Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/12/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> The work looked >uniformly bad, the grain dominated and it was just so obvious that the >pictures were too big. Could this have been a deliberate, stylistic decision? Personally, I'm not favorably inclined towards hand-tinting, soft focus or exaggerated grain, but some folks are. I once spent an enjoyable hour in Galen Rowell's Mountain Light Photography. Not all of the prints on display had a big impact on me (some were too grainy or too contrasty-looked like Cibachromes), but I was really taken by both the composition and the execution of his polar bear cub shot, as it is nearly abstract and monochromatic, and I noted no technical distractions. In fact, I was so impressed that I *bought* an EverColor print of it and haven't begun to grow tired of seeing it. Image size is roughly 30 x 40 cm. As luck would have it, the photographer himself was onhand, and he gave me a bit of the background: Evidently, the polar bear WOKE UP as he was shooting, so it's iffy as to whether or not a larger, slower camera would've worked here :-) I'd highly recommend a visit if you find yourself in Emeryville, California. On a slightly different note, I don't know if it's very well known, but silver-gelatin prints from "original" (I took this to mean "working copies") negatives are available for many of Ansel Adam's Yosemite-related works at very reasonable prices. Besides being striking works of art in their own right, they do posssess a certain visual richness which is a delight to behold, even up close, even though the prints themselves are only sold in 8" x 10" size. Lovely as they are, images as printed in books cannot compare, as I quickly discerned in a side-by-side comparison. Photos can be mail ordered from The Ansel Adams Gallery aka: Best's Photo, in Yosemite Nat'l Park. Sorry, no phone number handy. Evidently, they are still being hand-made by former apprentices, so there can be a delay in delivery times. At least one of the photos (Moon Over Half Dome) was shot with a Hasselblad. This gallery/gift shop is also well worth a visit, and in this case, the surroundings aren't bad either :-) By the way, if anyone knows where I might see original images by Freeman Patterson, Cindy Sherman and John Sexton, could you e-mail me? Particularly interested in portfolios, if such exist. - --------------------------------------------------- Specialist in interesting, quality junk. Seeking Kiev 60 and Horizont-202 related items. - ---------------------------------------------------