They are completely unknown to me, the darkrooms, were they permanent or did they use darkrooms in institutions? The two men are often noted as the greatest photographers in the World along with Edward Weston. We know that Weston was a minimalist in regard to the darkroom but what about Paul Strand and Alfred Steiglitz.
"Strand's darkroom was not elaborate. The sink was small, there was no timer; there was no idea that things had to be under control chemically or even that there was any right way to do things. When an enlarger finally crept into the darkroom [around 1950] dodging and burning started to happen regularly. . . . Strand kept careful darkroom records on his negative envelopes of the paper and developer used, the time of exposure and any manipulations carried out. Toward the end of his life he often made contact prints using the enlarger as a light source instead of using a simple bulb held above the contact frame." "Paul Strand - Essays on His Life and Work," Maren Strange, ed., essay by Richard Benson
Brian Ellis
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
a mile away and you'll have their shoes.
Sounds like Strand was an artist who used a camera, as opposed to a photographer trying to make art.
Strand sounds like my kind of photographer.
Strand didn't actually have a perminent darkroom until relatively late in his career. Apparently for years he worked in converted bathrooms and other people's diggings. I've never read it, but always presumed that his seminal work of 1916 were done in the public darkrooms of the NY Camera Club.
Wilhelm (Sarasota)
I figured Richard Benson would know as I read at one time Benson printed Strand's negatives in Strand's darkroom.
Does anyone know if their darkrooms, houses, or galleries are in existence today as a place to visit? I know that Strand did not have a gallery, but... It would be kind of cool to actual to see the tools these guys actually used to execute there craft.
.Does anyone know if their darkrooms, houses, or galleries are in existence today as a place to visit? I know that Strand did not have a gallery, but... It would be kind of cool to actual to see the tools these guys actually used to execute there craft
Wouldn't it be incredible to see what they looked like, Ansel Adams and Edward Weston's darkrooms are preserved but some of the greats only have a footnote at best in history.
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