|
|
|
-
I do not believe what I have read...
Henri Cartier-Bresson
He disliked developing or making his own prints. He said: "I've never been interested in the process of photography, never, never. Right from the beginning. For me, photography with a small camera like the Leica is an instant drawing." -Wikipedia.
If you give a birth to a child and you are not interested to raise them up, how can they be such a master piece.
OM-1n & OM-2sp : 35, 85 and 135mm Zuikos.
-
Finally... I learn something about HCB that makes me think that we could be friends. To be an artist, or a reporter, does not mean that one needs to personally labor over every mechanical facet of their chosen process. One can conceive the image and manage others to perform the mechanical aspects and still be an artist... or a mother/father.
-
So printing is only a mechanical process and no artistic talent is required huh?
I know of a number of very talented printers ( Adams, Rudman,Thornton, Carnie ) to name a few. They might disagree with this kind of nonsense.
"A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest"........Paul Simon
-
No, that's not my point. My point is that an artist can work with (manage) another artist (master printer, for example) to get the image that the original artist envisioned.
Last edited by BrianShaw; 01-06-2012 at 01:53 PM.
Reason: corrected spelling typos
-
Who printed Avedon's work? Avedon? No.
Nothing's really changed in this regard with digital. Current fashion photography would be lost without Pascal Dangin and The Box Studio.
-
Sponsored Ad. (Subscribers to APUG have the option to remove this ad.)
-
OK, Largely... I see what you were mostly reacting too in my earlier post. The choice of words, "mechanical processes" was a bad choice. Sorry. I didn't mean to imply purely mechanical with no artistic judgement involved.
-
A lot of the best photographers didn't print their own work. Karsh had a great printer on staff, while other's used custom printers at labs. They still had a lot of interest and input in how the printing was done.
A few of the great photographers did print their own work, and were not the best at it. If you see prints by Eisenstaedt you'll see a great image, but an average print and many of them went un-spotted. I still love his work by the way, it's just the prints that were wanting.
-Rob Skeoch
-
I have to come in on this thread, as to me capture is everything, even in a still life subject. Printing and process can be done in an infinite different ways by an infinite number of people, but only with the original negative. I regard HCB as the greatest photographer of the 20th Century, if not of all time.
“The contemplation of things as they are, without error or confusion, without substitution or imposture, is in itself a nobler thing than a whole harvest of invention”
Francis Bacon
-
Rob, I just wonder how easy it will be for a master photographer(in this case) to reflect his artistic impression on someone who can show it on prints.
OM-1n & OM-2sp : 35, 85 and 135mm Zuikos.
-
 Originally Posted by baachitraka
Henri Cartier-Bresson
He disliked developing or making his own prints. He said: "I've never been interested in the process of photography, never, never. Right from the beginning. For me, photography with a small camera like the Leica is an instant drawing." -Wikipedia.
If you give a birth to a child and you are not interested to raise them up, how can they be such a master piece.
Nah that's the wrong way to think about it. The analogy is no good, sorry  In fact it's perhaps even a bit insulting to those of us who spend more time and energy on the conceptual side of photography than on finishing and selling prints.
I totally understand ... and mostly agree with... HCB's feeling on the subject of printing. I could care less about finished prints for most of my stuff, I get 99% of my satisfaction from composing and putting an idea on film, that's it. The rest of my satisfaction is from helping others do that. I don't get any kind of kick whatsoever out of developing film or getting a perfect, matted print. And I sincerely couldn't care less if somebody else "gets it" or buys it.... I don't buy my own ideas half the time  This is about creativity and enjoyment and I don't need to sell a thing for either.
And HCB obviously didn't see printmaking as the best nor the only way to make visual art, something else I strongly agree with. I really enjoy quick drawings and sketches and certainly don't feel like every idea has to lead to a finished silver print.
As for Adams et al vs. HCB on the art of printing, I will just include one of my favorite HCB quotes, which I think sums it up quite well: "The world is going to pieces and people like Adams and Weston are photographing rocks!" If you understand that quote then you understand much of what HCB was about... being in the moment. Not making prints of the moment you were in, previously, or aspiring to timeless images from rapidly changing scenes.
Last edited by keithwms; 01-06-2012 at 02:33 PM.
|
|
Adv Reply
