The Photographer Edward Weston question

[Turner Reich]

Merg, thank you.

[William Barnett-Lewis]

Merg, while I can sympathize. Yet, OTOH...

The other day I can dragged to a ground breaking ceremony at a place I really don't care much about either way. It was easiest to simply be present and make my wife happier. Since I'd just gotten my Calumet CC-400 & Symmar 135/5.6, I figured some shots of the action might just be a good way to break it in and give me some practice.

So I'm there, near the back having found a nice elevated position I was going to look down over the ceremony & the watchers from. I get talking to a couple of the official photographers. Then the publicity person comes over and the next thing I know I'm shanghied into shooting the main event from front & center... :bang: So here I am, first time out with a new camera & lens being volunteered...

I get set up. I meter. I focus. I get the lens set. I put in the film holder & pull the first dark slide. W/out thinking too much about it, I put the darkslide in my shirt pocket. They took awhile to get through their speaches (no surprise, that, hey? ) so I decided to double check the metering. I got back to the camera & found an older gentleman coming up to me.

He looks down at the camera & comments that it's been a long time since he'd seen a Calumet. We begin talking and it turns out that a) in 1957 (or 58?) he worked for a year as the assistant to O. Winston Link and then b) he was Mr. Link's agent for the last 7 years of Mr. Link's life. That became a wonderful conversation about LF techniques & history - it was really fun, for example, to hear about the banks of flash bulbs they'd use (3 banks of 60 #2 (!!!) bulbs was common).

I eventually managed to get 4 acceptable shots off

But my real reason for mentioning this is simply that you can never know where & when old, seemingly unimportant, trivial bits might inspire someone. If nothing else, journal your memories so that just maybe the rest of us might appreciate them someday.

Ok, I'll stop blathering now.

William

[Merg Ross]

William-

Good story, and your point is well taken.

Thanks,
Merg

[Bill_1856]

"I got back to the camera & found an older gentleman coming up to me.
He looks down at the camera & comments that it's been a long time since he'd seen a Calumet. We begin talking and it turns out that a) in 1957 (or 58?) he worked for a year as the assistant to O. Winston Link and then b) he was Mr. Link's agent for the last 7 years of Mr. Link's life. That became a wonderful conversation about LF techniques & history - it was really fun, for example, to hear about the banks of flash bulbs they'd use (3 banks of 60 #2 (!!!) bulbs was common). "

William, earlier this month, I visited the O. Winston Link Museum in Roanoke, VA. IMO it's the best small museum I've ever visited (and I've been in them all over the Western world). I even had double luck, as a David Plowden show was also up. Definitely worth a special trip.

[Mike Davis]

"I got back to the camera & found an older gentleman coming up to me.
He looks down at the camera & comments that it's been a long time since he'd seen a Calumet. We begin talking and it turns out that a) in 1957 (or 58?) he worked for a year as the assistant to O. Winston Link and then b) he was Mr. Link's agent for the last 7 years of Mr. Link's life. That became a wonderful conversation about LF techniques & history - it was really fun, for example, to hear about the banks of flash bulbs they'd use (3 banks of 60 #2 (!!!) bulbs was common). "

William, earlier this month, I visited the O. Winston Link Museum in Roanoke, VA. IMO it's the best small museum I've ever visited (and I've been in them all over the Western world). I even had double luck, as a David Plowden show was also up. Definitely worth a special trip.

I didn't even know about this museum. It looks like I might have a full day planned for this weekend.

Mike

[Turner Reich]

Lives of great men all remind us, we can make our lives sublime, and, departing, leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

But my real reason for mentioning this is simply that you can never know where & when old, seemingly unimportant, trivial bits might inspire someone. If nothing else, journal your memories so that just maybe the rest of us might appreciate them someday.

On the other hand no one is compelled to leave anything and that's OK too. Perhaps we don't want or need to hear anything that might inspire. There are very few great men but plenty of the other type.

[Wayne]

As to Edward not speaking in the movie, and I have seen other comments on this point, there was a reason. At his stage with Parkinson's, speech was difficult. When I was with him in the early 1950's, his voice was a whisper.

I think I have been the most vocal critic of this aspect of the film. I think a few words would have added to the sense of humanity which the film lacks. Without it the film seems to me a rather cold, distant portrait of someone who we WANT to know better, who we want to speak, even if only a few frail, hushed words. I think it was a big mistake for Van Dyke not to include him saying something, anything at all. It would have made the difference between a fair to mediocre documentary and a pretty decent one. On the other hand if it was EWs decision then I have to respect that.


Wayne

[John Hannon]

I just got my copy of the DVD and enjoyed seeing him working in the field and the darkroom. A photo of Edward is included with the DVD and I was saddened to see how frail he looked.

Thanks Merg and everyone for sharing stories.

--John