Category: on photographers

Following Old Trails

Posted on Posted in olden ways, on photographers, the arc, The Biz, the fora, the Lab, The Why, Theory1 Comment

following another’s footsteps makes you a tourist not a guide

Arriving Late

You may miss the plot, the arc of what came before, and think the ending is the story.

//

You begin in the footsteps of others; you walk behind them before you make your own path. you follow their path, retaking their footsteps, you learn how to do it: you follow the technical. the technical, if it’s amidol and azo, lead you into a narrowing market space; an expensive place in which you have to solve technical and  the economic, before you can set yourself free enough to solve your own problems; the problems that you define. This dalliance keeps the romance without requiring esthetic commitment. To keep yourself from realizing this, you rationalize the affair, calling it Printmaking.

The Printmaker Excuse

thinking that the problem to solve is just a printmaker one, your task becomes making yourself into a printmaker. this is codeword for saying you don’t have to have an image concept, an origin aesthetic; rely upon an aesthetic concept that’s been done. You can follow the prepared guidebook. Picture types come prepared with payment. you already know what you’re going to point the camera at. Maybe a rock, or sunset, a girl..

How bout a girl on a rock at sunset

massArtistsLF.001Unless you are a Carnie. Most long time participants in online photo forums limit their discussion to method and technique. They never understand this limits their growth. Carnie is one longtime dedicated participant. He serves as archtypical printmaker. As he notes: Now I just have to think of a subject.

 

Simple Complex

The simplified process of Weston becomes a complicated process without a manufacture. Mistaking the wand for the magic. No one bemoans the end of Weston’s light bulb, neither do they ask the type of contact frame used. Charis on a dune, with perfect drop shadow is more important than bulb, camera, developer, or paper. Translation is never better by reading a more accurate dictionary.

Take What You Need

Rather than taking from Weston the specifics, take the general, the bigger constant — work simply, but work a lot. Use what is at hand until it runs out. Then find another.

What Weston did was point his camera well. He, also, was first on the calendar; it was his footprint you saw on the dune. If you’re going to follow, follow the awareness, not the technical.  — that is the artist’s move, not the salesman’s gambit.

References & Notes

early printing was platinum requiring contact prints, which he abandoned when it became scares and expensive. He switched to Azo and Amidol in California. [Newhall 1984, p. 110.]

  • weston bad portrait studio .. retail portraits need retouching . big neg makes easier
  • contact prints on slow paper
  • paper no longer produced
  • weston switches paper, but keeps camera
  • improves exposure quickly adopting Weston meter. more single negative exposures. cheaper, easier field work.. more images
  • At Pt Lobos he worked on the edge of the coast.. a long distant horizontal — down was detail, up was the line — the distance marker.

webionaire links AMIDOL CHLORIDE PAPER

[3 of 3: Nov 10, 17]

Texas Photographic Open House

Posted on Posted in nowhere, on photographers, the meta, the When Where

9.21.17 Dallas; tagview: Congenial gathering. I recommend you go, I would attend another such, although I wouldn’t join TPS [not a joiner]

The TPS is older than its name, coming into existence out of the need for group purchasing during the 70s. In 1984 that group became the Texas Photographic Society, a “not-for-profit.” This past week, I attended an open house held at Dallas Center for Photography (DCP).

dcp doorway
welcome table
amy opens
overview

We were early visitors; there, with most of the tables set up, prints laid out. I didn’t see any other guests, my count of people approximated my count of sets of prints. We had been there about 15 minutes when Amy provided introductory welcome and remarks. It seemed a group of people who were familiar with each other, so much so that they gathered into a large group to talk, leaving their portfolios to speak to any guest, such as Annie and me.
We made two rounds; stopping to pick cards from those interesting portfolios.
Portfolio tours are familiar to me, but not in a club climate. Art school is spent looking, talking, sorting, and rearranging work. Not so this gathering. These were people who filled time with friends, friendships formed because of shared interest. The proficiency level differences weren’t as great as the esthetic differences. There were distinct attract, and satisfy levels to the work presented.
I never met the people who’s work most engaged me. After about half hour, and no additional people entering, Annie and I left. A typical ‘Plex outing: more time on the road than in the event.

My grouping:

tps_5640
my preference

The most interesting work is even more interesting on the web — the sites show clearly the range of ability and duration of their commitment; more so than a table at a photo friends gathering.

  • michaelepner.com. /// was at Kodak… uses scanner
  • shawnsaumell.com. //// mfa painter … these two used same art card.

along with the also present:

  • besstphoto.com   // interesting but why such timid work
  • cabdphotography.com // site not yet up 9.22.17 (still gathering legs)

Those are the ones I’ve put into my follow folder. The people who made extensive use of film, or software didn’t add anything to my time, so you will have to find out about them from others.

 

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unedited notes:

what are the divisions? between prints and cheese, can we tell the will of the artist or the whisper. // an event, a space, populated // the micro of artworld. social space. food. table. work in familiar boxes.// witness not testament