When my father retired he took up the Clarinet, which he had played during the Swing Band era many years earlier. He found a retired Clarinet player and started taking lessons. The teacher told my father that on the Clarinet, the most important thing is to have a good tone. “People will listen to just about anything you play, if your tone is beautiful”.
Here’s an illustration of that principle, an Edward Weston portrait which I saw today for the first time. I doubt everyone would see this as a good portrait: it’s crooked, the lady is looking out of the photo, etc.
It’s only a JPG file but there’s something extraordinary about the placement of tones next to one another: this was one of Weston’s magical powers and Brett had it too. The original must be very striking, especially as a super sharp 8x10 contact print.
Bessie Jones, 1941
Edward Weston
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