Archive for the ‘film cameras’ Category

Edward Steichen, the Conde Nash years 1923-1937

April 20, 2011
Seine river

Paris, Seine river

when mary and i first visited Paris we were very lucky except for the grey sky’s most everyday, after all  it was at the end of October a bit chilly and who cared it was Paris and we were together. the streets seeped with history and the museums budged with art and cafes everywhere with fresh baked croissants.

we rented an apartment through Craigs List and sight unseen were located on the right bank two blocks from the Louvre, somewhere around the Rue du Roule talk about luck and location whoo. by the way Paris has a great jazz radio station with even a feed from WBGO here in Newark NJ. the apartment was small but clean with a kitchenette and a double bed.

but not everyday was gloomy there were some lovely days and being with my honey made up for any rainy days

Seine river with Eiffel tower

Museum passes in hand we headed out into the great city of lights to see what we could discover. no we didn’t do the Louvre first as we wanted to be outside enjoying Paris. we walked around a lot since we were in the middle of everything. mary was taking a photography class back in NJ so she had homework assignments, not a bad place to do your homework.

but this isn’t about Paris yet connected in every way in my mind. we discovered the photographic exhibit called Edward Steichen In High Fashion, The Conde Nash Years at the Jeu de Paume Museum, organized by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, Minneapolis and The Musee de L’Elysee,Lausanne.  We never had a clue it would be there nor did we know too much about Steichen’s work.

the photography  exhibit blew me away and how much of it that was on display wow. the portrait of Gloria Swanson 1924 has to be seen in person it’s just amazing. all of the prints were wonderfully done as one would expect from an artist such as Steichen even though he’s long gone. along with all the prints there was a movie interview with him in his studio which i fell in love with because it showed all his lighting equipment and he sat next to a huge camera sort of a Steichen at work type of thing. the floor was covered with big black wires powering the plato convex spotlights, floods etc of that period.

At the end of the exhibit comes the book store and trinket shop. i picked up the accompanying book and wanted to buy it right away but alas i am just a dumb american who can’t read French, besides it’s a pretty big book to lug around europe. Steichen worked in B&W photography which is pretty amazing in it’s own right. What he did with his limited space and flats is pretty amazing.

so i am in a book buying binge now and i ordered one from amazon having just finished it this week. i must say it to is a wonderful book especially for people who never had an opportunity to see the traveling exhibit which has long gone into retirement. i wish i had been able to read the book and then see the exhibit again. i think would have gotten more out of the exhibit at the time but one can’t, at least i haven’t found a way to time travel yet.

i recommend this book to anyone who has a love of B&W photography or fashion history, it’s a real treasure.

some say artist working in commercial endeavors looses touch with the art. we all got to eat and would like other people to enjoy our work, i always feel that i am sending my children to a foster home when someone buys a picture. Steichen had this to say  in a letter to

Mrs Chase;

“in connection with our idea about dignified and distinguished presentation of ‘Beauty’ pictures if they can be done in Duotone they will be greatly enhanced. there are some works of art in the Louvre that if presented in a peep show would be condemned s pornographic. in the Louvre they are art – make Vogue a Louvre.”

don’t we all just want to be loved for what we do? i’ve fallen in love here with a master of B&W photography and this book shows why he’s considered such.

this is the next place i want to stay in Paris or maybe Amsterdam

house boats

jene

www.jeneyoutt.com

Posted in books, educational, fashion, film cameras, galleries, Magazines, photography exhibits | Leave a Comment »

the history of digital cameras & other mind wanderings

January 4, 2011

The history of digital cameras

Thirty-five years ago—in December 1975—an engineer named Steven Sasson snapped a photo with the world’s first fully digital camera at a Kodak lab. It took 23 seconds to record a 100-by-100-pixel image to cassette tape. Not until the early 1990s, however, did digital photo technology take off, launching an attack that would conquer the consumer camera industry in less than a decade. In the slides ahead, let’s examine some highlights of digital camera history.

