Years ago while wandering through a used book store I happened upon a copy of Light Years. It must have been in the late Nineties because it has a price of $30 written in pencil inside on the first page. Today the book costs much more, but I would want it anyway because there is so much to learn from it!

Light Years was published in 1996 and served as a retrospective of Gibson’s work from 1960 – 1991. Gibson’s career has centered on the use of Leica cameras, Tri-X film and Rodinal developer. Then in 2013 he went digital but stayed with Leica.  That’s all right; I have not tracked Gibson’s later work to be honest, but he will always be a master to me.

Here’s the thing about Gibson … the images are high contrast and bold, they have grain, they’re abstract and focus on fragments of life. At first look they’re so simple and straightforward that you might be tempted to whip through the book. That would be a mistake!  Like Gibson, I use Leicas, one or two lenses and Tri-X, but that’s where the similarities end for me (oh … and he’s just a little better known then me). So what? I can learn a lot from his intense and compelling pictures … and so can you. He gets in close to his subject matter and isolates it to get to the essence of what it is, or what it is that he wants to say.  It’s up to you to interpret what it all means.

So these black and white fragments/abstracts are not really simple at all, that is not if you take the time to really study them in detail. Do that and you learn some valuable truths, such as how important it is to get in close and to carefully frame your subject.  In other words, concentrate on and think hard about every picture you make. That’s what I get again and again when I study this collection of many of Gibson’s finest pictures.  There are 92 of them so there is a lot to see and study. Take your time and you will be rewarded!

Highly recommended!

Stay safe,

Michael

Awhile back I wrote about my marathon printing experience, assisting the great Michael Smith over a weekend.  The objective: to print 100 photographs of Chicago for book publication and exhibition. We achieved that objective and somehow I survived it. And I think it made me a better photographer in all respects. The result of this work was part of what was published in the book Chicago: Loop / Chicago: Lake. Smith’s multi-talented wife and partner Paula Chamlee contributed to the other half of the book with her photographs, other artwork and writings.  I think the best way to describe the book is to quote what Michael Smith wrote about it.

“In 2008, Paula and I were commissioned by Bob Wislow of U.S. Equities Realty to photograph Chicago. We were free to photograph anything that appealed to us, but Bob asked that we each concentrate on a particular subject. Paula said that she wanted to photograph the Chicago’s shoreline all along the lake. That gave me the opening to photograph the buildings, mostly in the Loop, something I had wanted to do for almost thirty years. To do a project like this with our cumbersome equipment, a commission is essential. We could park in otherwise illegal spots, and we had access to rooftops from which to photograph. Half of the photographs, which were all from 8×20-inch negatives in my half of the book were made from rooftops, a few from a roof on the 90th floor of the Sears Tower.

The book is really a two-part book. My photographs are of the buildings. Flip the book over and it becomes Chicago: Lake, which consists of diptychs, triptychs, and quartets of Paula’s photographs in black and white and in color, along with her drawings, assemblages, and writings. You get two books for the price of one.”

I have a special place in my heart for this book, in part because of my personal experience with part of its content and my friendship with Michael and Paula. This having been said, Chicago: Loop / Chicago: Lake is a wonderful and truly unique book, and I am glad I own it based on its own merits.  The photographs and other artwork are outstanding and like all books published by Lodima Press, the reproductions are absolutely first rate. Paula’s writings add a special dimension to her work.

I think Chicago: Loop / Chicago: Lake is a bargain, especially if you purchase it on the used market. Get it; I think you will agree it’s something completely different … and really special.

Recently, I was contacted by Murray Smith who had visited my website. He asked me if I would be interested in looking at several of his self-published monographs. I agreed and soon received a package containing a few books and a couple of articles on photography that Murray thought I would be interested in reading. Murray’s books were produced prior to the popularity of just-in-time services such as Blub, so the cost of production was much higher than it would be if they were made today.  This is a supreme testament to the photographer’s dedication to recreate his vision in book form so that a lasting statement can be shared with others.

After I had a chance to review Murray’s books in detail I contacted him and we had several nice conversations concerning his thoughts on photography in general, the making of these books and my thoughts concerning them, and his goals and objectives moving forward.  Based on our discussions Murray offered to send me some other books of his work.  Taken as a whole the books are of high quality, both in terms of production value and content, and display different facets of the artist’s conceptual thinking. One very interesting concept that appears in more than one book is what Murray calls “recapitulation” where single images that have been presented on previous pages are then clustered together in groupings that make “poetic” sense. It is something I have not seen done before and is quite interesting!

I am most appreciative of the opportunity Murray gave me to see his work and excited that we met through this website. Murray is a great example of photographers who are producing work in book form that deserves to be seen.  Because of their courage, commitment and drive they are making the financial and psychic investments that enables their dreams to become reality.

Thank you Murray!

