Timothy O'Sullivan KIng Survey Photos

[Richard Wasserman]

http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/exhibition/kingsurveywork

I went to the Art Institute of Chicago today to see O'Sullivan's photographs he did in 1868-1872 for the King Survey. These are primarily 8x10, with a few smaller stereo views, all wet plate collodion printed on Albumem paper. Some stunning work. Everyone should go take a look.

There were a few images he shot inside a silver mine, using the stereo camera because it was smaller and a bit easier to use in the cramped conditions of the mine than 8x10. He used magnesium flares for light, and then made enlarged negatives from the 3 1/2 inch square originals to produce about 10 inch square prints. This was 1868! How did he enlarge them? Did enlargers of any kind exist then, and what kind of light source would have been used? I'm thinking it had to be the sun, but am not familiar with the needed equipment.

[Vaughn]

Solar enlarger?

http://notesonphotographs.org/index.php?title=Solar_Enlarger

[Richard Wasserman]

Looks like a likely candidate. I was not aware of these, thanks Vaughn.

[Bill_1856]

Edward Weston enlarged his 3.25x4.25 Graflex images by making an 8x10 internegative with his view camera. I'm not sure exactly how he did it (neither is anyone I've asked, including his family), but my guess is that he made contact prints from the original negative, and photographed them. He was known to use a Verital lens somewhere in the process, adjusting the "softness" to get the final result he wanted.
O'Sullivan could have done it the same way.
Wish I could see the exhibit -- he is my favorite photographer from the Civil War/Western Frontier period.

[John Jarosz]

I looked at the catalog briefly when I was there, but didn't buy it (Amazon has it for $40 -approx). Making the larger prints may be described in there because the catalog is a very thorough accounting of the expedition. I recommend it.

OTOH, he may have simply made larger negs from original prints and contact printed those.

[tgtaylor]

I looked at the catalog briefly when I was there, but didn't buy it (Amazon has it for $40 -approx). Making the larger prints may be described in there because the catalog is a very thorough accounting of the expedition. I recommend it.


How does this catalog compare with Framing the West: The Survey Photographs of Timothy H. O'Sullivan that was published last year? Is it redundant or is it sufficiently different to justify purchase?

Thomas

[Richard K.]

Darn! I'll be going through Chicago again in Feb.! Is this a travelling exhibit? Stops?

[Kimberly Anderson]

How does this catalog compare with Framing the West: The Survey Photographs of Timothy H. O'Sullivan that was published last year? Is it redundant or is it sufficiently different to justify purchase?

Thomas

I am still reading the intro. I just picked it up again last night after putting it down for a few months.

Great essay in it BTW...

[Merg Ross]

http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/exhibition/kingsurveywork

There were a few images he shot inside a silver mine, using the stereo camera because it was smaller and a bit easier to use in the cramped conditions of the mine than 8x10. He used magnesium flares for light, and then made enlarged negatives from the 3 1/2 inch square originals to produce about 10 inch square prints. This was 1868! How did he enlarge them? Did enlargers of any kind exist then, and what kind of light source would have been used? I'm thinking it had to be the sun, but am not familiar with the needed equipment.

Perhaps he enlarged them as Weston did, half a century later. Sounds like a terrific exhibition.


Edward Weston enlarged his 3.25x4.25 Graflex images by making an 8x10 internegative with his view camera. I'm not sure exactly how he did it (neither is anyone I've asked, including his family), but my guess is that he made contact prints from the original negative, and photographed them. He was known to use a Verital lens somewhere in the process, adjusting the "softness" to get the final result he wanted.

Weston enlarged his backlit Graflex negatives with an 8x10 camera using a Verito lens, thus making an interpositive 8x10 onto a glass plate. He then contact printed this to film and subsequently made the positive print. This process was oten used for his portraits, and he adjusted the Verito just enough to soften the retouching of the smaller Graflex negatives.

Brett once told me that as a teenager, he had great fun sailing the glass plate interpositives into the backyards of unsuspecting neighbors. This may account for the abscence of EW glassplates, and for Brett's early introduction to local law enforcement.

[Richard Wasserman]

Darn! I'll be going through Chicago again in Feb.! Is this a travelling exhibit? Stops?

I don't know where it's headed next. You might ask the Nelson-Atkins Museum which organized the show. It's certainly worth seeing.

www.nelson-atkins.org