1st digital camera

if this interests you then you might want to go to Wikipedia’s ‘history of the camera’ web page for some pretty cool cameras and history. the article shows my first camera, the Kodak No 2 Brownie, actually it was my families camera that i decided to use on my own, always an interesting experience seeing grown ups reaction to what kids do.

but the article misses my first real camera purchase during my stay in Munich with the US Army. i couldn’t afford a Lieca so i got an Exakta made in the USSR Germany. it had a 1.8 zena lens on it, whoooo.

exackta IIa

i loved that camera and kept it for years. when i lived in Greenwich village i found a sign in Cambridge camera that said ‘We fix Exakta’s.’ that’s where i first met Norm who took care of my baby for years until it couldn’t be repaired anymore because of the film advance gears being stripped beyond repair.

he swapped it for a Canon AE1 and lenses. i went on to purchase an F1 and an AE1 programmable but now i had to get use to a right hand film advance. this was a turning point in my photography but i didn’t know enough then to realize what was going on, sometimes i wake up in the morning wondering what i know now as i stumble to the MR Coffee pot.

this morning, writing in my journal, about what to do this year i looked up at 8 shoe boxes of film i could begin scanning into computer and a shutter goes through my body. oh how i dread scanning film and slides into computer. but i know i’ve some lovely stuff in the boxes and in the chrome archive books. but the though crosses my mind maybe i’ll call the dentist and see about some root canal work instead.

i look on my book shelf and pull out my Exakta camera 1933-1978  book by Clement Aguila & Michel Rouah from years ago and flip through the pages looking for my IIa and Zena lenses. i love German lenses. that’s why i’ve a Contax Nx and a Hasselblad 503 but i have kept my Canon F1 just to shoot infrared film as the Nx is an film auto loader which won’t allow infrared film to be used it confuses the auto reader in the camera. it was a shame that Kyocera discontinued their Contax N Digital so soon after developing it. i was heart broken.

i guess i could buy on of those N mount adapters and put my Zeiss lenses on my 5D MII and see what happens. would it improve my photos? well since no one is buying them right now why bother?

some roman church statue

this is taken with a Canon 20D, so it’s not so much the camera that makes the picture more about time & place and vision.

the chore on hand right now for me is to gather my Diablo rojos notes, which i did yesterday and separate them in to categories. i also found on amazon a dvd video about them which i ordered. today i’ll do more research, which is right next to film scanning on the list, but discovery can be exciting. after all we need to put down a date for our next Panama trip, find housing and schedule interviews.

as always, i am waiting to hear back from people today. things could be worst with the boiler not working or no hot water, all the comforts of new york city living.

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Posted in art, canon, Canon cameras, computers, contax nx, Diablos rojas, digital cameras, film cameras, Los Diablos rojos, panama, travel, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

hollywood portraits photographers auction

June 16, 2010

well it seems we, you and i, missed an education here but we can still take a look at the catalog of images here.

Auction of the World’s Largest Collection of Original Vintage Glamour Photography

Jean Harlow

JEAN HARLOW

CALABASAS, CA.- George Hurrell’s iconic portrait of Jean Harlow on a white bearskin rug created for Vanity Fair magazine now spearheads the largest auction of Glamour Photography in art history. The original camera negative, as well as a custom print of this incomparable photograph is regarded as Hurrell’s most important portrait and is estimated to sell for well over $20,000. The multi-million dollar Michael H. Epstein and Scott E. Schwimer collection, which contains tens of thousands of the best examples of Hollywood fine art, will be auctioned by Profiles in History March 26-27, 2010. Worldwide bidding begins at 12:00pm (noon) PST both days.

i’ve always loved hollywood portraits and have a few books of them myself. this auction of George Hurrell works and his life always amazes me. how i’d love to be able to produce work like this. to think these images were printed way before photoshop was born.

there were postproduction skills such as photographic printers, guys and gals, though maybe it was an all boys club, who only did printing. the softness of the faces, another lost art of filters, maybe a good lecture to visit next photo expo. but what ever the effect just makes my knees weak.

for more info on this collection see here.

thanks to art knowledgenews.com

Posted in art, film cameras, Photography, photography presentations | Leave a Comment »

Photography isn’t expensive

January 5, 2010

compared to restoring a muscle car. we are right in the middle of taking a piece of history from the junk yard and crusher and putting it under our butts. this is how we bought the car. looks good right?1970 xr7 red convertible

well we thought this was going to be a fun car and someday it maybe just that. so over a year later, 15 months, the car went into a body shop for major floor replacements. that’s what salt does to sheet metal.

