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Author Topic: What are you doing for STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DAY?  (Read 3391 times)

WalterEG

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What are you doing for STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DAY?
« on: August 21, 2012, 06:37:38 pm »

So, today is STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DAY in commemoration of H C-B's birthday.  He'd have been 104.

I have the day off and will be out with my 4x5 seeking out some curios.

W
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bill t.

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Re: What are you doing for STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DAY?
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2012, 08:50:32 pm »

4x5?  You should have no trouble blending into the crowd!

I've got about 17 million negatives like this from when I lived on Venice Beach around 1970.  And no contact sheets.  The grain structure would make your flesh crawl.  Just looking at it makes me feel grungy.  Instagram eat your heart out.   I have photographed almost every house, business, building, sign, dumpser, beachy-person, and bongo-king within about a 3 mile square area.  Everything from Sony Portapak to 8x10, and a few dozen SX-70's.  Someday it will make me rich and famous.

So far I have scanned 48 negatives, planned completion date is Aug. 21, 2112.
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WalterEG

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Re: What are you doing for STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DAY?
« Reply #2 on: August 21, 2012, 09:16:40 pm »

Bill,

From what I have heard, you might need to go and record the morphing that Venice Beach is undergoing.  Gold's Gym building is becoming the headquarters of Google, I understand.  From men with bodies like pantyhose stuffed with sausages to cycling geeks making billions out of the next great App.

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bill t.

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Re: What are you doing for STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DAY?
« Reply #3 on: August 21, 2012, 10:35:22 pm »

So Walter, any good exposures?  That's what we used to call those sheet film things, I bet you knew.

I watched as Venice went from Salvation Army to chichi.  Saw everybody from starving no-name artists up through Roger Corman "King of the B's" swept out of their affordable premises in favor of too-hip expense account brats paying way too much for roach-infested apartments and termite-riddled houses.  Watched as Ocean Park Park slowly dissolved into the sea.  What a joint that place was/is.  The girl who served as my landlord was named "Poochy."  In 8 years rent went from $90/mo to $800/mo.  Have no idea what it is now, 35 years later.

So come on guys & gals!  Let's see your street work!
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Rob C

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Re: What are you doing for STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DAY?
« Reply #4 on: August 22, 2012, 06:12:02 am »

This is Blow Up all over again: if you look at Bill's shot, follow the use of thirds in both directions, you'll find the body.

Of course, there's no guarantee that it'll be there by the time you discover my clue.

Poor old HC-B becomes monument; I bet he's glad he's not 104!

Rob C

bill t.

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Re: What are you doing for STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DAY?
« Reply #5 on: August 22, 2012, 04:21:31 pm »

HCB was also a very good print maker, much in the manner of Eugene Smith but a little more open.  Andrew Smith gallery had some HCB prints that were a joy to behold.  Don't know if he personally made them, but they were printed on his watch.

Would be nice if there was some way to meaningfully reward presently deceased artists for the inflated prices of their prints today, maybe through a Lorenzian wormhole or something.  If anybody in The Future benefits financially from the appreciation of my artwork, I would be receptive to having a few bars of Gold bullion fall onto my worktable on August 21, 2012 at 14:19:00 MST.  Waiting...waiting...bummer!
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32BT

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Re: What are you doing for STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DAY?
« Reply #6 on: August 22, 2012, 04:37:50 pm »

Waiting...waiting...bummer!

Probably a result of being on online forums instead of out shooting. But since there now is no hope for you anymore, you might as well send me all your gear.
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bill t.

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Re: What are you doing for STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DAY?
« Reply #7 on: August 22, 2012, 04:50:14 pm »

Would have sent it to you, but there was this weird rippling effect, then all my gear disappeared!  Be careful what you post.
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RSL

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Re: What are you doing for STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DAY?
« Reply #8 on: August 22, 2012, 08:37:05 pm »

HCB was also a very good print maker, much in the manner of Eugene Smith but a little more open.  Andrew Smith gallery had some HCB prints that were a joy to behold.  Don't know if he personally made them, but they were printed on his watch.

