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Penn's "Small Trades" Photographs

The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles announced that it had acquired the entire series of "Small Trades" photographs which consists of 252 silver-gelatin and platinum prints of full-length portraits of workers — waiters, bakers, butchers, rag-and-bone men. It has been called Mr. Penn’s most extensive body of work.

He began taking them in Paris in the summer of 1950 on assignment for Vogue and he continued it for another year after the assignment, seeking out workers in London and then in New York, where he lived, asking them to come to his studio in their work clothes and carrying the tools of their trade.

August Sander took naturalistic, anthropological portraits of German tradespeople and professionals usually in the settings where they worked. Mr. Penn’s portraits on the other hand, are formal. He always tried to use natural northern light and posed each subject against a neutral background.

Posted by at 7:30 AM | Permalink

As if we need more proof that film photography is dying. According to an article today in the Boston Globe, Polaroid announced that they are shutting two Massachusetts facilities and laying off 150 workers. "The Norwood plant is shutting down, and we will soon be winding down activities at the Waltham facility as well," said Kyle MacDonald, senior vice president of Polaroid's instant photography business segment.The Norwood and Waltham plants make large-format films used by professional photographers and artists. These plants are slated for closure later this year and plans to make only enough film to last into next year.

Posted by at 7:03 AM | Permalink

Most people who are familiar with the ALPA camera system associate ALPA with architectural photography. But ALPA have a huge selection of lenses in their arsenal that range from extreme wide angle for architecture, to longer lenses used for portraiture, and to even longer lenses used for various telephoto photographic applications.

These are the most popular ALPA lenses used for portraiture:

1) 4.0/60mm Linos/Rodenstock Apo-Symmar HR in Copal 0,
Without any doubt, this is an excellent lens. It may be a bit short for portraits, but this is an advantage as you don't have a rangefinder with the ALPA; this lens is usable at f 4, but at this large usable f-stop (f 4) the depth of field is not very large; the image circle of this lens is 70mm in diameter at all f-stops which limits it's usability for architecture. However, for portraiture (where no shift is used), this lens is quite functional; min. focusing distance: 70 cm.

2) 5.6/70mm Linos/Rodenstock Apo-Symmar in Copal 0,
This is a brand new lens which is considered an excellent lens. The image circle is 100mm in diameter at all f-stops; 70mm focal length is pretty close to the limit for use without any kind of a rangefinder. On the other hand, at e.g., f 8 or f 11 the depth of field is large enough for focusing by "guesstimation"; min. focusing distance: 80 cm.

3) 5.6/120mm Schneider-Kreuznach 5.6/120mm Apo-Digitar N in Copal 0,
This is another excellent lens but it is very long for portraiture. It offers just a short depth of field for portrait use without a tripod, a live-display (optional for the Aptus 75) and a laptop, OR with a groundglass; the image circle is 110mm at f 11; min. focusing distance: 120 cm which could be reduced by using the soon-to-be-released, 6.5mm ALPA macro-adapter.

4) The following solutions might also be of interest. (Of course the question of taste and of the photographer's ability to guess distances must be taken into consideration):

5.6/72mm Schneider-Kreuznach Apo-Digitar L, Copal 0
image circle at f 11: 90mm; min. focusing distance: 110 cm which could be reduced by using the soon-to-be-released, 6.5mm ALPA macro adapter.

4.0/80mm Schneider-Kreuznach Apo-Digitar N, Copal 0
image circle at f 11: 90mm; min. focusing distance: 120 cm which could be reduced by using the soon-to-be-released, 6.5mm ALPA macro adapter.

4.5/90mm Schneider-Kreuznach Apo-Digitar N, Copal 0
image circle at f 11: 90mm; min. focusing distance: 150 cm which could be reduced by using the soon-to-be-released, 6.5mm ALPA macro adapter.

5.6/100mm Schneider-Kreuznach Apo-Digitar N, Copal 0
image circle at f 11: 100mm; min. focusing distance: 180 cm which could be reduced by using the soon-to-be-released, 6.5mm ALPA macro adapter.

4.0/100mm Linos/Rodenstock Apo-Sironar HR, Copal 0
image circle at all f-stops: 70mm; min. focusing distance: 180 cm which could be reduced by using the soon-to-be-released, 6.5mm ALPA macro adapter.

Posted by at 1:29 AM | Permalink

Those of you who are going to be at the Focus on Imaging show in Birmingham (February 24 - 27, 2008) will be able to preview the latest equipment from ALPA:

1) The prototype of the ALPA 12 MAX (PDF brochure)
2) The definitive version of the ALPA 12 METRIC
3) The definitive version of the ALPA 6° tilt adapter
4) The new ALPA 6x9 (56x83mm) rollfilm back (made by Mamiya; power-drive, 120 and 220, conforming to the "RoHS" regulations [EU: Restrictions on Hazardous Substances], 4x AA batteries, transport takes 0.8 sec per picture, fits all ALPA 12 directly without any back adapter)
5) The prototype of the ALPA/AFi/Hy6 back adapters

An update from a previous posting:
The estimated cost of the ALPA 12 MAX (body only) is now projected to be between $6,000 and $6,500.

Posted by at 7:13 AM | Permalink