Just noticed this...
Julie Grahame has been working on a new web site for Yousuf Karsh, master photographer of the 20th century Julie is the licensing agent for Karsh works. I don't know her but I admire the work of Yousuf Karsh...
I remember a TV show about Karsh that I saw a long time ago. He used string attached to his lights to set his main and fill lights intensity and ratio and didn't like using a light meter :~)
Iconic images and a fun little guy to listen to–there are a number of videos to view from the web site.
Is nothing sacred?
Before I owned a flashmeter (a huge aluminium box Bowens was my first one) I used to use a string with two knots in it clipped to the support of the monobloc. The first string was for full-length shots and the shorter knot for portraits. The girl would stand on her mark and hold the long bit of the string against her tummy; for heads, she'd hold the short knot to her chin. With standardised film usage it worked a treat, every time, and was infinitely more dependable than the old Bowens ever was!
I still have a version of that string in the cables box. Never used it since leaving the UK, but I brought it out just in case (instead of all my negatives, which was
really bright of me).
Just logical. You could use logic with film; it didn't cheat and hide behind technicalities few understand or believe.
;-)
Rob C
