Ken Lee knew him. I talked to him on the phone once.
Ken Lee knew him. I talked to him on the phone once.
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
i have a copy of his video on google cloud. Free download to anyone who wants it. Just PM me.
Principal Unix System Engineer, Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems
I took his workshop in 1984, and Bruce Barlow was at the same workshop. My strongest memory was the lesson he drilled into us, that if we had a question about something, try it! That was consistent with the earlier post which said he had little patience for students who didn't do the work; if you wondered how development time impacted a negative, or what different contrasts would do, try it and compare the results. I also remember another of his "rules," after you have found the best spot from which to make your photographs, take another two steps forward. He also had a wonderful collection of prints for us to admire and work towards, including favorites of his by Paul Strand, Paul Caponigro, and Oliver Gagliani. (I think the collection may have been at Lilian Farber's home, my memory is a bit hazy 36 years later.) And similar to Alan's post above, my darkroom is still something of a ZoneVI catalog, with his washer, his compensating development and enlarger timers, and his VC head. While I eventually traded my ZoneVI/Wista 4x5 for my current Canham DLC, I still use his modified Pentax spot meter all the time. Probably the only piece of equipment which I think was more marketing than substance was his "lightweight" (ha!) tripod, and I even own one of those. In my library I have the full set of newsletters, the little ZoneVI Workshop book, and two books of his images. While my "aesthetic" is very different from his, he had a huge impact on how I work.
Am still looking for the Zone VI crosscut Saw as I have some trees in the way at times when I want to take a picture. Anyone know where I can find one? Fred used one and I can't find my old Zone VI catalog.
Do I remember it right, Fred's motto was "If Ansel didn't do it, it can't be right"? ;-)
” Never attribute to inspiration that which can be adequately explained by delusion”.
Thanks for all the replies. Makes me wish I could travel back in time and sign up for one of his workshops. I just remembered that I have a Zone VI artifact — it’s a Zone VI film holder belt. I used it for years and need to dig it out of the closet. Zone VI cold light heads pop up on eBay occasionally. Do those have the V54 lamps?
If you haven't seen it you should try to watch his video on camera use. I think it's call "Photographing with Fred Picker".
Don't know about later versions, but the one that came with my Beseler 45MX enlarger does not. In later years, I bought an Aristo CL4500 unit which does have the V54 lamp. I've used that for many, many years. But, just recently I picked up an Aristo VCL4500 unit which doesn't have the V54 lamp, but does eliminate the need to change out filters. I'm really enjoying that aspect of it and how easily I can now burn/dodge with different contrasts of light simply by dialing it in.
During the ten day workshop Sunday was a day off. Dave ,Tim,and myself would go photographing. We stopped at a spot north of Rockingham Meeting house. When we walked into find photographic spots we found an area that had a cut window into the brush. This was the perfect spot to photograph the river gorge. Fred's doing.
Richard T Ritter
www.lg4mat.net
Maybe he used those cut scraps to make his worthless wooden tripods. Not every product was a home run.
Drew, why do you always have to rip on Fred? It's unseemly. I can't think of too many businesses where every product was a home run. And, yes, I've owned and happily used both of Zone VI's tripods.
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
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