[Leica] Ansel

[brad at bradbrad.com (brad daly)]

On 7 Mar 2005, at 6:45 PM, Slobodan Dimitrov wrote:

> Then again, I've seen Gene Smith printing.
> It came no where near what the boys in the LIFE lab could do with his 
> negs.

i remember one of my early photography teachers making the comment that 
smith was a notoriously sloppy printer, so i've always thought of him 
that way.  i know his work best through books, though, and am not sure 
i have even seen a print.  i tend to think of folks like smith as 
"photojournalists" and folks like avedon, adams, weston as "fine 
artists."  this is not to make any sort of value judgement at all; just 
to say that their purposes and intentions were different.  this is by 
all means an artificial distinction, and there is nothing at all wrong 
with comparing them or arguing that the aesthetic conventions of one 
"type" shouldn't or couldn't properly be used by the other.

saying smith's printing is bad is not the same as saying his pictures 
are bad.

gary winogrand, as i understand, wasn't very impressive in the darkroom 
and generally didn't give a damn about technical aspects.

> Probably the best printing I've seen to date, has been done by the 
> individuals did the work of Penn and Avedon.

avedon was a notorious perfectionist, and his proofs are painstaking; i 
doubt i would be able to figure out the proper order in which to make 
all his dodges and burns and still end up with the right exposure, let 
alone have the mechanical skills to do it.  he arguably did the same 
photograph of himself over and over his entire career, which i guess is 
more monomania than perfectionism.

--
brad daly       
brad@bradbrad.com
http://www.bradbrad.com


"People say 'Iraq had the fourth largest army in the world.' Yeah, 
maybe, but you know what, after the first 3 largest armies, there's a 
REAL big drop-off. The Hare Krishnas are the 5th largest army in the 
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        --Bill Hicks