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  #1  
Old 22nd August 2014, 10:44 PM
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skellum skellum is offline
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Default Tomorrow I'm meeting . . .

I had a conversation with a friend recently which went along the lines of "if you could spend a day anywhere, at any time in history, where would it be?"
My friend suggested being there on the day the great pyramid of Giza was finished. Or to see the Nuremberg rallies, and try to understand them.

It made me think-
For me, and I suspect many, photography is a rather solitary occupation. However, we all enjoy a bit of photo-chat with a pal sometimes. So, if you could spend a day shooting (or just shooting the breeze) with anyone, who would it be??
For me, I'd love a morning with Atget, prowling the grounds of Versailles in the mist with a big old view camera. His photographs are timeless, quiet, peaceful. On a similar note I really enjoy still life, and I wish I could have seen Josek Sudek at work in his studio. He managed to transform the simplest of items into things of beauty through his complete mastery of lighting.
Or, a session (studio or pub) with the late Bob Carlos Clarke. I'd love to talk to him about still-life, and nudes, and tell him people really loved his work.
So, who would you spend a day with?
And if I might ask, why?

Last edited by skellum; 22nd August 2014 at 10:46 PM. Reason: Need to get the sticky 'f' on this laptop fixed . .
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Old 22nd August 2014, 11:13 PM
alexmuir alexmuir is offline
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Horst. He shows complete control of the image. His prints remind me of paintings, formulated in the mind and perfectly executed to make full use of the frame.
Alex
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Old 23rd August 2014, 12:03 AM
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Good choice.
99.something% of the population have never heard the name, but how many have seen
http://www.horstphorst.com/images/corset_home.jpg
What a beautifully constructed photograph.

If I remember rightly, he fled Europe ahead of the Nazis with little more than the clothes he stood up in. Did he flourish as an artist in spite of those horrors, or as a sign of defiance against them?
If you like Horst, how about Karsh?

Maybe great photographers need a snappy one-word name?
Cheers, Skellum . . .
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Old 23rd August 2014, 07:08 AM
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Ian Marsh Ian Marsh is offline
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I love that image. When I was in the UK one of my clients was Christies and we mounted the photos for their sales, this came up fairly regularly and it always captivated me, but way out of my reach financially

A photographer I would love to have met was Julia Margaret Cameron She was a real pioneer and the images have a wonderful feeling to them
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Old 23rd August 2014, 07:49 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by skellum View Post
I had a conversation with a friend recently which went along the lines of "if you could spend a day anywhere, at any time in history, where would it be?"
My friend suggested being there on the day the great pyramid of Giza was finished. Or to see the Nuremberg rallies, and try to understand them.

It made me think-
For me, and I suspect many, photography is a rather solitary occupation. However, we all enjoy a bit of photo-chat with a pal sometimes. So, if you could spend a day shooting (or just shooting the breeze) with anyone, who would it be??
For me, I'd love a morning with Atget, prowling the grounds of Versailles in the mist with a big old view camera. His photographs are timeless, quiet, peaceful. On a similar note I really enjoy still life, and I wish I could have seen Josek Sudek at work in his studio. He managed to transform the simplest of items into things of beauty through his complete mastery of lighting.
Or, a session (studio or pub) with the late Bob Carlos Clarke. I'd love to talk to him about still-life, and nudes, and tell him people really loved his work.
So, who would you spend a day with?
And if I might ask, why?
I think you've said it all! Can I join you please...?

richard
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  #6  
Old 23rd August 2014, 09:26 AM
Eriktheviking Eriktheviking is offline
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For me I would like to spend some time with Dorothea Lange. She over came her own physical problems and used her skill as a photographer to capture the effects of the great depression in such and visually empathic but beautiful way.

or some time with Ansel Adams and Edward Weston learning their mastery of the landscape and how to print the image for the most impact. Not the most obscure and unheard of photographers I know but real masters of their art which I believe is the reason they are so popular.
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Old 23rd August 2014, 10:23 AM
Steven Steven is offline
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I think I would be happy to spend a day with almost any good photographer - the important thing for me would be less who it was, exactly, because I could learn a great deal from any of them.... But more important would be the ability to ask sensible question and then listen to the answers without interrupting - without some clueless interviewer getting in the way who wants the 'human angle'.

"Yes Mr. adams, I've heard the one about playing the piano in your youth, but would you mind explaining to me exactly how you determined the exposure for this negative? No, no, I've got all day... Please carry on".

But since you asked for a person, I think a day with someone like Gene Nocon (if printers are allowed) and I would probably learn more that I could probably teach myself in ten years....
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Old 23rd August 2014, 10:31 AM
Alan Clark Alan Clark is offline
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Skellum, what an excellent idea. I don't know how you are going to arrange it but I would love to spend the morning with James Raviliouus.
He would take me round one or two of his favourite farms in North Devon, photographing the people who work the land. I'd be especially interested in how he got so much humanity into his work, and how he achieved such wonderful framing and composition.
In the afternoon I would meet up with Denis Thorpe the ex-Guardian photographer, another wonderful photographer of people whose retrospective exhibition made a big impression on me a few years ago. We would go off on an assignment and I know I would learn some valuable things just from watching him at work.
The day would end with a visit to a quiet pub when I would buy them both a drink and look at some of their original prints.

Alan
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Old 23rd August 2014, 10:47 AM
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Of course, Ravilious. His photographs go beyond just the documentary level. He really knew his subjects, and his photographs are beautiful. Some look almost luminous. And, so far as I can gather from reading about him, a very self effacing individual for all his talent.
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Old 23rd August 2014, 11:14 AM
Alan Clark Alan Clark is offline
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Skellum, I think Ravilious was in a special class of great photographers, and very under-rated generally.

Alan
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