From: Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Date: 08/29/02-04:10:28 PM Z
On Thu, 29 Aug 2002, Carl Weese wrote:
> I also don't understand the business of view cameras being slow. Of course
> they aren't as fast as a 35mm, but the notion that it takes hours to make a
> photograph with a view camera is nonsense. When I teach view camera
Did I say "it takes hours"? I know how long it takes, having seen it &
done it, and even if I cut the time in half, or down to 20%, it's a very
different "take," including the fact that it's soooooo conspicuous. Who
was it (Jack ?) said the 35 mm mavens I referred to were voyeur
flaneurs... You can't be a flaneur or voyeur with a tripod. I hung out at
Times Square for 4 + years, imagining myself a fly on the wall. I went
into video parlours with camera around my neck, cable release in my
pocket... True, there were some *architecture* shots I wish I'd gotten
with rising front et al, of buildings I loved now gone... but there were
plenty of folks doing that sort of thing & I trust they got those.
However the tripod has its uses. Phallic symbol, my dears -- that is, it
lends POWER! One night I set up the tripod in front of one of those porn
magazine & video stores, and just shot & shot, good view of well lit
interior & customers. Nobody, NOT ONE PERSON objected. If I'd just been
standing there shooting camera, to my eye, they'd have clobbered me. But
a couple of folks asked if I were waiting for the rest of the video
crew. Seeing the tripod they assumed TV -- and loved the thought, I
gathered: Wow, we're on TV !
As it happened, the light was so extremely contrasty those pictures never
printed well. But if I ever get through this computer minefield I hope to
make them right with photoshop.
> ....When I spend a day out looking for pictures, I take forever
> looking at things, deciding whether I want them or not. When the decision is
> yes, I seldom spend more than a couple minutes making the picture whether
But my point is I rarely know that in advance. Wasn't Garry Winogrand the
one who said he took pictures to see what something looks like
photographed? You're making the decision in advance... maybe you can.
Maybe you have a certain aesthetic that's run through your higher critical
faculties avant la lettre. I can't tell until I see what the camera did
to it.
> it's done with my 5x7 or my 12x20 or something in between. If I want to
> respond to subjects _instantly_ I work with Leicas, but using a view camera
> doesn't prevent you from working fast.
It's all relative... Fast for a bicycle isn't same as fast for a racing
car.
J.
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