I am finishing up Edward Weston's biography by Ben Maddow and was curious about a couple of things. First, is the film Willard Van Dyke made sti ll accessable on video? And, where would one look to find examples of his 8x10 color trannies?
There is a video called "Remembering Edward Weston", which has some B&W film footage of EW at work. It's available at www.photoeye.com. I don't know if it's the film shot by Willard Van Dyke.
There is a book of Weston's color work by Terrance Pitt published by the Center for Creative Photography. I assume it's out of print, but a library may have it or it may be available through used book dealers.
Yes its available for about $100 dollars. But-see a fairly recent (2-3 month old) post by me on a similar thread. In it I give my rather disgusted review of the film. I may have been a little harsh but it really is not worth seeing, IMO. I wouldnt pay more than $20 for it. It is not about Edward Weston the photographer, its about Edward Weston, 100 Proof American Patriot, who, oh yeah, just happens to photograph a little too. It was made in the post war, pre-cold war days, and well...I'm not going to rehash it all again. Not recommended unless you havent had your fill of patriotic propaganda lately.
The other film mentioned above is much better, much cheaper, and uses some of the Van Dyke footage without the "moral". I do recommend that one.
There was a thread here recently that linked to an article that even more of his color work had been found.
The book published by Center for Creative Photography was called Edward Weston, Color Photography. I picked one up on Ebay a year or two ago for about $15
The Van Dyke film titled "The Photographer" was begun in 1947 for The United States Informatiom Agency. A later film (around 1955-6) done by Lou Stoumen was titled "The Naked Eye" and had parts from the daybooks read by Raymond Massey.I am uncertain of their availability but you might check with the Center for Creative Photography which houses Weston's archive. The CCP book has 32 reproductions of the Ektachrome and Kodachrome transparencies. It was published in 1986 and may still be available from the Center. It was titled simply: Edward Weston/Color Photography.
I was trying to think of the third film, by Lou, but couldnt pull it out of my memory banks. I remember searching for The Naked Eye, and I discovered it is apparently not on video yet.
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