I usually don’t write about a brand-new book, but this one is special. Special for two reasons. One is the book itself. Two, just as important, and perhaps even more so is how it came into my possession … and this is what makes it especially special.  The book was given to me as a gift by Peter Schrager … fellow black and white photographer, follower of this website, Monalog Collective member, and most importantly my friend.

As I’ve said before, for me photography is about the journey. It’s much, much more than the pictures you make. It’s about that and everything else related to it. At least it is to me. Perhaps most important beyond being out there and getting some keepers is the people I meet and the friendships I make. Peter is one of the friends I’ve made and my life is better for that.

Ok, so what about the book? Adams is a seminal photographer who’s documented the tension between man’s development of the American West and the natural beauty of what was. Particularly the sprawl of suburbia and all that comes with it. As someone who’s lived in suburbia for much of my life, I am particularly sensitive to this. I lived in suburban northern Virginia and experienced suburban sprawl gone mad. I escaped that and moved to Doylestown. Couldn’t find a house in the borough that had a proper basement for a darkroom, so I ended up at the edge of town in a house built 30 years ago. While I can walk into town and I spend quite a lot of time there, the feel is a little different.  Bucks County is famous for its bucolic beauty and wonderful small towns like Doylestown but it too has experienced the ravages of development. Adams throughout his long career has captured the consequences of development, both to the land and to those that live in it. This is well documented in his seminal book.

The pictures are not what I would call pretty, but they’re important to look at. While I am familiar with Adam’s work and seen his pictures in several anthologies I own, I have never viewed his work in person or thought of owning one of his books. Now that I have this fine edition, I realize the mistake I made.

Thank you Peter for this wonderful gift. Robert Adams, What We Bought: The New World: Scenes from the Denver Metropolitan Area, 1970-1974 will now become an important piece of my photographic library and serve as a stark reminder of one of the realities of American life.

Stay safe,

Michael

Every night last week on the national news I watched vivid stories of Mother Nature’s wrath taken out against Yellowstone National Park.  The worst is over, but what we saw is a grim reminder of how fragile our ecosystem and treasured national parks are.  The devastation caused by monsoons and uncontrolled flooding made me think about a wonderful book I’ve owned for many years, American Photographers and The National Parks, published by the National Parks Foundation and Viking Press.  The version I own is a so-called “Studio Book” and it is quite striking in its nice slipcase cover with inlaid photograph.

The book includes a very fine essay by Robert Cahn, “Curatorial Viewpoints” by the photographer Robert Glenn Ketchum, the over 100 gorgeous plates that comprise the core of the book and small images of the complete catalogue from the 1979 photographic exhibition sponsored by the National Parks Foundation.

Photographers who’s stunning images are contained in this beautiful coffee table size book include: William Henry Jackson, Eadward J. Muybridge, Carleton E. Watkins, Timothy O’Sullivan, William Bell, John K. Hillers, George Fiske, Anne Brigman, Imogen Cunningham, Laura Gilpin Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Eliot Porter, Minor White, Brett Weston, Jerry N. Uelsmann, Michael A. Smith, Charles V. Janda, Don Worth, William Garnett, Robert Glenn Ketchum, Dave Bohn, Paul Caponigro, Harry Callahan, Joel Meyerowitz, Lee Friedlander, William Clift, Linda Connor, Boone Morrison, David Mussina, Roger Minick, Ted Orland, Roger Misrach, John Pfahl, and Gail Skoff.

This is a wonderful book that can be picked up for a song on eBay or in a used bookstore. How about ten bucks to own something so beautiful and inspiring!  So if inflation and the high cost of gas is keeping you from visiting our beautiful national parks, for less than it costs for two gallons of regular you can own something you will cherish for the rest of your life.

Stay well,

Michael

Earlier this year I wrote about a book-buying spree I had. One of the books I snagged was Elliott Erwitt’s huge volume Personal Best that contains over 440 photographs on 448 pages he personally selected as his best and favorite images from a lifetime of creative work.  Did I say huge? It’s roughly 15 by 11 inches in size and just for grins I decided to weigh it … just over 11 pounds! This thing is truly massive as it should be with all that it contains, but with so much visual content can it hold one’s interest, or at one point simply become too much?  I’ll come back to that in a few moments.

