Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/04/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Mark, that's why he had a bottle of ferricyanide handy the next day....I never met Smith, I regret, but had an instructor years ago who briefly worked with him a LIFE.....apparently, all the stories are very true...he was a drunk, amphetamine junkie, not very considerate of family and friends at times (MOST times), but could be a great humanitarian, too.....and the best PJ/Documentarian to have ever lived... Walt dOn Fri, 2 Apr 1999, Mark Rabiner wrote: > Claes Bjerner wrote: > > > > Eric wrote: > > > Actually, it was at least in part abuse of alcohol and amphetamines that > > > killed him. Although it was a fall in a convenience store while picking up > > > some cat food that finally killed him. > > > snip > > Claes > > I saw a wide angle shot of Smith in his darkroom very cluttered and the > caption reading a quote from him saying all he needed to make a Smith > print was a bottle of Scotch and all night in the darkroom. In my minds > eye I picture the bottle of Scotch there right next to his enlarger but > that might have been the power of the suggestion on the part of the quote. > It sure rang a bell with me! > I also thought if I was up all night with one neg and a bottle of scotch > I would tend to print down too. > That's darkroom work the longer I spend on a neg the darker it gets. > The next day with dry down blues the final print is not the last one > pulled. > Mark Rabiner >