Minor didn't care if anyone saw his work as it was for himself, while Ansel wanted everyone to see his work as he was committed to protecting the environment. Both are of course great masters.

But the reason I would say Minor is a greater influence in the East is due to the fact that SO many of today's really strong photographers map their influence straight back to him. A sample is Paul Caponigro, Ron Rosenstock, George DeWolf, Jerry Uelsmann and William Clift. A pretty strong list who would say that Minor was their greatest influence.

Of course just az strong a list exists for the "West Coast" school. And lets not forget the good old mid-west where Aaron Siskind and Harry Callahan had such an important influence.

While Fred Picker was a solid photographer and a VERY solid business person, I am not sure of his influence on the the likes of Caponigro.

Jsut a few thoughts.

By the way all, it is nice to see some postings for issues other than technical for a change! The art of photography is SO SO much more.

Thanks,
Eric

[Eric Biggerstaff]

Oh by the way,

Anthony, I have been a technical rock climber of over 25 years and I am not so sure your statement about the East vs West is really very correct. :-)

Thanks,
Eric

[fred arnold]

I'll agree with Jorge in once sense: when I've visited the west, the relative aridity means that the landscape is relatively uncluttered. I've therefore found it much easier to shoot in Colorado, Utah, or California, than back in my native Pennsylvania. Frankly, we have a lot of shrubbery, undergrowth, and small scrub that looks messy and causes visual confusion, which I suspect encourages looking for smaller, more intimate, images. Of course, there are photographers like Elliot Porter who embraced the scrub, as I remember some very nice images of red-twigged dogwood in early spring along a river somewhere, which would have been a haze of lines in B&W, but resolved into subtle off-reds of the foreground and off-yellow of the rocks in the background.

So I suppose the answer is that we should stop watering New England, and let the landscape resolve itself into a less cluttered and more photogenic state.

This is, I suspect, similar to my noticing that the wide-angles come out of the bag in the west and urban environments, whereas the narrower-angles are useful in the PA/NY woods. This could, of course, also be nothing more than post-dinner philosophising, so take it for what it's worth.

[Kirk Gittings]

Eric said,

"While Fred Picker was a solid photographer and a VERY solid business person, I am not sure of his influence on the the likes of Caponigro."

You must have misread something. I can find no statement in this thread that suggests this. As a matter of record based on some of Picker's earlier writtings, I think Caponigro influenced Picker some what though. I did suggest that Picker, Caponigro and Strand have influenced subsequent generations of New England photographers. In particular if you saw the show at the VC conference, there was clear evidence in my opinion of Picker's influence.

[Bruce Watson]

Kirk,

I know exactly what you mean. I'm an east coast photographer, much of my work is what I think of as mid-scale landscape (as opposed to large-scale landscape ala St. Ansel, or small-scale flowers and table top work).

I think it's interesting how it permeates one. I seldom get to practice large-scale landscapes, so even when faced with huge beautiful vistas out west, I still tend to see mid-scale even in Yosemite Valley. It's pretty disconcerting. On the other hand, I see things that others walk right by because they are focused on the larger scale.

As to influences, while I credit St. Ansel for getting me into this mess called LF, and while I love the work of both Picker and White (and many others), my biggest influence has to be Eliot Porter - a true master of the mid-scale landscape. Yet, my main interest is B&W - go figure ;-)

[Bill_1856]

Until the 1970s, far many more west coast photographers had been influenced by Wm. Mortlison(sp) than by Weston or Adams. And where does Clyde Butcher's epic swamp images come it? (He's a transplanted Californian.)