Hal Faulkner (faulkner@redshift.com)
Sun, 14 Feb 1999 18:14:15 -0800
"The Two Ways of Life" was definitely NOT Mortensen's, it was the work of
Oscar Rejlander, indeed Mortensen cites it in his book "The New Projection
Control", Camera Craft Pub. Co, San Francisco,1942 --gotta get those
citations in) at the beginning of the chapter on Combination Printing. The
Rejlander opus, dated 1857, was printed from about 30 negatives, and was
hailed as a masterpiece by no less than Queen Victoria herself. Its
primary value today is historical and it documents the early split between
photographers who used the camera to record and those who saw it as a tool
for making art (or should I say Art?) The amazing thing about that
photograph is that it gives the impression (if one doesn't look too closely)
that it was reality in front of the camera. Why, he was a kind of the Jerry
Uelsmann of his day....
While Mortensen does suggest printing in clouds from another negative to
make a more interesting print, he specifically states that it is "rarely
worth the trouble it involves " [to make a print from thirty negatives.]
I believe it was Robert Adams who said that a bad print is its own worst
enemy.
Hal
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Lahrson [mailto:tripspud@hooked.net]
Sent: Sunday, February 14, 1999 4:53 PM
To: alt-photo-process-l@skyway.usask.ca
Subject: Re: William Mortensen
The one image of Mortensen's that I can remember is "The Two Ways of
Life" or some such title. A pretentious and staged feat with the most
common morality.
pictorialists.
Rich Lahrson
tripspud@hooked.net
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