Paul Strand photo, "Young Boy."

[Richard Reynolds]

I am fascinated by how Strand made this photograph! I'm sure that someone in this forum has done simular work, and I'd like a hint as to what direction to head to achieve a simular effect.

[Curt]

Specifically what? It's a platinum print from a sitting done in France in 1951. The boy is staring directly into the lens. The background is a wall of weathered wood. The masters touch and decades of photographing people and places are what makes the difference.

Having seen the works, many prints, by Paul Strand I place him on the top of the list of the greatest photographers in the history of photography.

[Ken Lee]

"I am fascinated by how Strand made this photograph!"

Although it is sometimes shown cropped closely to the vertical, the whole photo is horizontal. (My memory may be off, but I seem to recall a giant banner hanging on the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with a vertical version of the portrait, when the Strand retrospective exhibit showed in 1971).

Based on the full image's aspect ratio of roughly 5:6, it was probably made on his 5x7 Graflex camera (permanently masked to 5x6), with a 300mm Dagor lens (the only lens he used for decades).

If we can find a similar subject, background, and lighting, and make a competent Large Format photograph - well exposed/developed/printed and toned similarly - we can make something vaguely similar. While the technical part is more readily attained, the artistic vision and inspiration are another matter entirely.

[Bill_1856]

[COLOR="Blue"][I]" it was probably made on his 5x7 Graflex camera (permanently masked to 5x6), with a 300mm Dagor lens (the only lens he used for decades).

I thought it was a 10" Dagor? Used same focal length on both his 5x7 Home Portrait Graflex and 8x10.

[Ken Lee]

Paul Strand: Esaays on His Life and Work
Print Making by Richard Benson, page 104 (emphasis mine)

"Strand adopted two cameras, the 8x10 inch view camera and the 5x7 inch Graflex, and he used these two machines, without variation or exception, from roughly 1920 almost to 1960 ... this camera, now a 5x6 rather than a 5x7, used one lens only, a 12-inch Goerz Dagor"

George Eastman House - Paul Strand/Technique (emphasis mine)

"In 1911, on his European trip, Strand used an Adams Idento with an Identoscope as a hand camera to produce 3¼ x 4¼ glass negatives. The contact positives were enlarged to 8 x 10 negatives and then prints made from these.

Following this period, Strand adopted two cameras, the 8 x 10 inch view camera (8 x 10" Korona view camera) and the 5 x 7 inch Graflex (4 x 5"? and 5 x 7" Graflex cameras), and he used them "without variation or exemption from roughly 1920 to 1960".

Strand always used a Graflex on a tripod to make instantaneous exposures. He put a mask on the camera back and the ground glass to alter the format to approximately 5 x 6 inches, which he felt, like 8 x 10, to possess the "right" proportion of a picture. This camera, now a 5 x 6, rather than a 5 x 7, used one lens only, a 12-inch Goerz Dagor.

In a later stage, Strand began to work with a roll-film camera in addition to the previous formats."

For what it's worth, I have several of his books - like Living Egypt, Tir A Mhurain, Un Paese - and from what I can tell, all the photos are either 5x6 or 8x10. The 5x6 images appear to have been made with a slightly long-focus lens, and the 8x10 images made with a normal lens. This would confirm the assertion that he only used a 300mm lens on those two cameras.

[Bill_1856]

Paul Strand: Esaays on His Life and Work
Print Making by Richard Benson, page 104 (emphasis mine)

"Strand adopted two cameras, the 8x10 inch view camera and the 5x7 inch Graflex, and he used these two machines, without variation or exception, from roughly 1920 almost to 1960 ... this camera, now a 5x6 rather than a 5x7, used one lens only, a 12-inch Goerz Dagor"

George Eastman House - Paul Strand/Technique (emphasis mine)

"In 1911, on his European trip, Strand used an Adams Idento with an Identoscope as a hand camera to produce 3¼ x 4¼ glass negatives. The contact positives were enlarged to 8 x 10 negatives and then prints made from these.

Following this period, Strand adopted two cameras, the 8 x 10 inch view camera (8 x 10" Korona view camera) and the 5 x 7 inch Graflex (4 x 5"? and 5 x 7" Graflex cameras), and he used them "without variation or exemption from roughly 1920 to 1960".

Strand always used a Graflex on a tripod to make instantaneous exposures. He put a mask on the camera back and the ground glass to alter the format to approximately 5 x 6 inches, which he felt, like 8 x 10, to possess the "right" proportion of a picture. This camera, now a 5 x 6, rather than a 5 x 7, used one lens only, a 12-inch Goerz Dagor.

In a later stage, Strand began to work with a roll-film camera in addition to the previous formats."

For what it's worth, I have several of his books - like Living Egypt, Tir A Mhurain, Un Paese - and from what I can tell, all the photos are either 5x6 or 8x10. The 5x6 images appear to have been made with a slightly long-focus lens, and the 8x10 images made with a normal lens. This would confirm the assertion that he only used a 300mm lens on those two cameras.

My apologies, Ken.
I away from home and my Paul Strand books, (a week in Key West, poor thing), and I just disremembered Richard Benson's quote.
Old age and an honest mistake.
Bill

[Greg Blank]

Paul Strand's work has influenced my own probably the most at the eariest part of my photo history. I saw his work in The National Gallery in 1990.The show in conjunction with the Aperture Foundation had a very impressive body of his work. Strand was a junior contemporary of Adams and Weston. Strand's earliest work to recall was done on factory made Platinum which in those days one could purchase just like silver papers. From what I remember he also did make his own paper for a time an then moved to utilizing silver papers. All of the images impressed me but I especially like the Landscape, and close up industrial shots. But his portraiture is fabulous also. The influence I took away was more relative obtaining the contrast and tonality of the prints. Obsessing on how to achieve that luminous quality and contrast range on a consistent basis.

[Curt]

"As a teenager, Adams decided to become a concert pianist, but by 1930, after viewing negatives made by east coast photographer Paul Strand, he chose instead a career in photography. His decision to become a full-time photographer contributed to the formation of a new vision in photography in the West."

Quoted in many periodicals and in Adams and Strands own books. He wasn't junior to anyone, he worked right through Alfred Stieglitz who showed his work in the gallery 291 and in his Camera Work. His film Manhattan was the first avante-garde film in America.

[tgtaylor]

"...and I'd like a hint as to what direction to head to achieve a simular effect."

I'm just speculating but he is a good looking kid and that no nonsense piercing look is probably his walking around face. When their paths intersected Strand, being the photographer he was, immediatly saw the potential for a strong portrait, got the kid to pose and probably coaxed him in maintaing that look if the kid started to wimp out in front of the camera.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gallery_alternative/show

[MIke Sherck]

If I could find a combined exhibit of Strand, Cunningham and Weston, I'd have to bring my sleeping bag and Occupy the place.

Living here in the Midwest as I do, I've seen some Westons on exhibit, a couple of Strands, but nothing from Imogene Cunningham. The local arts scene begins and ends with painters... *Sigh*

Mike