Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/02/05

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Subject: [Leica] Report on John Rosenthal's talk...and my PAW #5...
From: aaron.sandler at duke.edu (Aaron Sandler)
Date: Sun Feb 5 13:49:30 2006

Hi Folks,

Last weekend I went to a talk by local photographer John Rosenthal at the 
opening of his new show.  I invited the LUG, but went solo.  :(

Well, y'all missed out!  ;)  It was a good talk (it oughta be...he used to 
be an English prof and is also an NPR commentator) and the prints were 
gorgeous.  He shoots 35mm B&W film, and used to hand-print all his photos 
meticulously...I've seen them and they were really nice.  But now it's all 
scanned negatives ending up as large-format Epson prints on HPR...they 
looked absolutely beautiful.  He spoke about the added precision and 
control he has over the image when working in PS.  He does some of the 
digidarkroom work himself, but I suspect he leaves rather a lot to a local 
guy who I know does a lot of printing for him and other high-end photogs 
around these parts.  (Perhaps taking the traditional role of master printer 
into the digital printing age?)

Anyway, prices ranged from $600 for an unframed 16x20, to $1400 for a 
framed 31x39, to $2000 for a framed 35x49.  Framing was a single 4ply 
overmat and black aluminum frame.  Surprisingly (to me, anyway), the prints 
had been trimmed to leave no border and the reveal showed the entire 
print.  I suppose they must have been dry mounted to stay so flat against 
the backing board.  The title/signature was just below the print on the 
backing board.

He talked photo-philosophy a little.  He sees photography as the "true 
democratic art form" because a photograph can make _anything_ an 
interesting subject.  You don't have to be rich, famous, or beautiful, to 
be the subject of a great photo.  Great art in photography comes, he 
believes, through the photographer "deciding what they will make equal in 
their photographs...and whether it is a real equality or a false equality."

I took my M2 along, as well as my summitar 50/2 and some Kodak T400CN, for 
a few photos while he spoke.  Whence my PAW:
http://www.sandlerphotographs.com/paw/2006_05/

Thanks for looking,
Aaron




Replies: Reply from bruce at ralgo.nl (bruce) ([Leica] Report on John Rosenthal's talk...and my PAW #5...)