Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/03/20

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Subject: Re: [Leica] David Bailey and Jeanloup Sieff
From: Christer Almqvist <chris@almqvist.net>
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 09:02:12 +0100
References: <v04011706b8bdcaed06ff@[66.81.28.6]> <3C983288.E699E912@earthlink.net>

After having read Slobodan's comment on Sieff's photos being grainy, 
I had a look at two of his books. Yes, the pictures are grainy, at 
least some of them. They never struck me as grainy until now that you 
mentioned it and I started looking for the grain. Bailey's photos 
always looked grainier to me. Funny how impressions vary. But then, 
as you say, their printing technique is so different, and that makes 
grain comparison futile. (Isn't it always when the pictures have 
other qualities?). Different styles yes, but both are/were great 
photographers.

Chris

>I find never like Sieff's 35mm work. It's too grainy for my taste. Also,
>his use of negative space always made me feel like he was winging it,
>out of control. I never like the _european_style of printing that
>dominates Sieff's work.
>I find Bailey's 120 work much tighter. I get a sense of action, even in
>his portraits, almost of an imminent sense of activity. But, being
>predominately a 120 shooter, I realize that I have a bias in that direction.
>  Slobodan Dimitrov
>
>
>Guy Bennett wrote:
>>
>>  Well, I got on over the Hennessey & Engalls and picked up the next to the
>>  last copy of D. Bailey's "Birth of the Cool," which I spent the late
>>  afternoon and early evening going through. I very much like the hard,
>>  graphic style of his early '60s stuff, but feel that he gets less rather
>>  than more interesting as the decade goes on. Just for fun, I then flipped
>>  through my copy of Jeanloup Sieff's "40 Years of Photography." Like Bailey,
>>  he's most well known for his fashion photography and portraiture (though
>>  he's also a master of the nude, IMO), and actually worked for a number of
>>  the same mags as D.B. Well, I came away with the impression that Sieff's a
>>  much better photographer; compositionally he's a lot stronger and more
>>  inventive than Bailey in both the fashion work and in the portraits, and he
>>  takes a chance on images that don't fall into either of those categories -
>>  landscapes, "art" photography (sorry 'bout that), interiors - and
>>  frequently pulls them off. For those who go for this sort of thing, he's
>>  also a very articulate writer about photography, and the book includes a
>>  number of memorable passages. Anyone interested in this kind of stuff would
>>  do well to pick up a copy of this wonderful book, which, with its hundreds
>>  of beautiful reproductions, is one hell of a bargain at $39.
>>
>>  Such are my ruminations for this evening.
>>
>>  Guy
>>  --
>>  To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html
>--
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- -- 
Christer Almqvist
D 20255 Hamburg and / or
F 50590 Regnéville sur Mer
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In reply to: Message from Guy Bennett <gbennett@lainet.com> ([Leica] David Bailey (slight return))
Message from S Dimitrov <sld@earthlink.net> (Re: [Leica] David Bailey (slight return))