[rollei_list] Re: Meters and Film
- From: "Richard Knoppow" <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2009 23:22:11 -0700
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Dodge" <dannysoar@xxxxxxx>
To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 2009 11:02 PM
Subject: [rollei_list] Re: Meters and Film
Weston didn't even own a meter for most of his career. He
took very long exposures of a toilet, with gos of
reciprocity in a Mexican bathroom. Are Ansel Adams '
prints any better for all his scientific thinking?
---
Well, actually yes, or at least maybe. I've seen a
great many original Weston and Adams prints here at the
Getty and at the Huntington. A lot of the Huntington prints
are too dark. I am not quite sure of the provenance of these
prints so perhaps they were bad beacause Weston could not
afford to toss them. The prints made by his sons from the
same negatives are excellent. This is not to say that all of
Weston's prints are bad but some sure are.
Adams is harder to judge because many prints of his
negatives were made by students. Some very familiar scenes
show great variation in printing at different times and some
very obviously have more work put into them that others.
Weston and Adams knew each other and Adams helped
Weston in technical problems. He also made sure Weston had
film sometimes giving him boxes of new film he first opened
and told Weston were surplus to his needs.
Weston's eye was the thing. I consider him an artist
something I do not credit many photograhers with.
I must also add that the images of both Weston and
Adams as reproduced in modern museum cataloges is often
superior to the original prints. I say this having seen
both. I am aware that this is heresy but its still the
truth.
I must say that the Zone System is based on good
sensitometric principles. My disagreement with it has to do
with its complexity in practice and that it leaves out some
factors having to do with human perception.
--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
---
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