Back to Pinhole

 I found a shutter on ebay to replace the broken one on my pinhole camera.  It is a Vario like the old one and it works perfectly.  To celebrate I loaded a roll of Arista 100 and went to Tingley Beach to give the camera a trial run.

My sunlit exposures were in the four to seven second range, which seemed about right judging by the negative density.  Arista may be Fomapan by a different name and it requires rather extreme compensation for low light work because of reciprocity failure. Not a problem on this occasion however given the Spring-like weather we have been enjoying.

Shooting the pinhole was a good opportunity to refresh my ability to foresee what would actually end up on the film.  The endless depth of focus of the pinhole means focus is not an issue, but there is some guesswork in framing the subject given the ultra-wide view and the lack of a viewfinder with corresponding coverage.

Ready for the New Year

Both Arista and Fomapan yield pretty nice images, and the good contrast of the numerals on the backing paper is superior to about any other available 120 film.  The reciprocity failure issue needs careful attention, but there is a good chart available online to assist with that.

Update:

Some of the pictures from my second roll through the rebuilt camera had poor contrast and flare stripes right through the center.  It seemed likely that the cause was reflections off the interior of the threaded lens mount.  I've covered that surface with some black paint, so we'll see how that looks in the next roll.

Winter Walking

 I shot a roll of Kentmere 400 in my Argoflex Forty during two walks, one around my neighborhood and another at the UNM campus.

Part of my motivation to shoot the Argoflex was the desire to have something new to post in the PSEUDO TLR group on Flickr.  It is inspiring to see there what interesting work can come from such simple cameras.

2010

 

Perspectives

 I have mostly shot color in my little Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim, but it handles black and white well too.  These are from a roll of Arista Edu Ultra 200 processed in HC-110e.

On The Street

 I periodically encounter conversations online about street photography.  Such exchanges are characterized mainly by listings of the reasons people do not do street photography.  Photographers fear confrontations with subjects who object to having their pictures made in such a fashion.  Occasionally people report actual such interactions which have made them forever forego further attempts at snapping candid shots in public places. I have some sympathy up to a point with those attitudes. I am neither particularly sociable or courageous. Nevertheless, I have done street photography over a period of many years, most intensively in the late 1960s when I was first getting serious about photography.

El Paso - Kiev IIa

A couple factors combined to push me beyond my initial anxieties about the undertaking.  An important one was the flowering in those days of street photography as practiced by some extraordinary photographers such as Gary Winogrand and Diane Arbus.  Those two deployed very different techniques in practice.  Arbus worked mostly with a cumbersome twin lens reflex camera usually equipped with a flash, and she tended to engage directly with her subjects.  Winogrand shot with a compact 35mm, moved very fast down the street and shot yards of film on every outing.

NYC - Nikon S

 

 The other big thing that got me started in street work was the opportunity presented by time and place.  I was living then In New York and attending a commercial photo school in the financial district at the south end of Manhattan. . The school taught a commercial style of photography, mostly practiced in studios; it held little real interest for me.  I did learn some important photographic basics in the course, but what really motivated me was capturing images on the fly by day and by night in Chinatown which was just a short distance from the school's location. I spent weeks walking the streets and making candid shots of the area's residents as they went about their lives.

 

Chinatown - NY - Nikon S

My photo technique resembled Winogrand's more than that of Arbus.  I moved fast, shot a lot and tried to capture expressions, postures and interactions without arousing the attention of my subjects. I shot Tri-X, a fast, wide-latitude film.  The focus of my Nikon S camera was usually pre-set to around ten feet; with the aperture at f-16 that gave me optimal depth of field, and a high shutter speed avoided camera shake even when I was in motion. 

 

Chinatown - NYC - Nikon S

 I typically had the camera on a strap and hanging at waist level.  With a little practice it is possible to accurately frame the subject and trip the shutter with a thumb without raising the camera to eye level.  That hip-shot technique probably accounted for half the pictures I made. Often, of course, when a subject's attention was away from me it was perfectly feasible to shoot by raising the camera to the normal shooting position, and having the exposure and focus pre-set enabled a very quick capture of the scene.

Rhodes, Greece - Voigtländer Vito II

I don't recall a single instance of anyone objecting to my street work in making that long series of pictures in Chinatown.  Shooting technique aside, I think the fact that the community was very accustomed to seeing large numbers of tourists with cameras in their midst was also helpful to avoiding any critical confrontations. Beyond that, I think my own frame of mind played an important role. My objective was not just avoiding objections; I was trying to create a visual narrative about the essential character of the community without interfering with the natural flow of life on the street. I have never intentionally tried to candidly capture subjects in situations that would be embarrassing or demeaning and I would certainly not use a picture of that type if it were accidentally recorded.

Las Cruces, NM - Zeiss Ikon Ikonta 35

It will be argued that times have changed and that the mood of the street has shifted toward paranoia and combativeness.  I don't disagree with that thought, but I think it can be overstated.  Regardless, there are still techniques available for making street photography possible.