For more information on Murray Smith’s work and books go to: http://www.murraysmithphotographer.com

What more can be said about the great Henri Cartier – Bresson that has not been said before. Known for “the decisive moment” with his incredible candid photography on the street and elsewhere, it turns out he was a pretty damn good maker of portraits. Unlike others of his generation, such as Arnold Newman, that specialized in the genre and used larger format cameras, HCB made his portraits of the famous and not so famous using a Leica, so the pictures have a different feel to them. Perhaps more fluid even though they were made in the subject’s environment as Newman and others did.

Tête à Tête is simply a wonderful book, containing almost 150 terrific black and white images (Have you ever seen an HCB picture that wasn’t stellar? Answer: No!).  The book is made all the more interesting because he sequenced the photographs himself rather than leaving that all important task to the editor, so we get further insight into the thinking of this very private photographer. Also of interest is the wonderful introduction by the great art historian E.H. Gombrich, accompanied by eight of HCB’s portrait sketches. Many younger readers may not be familiar with a number of the subjects captured in this tremendous book, but no matter, it is the pictures that count and the portraits are timeless!

I am lucky to own several of HCB’s books, including the recent incredible re-issue of the Decisive Moment.  While most would probably think the photographs contained in that landmark book and others such as Henri Cartier-Bresson: Photographer as his go to body of work, it would be a terribly remiss not to be aware of these important images.

It appears that Tête à Têteis still available new in hard cover, although it may be a different printing then my Bullfinch edition. What I can tell you is that the Bullfinch publication is beautifully printed. In any case, this is a book that belongs on every photographer’s bookshelf! Get it and enjoy!

Whenever I traveled overseas I always tried to find some time to visit museums … and of course photograph if possible. I think it was about 1984 or so. I was in London on business with the State Department and had some time to kill during an evening. As usual I would ask around or look at local artsy publications usually found in hotel lobbies. So I was skimming through one of them in my room and what do you know … Paul Caponigro was going to be giving a lecture that night at the Barbican Centre, not far from where I was staying!  So much for dinner, I had an hour to get there!  As I recall, Caponigro was speaking courtesy of a US Government sponsored tour. Perfect … I worked for the US Government!

You can imagine how excited I was as I scurried to get there and then get seated before the lecture began. Let’s face it Caponigro is one of the great 20^thcentury masters. Black and white, large format, iconic landscapes, architecture, flowers, still life.  I had seen his pictures in magazines but had never seen them in the flesh. And of course I never had met the master himself! He finally emerged and the slide projector began projecting images on the screen. Oh no!  Caponigro was showing color photographs made with a Leica M6!  Not what I hoped to see and not what I hoped to hear about! Nevertheless, I still got a chance to hear Caponigro discuss his work and it was an unexpected opportunity to meet a truly inspirational photographer. No matter … it bothered me for a long time that I didn’t get to hear Caponigro talk about his incredible black and white large format pictures made at Stonehenge, Ireland, Maine, Yuma, Arizona or in Redding, Connecticut. And the list goes on.

Somehow though, I found the will to go on.

Then about twenty years later a very good friend of mine, who also happens to be a fine photographer, gave me a most wonderful gift for my fiftieth birthday … a beautiful first edition copy ofThe Wise Silence: Photographs by Paul Caponigro! Now we were talking! The incredible retrospective of Caponigro’s work up until the early Eighties was published to go along with the 1983 exhibition, The Wise Silence: Photographs by Paul Caponigro shown at the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester, New York.

Suffice to say, all the classics are in this incredibly beautiful book! The great images we know about, but many others as well. A beautiful leaf suspended in space, the white dear, churches, sunflowers, beautiful streams, ancient stone monuments, ice and snow, the American Southwest, architectural details, doorways and more! Over a hundred and forty stunning photographs in a large exquisite book you will want to look at again and again … serene, quiet and beautiful.

No disrespect to Caponigro’s 35mm color work, but what is contained in this book is truly special!  The book is not cheap, but would make a worthy addition to anyone’s photographic library.

Harry Callahan was a great American photographer and Water’s Edgeis a stunning, yet quiet book. Throughout Callahan’s life he found great pleasure and inspiration walking and photographing the beaches in Chicago, at Lake Michigan and on Cape Cod. Published in 1980, Water’s Edgecontains a magnificent collection of his elegant black and white images from what he called his Beach Series and is a real gem.

While some of the photographs focus in Callahan’s wife Eleanor, both clothed and in the nude, most are exquisitely captured images of beach activity, sand and water and plant life. These are simple scenes that any of us have witnessed a million times on our own beach outings, but few have had the intensity of vision to capture.  For over forty years Callahan had a singular intensity of vision for everything related to the shoreline and that is on full display in Water’s Edge.  He never tired of the exploration or the opportunity to grow and expand that vision as he discovered new things there.

I have always loved the beach and have spent many beloved trips and vacations at the water’s edge by myself and with my family. I didn’t make that many photographs there when I was younger but recently have thought about it again and have begun making photographs in and around the beaches that are within two hours driving distance from where I live … at the Jersey Shore and Coney Island. While I may not make the types of photographs Callahan made, this book is a true inspiration to me, as it illustrates in no uncertain terms to what can be accomplished if your mind’s eye and heart are open to seeing the quiet but incredible scenes that often stare us in the face but are seldom captured.

