Very interesting...I've never studied Weston to any depth and haven't seen any of his architectural work or known that he had ever worked in Louisana or Mississippi.
Very interesting...I've never studied Weston to any depth and haven't seen any of his architectural work or known that he had ever worked in Louisana or Mississippi.
I was lucky enough to be in the Boston area for training and was able to see this exhibit shortly after it opened. I found it quite inspirational. I'd recommend that anyone who gets the chance to see it does so!
Wow this weird. I saw this exhibit today. Didn't realize they were showing his prints but managed to stroll through. Didnt blow my mind but his stuff is so overshown (along w/ the other bw mid century photographers) the iconic stuff loses its glimmer, so it was nice to see unknown work. Many images I'd never seen before, including an unexpected shot of a graveyard in my childhood town.
Also, Ori Gerscht very cool.
I think it helped that this was my first time seeing anything like this in person, rather than in a book, or online. I was blown away by the sharpness of his prints, and the level of detail in them. It has inspired me to try and get a good modern lens for my Deardorff V8, currently I only have two different length sets of Gundlach "Turner-Reich" Anastigmat convertible lens elements and a shutter they'll all fit in for a total of about 5 focal lengths. Though I have to finish sorting out being able to develop my own film before I worry about upgrading (nearly there, I think).
The exhibit I was there specifically to see was " Silver, Salt, and Sunlight Early Photography in Britain and France". I found it pretty amazing as well.
I wouldn't worry too much about new lenses for 8x10. Use your convertible at sharp stops and you'll get that sort of look. I don't know what he was using by the time Weston did these pictures, but in the 20s and the 30s he was using positively old fashioned lenses simply stopped down as far as he could.
He did use a Turner-Reich and a single element 19" protar, among others. So going to modern lenses to get the sharpness you were impressed by is a questionable route to take.
It's interesting looking at these. I always thought the Leaves of Grass project was Weston's biggest failure (maybe not counting the mountains of WW2 era cats, or the nudes in gas masks). But the pictures hold up on their own. I forgot how good some of them are. That's really the problem ... Weston's photos don't need any text, and Whitman's verse doesn't need any pictures. A mashup of their related, but independent and very different visions did not stand much chance.
Thanks for the comments, I plan to try my Deardorff with the lens I have using the better of the two sets of elements before making any decisions, and realistically stopped down the 'bad' set of elements should give decent results. I think I'm finally to the point where I simply have to buy some 8x10 film in order to start shooting.
Paul, that's an interesting observation. When I visited the exhibit, I was struck by how bizarre the project was. The inclusion of the Photographs (which seem totally unrelated) in a book of Walt Whitman's poetry seems most unusual. In viewing the exhibit, I didn't miss the lack of the poetry. Just like in reading the poetry, I suspect I'd find the photographs to be distracting.
I saw the exhibit last year in Birmingham AL; it was refreshing after seeing the usual [wonderful] suspects for years. I did not miss the poery, either.
Mike
“You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?”
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