New Carleton Watkins Book

[tgtaylor]

https://www.amazon.com/Carleton-Watk...ustomerReviews

At a great price!

Thomas

[Peter Collins]

His work is in the dining room of the Big Trees Lodge, formerly the Wawona (and now that there is a settlement over use names, maybe soon the Wawona--again!). Wonderful!

[Tom Monego]

Reading it, I am finding it a little wordy, but it covers the historical background of when the photos were taken. Such as two close galleries one showing Watkins' Yosemite photos, the other Mathew Brady (Timothy O'Sullivan's) photos gore of the Chancellorsville battle in the Civil War, one was just down the street from the other in New York. It also covered how he could cover with emulsion a 18x24 glass for a wet plate, just amazing.

[tgtaylor]

Incredibly I ordered my copy Sunday and it's already out for delivery today. Just in time too as I am half-way through Peter Palmquist's book: Carleton E. Watkins: Photographer of the American West. Unlike AA, Watkins wasn't a big man - standing 5'6" and weighing just 130lbs in old age, Palmquist theorizes that he stood 5'7" and weighed 150 lbs in his prime years. It's nothing short of amazing that he worked with such a large and weighty camera - especially considering some of the locations that he photographer from such as from the summits of Shasta and Round Top.

Thomas

[agregov]

Interview podcast with the author here:

https://manpodcast.com/portfolio/no-...leton-watkins/

Also, Fraenkel Gallery will be opening a show of a dozen of his mammoth plates on the 12th.

https://fraenkelgallery.com/exhibiti...eton-e-watkins

[thegreatcornholio]

Great book, nicely written and loads of detail!

[tgtaylor]

One thing that I have been puzzling over lately is how did Watkins and other 19th century photographers who worked in the mammoth format level their camera? Were the tripods of the day adjustable in any way? Did they use a "tripod head" to level the camera? To level my 810 Toyo field camera, I first level the tripod which has adjustable legs and then level the camera which sits on a arca swiss ball head. For the 810G I again level the tripods adjustable legs and then level the camera which sits on a 3-way adjustable head. Without adjustable gear it seems to me they would have had to level using a spade which would have been a very tedious affair especially with cameras of that size.

Thomas

[Tin Can]

Some people can see level very well.

I used to.

But now I see curves. Looking at a straight edge known to be FLAT I now see it as warped both both ways!

Cataract +10 diopter lens implants changed things...

[Mark Sawyer]

Without adjustable gear it seems to me they would have had to level using a spade which would have been a very tedious affair especially with cameras of that size.

Considering the transportation issues, the need to set up a functional wet darkroom for every location, and the process itself, taking a minute or two to level whatever support was being used would be a minor effort by comparison. A simple pocket level or just "eyeballing" (that's my method, on a plain unlined gg) would suffice. Unfortunately, we still don't know much of the details about Watkins' equipment and working methods.

[karl french]

Change the angle of the tripod legs based on the terrain. Quick and easy once you do it a few times.