Re: [Leica] Favorite Photographers

[Carl Pultz <cpultz@earthlink.net>]

It's fun, as a newcomer to the list, to see who admires who (whom?). Lots 
of commonality, since we all favor hand-held cameras, I guess.

When I was young, I really avoided seeing too much work of the great 
stylists, because I was afraid those influences were so powerful they'd 
become templates for my own eye, which I hoped would be able to see on it's 
own. So, I kept Ansel and Alfred at arms length.

But then one day, 25 years ago, I discovered Walker Evans, and was 
instantly knocked over. Each picture spoke powerfully to me, mostly in ways 
I didn't know how to explain. A twenty year old has a limited sense of the 
past, but the spirit of cultural history and comment he conveyed, and the 
self effacing manner of portrayal, was for me a revelation. The more mature 
I become personally, the stronger his messages speak.

Zoom up to five years ago, when I picked up Eggleston's Democratic Forest 
from a remainder table, and had another mind blowing shock of recognition. 
Here was a photography that I always thought should exist, and something 
like I'd hoped to do myself. If I had seen his Guide way back when, I might 
have stuck with photography. Instead, the late encounter (and better work, 
IMO) encouraged me instead to try again. Both he and Evans de-emphasize the 
individual photo in favor of the careful sequence of images who's subjects 
and plastic qualities send resonances back and forth through the pages.

Now, I look at everything I can get - I'm so behind. Lately, I've studied 
Weston and got a lot out of both his work and the way he worked. Through a 
recent book of beautiful Atget repros with essays by Szarkowski I've 
finally connected with his work. Sudek is a great inspiration, again both 
for his photographs and his personality (and like Eggleston and me, a music 
lover).

And just a few weeks ago, a monograph/bio of Doisneau had me dusting off 
the Rollei. How I'd love to have a few beers with any of those guys. Except 
maybe Evans.

One more - a show of Gordon Park's work just opened at IMP/Eastman House. 
Besides the half dozen Life shots that usually represent his career, the 
show documented what a versatile, artistic, humane and skillful 
practitioner he is. His reportage has a great breadth of subject matter and 
visual approach that runs from stark noire to arty formalism. There is much 
interesting color work, too, commercial, creative and experimental. My favs 
were a few color Rolleiflex shots made outdoors in the 1950s rural south. I 
think if Bill Eggleston saw them, he'd have his own shocking recognition.

Ernie, you'll want to see that show.

Best -

Carl

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