Late Roll Call

[Jim Zietz <jzietz@unix1.sncc.lsu.edu>]

- - Jim Zietz, Age 41
- - Assistant Director, LSU Public Relations (I'm actually just a photographer)
- - Have lived in Baton Rouge all of my life, but my parent's are Yankee's
(Wisconsin and New Jersey).
- - Married for almost 18 years, with a son, 16, who seems to have no
interest in photography, even though both of his parents are photographers.
My wife has an MFA in photography, but I am pretty much self-taught.
- - I was coaxed into photography in 1969 by two friends who wanted me to
shoot for the high-school yearbook with them. They are both MD's now, and I
am still a photographer.
- - I shot for all of the student publcations at LSU as a student. I ran a
darkroom for Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service as well as worked in a
darkroom for the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine.
- - After graduation, I worked part-time as a medical photographer for the
Vet School and started to freelance, doing editorial and commercial work.
In 1982, I was hired at LSU Public Relations as the head of the photography
department. I continued to freelance, to make ends meet. When my wife went
in to graduate school, I was working 60 to 70 hours a week. I burned out,
and lost a lot of my early enthusiasm for photography. The computer came
into our department in the late 80's and offered a fresh approach to making
images. I now manage about 20 Macintosh computers and spend about half of
my time working with photos electronically. I have quit freelancing. I
usually have a couple of long-term projects going. A book was just
published on the history of Louisiana architecture which contains app. 100
of my photographs. I am also shooting for a history of La. antique
furniture. These projects have deadlines of months, rather than hours.
- - I am starting to shoot for myself again, and have built a new darkroom in
our new house. The darkroom has always been important to me. I feel that it
is as important for a photographer to print his own images as it is for a
painter to paint his own images.

Personal Equipment:
- - Leica - M6, 35/1.4 asph., 50/1.4, 90/2 - My favorite camera lens
combination is currently the M6 with 50 Summilux. My all-time favorite
combo was the M5 with 35 Summilux. I still haven't fully bonded with the M6
or 35/1.4 asph. I miss my old M5's. I also have had M2's and M3's and a
variety of lenses which I have traded to get what I have now.
- - other - Hasselblad 500CM's w/ 40, 50, 80, and 150 mm lenses, various
backs, prisms and accessories. 3 Rolleiflex tlr's. Cherry 4x5 field camera
with 90 and 150 lenses. Many other unimportant cameras not worth enough to
trade, but fun to keep around. Speedotron lighting equipment. Tiltall
tripods. I used to have much Canon F1 equipment, but this was all sold when
I quit freelancing.
- - darkroom - Durst L1200 enlarger is probably my favorite piece of photo
equipment. Rodenstock Rodagon lenses.
- - My wife has a Minolta CLE, and a Mamiya 6 and 7 camera. We are planning
to sell the Mamiya 6 and buy a Contax G2. The CLE has been a wonderful
camera for her, but the Mamiya 7 is her current favorite. My wife is a
better printer than I am, probably because her negatives aren't as
consistent as mine.

Equipment at work:
- - 2 Leica M3's, 35/2.8 Summaron w/ goggles, 50/2 DR, 902.8 Elmarit and
135/2.8 Elmarit. I use the dual-range, but the others sit on the shelf.
- - 4 Canon F1's with lots of lenses and accessories.
- - 3 Canon EOS1n's with lenses and accessories (the new work-horse).
- - Horseman 4x5 view camera.
- - Darkroom - Durst Laborator L1200 and M605 with Rodagon lenses, Leitz
Focomat V35, Ilford 2150 bw print processor, Jobo processor, Ilford CAP-40
processor.
- - Digital - Mac 9600/300 w/ 192 mb ram and 8 gb hd space, cd-rom, cdr,
Syquest, Zip, Leafscan 45 and Polaroid Sprintscan 35 Plus film scanners,
UMAX Powerlook flatbed, Wacom graphics tablet. Output is done on another
department's Kodak 8600 dye-sub printer. I think there is a big future in
IRIS type printers (ink jet) as soon as the ink stability problems are
solved. I feel digital cameras are not quite there yet, and I prefer the
quality and archivablilty of film.

I am presently working to put together a series of portraits that I have
done over the past 20 or so years for an exhibition at a local gallery. I
am also in the Toledo Friends of Photography National Juried Photographic
Exhibition.

I seem to enjoy photographing the most when I am away from my
responsibilities and on vacation with my family.

I don't have the time to be an active member of the LUG, but I lurk when I can.

Oh yes, I enjoy yard work.

Jim Zietz