[Leica] book recommendations--Ravilious

[Patrick Snook <patrick.snook@yale.edu>]

Mark

I enjoyed your post recommending books, and particularly your use of
artists as a self-teaching aid.  This struck a chord.  My favourite
photographer, discovered for myself only in the last six months, is a
little-known Englishman, James Ravilious, son of the graphic artist Eric
Ravilious, from whom the son evidently learned a great deal about
composition, lighting, even texture.  If you can find it in the US, try
"An English Eye:  The Photographs of James Ravilious" (I bet Powells' in
Portland would get it for you).  There's a particular quality of light,
and a glimpse of the ordinary at an extraordinary moment, a richness of
tonality, a simplicity in composition (like Cartier-Bresson, Ravilious
prints the whole frame, indicating that everything is in place at the
moment of snapping) . . . that I admire. An unpretentious eye. 

The book includes a short account of technical matters.  Apparently
Ravilious uses old lenses on an M4, avoiding high-contrast new lenses.  He
attaches a light yellow filter, shoots against-the-light (with well-hooded
lenses), on Tri-X pulled one stop (to EI200), to reduce contrast and
extend the tonal range.  There's even a page of contact prints from one
complete roll--which reveals the photographer's several attempts to
capture a particular moment, to compose a particular scene.  Very
instructive.

This leads me to another thought:  where else can we find this in
published works of photographers?  Can anyone recommend any other
photographers who expose (!) their methods in this way: showing a full set
of contact prints, or rejected shots, for a particularly successful
picture? (I dimly recall that one of the Kertesz books has similar
content.) 

Best regards,
Patrick Snook