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!