1970 xr7 red convertible

1970 xr7 red convertible

passenger side floor

1970 xr7 red convertible

passenger floor & door

the white doors came all the way from california, mary and i had to put them on but first ream out new door hinge bushings and learn how to install and line up doors.

it’s a shame i don’t have before pictures but these are just the middle pictures because as you see there isn’t any interior in the car, nothing to sit on. it’s all sitting in marys basement and we are having a brunch get together latter this month and guess who is going to have to more all the parts.

oh i didn’t mention that the car needed a drivers side quarter panel, wheel wells, door striker post and a trunk floor.

1970 xr7 red convertible

trunk floor

1970 xr7 red convertible

trunk floor

but someday the car will look as good as we first saw it on that rainy day in long island.

1970 xr7 red convertible

as first seen

considering all my photography gear 4×5 graflex, n1 contax, hassy 503, f1 canon, yashica 120, 5D Mll & 20D it all pales in comparison to this project. going back to our original plan to tour the southwest of america with the top down, wind blowing in our hair, shooting Laszlo Kovacs style pictures is the final plan.

so maybe we’ll see you along the way between blast of air horns from the knights of the road. be sure to say hello.

jene

www.jeneyoutt.com

Posted in art, film cameras, howling at the moon, living life to it's fullist, mercury cougars, Zen teachings | 1 Comment »

Tim Burton @ MOMA

December 31, 2009

or how i learned to love the ‘A’ train at rush hour.

yesterday mary and i took the kids to MOMA to see this show as did most of the tourists visiting new york that day. to say the lines were long is an understatement because as i past them they reached to ave of americas  from the entrance. i knew i was in trouble right away.

moma is not my favorite museum but i remember it more fondly before they spent $858 million on its renovation  and expansion which has seemed like an actual reduction in viewing experience. they say there is more room  for exhibits but the whole museum experience for me is too crowded, not just popular shows as is the burton exhibit, but the hallways, stairs, bathrooms  and moving to the elevators, everything is square and small.

i tried looking down on the sculpture garden from one of the floors only to be blocked by some horizontal bars that obstructed my view. what was yoshio taniguchi thinking while designing this space?

even with the open space in the middle of the museum,which to me in reality feels restricted space where one can never touch. maybe it’s a japanese thing. when i first revisited moma they had Monet’s water lillies hanging there, what a waste to try to see them so far away,50 or 100 feet away, since then they’ve moved them to their own room next to the second floor cafe  which now reminds me of the port authority bus terminal waiting room. what happened to the nice quiet room they hung in at old moma?  but the room does make a nice place to drink your cafe latte or whatever comes from the cafe. slurp quietly.

i now feel crushed by the weight to the condo tower, or what ever it is,  above the exhibit space i guess by the money represented above. but i am being distracted by my hate for the new building. but before i move on you know the nice first floor restaurant in the old building, the one with lots of light coming in the floor to ceiling windows, well it’s now a much smaller members only dinning room. the masses are shuttled to the other cafe’s, now just feeding rooms on long impersonal tables popularized by barbican courts to feed the masses with no views.

but the tim burton shuffle show, and that’s what the experience is, shuffling along, reminding me of an old character on the life of riley radio show, digger odell ‘i’ve got to be shoveling along’, which in a way suits tim burton’s work very well. but because of the crowd one is moved along or bumped into by the mass. most of the show consists of small working drawings and it’s  really exhibited in a very small space.

