Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/07/09

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Blowup technical consultant
From: Mark Rabiner <mrabiner@concentric.net>
Date: Fri, 09 Jul 1999 10:48:34 -0700

Dan Post wrote:
> 
> Alas-
> I saw "Blowup"- of course I had been into photography for about five years
><snip>> like they use on the "X-Files"? Call anywhere, anytime even 300 feet
><snip>. He used a Leica M2 and with a tripod, and using TechPan- photographed
> the town from a high spot. He had the 20x30 inch enlargement in his store-
> almost totally grain free, and the lens actually resolved the telephone
><snip>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Paul Chefurka <chefurka@sympatico.ca>
><snip>
> > I'm glad to know that I wasn't the only adolescent whose view of
> > photography was terminally warped by "Blowup" .  Even as a pro I had
> > occasional daydreams that involved purple backdrop paper. My venture
> > into the lifestyle resulted in more bill collectors than Rolls
> > Corniches, however :-/
> >
> > Paul Chefurka

The people behind the film Blowup (1966)
Writing credits Julio Cortázar (story) and Michelangelo Antonioni
were not interested in any input from any technical consultant.
The mystical metaphorical process which is the core of the film is the
blowing up of a small part of a negative, taking a photograph of a small
part of that print, blowing that up, taking a photograph of a small part
of that print, blowing that up.
No one with the slightest knowledge or intuition of what an image is and
how it's put there would ever go thought a process like that.
As his floors were painted black anyway he would have dragged his
enlarger out of his darkroom and projected the original negative to the
wall on the other side of his studio onto a piece of photo paper. One
step. Multiple generations are to be avoided at all costs. Solved the
mystery. And we would have gone home having not finished our popcorn or
seeing various soon to be celebrities take their clothes off.
Vanessa Redgrave	Jane 
Sarah Miles	Patricia 
David Hemmings	Thomas 
Jane Birkin	The Blonde 
Gillian Hills	The Brunette 
Veruschka von Lehndorff	Herself 

Mark Rabiner	(himself)