UNM - Albuquerque - Ansco Panda

Film shooters have something of an advantage these days because the old cameras attract interest and are nice excuses to start conversations. My twin lens reflex cameras always elicit comments, and in use they don't arouse suspicion because looking down into the viewfinder does not produce the appearance of a fixed forward stare which can be interpreted as an aggressive posture.

From a recent stroll in Tiguex Park - Mamiya C330 tlr

The need for stealth in street work can be lessened by the choice of venues.  At places like amusement parks, street fairs and holiday celebrations there is an expectation of photography taking place, and often holiday events include people who are in costume and looking for attention. In Albuquerque the Day of the Dead celebrations offer many such opportunities in which subjects will become collaborators.

Day of the Dead - Ansco Panda

So, the street is still a viable venue for photography.  Some good examples of current work on the street can be found in ongoing conversations at the Rangefinder Forum:

• Our Street Photography . . . Post yours!
•  W/NW The Streets of Yokohama! 
• Recent Street Photos 

Update:

I was reminded in coming across a review in the New York Times by Arthur Lubow about an interesting, if enigmatic, practitioner of street photography, Vivian Maier.  She preceded the era of Arbus and Winograd, but had no influence on them or anyone else of that time because her work remained totally unknown to the world until 2007.  Lubow thinks Maier's best work is to be found in her self-portraits, and he calls her a talented photographer, but not a great artist.  What Lubow did not do was to identify or even speculate on any influence Maier may be having on the practice of street photography since 2007.  Her work has certainly had significant impact on the art appreciating public and critics.  I have seen a lot of comments by photographers who have expressed admiration for her work.  Whether that has translated to actual stylistic influence is hard to know.

And also:

Lisette Model

More About Still Life

Still life art (Google)

A work of art that depicts inanimate objects, such as fruit, flowers, or dead game. Still life art can be a celebration of material pleasures, or a reminder of the brevity of human life. The term originated in the Middle Ages and Ancient Greco-Roman art, and became a distinct genre in the late 16th century.

I am mostly happy with the conservative definition offered by Google, and that describes what I am looking for when I search for still life examples.  In practice, though, I take a looser approach beyond the traditional strictures, often looking to express a feeling of stillness.  I have also often here presented pictures of found arrangements which I have identified as belonging to the genre.

Still, I try to stray not too far from the historical approach which implies a composition with a  purposeful arrangement of objects.  The plural is important, I think, as a delineator to establish a difference between still life and macros, close-ups and product shots.  To represent an arrangement, it seems that at least two elements are required. Online photo sharing sites tend to feature offerings which mostly depict isolated items including flowers or other natural or manufactured objects.

Recently, while looking for sources of inspiration I came across a conversation about still life at Rangefinderforum.com which started sixteen years ago and has continued intermittently since then.  The images and words of participants show that nearly all struggle to define the character of their efforts as well as to master the relevant photographic techniques.

Most of my own efforts to create still life compositions have found their way to my Still Life Album at Flickr.

Bottles

My still life compositions tend toward the minimalistic.  Partly, that is because I don't have anything approaching a studio setting; my setups are done on the fly.  Also, I rely on window light, which changes through the day.

My photography over the years has mostly been a product of discovery during long walks.  With diminished mobility still life seems increasingly appropriate if I want to continue with photography.  So I'm going to try to be somewhat more thoughtful in preparations and execution.

Getting Out

 We have had some marvelous blue sky days which have encouraged me to get out with the cameras.  On Monday I took the dog along on a short hike in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains east of town.  It was really nice to get away from city streets and into the natural setting, so full of forms, shadows and textures.

I decided to try a red filter which is not something I have done before.  The auto-exposure of the Pentax ME handled the challenge ok, but the dark filter made it nearly impossible to see what I was aiming for.

When I got up to the base of the hill I was delighted to see a small group of mule deer peering down at me.

They were aware of the dog nosing around in the brush below, but they seemed more curious than fearful.

 If the weather holds I'll try to get back to the same place with a longer lens.

A week earlier:

I had heard and seen a lot of Sandhill Cranes in the sky, so I went out to the Los Poblanos Open Space just east of the river where they can often be seen this time of year.  In past years the birds have shown up there in the hundreds, but they are not attracted to the area in such numbers now since there has been no corn planting.  On this occasion I saw only about a dozen on the ground  and a few more in the air.

 I'll get out soon to some likely spots on the river to look for the cranes.

Paul Caponigro

 He died on the 10th of November, just short of reaching the age of 92.  I have written here a couple times about his work and how he showed what photography is capable of producing, particularly in black and white.  His son, John Paul, posted a brief appreciation of one of his father's great pictures. (I only learned today that he lived in southern New Mexico for twenty years.)

Death Has Its Day

 

Remembering and Forgetting

I don't recall now why I originally placed this post about John Collier Jr. in my Everything Else blog nine years ago.  This great American photographer certainly deserves a place here in my blog about film photography.