what i’ve aways thought the strong part of burtons work were his movies. at the entrance to the exhibits there are a number of televisions sets showing different segments of a video piece. they don’t seem to be coordinated as the first one ends the next station should  begin so one can see the video as a whole. as it is now the next video is already running so you move to that staqtion in the middle. how hard would it be to sync things up? hello museum. ‘well move on there, we’ve got your money’, there is big crush  behind you and lots of kids,, little ones to the front please, ‘hey you big oaff could you move, you’re blocking the screen for everyone else, yes you.’

the crowd moves on one more hansel & gretel video with a small space to sit. the crowd moves on into bigger smaller room with models of characters from movies them over to the egress, hey what happened ? ‘oh bauhaus, looks interesting lets go there.’

did i say how much i despise moma, yet i go there, now i won’t pay $20.00 to visit a place with a lot more money than i’ll ever see, but target still subsides friday’s at moma which i support by going and making purchases at target stores. so supporting the arts is always nice.

if only i could get some people interested in buying my art work oh well see www.jeneyoutt.com or my OMP portfolio  for samples.

Posted in art, Artist, film cameras, galleries, photography exhibits, photography presentations, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

the american’s, robert frank

November 24, 2009

a friend was in town the other week whom i don’t usually get to spend time with but he had a day to kill so we decided to try and see la danse the weisman dance film of the paris opera’s dance company. both his daughters are ballerinas in a european company so we thought that might be fun.

we showed up to the theater to be met with a very long line half way down the block , oh well i don’t like crowded theaters nor crowds in general. so kenny suggested we go up to the metropolitan museum of art and see the robert frank exhibit ‘the americans.’

on the way up on the subway kenny told me why he had an interest in robert franks work. kenny used to work at baldwin pottery on la guardia place a long long time ago. i knew it from my chip monck days because he had a loft  in the building down the alley behind baldwin pottery. kenny worked as a potter before we met working at the filmore east. i met chip as a daily hire for his rolling stones tour of europe in 1970 to take care of the follow spots. long story…….

the owner suggested kenny to mary frank’s who was looking for someone to mix and kneed her clay as she spent many years as a sculpture artist. kenny said she had given him a schetch which now hung in his mothers house. really odd how these connections happen.

what i learned abotut the show is totally different than what kenny walked away with. see the link for pics etc. no they are not mine as pictures are forbidden in traveling shows besides i didn’t have my camera with me, we were going to the movies.

seeing the actual first prints, working prints etc in a way is pretty neat, but what struck me is how far we, photographers, have come with printing. this is also true of a show earlier this year with fred steins work. the new archival prints are so much better than the originals.

now i’ve never seen any ansel adams prints that were created under his supervision, but think they too would show their age now. everything paper, well actually everything is decaying right before our decaying eyes.

but i guess what’s interesting to most people is seeing the originals. the show was certainly crowded enough but lots of tourist wander through new york on any given day. there was a quotation from jack kerouac on the wall which caused me to smile because i knew jack when he was living in northport, ny. i don’t remember the quote but i do remember drinking and closing many a bar with jack and friends.

i remember driving into the sun with jack in the seat besides me, more on that later.

Posted in film cameras, galleries, Photography, photography exhibits, photography presentations, photography teachers, printing, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

lost another point of light in photography, John Daido Loori Roshi

October 28, 2009

this month October we, the world at large, lost another great photographer and teacher. John Daido Loori 1931-2009.

it was my priviledge to have a few conversations with John Daido Loori Roshi zen priest , teacher, photographer and human being.

