Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/04/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Steve-- Well, thank goodness I had been making photographs since I was about 13, and had a very nice Olympus OM-1 outfit before I started that coursework. I did get to use my camera some in that program, but mostly it was like being on the pinhole chain gang. Oh, he was a tyrant, and practically credited himself with the singlehanded invention of the pinhold camera. He started the photography program at the University of Georgia back in the early 1960s, or maybe even late 50s, but wasn't really a photographer by training, but a jeweler. Typical kind of thing that used to happen at universities in the olden days where some old salt would get into a position, and with tenure, no one could get him out of there even with a crowbar, regardless of whether he was doing a good job or not. The program he devised seemed more about decorative arts than about photography. He ran the program with an iron fist, and made everyone who taught for him do the same curriculum that he'd devised. You had to start out the first semester (it was called Photographic Design I) by making a 4 x 5 pinhole camera out of balsa wood, and create a decorative scheme for the camera, which had to go through umpteen approvals from the master himself before it could be applied and painted onto the box. The pinhole had to be measured accurately using some formula that I can't recall (it was 25 years ago) and we had to drill the hole into a little sheet of brass and then mount it into the box. Later, in the advanced courses, we had to build another pinhole camera that would make 8x10 "negatives" (we used photo paper as the negative and contact printed the pictures). The courses consisted of all sorts of arcane activities, like making gray scales in the darkroom, creating reciprocity failure charts, testing the ASA of film (he was convinced that the ASA designations were not to be trusted, so we had to test every film we wanted to use ahead of time) and a mindless array of other things that had more to do with punishment than photography. It's a wonder I cared a hoot about photography after that experience. Actually, I went through all but the last course, and when I woke up and realized what a nut he was, and changed majors to printmaking. I finished out my BFA with a degree in printmaking, focusing in lithography. Kit - -----Original Message----- From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of Steve Unsworth Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2003 3:24 PM To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: RE: [Leica] metereless So you only used balsa wood pinhole cameras and Euromasters? Does the Euromaster go up to f256? My Weston master V only goes to f32 :-) He sounds like a tyrant, I think you did well to keep an interest in photography. Steve - -----Original Message----- From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Kit McChesney | acmefoto Sent: 17 April 2003 22:58 To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: RE: [Leica] metereless Yes, that's true, but this professor, the tyrant, had a special disdain for anything having to do with the zone system, and he hated Ansel Adams! So I never learned about the zone system until much later. Of course, this fellow wouldn't even let us use anything but the balsa wood pinhole cameras that he made us build ourselves, so it's a wonder I ever learned to use a camera at all. It took many years of recovery to get over being a phtography major with that man. I wonder if anyone else on the LUG was subjected to his abuses? It is a small world! Kit - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html