Is this a perfect book? Probably not. As others have pointed out, it might have been nice if a landscape format had been employed. I’m not a fan of full bleed spreads onto two pages. But then the book might have hit gargantuan proportions and the price would likely have been more than the $50 it is.

Once you open it up for serious contemplation you realize these are minor quibbles and they are soon forgotten. Not only does Personal Best contain all of Erwitt’s greatest hits, but also there are many photographs that have never been published before. Looking at each picture you realize what a stupendous photographer Erwitt is, because each one of these images is a winner. One can only imagine how many other great pictures he’s made over a lifetime that aren’t his favorites?

Personal Best is a joyful, learning experience that has to be savored in order to really get all that is to be gained from it. It’s also a humbling experience. One can only wonder about how good his also rans are, but for me it’s a motivator of what can be accomplished with dedication, continued hard work and clarity of vision.

Erwitt is a true master. He has spent sixty years living a complete photographic life, something few of us will ever be able to do.  Personal Best gives me something to dream of and aspire to, even if I cannot have such a life. It forces me to strive to do what makes me happy and do it in the best way I can, so I can create my personal best.

So can Personal Besthold one’s interest for an extended viewing session? Yes, yes and yes! In fact, you will want to go back to it again and again.

Buying this book is a no brainer. Do yourself an enormous favor and get it!

Stay safe,

Michael

I have now finished reading Fred Picker’s Zone VI Newsletters for the umpteenth time.  Just ask my wife how may times I have read these things, or talk to my kids about how funny they thought it was that I had brought those two fat grey loose leaf binders with me to the beach on vacations. Yes it’s true. I’ve read all 82 newsletters many times and always seem to gain some new insight with each reading.

I couldn’t wait for that familiar envelope from Vermont to arrive in my mailbox every few months. I have fond memories of getting the calls from my wife in the middle of sixteen hour workdays at the State Department telling me I got my latest newsletter … same thing when Shutterbug arrived!  It’s surprising how much those calls meant to me. I still get great enjoyment from them and pick up new things.  But there is something else about reading them … something about one person’s photographic journey in life.

Yes I know, Picker has been a polarizing subject and still draws criticism on the Internet. But if you can get beyond some commercial promotion of his products, a few instances of self-promotion and a couple of somewhat questionable things he mentions related to getting his picture, then there is just so much there for the black and white analog photographer … and yes … more.

All the innovations, the demystification of the Zone System, the sharing of correspondence with Strand, Adams and other greats, being together with him photographing  … designing and producing exciting products unlike any before, searching for beaver dams, the excitement of capturing the light reflecting off a wall of slate, standing in awe before ancient monoliths or trying to photograph while being stranded during a non-stop rainstorm somewhere in the Outer Hebrides. Being with him as he lived a complete photographic life.  Accompanying him on a photographic and life journey for over twenty years.

Fred did it his way and he told you what he believed to be the truth. He didn’t care what others thought. He told you not to trust anyone including him, but rather to TRY IT for yourself and see if it worked … you could make your own informed decision.  Maybe too many were jealous of his entertaining life, his independence, all of the rule breaking, and the financial success he achieved from the business he created, etc. Many who were proud to post awe inspiring pictures of their family cats and the like on the Internet to demonstrate their photographic prowess claim his photography was dreck.

Fine.

You know what? I don’t give a flying fig about other’s insecurities.  I believe Fred Picker’s Zone VI Newsletters are great stuff and highly recommended! Complete sets come up from time to time on eBay and are worth getting!!!

Go ahead, TRY IT!

Stay safe,

Michael

Years ago while wandering through a used book store I happened upon a copy of Light Years. It must have been in the late Nineties because it has a price of $30 written in pencil inside on the first page. Today the book costs much more, but I would want it anyway because there is so much to learn from it!

Light Years was published in 1996 and served as a retrospective of Gibson’s work from 1960 – 1991. Gibson’s career has centered on the use of Leica cameras, Tri-X film and Rodinal developer. Then in 2013 he went digital but stayed with Leica.  That’s all right; I have not tracked Gibson’s later work to be honest, but he will always be a master to me.