I’ve only met him a few times in a casual setting, once at a Change Your Mind day sponsored by Tricycle magazine where he was speaking about his Mountains and Rivers order to the assembled buddhist group sitting on the grassy field in central park. i found him to be a very generous man.

i had asked him a question about reincarnation which other buddhist traditions teach and had been brought up earlier that day. as i recall he said that as far as our atoms being released back into the primordial soup to begin again as some other entity that was about all one could expect.i think he respected all creation and i know he fought hard to preserve his sanctuary and woodland around zen mountain for all beings. his art reflected his spiritual life.

john was an artist/photographer who had studied with Minor White i had always wanted to do a workshop at Zen Mountain Monastery with john. but you know how life is, there was always something getting in the way of taking the time for myself either be it work or money but it never came to be. that is one of my regrets in life.

i have all two of his photography books which if you ever get the chance to do buy. they are still in print at the Monastery Store and the one on creativity.

Making Love With Light is a wonderful study of John’s photography, Zen poems and essays.

Hearing With the Eye are photos from Point , California, makes one remember wandering all sorts of beaches

The Zen of Creativity is about John’s insight on creativity and life. not so much about color photography but more on the creative process as a whole.

i’ve linked these to the monastery store because i believe in supporting the teachings that have helped me. i am sure they can be had from amazon books but i’ve never looked for them there.

I’ve never sat at the monastery nor with john. i do belong to other Buddhist groups namely the Insight Meditation Society and New York Insight but Zen teachers have had a large influence on me beginning with Alan Watts and a non buddhist teacher J.Krishnamurti whom i did see give talks in new york way back when. all of their teachings are still available on-line and in printed form.

i have a very good friend who is a member of the Mountains and Rivers sangha whom i talked to as soon as i learned of john’s illness which even though it’s a big part of the teachings imperemance of this world and time his passing did make me sad. it gives me some comfort to know there are good people in the world even though i don’t know them nor see them regularly it’s just nice to realize they are there.

it’s a big part of metta practice and teachings, to know there are other people in this world wishing me happiness and a good life, even though i don’t know them, they are there. i can be connected to then and this world, even though it’s just a ball of mud and water waiting for its time to evaporate and us along with it. we might as well have some fun and laughs along the way and know that we are loved for who we are.

i just wanted to acknowledge my special feelings about john and other people i’ve come across on my path. yes i felt the loss of this lost point of light, but life goes on until it doesn’t.

Posted in art, Artist, buddhist teachers, film cameras, Magazines, Photography, photography teachers, Zen teachers, Zen teachings | 4 Comments »

Talk and Presentation “Fred Stein: Art of the Street/Art of Intimacy”

October 9, 2009

Save The Date!    October 27, 7 PM

Talk and Presentation
“Fred Stein: Art of the Street/Art of Intimacy ”
Paris 1930’s, New York 1940’s, Portraits

Peter Stein, the son of noted photographer Fred Stein will be giving a talk and video/slide presentation about his father on October 27, 2009, at the Soho Photo Gallery located at 15 White Street, between West Broadway and Avenue of the Americas. There will be a reception starting at 6 pm. The program will begin  at 7 pm.

Street scenes of Paris in the years just before the German occupation, and New York during and just after World War II, capture the vitality and pathos of these two vibrant cities His portraits of intellectuals, artists, and statesmen reveal the unique character of the men and women who shaped the political and cultural events of the 20th century.

Educated as an attorney at German universities and deeply involved in anti-Nazi politics from his youth, Stein was forced to leave his country in 1933.  Unable to practice law in his adopted country, France, he made a vocation out of his photographic skill.  In 1941, before the occupation of Paris, Stein and his family again escaped the Nazis by emigrating to New York City where he worked as a freelance photographer until his death in 1967 at the age of 58.

Stein, whose works were recently on exhibition at the International Center of Photography (NYC), is represented in collections of The National Museum of American Art (Smithsonian), The National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian), the ICP, The Jewish Museum (NYC), The Center for Creative Photography (Tucson), and museums, galleries, and private collections around the world.
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Peter Stein is a Professor of Cinematography in the Graduate Film Program at New York University. He has photographed over 50 feature films and television movies for the last 35 years.

Visit Soho Photo

Soho Photo Gallery has been showcasing a broad spectrum of imagery by emerging and veteran photographers since 1971. The Gallery is in New York’s historic TriBeCa district, three blocks south of Canal Street between West Broadway and Sixth Avenue. Subways: #1 to Franklin Street or the A, C, E, W, N, R or #6 to Canal Street.

