Follow-Up (Kirk Tuck)

I had a nice long talk with Kirk yesterday, and he sounds great and is doing fine. He's just got too much on his plate—his photography business is going great guns, necessitating huge amounts of travel; family obligations likewise; and there's just not enough time in the nooks and crannies left over to write. One myth I'll dispell—he is definitely not slowing down. The guy does more work in a week than I have the energy to do in the average month. He's 63 and keeps pace with guys half his age on arduous remote location shoots, for example.

And talk about a straight shooter. Just says it like it is, no worries either way, just serves it right up. Admirable.

He also promised me a 10,000-word camera review for TOP, when he can find the time (he was joking—he said that's what he starts with in order to end up with one that's 5,000 words), so we'll see if anything like that materializes. Knowing Kirk, though, I wouldn't be surprised at all to find it in my inbox....

Mike
(Thanks to KT)

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Here’s the situation

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Bruce Bordner: "He does have a point about what to write: photography is in a very awkward stage right now. The standard blog fodder has been equipment reviews and technical advice to the newbies. As you've said, the responses now are 'it's all good enough' and 'the AI in my phone does all that technical stuff.' You (like Kirk) have an advantage in being more focused on how to take the right picture and treat it properly. Show people how to have a 'good eye' and find the images around them that are worth sharing. Nobody involved will get rich, but maybe happy. I would like to know more about the photo tricks used by my Pixel 3 phone, and how to customize them to my 'look.' That's all we have to be individual. In a few years you may be writing instructions for training the AI in your new camera. I like automation if it works my way. And some people will still be looking for info on platinum printing...."

John W: "Love that man. Says what he means and means what he says...without being mean."

Comments

[Mark Hobson]

In my commercial photography days, I (or an assistant under my supervision) printed and then viewed all of my work in a MacBeth viewing booth which had 5000K-approxmately daylight-illumination. 5000K was the industry standard. I also used the same set up for my personal work. The problem therein was that I never knew the temperature of the light under which the prints would be viewed in a gallery. However, in my experience, if a color print contains neutral whites and/or neutral greys, even under tungsten light the eye "adjusts" to see those values as neutral which brings the colors in a print to close to that as viewed in 5000K - not perfectly but close enough. Illumination intensity, as you have mentioned, is an entirely different matter.

[Kodachromeguy]

"his photography business is going great guns" ? Wow, good for him. It demonstrates his way with people and his business/organizing skills (and, of course, talent). So many photographers struggle now to make a living. And everyone today with a DSLR thinks he is a "photographer."

As for blogging: I must be a dinosaur. I use black and white film and write a blog on a semi-regular basis. Fortunately, it does not need to pay my expenses, so I have not tried to monetize it. Good luck to both you and Kirk.

[Bill Cowan]

My copy of "The Search for a Master's Legacy" came today and I thank you for mentioning that. I must say I was surprised that you consider the imagery of Garo and his ilk as having aged poorly. One may as well say Steichen's image of J.P. Morgan has aged poorly. Or that any style of imagery that is not in favour in the present has not stood the test of time.
Glancing through the book though I was reminded that many of the early modernist prints I have seen seemed similarly lacking in highlights. In reality though I would suggest that the paper white of what was available and used is closely linked to what we perceive as brightness and highlights today. Papers that worked for the bromoil, platinum, and bichromate gum processes would never achieve today's white highlights, not even those of Karsh's timeframe. Of course the horror of highlights might merely be the flipside of 'scared of shadows.