Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/05/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Tina, I remember an amazing early 20th century portrait photographer that was profiled in the 70s or 80s in Pop Photo I think and later other venues, but his name escapes me. He was totally unrecognized in his lifetime until someone found a cache of his photographs on glass plates, I think in an attic somewhere. He took only direct, unstaged single or family portraits for years of the people who came into his shop, from all walks of life, in all manner of attire. He was obviously trying to 'document', as much as he could, the populace of the area where he lived. And maybe to make a living from it if he could. If anyone knows what his name was let me know . But I do remember that in all his portraits, which was all he took or he destroyed the ones that weren't, NONE of his subjects was smiling. They exhibited stiff, almost stilted poses in nearly every photograph, many of which are absolutely great portraits. They obviously were once in a lifetime portraits for most of the subjects, and when sitting (or mostly standing if I remember correctly) for the portraits they were 'all business'. I think your 'village people' probably have the same attitude about having their family portraits taken. All business. But happy to have it done, again as probably a once in a lifetime opportunity. Great work you're doing, and I'm sure they all appreciate your efforts more than you think. So do we. Keep it up. Jim Laird On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 9:50 PM, Marty Deveney <benedenia at gmail.com> wrote: > I think this kind of photo is great, and I can see that they may get > used editorially too. > > Marty > > On Thu, May 31, 2012 at 12:13 PM, Tina Manley <images at comporium.net> > wrote: >> PESO: >> >> I took a similar portrait for all of the families that I stayed with in >> Central America. ?It was considered a very serious occasion, not a time >> for >> smiles, and everybody posed carefully for the portrait. ?These are the >> ones >> that are most valued when I take them back to the families. >> >> http://www.pbase.com/tinamanley/image/143677832 >> >> Are they of interest to anybody except the families? ?Should I include >> these photos in my archives or are they strictly of personal interest to >> the families involved? ?I don't generally like posed photos but maybe they >> are good records of the time and people? >> >> TIA for your comments and thoughts. >> >> Tina >> >> -- >> Tina Manley, ASMPktly >> www.tinamanley.com >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information