Three Cylinders

I'm up and running on Hugh's loaner compute—thanks again Hugh. 

Just so everyone is clear, TOP will be running on three cylinders until Sunday the 10th—or maybe Friday the 8th if all goes well and the new computer arrives early enough. I can get on TypePad and work on the web, but I don't know how to do much else, and of course I don't want to mess around with Hugh's computer too much. 

Interesting
Just as an idle question to while away this Saturday evening, who would you say are the most interesting photographers in history? Interesting meaning fascinating or thought provoking, in any aspect—personal lives, significance, ideas and attitudes, accomplishments, whatever. This occurred to me when I was reading the article about Lee Miller in The New Yorker—"The Roving Eye" by Judith Thurman (I can't link to it, because this computer doesn't know I'm a subscriber. See what I mean about three cylinders? I could sign in, yes, but that would require going off to find my password. Lord knows where that quest would end up). It struck me that she is about as opposite from me as a human can get—and also that, although she is not one of the indisputably great photographers, she is certainly amongst the most interesting.

The others that seem to fit the bill for me are Avedon, Lartigue, and Brad Washburn. I'm still mulling it over, though. 

I have another post almost done (although it's on a dull subject), but I have to figure out how I'm going to manage links. I'll have to get to that in the morning, though, as it's late and I am almost out of steam!

Mike

Comments

[MikeR]

Lartigue

[Jeff]

Vivian Maier comes to mind. Not work that I would collect, but an intriguing person for sure.

[Aakin]

Just do a password reset, as long as you remember how to get into your email.

And then start using a password manager. I recommend 1password, Dashlane, or Bitwarden, but there are others out there as well.

At that point, the only password you will need to remember is the one for your password manager, and barring other issues, almost everyone can remember one password.

[Steve Biro]

I don’t know he’s the most interesting but how about Gordon Parks? He was prominent in U.S. documentary photojournalism in the 1940s through 70s and in glamour photography. He is remembered for his iconic photos of poor Americans during the 1940s (taken for a federal government project), for his photographic essays for Life magazine and as the director of the films Shaft, Shaft's Big Score and the semiautobiographical The Learning Tree. Just a suggestion.

[Max Cottrell]

The power of photography is well illustrated in Saturday's Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/02/33-pivotal-us-presidential-moments-captured-on-camera
It was so compelling, it ruined my day of tasks

[Kirk Decker]

I’ve been following Bill Shapiro on Instagram and almost every week I’m being introduced to major photographers I’d never heard of. Sometimes they are icons in their own genre that Bill is discovering for the first time as well. (https://www.instagram.com/p/DBjEuOYxm78/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==) Lately, I’ve been fascinated by Stanley Greene who prose expresses a passion for life that reminds me of Edward Weston.

I’m looking forward to your Film Fridays. fwiw I got an arts grant this year for a project I called 100 Feet of Film. (It’s around 300’ now, and I’m still shooting.) The project involves making mostly portraits using Barnack FEDs and Leicas to challenge the implied corporate sales pitch that the amount of tech in your camera has a direct correlation to how interesting and insightful your photographs are. “The Leica M14 can capture 95% more of a person’s soul than the old outdated M11 generation of Leica.”

[hugh crawford]

Feel free to mess around with Hugh‘s computer, I was about to install Linux on it

[John Howell]

Three cylinders like this? 😃 https://www.toyota.com.au/gr-yaris

[hugh crawford]

If you have an iPhone, any passwords you had on the Mac anre also on the iPhone. Plus, if you make an account for yourself on Hugh’s computer and log into Apple all your information should appear.

[William Lewis]

Interesting photographers? Oh, there's a can'o'worms :D

For me, Lee Miller is very high on the list and I consider her a great photographer as well for her courage in WWII as a front line war correspondent. The PTSD she suffered from for the rest of her life was the price paid for some of the most important photographs we got of the horrors of our inhumanity.

Some of my short list would include:
Margaret Bourke-White
Ascher Fellig aka WeeGee
David Burnett
David Plowden
Alfred Stieglitz
Chris Stein - better known perhaps as the guitarist for the popular band "Blondie" but an accomplished photographer as well.

What I would give to sit for a day and talk shop with anyone in this post ...

[David Comdico]

I think in Miller’s case it was unfortunate that she had an interesting life. For artists too much of it is rarely a good thing.

Reading Edward Weston’s Daybooks is a way of experiencing an interesting photographer’s life vicariously. There were the models, of course, but also his relationships with other artists, from Diego Rivera to Henrietta Shore, his experience in Mexico during the Revolution, and then his relationship with his children and nature in California. But the real accomplishment is that none of this overshadows the photographs.

[Michael Fewster]

Bill Brandt. Look at the breadth of his work, then look at the quality. Exploration of social class, wartime Britain cityscapes in the blackout, Landscapes. Artists and Painter portraits, Surreal Nudes, ultra wide angle, mining village life

[Michael T]

Alfred Stieglitz

[Wolfgang Lonien]

David Bailey
Albert Watson

[Spirits of the Age]

Jill Freedman must surely get a big shout out.

[s.wolters]

Nadar, Lartigue, Lange, Evans, Steichen (at War), Capa, Penn, Arbus, Parks or Mann perhaps?
What would be nice is to make a series about photographers who fled Europe because of the political climate. There are many great names among them. Most of them have an interesting biography.

[Seth Kantrowitz]

Dianne Arbus

[Tom Williams]

You do know that some current automobiles have 3 cylinder engines, right?

