I finished watching The Beatles: Get Back documentary Thanksgiving weekend. You might say I’ve been a little obsessed since then … just ask my wife! If you care about, or just want to get a better understanding about the creative process and what it takes to fully realize your vision as intended, then you need to watch this! Oh, and by the way, the music happens to be pretty good too!

In addition to thinking about how these musical geniuses went about creating their art, I also thought about how similar their process was to that which has been and continues to be used in black and white analog photography by those who truly care about their work.

The greats and those who aspire to be great go back again and again if the light isn’t right or the picture isn’t just so. They throw away the also-rans during and after long printing sessions and only print their very few best images.  Sometimes the print takes days to get it right … trying different papers, developers, etc., until the final result that recreates the vision originally seen in their mind’s eye is achieved.

It’s hard and often frustrating work, but when it all finally comes together, there’s nothing quite like it. And when you have experienced one of those special moments, there’s no turning back.

Stay safe,

Michael

Well folks, the short answer is yes!  I guess I never really thought about this existential question before, but it was brought to the forefront as a result of the call for younger members announcement Monalog posted recently on the Large Format Photography Forum. The announcement is similar to what I posted here last week. Of course we ended up with several stupid and snarky postings in response. Was I surprised? Yes. Should I have been? No. Unfortunately it’s typical.

I guess in the world we live in people that photograph can be bozos just like anyone else that traverse the social media landscape.  Maybe I thought people that make pictures would universally be better. Silly me!

A bit of good news though, regarding this particular example of foolishness … one of the posters apologized. Thank you! To the others, I would love to see your work to find out if you are photographers Monalog would consider for membership or merely those with impressive large format cameras that occasionally venture out to take a mediocre picture?

If you’re a serious black and white analog photographer that wishes to be part of a great group of like-minded and people doing something truly exciting I would like to hear from you!

Stay safe,

Michael

I have talked about the Monalog Collective plenty since we founded it less than two years ago and I am extremely proud of how we have grown and what we have accomplished during this short period of time!  Monalog is a group of passionate black and white photographers dedicated to the art and craft of traditional image making utilizing 19th and 20th century monochrome processes. All aspects of our craft are analog based, and we are promoting our passion for this approach through exhibitions, projects and regular gatherings to share our knowledge with each another.

Now we would like to expand our group to include members, 35 and under, to strengthen the diversity and creative thinking of the group. Including younger photographers who are committed to all-analog black and white photography will broaden the Collective’s perspective as we begin our new project “Visions of America” next year. If you are a young photographer that embraces light sensitive film, paper and chemistry to create your work, please consider contacting Monalog for a portfolio review. Our membership of thirteen is spread throughout the United States from Washington to Maine and we welcome potential new members from across America. Please see our website: www.monalogcollective.com for more information.

Stay safe,

Michael

I haven’t even used them yet, but the IC and 2C are making there hulking presence known in my darkroom … and my life.  My last two weekends have been spent enlarging my enlarging table so that three enlargers could be accommodated with enough room between them to comfortably work. That’s a lot of enlarging in one sentence, isn’t it! With the help of my talented next-door neighbor we were able to extend the table on both sides from near the edge of my entrance door to the wall. After painting the top flat black and the base/legs white to match the existing table you would almost think it was all one continuous work surface.  Things always take longer then expected, especially when you knock over the paint onto the floor, but I am excited … I think … about the outcome.  I had to get rid of a metal bookcase that had been repurposed to hold all my chemicals and paper safes, but those items will easily fit underneath my sink and/or the table top on the built in shelf.

Now for the really fun part, getting a few missing pieces and figuring how to use these beasts as they were meant to be used. I finally managed to get instruction booklets for each enlarger, but of course they are for older models and don’t provide the most “how to”.  I think the IC will be more straightforward and I found an interesting YouTube video on the 2C. Unfortunately the person while looking very knowledgeable is speaking Chinese. I am sure it would have been helpful but $#%@^&* !  Then, I couldn’t get the housing that holds the 60mm and 100mm lenses to shift positions for use; the mechanism was jammed. Again #@$%^$#@%.  After taking things apart I found that a tiny, tiny, cylindrical bearing was jammed and one was missing.  Yet another $%#^%$^ moment!  I needed my neighbor’s help again. Without his help the remaining bearings would certainly fall out and scatter to who knows where (well a few did, but I was lucky to track them down).

Only those pesky Wetzlar elves could have designed such a thing (they had a reason for everything they did, didn’t they?), and even though I was able get things working again sans the missing bearing, deep down I knew it might not be right. I mean it seems to be working, but it’s not Leitz ultimate perfection, is it.

That damn tiny part is on my mind. Perhaps I am loosing all sense of reality because I have begun to see if I can locate or fabricate one if necessary @#$%^&!

