Which lens use Jock Sturges

[Sabine Brenner]

Hello,

can anybody tell me which lens (producer, length) take Jock Sturges for his lovely portraits?
I think his camera is a 8x10 Deardorff (with front-swing?).

Thank you very much,

greetings from gemany,

Sabine Brenner

[Henry Friedman]

If your goal is to produce work that looks like his, take care. Use of the same camera/lens/film/etc will not guarantee results that look like Jock Sturges or anyone else. Find your own path.

[John Kasaian]

Sabine,

Henry's correct. I believe Sturges shoots an 8x10 Deardorff. I don't recall the lens, but I'm thinking its a Commercial Ektar(14"?)---I could be wrong but its a great lens for that kind of "look."

[Michael Jones]

I believe he uses a 250mm Wide Field Ektar.

Mike

[Anthony Windsor]

The welfare state is self-propagating. Socialism installed by default, by destroying industry.

[tim atherton]

I know at times (his Irish schoolchildren portraits) he has used a metal Kodak Master 8x10 and a Fujinon 250mm 6.7 lens - which, among other things, would certainly help give the lovely look his portraits have. I also recall he shoots hundreds and hundreds of sheets of film over a summers work.

I think he also uses a Nikkor-M 300 f9. I believe he used a number of different lenses in the past - the 250mm WF Ektar in some of his earlier work for example.

If you hunt the archives here, you'll find threads on his printing too.

[tim atherton]

"If your goal is to produce work that looks like his, take care. Use of the same camera/lens/film/etc will not guarantee results that look like Jock Sturges or anyone else. Find your own path."

it least it makes a change from all the Ansel Adams/Edward Weston clones... :-)

[Donald Brewster]

He is/was a long time user of a 8x10" Metal Kodak Master View Camera and 10" WF and 14" Commercial Ektar, at least in the book notes and photos I've seen. Lots of hand held reflectors.

[David A. Goldfarb]

"it least it makes a change from all the Ansel Adams/Edward Weston clones... :-)"

That's the problem. Ansel tried a 14" Commercial Ektar once, but when he got back to the darkroom and processed the sheets, he'd discovered that all the rock formations looked like nude teenagers. Sturges did indeed have a 10" WF Ektar in his collection, but he only used it once or twice and then set it aside upon discovering that all his portrait subjects and figure studies came out looking like Half Dome.

[Paddy Quinn]

"That's the problem. Ansel tried a 14" Commercial Ektar once, but when he got back to the darkroom and processed the sheets, he'd discovered that all the rock formations looked like nude teenagers. Sturges did indeed have a 10" WF Ektar in his collection, but he only used it once or twice and then set it aside upon discovering that all his portrait subjects and figure studies came out looking like Half Dome."

More likely that well known Scottish mountain formation "Maiden's Paps" ( in Roxburghshire, now the Borders among others)