Water’s Edgeis a book I feel lucky to own. I treasure it and it inspires me often.

I was thinking about places I would like to visit and photograph someday.  Iceland is one of those places, along with the Outer Hebrides and Ireland.  There are some others but those are the big three. Maybe it will happen, but if not I’ll survive. As I have mentioned elsewhere on this site I don’t get obsessed about going to exotic locations in order to find photographs to make, but there are places on this planet like Iceland that are changing rapidly for all the reasons we know.

So I was thinking about Iceland. A good friend of mine who happens to be a fine photographer once visited it and made some beautiful images. Recently my neighbor spent a week there, and I just got Michael Smith and Paula Chamlee’s beautiful two volume Iceland set … hand delivered over coffee with Paula herself!  That’s a lot of Iceland, which made me want to write about a little known and unique gem I am lucky to own … Fred Picker’s The Iceland Portfolio.

The Iceland Portfoliois just that … a portfolio of photographs made by Picker during 1974 and 1975. Originally the concept was to produce a book, but Picker’s publisher, Amphoto, decided to make a large format portfolio instead.  The result is a beautiful box containing 16 exquisite images made from the great Chip Benson’s half tone negatives and 300-line screen double impression lithography on 14×17 100 lb. stock. Between each print is protective slip-sheet. In 1976 this was state of the art, and the quality has withstood the test of time. The reproductions range from 6×8 to 11×14 in size.  Also included is a very nice introduction written by Ben Maddow. Only 1000 copies were made and each was numbered and signed by Picker. Mine is #277.

When first published, The Iceland Portfoliosold for $75.00. I think I got mine sometime in the Nineties from a used bookstore and I paid the same price. Now they fetch several hundred dollars. Perhaps enough people have gotten beyond the Picker bashing and have come to realize he could make wonderful photographs. The black and white landscapes produced from large format negatives are exquisite and well seen, suitable for framing if one wanted to do that. They were made in a time that feels so long ago. Not because I am much older now, but because both the world and we have changed so much. My guess is that much has changed in Iceland during the more than 40 years since these photographs were made.  Time doesn’t stand still and it has not treated the land and waters well in my view. One only has to look around to see that. I see it here in Bucks County where I live, just in the six years I’ve lived here. Right now there’s a fight going here in Doylestown to see if a large brightly lit 24/7 convenience store with 12 gas pumps will be what one first sees as they drive into town.

When I look atThe Iceland Portfolio I stop thinking about the monstrosity that will most certainly be built not far from where I live. I don’t think about the daily horror show that is the nightly news. Instead, I think of a better time in a different place that isn’t now. I’m reminded of the wonderful places I’ve lived or visited. It doesn’t seem like a distant memory so long ago.

There is something special and quite beautiful about The Iceland Portfolio.  Maybe one day you will be one of the lucky few that owns a copy. 

When he was alive Fred Picker was one of the more polarizing figures in photography. Feelings still run high for black and white film photographers that print their work and debate the fine points of the Zone System. Was he a businessman or a serious photographer … or both? I never really cared. Everyone has a right to make a living and by all accounts he was pretty successful. He also did a lot to keep large format photography alive, produced wonderful tools for the serious photographer and demystified the Zone System religion so that it was understandable. He had his detractors and some of their criticisms were valid. I even hung up the phone on him once; but that having been said, I attended his funeral even though I never met the man! I read his newsletters as soon as they came to my door, thanked the heavens for his wonderful little book, The Zone System Workshop and used many of his products (many of which are still functioning flawlessly after thirty some years of steady use).

Fred also produced a book called The Fine Print. Not nearly as popular as The Zone System Workshop, it is just as useful but in a different way. His first and wildly popular book made the Zone System understandable to anyone. The Fine Print showed how it could be applied in the field to capture images as envisioned and enable the production of fine prints back in the darkroom. Some have debated how good a photographer Fred was, particularly with respect to this book, but again I don’t care. What matters is that by looking at the photographs and reading his detailed descriptions of exactly how they were made … from considerations about light and camera position, the type of camera/format, lens and film he used, shutter speed and aperture for exposure, to film development and paper used for production of the “fine print” … and yes his opinions … it is like being in the field and the darkroom with him, understanding his thought processes and esthetic considerations he made to do the best job he could.

The best job we can do … isn’t that what we all should strive to achieve?

In short, reading and studying this book is a real learning experience and to me still valuable even though some of the films, papers and chemicals he used no longer exist. None of this detracts from what is a workshop experience that can be had in the comfort of one’s favorite chair.

This book can be had for a song and is available at used bookstores and on ebay for less then five bucks! For less than fancy cup of coffee you can really learn something, get motivated if you need to be, and do some good work!