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Brett Weston DVD

My copy arrived, and it's a neat thing. Brett Weston is a little mumbly, and the sound is a little distorted, so it helps to listen on headphones rather than with the typical TV speaker, but it's great to watch him at work, particularly in the few darkroom snippets, and it's worth it for the images.
 
I was amazed to note that Brett has a slight NEW ENGLAND accent.
 
Black finger-nail polish?


I played the clip from the DVD and I swear Weston's finger nails were BLACK! Here in Hollywood, we see a lot of that nowadays but I can't imagine a man wearing finger nail polish way back when that DVD footage was shot. Are my eyes deceiving me or is this a Halloween trick?
 
That's the Amidol stains. I thought the same thing years ago when I saw Ansel Adams' portrait of Edward Weston for the first time.
 
You'll notice that it's only the nails on ONE hand. Stained from having his hand in a tray of developer.
 
Strand had the black fingernails, too. Today we wear gloves.
 

John,

The Brett Weston collection that I know about is at Oklahoma City Museum of Art. This is the Christian K. Keesee collection.

Donald Miller
 
Halloween mystery solved: thanks.... :- )

Thanks everyone for setting me straight about Weston's blackened fingernails. Yup, for hand processing sheet film I would guess that an apron, gloves, and concrete floor might be the best way to go.
 
Changeling1 said:
Thanks everyone for setting me straight about Weston's blackened fingernails. Yup, for hand processing sheet film I would guess that an apron, gloves, and concrete floor might be the best way to go.
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The black stains were from amidol in the print developer. I'm fairly sure that like his father, Brett Weston used amidol for prints and ABC pyro for negs. Pyro produces brown/orange stains on skin, though, so it's good to wear gloves for that too. Gloves will also reduce the possibility of scratching the film with your fingernails.
 
laz said:
I am curious. There seems to be a preponderance of Brett Weston fans here at APUG. Besides the obvious (great photographer!) is there another reason for this like a bunch of his students are APUGers?
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Like John, I can't speak for others. But Brett Weston, to me, stands at the head of the class when one moves into abstraction.

I have an autographed copy of the Amphoto book of Brett Weston Photographs of Fifty Years. The reproductions are simply stunning. I have also seen his actual prints and they are breathtaking.

Edward Weston was adept at depicting natural and manmade (orderly) form found within objects and nature. Brett Weston is very well versed at depicting abstract (disorderly) form found in objects and nature. From my point of appreciation Brett Weston took his fathers photography to another level.
 

For me the more important consideration is that pyro is very easily absorbed into the skin and through the respiratory tract. It supposedly has been determined to affect the nervous system. I have no need to check the validity of this claim for myself. Respirators, eye protection, and gloves are good practice from my perspective...especially when dealing with the powder.
 
More photographers on video

There are more photography DVDs and VHS here,
Kertesz, Callahan, Morgan, Salgado, Abell et. al.



http://www.icp.org/
 
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Jimmy Peguet said:
Hi Christian,

I am almost completely ignorant as regards DVD : are US disks readable on our french machines ?

Jimmy
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It depends upon they are region encoded or not. Region 1 disks are for the US. Some disks are not encoded and can be played anywhere.
 
thetimedissolver said:
There are more photography DVDs and VHS here,
Kertesz, Callahan, Morgan, Salgado, Abell et. al.



http://www.icp.org/
Click to expand...

Hey, thetimedissolver, thanks much!
 
laz said:
I am curious. There seems to be a preponderance of Brett Weston fans here at APUG. Besides the obvious (great photographer!) is there another reason for this like a bunch of his students are APUGers?
Click to expand...
If I was only smart enough back then to make it a reallity. The only guy I know that can make you say Ansel who?
 
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