Posted in art, film cameras, galleries, Photography, photography exhibits, photography presentations, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Photographic super stores

August 26, 2009

yesterday i had to rearrange my desktop to accommodate my new acquisition a HP 9180 as my epson 1280 finally bit the dust. i do get to take it apart just to see if there is something i can do to fix it, i do so love dye prints. it took all day because of dust needed cleaning from surfaces and rerouting all the HD cables etc. now it’s all ready to go all i need is paper.ugh there comes the rub.

i would have thought nothing of walking down to B&H and picking up a box or two.but their new system has me dreading the thought of going there.

my personal feeling about shopping is smaller is better. i am not a costco type of person. it all started at cambridge camera down in the village, i needed my exacta llb looked at as something was wrong and looked in the yellow pages for camera repair. i saw they specialized in exacta’s and it was within walking distance so i went over. there i met norman

when he took the camera in hand i knew i was in the right place. he told me all about my camera, we had a relationship for years and i bought all my film & developing supplies from him. i then explored the camera district which in those days was located around 17th street. i used a couple of labs on the street and first met B&H before they moved and cambridge camera moved in the old location. something happen between norman and cambridge so he retired but not before we made a trade of my now unfixable exacta to a canon system, i think it was an AE1 but not sure.

i was at a loss where to go and floundered awhile until someone introduced me again to B&H. i found it large but reasonable to get around and i met some wonderful salesmen. i think one of the names was milton who always had a story joke and the time to listen to me. he helped me in so many ways from developing mixtures to camera uses. he grew up on a Graflex camera.

i’ve met other salesmen who would take the time to answer my questions and suggest solutions to my problems. if i wanted something that might not work they would suggest other solutions. that’s not what i find now in some departments, i am shocked that salespeople don’t take the time to know the application one is looking to cover. sometimes as i am waiting for my order to come upstairs i have to bite my tongue before i blurt out an answer. yes i did think i might want to work there but to take a job at this point in my life, no way jose.

now the shopping experience at this super store is getting out of hand. i don’t find the knowledgeable people there anymore. yes a few people are still there and it’s good to see them and say hello. but it seems everyone is looking for something for nothing. i want the cheapest price and i don’t care how you shove me around. or maybe it’s first time buyers who don’t know the difference. i’ve had problems with my canon camera that i’ve asked the canon counter people about who looked at me as if i was crazy. i did get some direction to go across the street to chrysler camera repair for a quick answer. that didn’t come from the counter people.

yes it’s got to be hard to find knowledgeable people to work there. i get overwhelmed at all the lines i might need to be in. so i look for alternatives to the super store. just as my clients come to me for personalized service and creativity i look for the same qualities in my suppliers. i get something more from this kind of service a personal connection.

so this is my quandary: where to start exploring for my photographic needs. i do vote with my pocket book

Posted in canon, dance photography, film cameras, Photography, photography stores, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Graflex system 4 sale

August 25, 2009

yes i’ve finally started cleaning my closet of all the things i’ve collected over the years, you know those must have items like my jimmy olsen camera, the Graflex Crown camera. It’s so cool to shoot with because everything is thought out.

first need to focus camera, then either put in 120 roll adapter or the 4×5 film holders, pull the b/o slide them click the shutter, insert the b/o slide ,either turn the film slide holder or advance the film roller. set up new picture begin with focus on subject. yes i’ve screwed this sequence up a few times.

entire Graflex system

it reminds me of ZEN photography when one needs to really pay attention to what your doing, ‘be here now’ as the saying goes. but my life is going pretty fast in the digital realm and i have so many film cameras, my hassy, my contax, my yashica em, and canon f1.

i posted this on craigslist here in New York and have a few interested people but who knows. i’d like to find a good home for my friend and have it help creating some more wonderful pictures. it is so hard to part with things i love.

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Posted in film cameras, galleries, Photography, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »