Ask a Weston

[peter k.]

So;; lets all have a Happy New Year .

 

[MattKing]

Arguments and accusations deleted.

 

[Down Under]

Sadly, the reality of posting on sites such as this is that with every passing year, good and honest members drop away because of the venomous responses of a small but vocal brigade of agitators and troublemakers who seem to suffer drastic blood pressure rises if anyone dares to disagree with them or express a contrary thought to theirs.

The best way to deal with these malcontents (the nasty, destructive ones, not the minor annoyances) who PM their silly messages, is to post them in the relevant thread.

I've done this is few times in the past and not only has it deflated and disarmed them, a fair few have soon after left the various web sites they tend to congregate in and haunt, like the harpies they are.

I like to believe I had a hand in disposing of them, even without necklaces of garlic or hemlock cocktails...

My messaging on this site has also been turned off for a long time, but obviously not everyone would care to go to this extreme. Still, as a way to eliminate the toxic typists, it does work.

 

[jtk]

Thank you for getting back to me. I'm glad Cole was able to convince him to save a few.
I'm sorry that happened to you. Sadly, there are a few here who make this a bad place to be sometimes. I know a few members being harassed by PM. Thankfully, the majority here are decent and hope that you will continue to contribute.

Some photographers have always exercised the wisdom to edit their work. Makes sense.

 

[eddie]

Driving away a member of the first family of photography seems counterproductive for a photography website.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Some photographers have always exercised the wisdom to edit their work. Makes sense.

Before I came back to Canada, I purged myself of many negatives. I can't keep thinking if that was a smart thing to do...

 

[MattKing]

Before I came back to Canada, I purged myself of many negatives. I can't keep thinking of that was a smart thing to do...

Andrew, I think I need a translation from the native Saskatchewan of that final sentence!

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Andrew, I think I need a translation from the native Saskatchewan of that final sentence!

You can take the boy out of Saskatchewan...

 

[Don_ih]

I purged myself of many negatives. I can't keep thinking if that was a smart thing to do

I'd say it wasn't, because a particular image can change in significance for you. Negatives also don't take up that much space. It's not like purging your collection of bobblehead Edmonton Oilers or oversized Ziggy dolls.

Brett Weston, on the other hand, didn't want anyone else either making images from is negatives or, possibly, having to make images from his negatives to copy his work. This was a guy, after all, tasked with printing the Edward Weston negatives in exactly the prescribed way. Maybe he thought he was also doing other people a favour. More likely, though, is he thought his work should remain the way a painter's work remains. No one paints a copy of The Mona Lisa and says it's the real thing; every copy is known as a copy and there's only one original. So a copy of a Brett Weston photo should be a picture of one he printed, not a new print made from his negative.

So a question for Kim Weston would be whether or not printing the Edward Weston negatives is tedious and onerous, whether or not it gets to be creatively stagnant, whether or not doing it makes you feel like a fleshy photocopier. They are great photos, but it's not like you can just press a button and get one. So does printing them feel like the 13425th evening performing the Greased Lightning dance in Grease?

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I'd say it wasn't, because a particular image can change in significance for you. Negatives also don't take up that much space. It's not like purging your collection of bobblehead Edmonton Oilers or oversized Ziggy dolls.

Brett Weston, on the other hand, didn't want anyone else either making images from is negatives or, possibly, having to make images from his negatives to copy his work. This was a guy, after all, tasked with printing the Edward Weston negatives in exactly the prescribed way. Maybe he thought he was also doing other people a favour. More likely, though, is he thought his work should remain the way a painter's work remains. No one paints a copy of The Mona Lisa and says it's the real thing; every copy is known as a copy and there's only one original. So a copy of a Brett Weston photo should be a picture of one he printed, not a new print made from his negative.

So a question for Kim Weston would be whether or not printing the Edward Weston negatives is tedious and onerous, whether or not it gets to be creatively stagnant, whether or not doing it makes you feel like a fleshy photocopier. They are great photos, but it's not like you can just press a button and get one. So does printing them feel like the 13425th evening performing the Greased Lightning dance in Grease?

I didn't realise my possible mistake until I went through some older negatives from the same time, about ten years ago. Looking closely, I found compositions within that moved me. Today, I keep everything.

 

[peter k.]

They may not have much value, some may be of really bad technical quality too, but every time I pull any out, it's like being reborn again.

Boy ya hit the nail on the head.
We were noticing that we haven't of late, the last six, eight months, been properly storing the sleeved negs, B&W and Color, slide or chrome, in their proper folders, and sighed at the time, oh we just got to much of this stuff will do it later.

But then, picked some of them up and glanced at them, and had to smile, in the remembering and review of the experience of those past moments, of thier composition ect.

Then later that day, which took place at the beginning of the month, it caused a thought to ignite, which started with the annual festival of lights that were being lit here in Sedona, for a new concept for the old MSA. (Monthly Shooting Assignment) of using old, .. as well new images in trying to revive that forum.

 

[Deleted member 88956]

Boy ya hit the nail on the head.
We were noticing that we haven't of late, the last six, eight months, been properly storing the sleeved negs, B&W and Color, slide or chrome, in their proper folders, and sighed at the time, oh we just got to much of this stuff will do it later.

But then, picked some of them up and glanced at them, and had to smile, in the remembering and review of the experience of those past moments, of thier composition ect.

Then later that day, which took place at the beginning of the month, it caused a thought to ignite, which started with the annual festival of lights that were being lit here in Sedona, for a new concept for the old MSA. (Monthly Shooting Assignment) of using old, .. as well new images in trying to revive that forum.

Just to clear up deletion of my post (you must have caught it in space on the way out). Once I realized this was a thread initiated by Weston family, I did not think bringing up my father's negs and their history was appropriate. Although the part you quoted related to looking at my own and yes, getting that feeling makes it clear - all are keepers.

 

[Arthurwg]

I always wanted a car like Brett's, a Porsche 928.

 

[Tom Kershaw]

I'm not a Weston, but I knew Brett pretty well. My favorite piece about him was written by his long-time friend Richard Miller.

https://www.richardcmiller.com/portfolios/the-westons/portrait-of-a-friendship/

Thank you Merg for posting the link to that article by Richard Miller. It gives a real insight towards the culture of photography at the time.

 

[BrianShaw]

Just to clear up deletion of my post (you must have caught it in space on the way out). Once I realized this was a thread initiated by Weston family, I did not think bringing up my father's negs and their history was appropriate. Although the part you quoted related to looking at my own and yes, getting that feeling makes it clear - all are keepers.

I’m sad that you deleted that post. I read it last night in a fit of insomnia and it was quite apropos. We all seem to have, or will have, similar situations. I’m sure that it would have resonated with Kim.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

You can take the boy out of Saskatchewan...

but you can't take the sasquatch out of the boy?

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

but you can't take the sasquatch out of the boy?

Nope! Thankfully, BC has its fair share of Sasquatch!

 

[jtk]

Interesting to see agreement on EWs photo passion vs that of his sons. It's evident in their photos. I think Penn, for example, was closer to being an EW successor.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I didn't realise my possible mistake until I went through some older negatives from the same time, about ten years ago. Looking closely, I found compositions within that moved me. Today, I keep everything.

You might as well keep everything. Your heirs will throw it out for you sad as that sounds.

Years ago I spilled a beer into a drawer full of negs. I ended up throwing most of them out because I didn't want to deal. As a result a lot of my early negs are gone. I really miss one that was of my father's garden. I have one small 2x3" print of it but that is all. Don't throw away negs is all I can say.

Sad that there were asshats that made Kim feel uncomfortable. I hope he comes back. I was looking forward to all those stories. I hope he at least writes them down at some point. I'd buy that book.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I find it good to go back and look at my earlier work to see how I have grown but also to see what I have stopped doing that maybe I should do again.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I find it good to go back and look at my earlier work to see how I have grown but also to see what I have stopped doing that maybe I should do again.

I go through my negatives every few years or so. It's amazing how clearly we can remember the moments leading up to exposure, and after....Time of day. Weather. Who we were with, etc, etc. It's a visual diary. Sometimes I'll stumble onto a negative I never got around to printing, or ones that I printed, but felt the urge to print again, but differently...

 

[Deleted member 88956]

I’m sad that you deleted that post. I read it last night in a fit of insomnia and it was quite apropos. We all seem to have, or will have, similar situations. I’m sure that it would have resonated with Kim.

Thanks for this, but I just thought that this thread is different, and given some (now deleted) inappropriateness that drove away Kim Weston from posting I'll leave this one alone. But I agree, taling about it would probably help many not to make a mistake of dumping own history.

 

[tballphoto]

Thanks for this, but I just thought that this thread is different, and given some (now deleted) inappropriateness that drove away Kim Weston from posting I'll leave this one alone. But I agree, taling about it would probably help many not to make a mistake of dumping own history.

I dont know about that, its just strange that the only ones who have even attempted to answer questions about the elder Westons, such as what cameras they used, have been complete strangers to the family or merely people who met the person once or twice 40 years ago and remembered what the weston in question was using at the moment.

 

[Deleted member 88956]

I'm not sure, if this visual source has been mentioned here or elsewhere, but I think it is a good piece to own, not just watch. I got one copy quite a few years back with Art Wrigth's signature, so it is even nicer to have. Seems still available to order.

Brett Weston: Photographer

 

[Deleted member 88956]

I dont know about that, its just strange that the only ones who have even attempted to answer questions about the elder Westons, such as what cameras they used, have been complete strangers to the family or merely people who met the person once or twice 40 years ago and remembered what the weston in question was using at the moment.

I was really only alluding to who initiated the thread. I have seen responses from "strangers" but I never saw the foul stuff, so can't tell at what point thread became what it's become.