* * *

October 24, 2015

John Collier Jr.

I went to a lecture recently which was sponsored by the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology.  The announcements had indicated the presentation would be about the museums photo archives.  As it turned out, the presenter used some photos from the archives, but mostly as illustrations for discussing theories of photography advanced by European philosophers.  At the end of the talk I asked about the museum's holdings related to the work of John Collier Jr.  The lecturer, currently a curator at the museum, replied that the Maxwell had a very large collection of works by Collier, but that no one had worked with the material.  She said she did not know if anyone in the Anthropology or Education departments at UNM was familar with Collier's work or making use of his techniques in regard to photo analysis and education.

The lecturer's answers to my questions left me discouraged about the state of knowledge about one of Twentieth Century America's photo greats.  John Collier Jr. made a lot of great pictures in the early 1940s while working under Roy Stryker at the Farm Security Administration.  Collier continued making photographs in a similar vein for many more years all over the western hemisphere.  At the same time he also began to develop the concepts of Visual Anthropology and applied those concepts to analyzing teaching and learning processes.  Collier taught photography classes as a full professor for many years at San Francisco State.  His accomplishments as a photographer, researcher and teacher seem all the more extraordinary when you consider that he had very limited formal schooling, due in a large part to injuries sustained as a child which left him with physical impairments, dyslexia, hearing loss and impaired speech.

As it turns out, academic engagement with Collier's work was not as dismally scant as the lecturer had averred.  While browsing the web for information about Collier I stumbled on an interactive presentation about Collier's war-time work with the FSA.  The web pages were the product of a grant project conducted under the auspices of the Maxwell Museum and The College of Education's Technology & Education Center (TEC) at UNM in 2006.  The project's director was Catherine Baudoin, who at the time was the Maxwell's Photographic Collections Curator.  The on line presentation was organized as an interactive lesson plan enabling exercises in interpretation of war-time photo uses by the U.S. government using posters, photo archives and video resources.  To support the lesson plan activities, Baudoin uploaded about 400 of Collier's FSA images to the Flickr photo sharing site where they are still available for viewing.

Unfortunately, Baudoin's web pages had become detached from the Maxwell web site over the years; there is no link there now to the Collier work; the Photo Curator position seems to have evaporated, and Baudoin's name is nowhere to be found.  My guess would be that the skimpy and rather disorganized Maxwell web site is symptomatic of budgetary deficiencies which have focused the institution's efforts more on conservation of holdings rather than on sustaining a coherent educational mission incorporating up-to-date technological communications resources.

Luckily, modern search engine technology compensates for a lot of academic entropy.  Here are some useful  links to information I have come across on the web and elsewhere:

Far from Main Street:Three Photographers in Depression-Era New Mexico (link to Amazon)
A very fine collection of photos along with essays about the FSA/OWI work of  Russell Lee, John Collier Jr. and Jack Delano.  The cover photo is by Collier.  "All photographs are selected from the Pinewood Collection of New Mexico FSA Photographs, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico ... Prints were made from original negatives generously loaned by the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division."



Oral History Interview with John Collier, 1965 January 18 Conducted by Richard K. Doud
Amazing insights into the personalities and operations of the FSA/OWI under Stryker.  The first part of the interview is accessible as an on line audio clip, and it gives a good idea of the expressive challenge which Collier over-came and even turned to an advantage during his long career as a photographer, researcher and educator.

John Collier, Jr.: Anthropology, Education and the Quest for Diversity
by Ray Barnhardt, Center for Cross-Cultural Studies, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
An authoritative, first-person appreciation of Collier's work with Eskimo and Navajo students and teachers as well as with a diverse urban school system in San Francisco.

Photographing Navajos: John Collier Jr. on the Reservation, 1948-1953
by C. Stewart Doty, Dale Sperry Mudge, and Herbert John Benally Photographs by John Collier Jr.
(link to Amazon)

The authors tracked down photo archives of Collier's Navajo work in Pennsylvania and Nova Scotia and then interviewed family members of the people depicted by Collier in the Four Corners area.  The photos in the book illustrate the techniques developed by Collier to elicit social and cultural information by showing photographs to informants depicting their own social and physical environments.  The text and illustrations provide a nice followup to the study of the Navajo conducted by Clyde Kluckhohn and Dorothea Leighton in the 1930s and 1940s.  Right after the publication of Photographing Navajos the Collier family made the decision to donate their collection of Collier's work to the Maxwell Museum.  The book's introduction notes that "The collection includes fifty years of photographs, film and video, field notes, daybooks, and correspondence."

* * *

John Collier Jr., Bureau with Portraits and Mementos
(and self portrait), Picuris Pueblo, NM, ca. 1945

Want a Leica?

 I got an email this morning advertising another big OstLicht Auction with 164 listings for Leicas, etc.  The prices seem astounding, particularly as many of the models are pretty recent.  There are also 92 photographs to be auctioned, mostly images of celebrities by well-known photographers.

Start price: € 14,000