Carl with the 8x10
It's a scant hour to go until the end of the Print Sale and I still haven't decided which one to buy for the walls of TOP HQ (can't afford both—house poor, from now until whenever). "Steep Rock" is more popular with American readers and "Church" with international readers. I'm leaning toward "Church" (which sort of goes along with my suspicion that I'm secretly British at heart, despite my lack of enthusiasm for footandheadball).
Carl is an old-fashioned photographic polymath (I love the word "polymath"—it means "a person of encyclopedic learning"). He seems to know a lot about everything there is to know in photography: he can talk with complete comfort about location lighting, dealing with art directors, calibrating digital sensors, ultra-large format cameras, the aberrations of '60s Leica lenses, photo history, the biography of a famous photographer who died eighty years ago, or hanging a gallery show. And then segue with no apparent effort to discussing the aesthetics of a picture. He just doesn't seem to admit or accept any boundaries to what he knows or to what he will learn. Developer formulas or inkjet printing.
The picture is of Carl with the camera he used to make both pictures. I mentioned in the previous post that Carl has been a platinum/ palladium printmaker for 20 years and has been teaching it for 15 years, but I didn't mention that he's been shooting large format since he was seven. That's as long as I've been alive.
So far 100 prints have been purchased by 80 readers. That's just about perfect—a successful sale but not too many long days in the darkroom for Carl. Thanks to everyone who bought a print! Or two. I hope everybody else enjoyed the window into the process.
(Oh, and a number of people have inquirted about private workshops with Carl. Here's a link to a testimonial by Elizabeth Ellenwood.)
Mike
Original contents copyright 2014 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.
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That photo of Carl reminds me to get my drivers license renewed soon.
Posted by: Kenneth Tanaka | Monday, 15 September 2014 at 06:53 PM
I could afford to buy, but have budgeted for some other projects. But oh, I really wanted Steep Rock.
Posted by: Earl Dunbar | Monday, 15 September 2014 at 07:14 PM
hope everybody else enjoyed the window into the process.
Very much so.
Posted by: Nigel | Tuesday, 16 September 2014 at 12:11 AM
I'm secretly British at heart, despite my lack of enthusiasm for footandheadball
Don't worry. I'm fully British and have no interest in it either - other than wondering why your country uses the same name for a game where feet and ball hardly ever come into contact!
You can be an honourary Brit - although in a couple of days, Britain might be a bit smaller!
Posted by: Steve Smith | Tuesday, 16 September 2014 at 01:35 AM
Carl is a true gentleman. He stayed one night at my house during his travels for his drive-in theater project. Had some great conversation during which he turned me on to four thirds cameras and he was kind enough to give me a print of his Pike drive-in image. The next morning we went over to the local drive-in for him to do his work and then he departed. I just wish there had been more time to absorb more of his knowledge about photographers and photography.
Posted by: Tom Swoboda | Tuesday, 16 September 2014 at 02:46 AM
Nice to see the venerable Deardoff V8 with one who knows how to use it. Nothing quite like a contact print from these wooden beauties.
No batteries to die. Screen large enough for easy viewing. Adjustments to control the image so you don't have to 'fix it in post'.
Getting it right from the start makes life easier and more enjoyable.
Posted by: Dan | Tuesday, 16 September 2014 at 08:43 AM
It seems your friend's photography literacy is prett-tyyy prett-tyyy prett-tyyy ... pretty good!
Posted by: Charles Lanteigne | Tuesday, 16 September 2014 at 04:14 PM
Don't worry Mike. Plenty of Brits like rugby!
Posted by: Rod Thompson | Tuesday, 16 September 2014 at 05:09 PM
Dan, I do have this thing where I think the 8x10 Deardorff is the Ur-camera. Because it is.
Tom, that was such a nice break on the lonely six-week expedition, to stay with you and your lovely SO, talk, have a nice dinner, play with the dogs, talk about whatever. I'm in your debt for inviting and hosting me.--Carl
Posted by: Carl Weese | Wednesday, 17 September 2014 at 07:40 PM