Here’s the thing about Gibson … the images are high contrast and bold, they have grain, they’re abstract and focus on fragments of life. At first look they’re so simple and straightforward that you might be tempted to whip through the book. That would be a mistake!  Like Gibson, I use Leicas, one or two lenses and Tri-X, but that’s where the similarities end for me (oh … and he’s just a little better known then me). So what? I can learn a lot from his intense and compelling pictures … and so can you. He gets in close to his subject matter and isolates it to get to the essence of what it is, or what it is that he wants to say.  It’s up to you to interpret what it all means.

So these black and white fragments/abstracts are not really simple at all, that is not if you take the time to really study them in detail. Do that and you learn some valuable truths, such as how important it is to get in close and to carefully frame your subject.  In other words, concentrate on and think hard about every picture you make. That’s what I get again and again when I study this collection of many of Gibson’s finest pictures.  There are 92 of them so there is a lot to see and study. Take your time and you will be rewarded!

Highly recommended!

Stay safe,

Michael

Awhile back I wrote about my marathon printing experience, assisting the great Michael Smith over a weekend.  The objective: to print 100 photographs of Chicago for book publication and exhibition. We achieved that objective and somehow I survived it. And I think it made me a better photographer in all respects. The result of this work was part of what was published in the book Chicago: Loop / Chicago: Lake. Smith’s multi-talented wife and partner Paula Chamlee contributed to the other half of the book with her photographs, other artwork and writings.  I think the best way to describe the book is to quote what Michael Smith wrote about it.

“In 2008, Paula and I were commissioned by Bob Wislow of U.S. Equities Realty to photograph Chicago. We were free to photograph anything that appealed to us, but Bob asked that we each concentrate on a particular subject. Paula said that she wanted to photograph the Chicago’s shoreline all along the lake. That gave me the opening to photograph the buildings, mostly in the Loop, something I had wanted to do for almost thirty years. To do a project like this with our cumbersome equipment, a commission is essential. We could park in otherwise illegal spots, and we had access to rooftops from which to photograph. Half of the photographs, which were all from 8×20-inch negatives in my half of the book were made from rooftops, a few from a roof on the 90th floor of the Sears Tower.

The book is really a two-part book. My photographs are of the buildings. Flip the book over and it becomes Chicago: Lake, which consists of diptychs, triptychs, and quartets of Paula’s photographs in black and white and in color, along with her drawings, assemblages, and writings. You get two books for the price of one.”

I have a special place in my heart for this book, in part because of my personal experience with part of its content and my friendship with Michael and Paula. This having been said, Chicago: Loop / Chicago: Lake is a wonderful and truly unique book, and I am glad I own it based on its own merits.  The photographs and other artwork are outstanding and like all books published by Lodima Press, the reproductions are absolutely first rate. Paula’s writings add a special dimension to her work.

I think Chicago: Loop / Chicago: Lake is a bargain, especially if you purchase it on the used market. Get it; I think you will agree it’s something completely different … and really special.

Recently, I was contacted by Murray Smith who had visited my website. He asked me if I would be interested in looking at several of his self-published monographs. I agreed and soon received a package containing a few books and a couple of articles on photography that Murray thought I would be interested in reading. Murray’s books were produced prior to the popularity of just-in-time services such as Blub, so the cost of production was much higher than it would be if they were made today.  This is a supreme testament to the photographer’s dedication to recreate his vision in book form so that a lasting statement can be shared with others.

After I had a chance to review Murray’s books in detail I contacted him and we had several nice conversations concerning his thoughts on photography in general, the making of these books and my thoughts concerning them, and his goals and objectives moving forward.  Based on our discussions Murray offered to send me some other books of his work.  Taken as a whole the books are of high quality, both in terms of production value and content, and display different facets of the artist’s conceptual thinking. One very interesting concept that appears in more than one book is what Murray calls “recapitulation” where single images that have been presented on previous pages are then clustered together in groupings that make “poetic” sense. It is something I have not seen done before and is quite interesting!

I am most appreciative of the opportunity Murray gave me to see his work and excited that we met through this website. Murray is a great example of photographers who are producing work in book form that deserves to be seen.  Because of their courage, commitment and drive they are making the financial and psychic investments that enables their dreams to become reality.

Thank you Murray!

For more information on Murray Smith’s work and books go to: http://www.murraysmithphotographer.com