Re: black fingernails, et al, was Re: Paper - baby oil Digi Negs
What I'm wondering is.... did folks like Stieglitz, Steichen and Imogene Cunningham do their own darkroom work? I'm also thinking fame may have been more likely for those with a long life... they not only lived to do their "mature work," they were around to hustle it. (I also know folks who printed for famous photographers, for instance, for Helen Levitt-- and where the printing process isn't part of the image [as in "alt" & maybe sometimes even then], I'd count that a consumation devoutly to be wished.) Meanwhile, the only name that came to mind right off for early death was Gary Winogrand (and that only because photography's best sneerer, AD Coleman, sneered at him in one of his books for having left -- hundreds? thousands? -- of rolls of exposed film unexamined at his death)... Winogrand was 56. In any event, I doubt that the figure about increased cancer among photographers was baseless... Tho now that I think of it, a friend of mine took David Vestal's class in fine printing at Pratt.... I'll check with her about his stand on hands-in ... & also check his books to see if there's a caveat. I also point out that I never in my life had a sign of allergy of *any* kind -- not hay fever, not ragweed, not bee stings, let alone bananas and chocolate that torture me today (sob!). I suppose, therefore, that it was the years of intimate contact with turpentine in a closed room that brought it on... I also note that in a painting class in those days (maybe still today ?) before acrylics, each student had a butcher tray of oil paints squeezed out and mixed in the center, that is, about 25 trays sloshing with turpentine in a closed classroom.. Any "fine art" student was likely to have had several such classes, as did I. cheers, Judy On Sun, 30 Aug 2009, Joseph Smigiel wrote: Imogen Cunningham at 93 died the same day as Minor White on June 24, 1976. Perhaps Imogen used tongs.
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