I’m also beginning my hunt for the missing negative masks I will need, but think I might have a line on some new ones if necessary from Kienzle in Germany.  And then there are two tiny knurled screws to hold a light bulb socket in place to illuminate the enlargement indicator scale and the red filter that goes underneath the lens.  Why not be a completest? After all, this is a Leica isn’t it? Kienzle is known for supporting these wacky things as well as making their own fine autofocus enlargers. I have communicated with them and we will see that they have to say.

I know it’s all worth it, right … or am I beginning to slowly loose my mind?  Someday I hope to know.

Stay safe and happy Thanksgiving,

Michael

This past Thursday I attended the in person opening of the Monalog Collective show at the Gallery 270 in Westwood, New Jersey.  It was wonderful to see and I had a great time!  There was a nice turnout and I met some wonderful people. An interesting point of discussion was raised during one of my conversations … that being the primacy of the image over analog vs. digital considerations.

So what matters most … the image itself or how it’s made? Interesting!  Here is my view, especially as it relates to black and white pictures. Obviously the image is what we see and it must be compelling in the first place. But then there is the question of how it appears on paper, and then what goes into making it a reality. When I look at a compelling and well-executed film-based silver gelatin, platinum, collodion or carbon transfer black and white photograph I am struck by three things.  First the image itself, then the beauty of it … in this case an image that has depth to it that I can see into the paper itself, and finally my thoughts of all hours and craft that have gone into creating it.

When I look at almost any digital black and white print where the subject matter is interesting, I quickly sense a hyper reality or harsh hyperrealism that detracts from whatever chance the image had. I can spot it mile a way.  It’s so overly dramatic, often because it’s so easy to do. Then there is the look itself; there’s no depth. What you see is on the paper surface only and it’s looks … different. There’s a reason why some digital software tries to emulate the look of Tri-X! In this regard, I recently attended a show of a famous photographer. The pictures were all black and white, very large and mostly digital. There was no contest between the small number of equally large prints made in the darkroom from medium format negatives and the digital pictures. The difference in emotional impact for me was simply staggering! Finally there is the matter of the digital “workflow”.  “Shoot” 500 pictures in an afternoon and hopefully find a keeper. Then Photoshop it on your computer screen and finally print it out while your doing something else.

Look, I understand that in the commercial world digital reigns and it’s not going away. I get it; it’s about speed and convenience. But for personal work, for your art, I’m sorry.  Yes the image matters, but there is so much more.

What matters most … the image itself or how it’s made? Well for me it’s simple … both!

Stay safe,

Michael

“Black and white are the colors of photography. To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected.” – Robert Frank

This could be enough to put the great Robert Frank in my Favorite Top 10, but there is something more, and alone it puts Frank on my list. His book The Americans is one of the most cherished in my photographic library. I have written about Frank a number of times and here yet again is what I wrote about that seminal masterpiece:

“Robert Frank, The Americans

Like Helen of Troy, the “face that launched a thousand ships”, Robert Frank, through his seminal work, The Americans, influenced countless street and documentary photographers and the trajectory of photography itself!

There have been at least four editions this incredible book that have been published since 1958.  Each one is slightly different.  My copy is published by Scalo and leaves the captions that go with each photograph to the very end of the book.

What matters is that Frank may have taken the ultimate photographic road trip across America just before everything changed forever with the Sixties. And perhaps Frank’s unvarnished view of America and American life may have been as significant as rock and roll, the counter culture and the rest of the fall out from the Viet Nam War in changing the way we looked at ourselves.

During his year and half year project Frank exposed 767 rolls of film, making 27,000 pictures. Ultimately he edited them down to 83 images. And what images they are!

83 perfectly sequenced black and white photographs tell the story, and an incredible and shocking story it must have been for a society used to seeing nothing but a sugar coated view of reality. It certainly was not welcomed by the mainstream photography and art world.  Nothing would be the same again, but we are surely better off for his brilliant vision.

I have been lucky enough to see several Frank exhibits including one showing all 83 photographs, along with his proof sheets!  I was also fortunate to be able to attend a lecture he gave in support of one of the exhibits.

In short, your photographic library must include a copy of this book.  Buy any one the editions, new or used; it doesn’t matter. Just get one!”

In 2009 I saw the landmark exhibit of his monumental work entitled Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. I also attended a terrific lecture he gave in Washington. While both of these events are and will remain fond memories for me, I will always have Frank’s wonderful book to study and ponder whenever the need for inspiration occurs. And now The Americans resonates with me more than ever before. Why? Because I believe America is truly at a crossroads. And just as was the case with the America that Frank laid bare for all to see in 1958, we now live in an America that we now know is not the America we thought we lived in. Not our country, not our state, not our neighborhood. It was all there, but we didn’t know it, or worse yet, we didn’t want to see it, and when we did we didn’t want to believe it.

Why for me is Frank so great and why is he so important now?  Because he dared to find the unvarnished truth and show it, and when he couldn’t get his work published, he kept on fighting until it was. Frank is an inspiration for me and he should be for you, not necessarily to discover and document a cross-country experience  … that is impractical for most of us … but to document the reality of your own America as you see it … wherever you find or experience it.

Stay safe,

Michael

The Leitz Focomat V35 was and remains a spectacular photographic tool for the serious 35mm photographer. Several years ago I wrote a lengthy entry about my long experience with it called Working with the Leitz Focomat V35 Enlarger. It recieved a lot of views and I ended up with a number of emails about it. If you have an interest in one of these fine enlargers check it out!

About two years ago I realized I wasn’t using it very much anymore. Not sure why, but I was working mostly with my Devere 504 for both medium format and 35mm negatives. The more I thought about it, most of my prints had been made with the Devere. Shortly after this realization I had the opportunity to sell my V35 to a friend and Monalog colleague so we agreed on a price and off it went. I am happy to say it found a good home and is being utilized, as it deserves to be!

Cruising along in my monogamous relationship with the Devere, several months ago I had the opportunity to see several Leitz Focomat 1Cs as well as a 2C. @#!$%^@##!$%! :). I had never seen these beauties before let alone had the opportunity to touch them with my very own hands. Two I saw were in the possession of another friend and Monalog colleague – the very last light grey versions of each with the latest Focotar lenses, etc.!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you sense where this is going?

Here is some of what I said about the V35 in my entry:

“Let me cut to the chase. It’s a wonderful tool for making beautiful images. Is it perfect? No, but few things in life are. But now that I have reacquainted myself with the pleasures of using this finely crafted instrument I don’t plan on letting it sit idle for long!  Mine has the standard black and white head to use with graded paper, a VC head and color head.  In a previous entry I discussed why I use a color head for greatest control with variable contrast papers so I won’t repeat that here. Take a look, as I am convinced this approach is really the way to go.

The V35 was wildly expensive when manufactured.  Lore has it that it became so expensive to produce and sell that this finally caused Leica to shut down production in 1995.  If you were to take one apart and look at its construction, including the autofocus assembly, then weigh the associated necessary tolerances in the enlarger as a whole and its structural rigidity, and finally consider the stupendous Focotar-2 enlarging lens that is supplied with it you would see that the V35 was made with the same dedication to precision as an M series camera.

The great news for 35mm printers is that you can snag one of these beauties for as little as a few hundred dollars if shop carefully!

Some people complain that the V35 doesn’t compare with the previous autofocus models – the Focomat 1, not to mention the more rare and very expensive Focomat 2 (for negatives up to 6×9) that is considered by many to be the holy grail of enlargers.  I cannot really tell you as I haven’t tried them, or even considered them for a couple of simple reasons: I like diffusion light sources which is what the V35 is designed for, the quality of the Focotar-2 lens; the huge expense of the Focomat 2 without a diffusion lights source (3^rd party products are available); and the fact that I have the Devere 504 with Schneider Apo Componon HM enlarging lenses, equipped with easy to use below the baseboard focusing controls.”

So much for my past logic and on to indulging my apparently not to hidden lust for what many consider the ultimate!

Back to my friend and Monalog colleague … he was thinking of selling both enlargers but wasn’t in a hurry to pull the trigger, and if he did it wasn’t going to be cheap!  We kept in contact and frankly it was more of me bugging him to tear the band-aid off.  Finally the blessed decision was made and after much negotiation the deed was done.

I now have sitting in my darkroom what many consider the King (2C) and at a minimum, the Crown Prince (1C) of enlargers … the Leicas of enlargers!  And of course, no diffusion color heads and none of the convenience I love so much!  And yeah, my mighty Devere is still here (with diffusion color head) and it’s not going anywhere thank you.

So what the $%^$&^@ ? Is this opportunity or complete and foolish excess?  I have to go out and buy some damn VC filters for starters! I’ve never spoken about darkroom GAS before and had never experienced it. Was I now? To be completely honest, I don’t know. Even worse was this just another Covid-19 purchase like so many people have made?  Or was I falling under a magic spell cast by elves from Wetzlar past?  It’s known that many have succumbed to the their hypnotic siren calls … myself included. Could I resist their charms now?

So now I feel I need to write about this, to express myself, even if none of the answers exist yet. Will the truth finally emerge?  I eagerly await and I stand ready to be judged.

In the meantime it’s going to take a little time to sort things out. I can see that I will probably need to extend my enlarging table to handle three heavy beasts, and I need to get a few missing parts and another Zone VI timer (none of which grow on trees).  I’ll let you know how it goes … but if anyone has any thoughts I’d love to hear from you!

Stay safe,

Michael