Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/08/12

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Subject: RE: [Leica] Eugene Smith's problems
From: "B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002 09:39:51 -0400

Just out of curiosity, who was the printer responsible for taking them from
the work print stage to the final stage - the prints that resulted in
Smith's reputation as a darkroom wiz?

B. D.

- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
[mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of S Dimitrov
Sent: Sunday, August 11, 2002 10:41 PM
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: Re: [Leica] Eugene Smith's problems


I once spent an evening with one of Smith's photo editors from LIFE. The
one that rehired him after he bombed out at LOOK. The one thing that he
was emphatic about was Smith's ineptitude in the darkroom. Having seen
many of Smith's workhorse prints in the original, I certainly wouldn't
send anyone to see his work as an example of printing expertise.
Slobodan Dimitrov


tm wrote:
>
> There is a fascinating article in a supplemental magazine issue from the
> publishers of Photo Techniques Magazine, "Mastering The Black & White Fine
> Print" (special issue #11) about W. Eugene Smith that I highly recommend
> reading. Besides discussing Smith's mental problems, it reveals how his
> most-known prints/images were not straight prints; rather, via photographs
> included in the article, the author of it reveals how Smith used darkroom
> tricks to comlete a lot of his prints even though his fans never realized
> (until this article) that this was so. One of the photos in the article
> shows Smith with two Leica screwmount bodies and lenses around his neck.
The
> most surprising finds in this article for me were how he manipulated his
> famous "Spanish Wak" print and his "Tomoko in her Bath" print to arrive at
> the finished products. Having first seen both of these images in my youth,
I
> was shocked upon reading this article at what he had failed to communicate
> to us about said manipulations, for I always assumed they were from
original
> negatives exposed by a fortunate photographer.  This does not mean I am
> attempting to vilify him herein, however.
>
> Terry
>
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Replies: Reply from S Dimitrov <sld@earthlink.net> (Re: [Leica] Eugene Smith's problems)