Bill, HCB didn't print -- at least not after some very early attempts. Voja Mitrovic was HCB's print maker from the mid sixties to the end of Henri's life -- the period when signed photographs came into vogue.
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Rob C

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Re: What are you doing for STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DAY?
« Reply #9 on: August 23, 2012, 04:49:20 am »

I think that HC-B and I had/have a lot in common. Though I was a pretty hot printer in my day, I never really enjoyed it that much once I realised I had it licked; what I enjoyed - and still do - is the taking, the making of a photograph. The making of the print was a necessity that I didn't ever like to entrust to anyone else if I could cope with the task on my own. That's one of the spiritual reasons why I so enjoyed transparencies: you didn't have to waste your time messing with them: an edit and that was that! I'm sure that HC-B felt the same way: it's the capture, that moment appropriated. Whether he was a good printer I know not, but I'm certain that his joy lay in the act of exposing the image, the hunt to the climax; exactly my own delights.

Rob C

Rob C

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Re: What are you doing for STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DAY?
« Reply #10 on: August 24, 2012, 05:37:16 am »

Well, Walter, how did the 4x5 shooting go or did you say the hell with it, and pull out the cellphone instead? I admire your stamina; even the thought of lugging around a dslr is too much in this heat. Of course, for you it's winter.

It was 84 F (about 30 C) inside the closed apartment yesterday, and for a few minutes in the evening I put on the a/c which I hate (its first use in several years!), and in no time at all I had to put it off. The chilling sweat would have killed me, I'm sure. My shoulders already ache this morning... Of course, the reason for that is that the unit sits in the office that used to double as darkroom which is why the a/c at all; can't ever depend on anything to be right the following day, never mind something you fitted years ago.

Rob C

WalterEG

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Re: What are you doing for STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DAY?
« Reply #11 on: August 24, 2012, 05:47:10 am »

I was horribly disheartened Rob,

I made a trip to a spot I had shot previously to have another crack at it.  There was renovation happening at the site and I was keen to see what change there might be.

I got there to learn that the new lord of the manor had seen fit to trash the wonderful piece I had found.  So I went and visited a mate instead.

As it turned out it was the hottest winter day on record at 30ºC.  Followed shortly after by massive westerly wind storms blowing a gale from the inland.

I am heading off in the morning for a road trip with a colleague and will be toting the Linhof.  It really is quite transportable (unlike the Sinar).

Cheers,

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Rob C

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Re: What are you doing for STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DAY?
« Reply #12 on: August 24, 2012, 06:07:09 pm »

I was horribly disheartened Rob,

I made a trip to a spot I had shot previously to have another crack at it.  There was renovation happening at the site and I was keen to see what change there might be.

I got there to learn that the new lord of the manor had seen fit to trash the wonderful piece I had found.  So I went and visited a mate instead.

As it turned out it was the hottest winter day on record at 30ºC.  Followed shortly after by massive westerly wind storms blowing a gale from the inland.I am heading off in the morning for a road trip with a colleague and will be toting the Linhof.  It really is quite transportable (unlike the Sinar).

Cheers,




Are you going to have another 'colour' storm as you did some time ago? Get some more shots if you do!

Rob C

32BT

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Re: What are you doing for STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DAY?
« Reply #13 on: August 25, 2012, 04:57:16 am »

Amazing, this thread opens with a request for pictures, and ends up yet again being about gear and other excuses not to go out and take some freaking images.
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Rob C

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Re: What are you doing for STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DAY?
« Reply #14 on: August 26, 2012, 05:02:50 am »

Amazing, this thread opens with a request for pictures, and ends up yet again being about gear and other excuses not to go out and take some freaking images.



Why is going out to take some freaking images such a great thing?

First, you should be armed with some idea of what you want to take freaking pictures of, and then it can be a good idea to take them. Unless you have an obligatory requirement for daily exercise routines - as I - and where an additional purpose can lighten the burden of necessity, then why load yourself with a mental need that usually brings absolutely no reward at all other than a stooped back and pains building up for you in your old age? The more I think about it, the less and less does amateur photography appear to offer. All those delightful vibes that one reads about could be experienced as well in the mind without clicking a single click. It's supposed to be the art of seeing, for which you require but functioning eyes...

To be enslaved by a sense of guilt at not clicking appears a little strange.

Rob C
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