currently exhibiting at Gibson Gallery in Seattle
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
City Stills
I'm in Seattle shooting the streets. Good light here. The blog will be still for the next few days...
Self-Portrait, 1901 by Jacques-Henri Lartigue,
currently exhibiting at Gibson Gallery in Seattle
currently exhibiting at Gibson Gallery in Seattle
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Willard Clyde Feldman 1923-2009
Willard C. Feldman died in his sleep Saturday. He was 85. His contributions to photography were enormous, and he will be missed.
San Francisco, 1943, Willard Feldman
Although he was probably best known for his early and innovative adoption of color, Feldman left a wide legacy that is beyond categorization. His early career in the 1940s focused mainly on under-represented segments of society. It wasn't until the early 1960s with Life and Look magazines that his signature use of color really developed. In an era of staid traditionalism he embraced camera shake, lightleaks, and unconventional framing.
Seals Stadium, 1955, Willard Feldman
This continued through the 1970s and 1980s as his work somehow became both increasingly radical and uninflected. In 1989 he abruptly abandoned color to return exclusively to b/w, this time using large format lithography film to make his famous livestock studies. To the end he never stopped exploring, and he was creating new photographs right up until his last days.
Church, 1969, Willard Feldman
Although his photographs are widely distributed in collections, Feldman always flew a bit under the radar. He retired from public view in the early 1990s and much of his work is barely remembered today. That he was not computer savvy didn't help. It's very difficult to find anything about him online, either biographical or actual images. But that shouldn't diminish his legacy.
He is survived by his wife, two sons, and 7 grandchildren. Truly he was a giant in the field and an inspiration to all.
George and Monroe Feldman, 1974 by Willard Feldman
Although he was probably best known for his early and innovative adoption of color, Feldman left a wide legacy that is beyond categorization. His early career in the 1940s focused mainly on under-represented segments of society. It wasn't until the early 1960s with Life and Look magazines that his signature use of color really developed. In an era of staid traditionalism he embraced camera shake, lightleaks, and unconventional framing.
This continued through the 1970s and 1980s as his work somehow became both increasingly radical and uninflected. In 1989 he abruptly abandoned color to return exclusively to b/w, this time using large format lithography film to make his famous livestock studies. To the end he never stopped exploring, and he was creating new photographs right up until his last days.
Although his photographs are widely distributed in collections, Feldman always flew a bit under the radar. He retired from public view in the early 1990s and much of his work is barely remembered today. That he was not computer savvy didn't help. It's very difficult to find anything about him online, either biographical or actual images. But that shouldn't diminish his legacy.
He is survived by his wife, two sons, and 7 grandchildren. Truly he was a giant in the field and an inspiration to all.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
What To Do? #42
125. Emmett at Laughing Planet, 2008
126. Emmett in the Jetta, 2008WTD? is a weekly installment of old unseen b/w photos.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Variations on Hurter-Driffield
HD characteristic curve for Tri-X film:
Recognition curve:
Street photography curve:
Curve for everyone but Josef Sudek:
Life curve:
Zen curve:
Recognition curve:
Street photography curve:
Curve for everyone but Josef Sudek:
Life curve:
Zen curve:
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
American Prospects Revisited
One of the attractive aspects of American Prospects is that many of its photos depict the aftermath of dramatic events. I don't know if Sternfeld carried a police scanner on his cross country travels but at the very least he was paying close attention to headlines and steering the car accordingly. His journey seemed equally informed by Uncommon Places and Naked City.
Yet unlike Weegee he was no news photographer. Rather than explaining situations, his photographs tended to muddy them. Images of a car upside down in a gulch or firefighter buying produce, e.g., leave the viewer wondering "What the F_ is going on here?"
Simply Add Boiling Water, 1937, Weegee
McLean, Virginia, December 1978, Joel Sternfeld
If he was no Weegee, neither was he Shore. The photographs of Uncommon Places are so drily descriptive that they are better referenced by Google Street View than by newspaper accounts. In contrast, Sternfeld was drawn to specific events.
With the digitizing and archiving of old newspapers these events can now be revisited and seen from the perspective of their times. Seen, in other words, as Sternfeld saw them. Perhaps finally after all these years we can gain a sense of "What the F_ is going on here?"
Back in June I made an initial probe in this direction, investigating the back story of Sternfeld's whale shot. A few months later Michael David Murphy wrote a similar profile on insig.ht, this time about Sternfeld's elephant-in-the-road photo. 
That's two down, leaving several dozen to go.
This post begins a new series investigating some of Sternfeld's shots through the lens of old news articles, beginning with After a Tornado, Grande Isle, Nebraska, June 1980 (image 23 in the 2003 version of AP). Here is the image (sorry for the poor scan):
After a Tornado, Grande Isle, Nebraska, June 1980, Joel Sternfeld
And here is the situation as described by The Toledo Blade in an article published June 4, 1980:
I'll have more Sternfeld photos to follow in the upcoming weeks...
Yet unlike Weegee he was no news photographer. Rather than explaining situations, his photographs tended to muddy them. Images of a car upside down in a gulch or firefighter buying produce, e.g., leave the viewer wondering "What the F_ is going on here?"
If he was no Weegee, neither was he Shore. The photographs of Uncommon Places are so drily descriptive that they are better referenced by Google Street View than by newspaper accounts. In contrast, Sternfeld was drawn to specific events.
With the digitizing and archiving of old newspapers these events can now be revisited and seen from the perspective of their times. Seen, in other words, as Sternfeld saw them. Perhaps finally after all these years we can gain a sense of "What the F_ is going on here?"
Back in June I made an initial probe in this direction, investigating the back story of Sternfeld's whale shot. A few months later Michael David Murphy wrote a similar profile on insig.ht, this time about Sternfeld's elephant-in-the-road photo. 
That's two down, leaving several dozen to go. This post begins a new series investigating some of Sternfeld's shots through the lens of old news articles, beginning with After a Tornado, Grande Isle, Nebraska, June 1980 (image 23 in the 2003 version of AP). Here is the image (sorry for the poor scan):
And here is the situation as described by The Toledo Blade in an article published June 4, 1980:
I'll have more Sternfeld photos to follow in the upcoming weeks...
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