[I could only think of the Gazoo Yaris and the mid-2010’s Fiesta, but I see that there ARE a number of them now. Although an SUV with a 3-cylinder engine is not my idea of a good idea.

Perhaps we need a different expression now. Although running on 5 cylinders doesn’t do it, because at least VW had a 5 they used to put in all sorts of places. And running on 7 implies that TOP is a V8 which doesn’t quite fit. And besides, there’s that thing where some V8’s turn off some of their cylinders for efficiency’s sake.

I used to think TOP was a good naturally-aspirated straight 6 like BMW’s older ones, but in today’s world it’s a 4-cylinder. Of course, there were those Offenhauser Indy cars that had 4-cylinder engines! Enormous ones, but still. —Mike]

[Nigli]

Angetan, Man Ray, Sudek.

[Omer]

The Mexican photographers Graciela Iturbide and Pedro Meyer. Both f**ing brilliant.

[Denise]

Sebastião Salgado & Clyde Butcher

[Jim Simmons]

Eugene Atget - quirky person, doggedly pursued his mission, deeply influential to later generations of photographers.

[robert e]

Operating on three cylinders is only a problem if you started with more than three cylinders. Don't take that the wrong way! I'm just pointing out that three cylinder engines are pretty common, like in the fun Mini Cooper.

I see many interesting photographers named already, but missing Josef Koudelka, Andre Kertesz, Robert Frank, Daido Moriyama, Berenice Abbott, William Klein, Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon, Annie Liebovitz, Man Ray, Sally Mann, Mathew Brady, Eadweard Muybridge, Sebastiao Salgado, Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Hm, maybe photographers are a mostly interesting bunch...

Lee Miller also had a role in Jean Cocteau's surrealist film Blood of a Poet, in the last ten minutes or so (I mention that because the film ain't great).

[Doug Anderson]

The Saab 9-3 I drove for a summer back in the late 50's ran just fine on its three cylinders although as a two-stroke it was a little smoky.

Judging by my shelf of photo books it looks like Berenice Abbott is the photographer I find most interesting.

[Daniel]

The Poet of Prague, Josef Sudek.
An arm lost in WWI and he shot with an 8x10 for decades. Confined to his home in WWII by the Germans he built an impressive collection of images in his house and garden.
Decades of 8x10 work that produced fine images.

[Bruce Walker]

Adding another vote for Albert Watson.
I also must promote Helmut Newton.

[Daniel]

On 3 cylinder engines don't miss the Volkswagen Lupo. With the 3 cylinder diesel in the Lupo 3L got 78mpg(or 93 - Imperial gallons) and topped out at 103mph.
High mileage drivers achieved up to 119 mpg.

Don't discount the 3 cylinder.

[Nick Davis]

Doesn't anyone remember Irving Penn?

[Stan B.]

Raoul Minot

[Ray A]

Eugene Smith

[darlene]

I've always been fascinated by the life of Alfred Stieglitz and the life and work of Edward Curtis. I greatly admire the work of William Cliff, and one of his photographs remains, without question, the most unforgettable image I've ever encountered.

[Jed]

I think the southern hemisphere needs some representation. Ans Westra, although originally from the Netherlands, saw us New Zealanders clearer than we see ourselves. She also led a very interesting life. In Australia there is Trent Parke and Narelle Autio. Great work and interesting lives. As for the north, I recently began re-reading Rodney Smith's blog, happily gleaning new tidbits of wisdom on life and photography.

[Daniel Schnall]

Man Ray. Roy Carava.

[Roger Bradbury]

My bike was running on three out of four pots at tickover, due to a blocked pilot jet circuit. I put up with it for a few days but the bike is much better now I've fixed the problem. The bike is a 1981 UJM, a Universal Japanese Motorcycle; that is, four cylinders, four carbs.

Here's a couple of interesting photographers for you: James Ravilious (1939-1999), and Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879). Both were photographing in England.

[James C Chinn]

Robert Frank

[Patrick W]

I think Ansel Adams just in terms of being pretty much a household name, you don't need to be a photography aficionado to know that name. Diane Arbus because of the offbeat nature of her pictures.

I know this only because my nephew was shopping for one of these - the Bronco Sport comes in 3 cylinder and 4 cylinder models.

[Dave Elden]

I notice Abbott & Brandt have already come and they occurred to me as well - along with Muybridge.
Dave.

[Eric Rose]

E. Weston

[ChrisC]

Frank Hurley. An amazing adventurous life and great pictures despite the challenges. I’d love to see what was on the shattered glass plates at the bottom of the Weddel Sea!

[Richard G]

From photographs alone - Ernst Haas: 1 Colour. 2. Amazing eye for the abstract in cityscape compositions.
Story and overall output: David Hurn, still going at nearly 90. Has dinner with Sophie Loren, a friend of his. Carved out his own quiet genre.
Pioneer: Leonid Andreev, writer and photographer with his autochromes from well over 100 years ago. The portrait of his son is so charged with beauty and mood.
Like anyone here, I could go on.

[Stéphane Bosman]

Don't tell us you've succumbed to the deplorable fashion of 3 cylinders engines that European car makers have adopted!

[Rob Griffin]

I always have enjoyed and admired Brett Weston's work. He is a pretty interesting person, black fingernails and all, judging from a few interviews and stories I have read.

[Bear.]

Frank Hurley - would easily fill a book of his own …

[Mike Durling]

I have to agree that W. Eugene Smith and Alfred Stieglitz are among the most interesting. I would also nominate James Nachtway and William Mortensen.