Discussing a James Ravilious Photograph

John Bragg · Sep 13, 2006

Hi Folks, This is one of the many pictures taken by the late James Ravilious. He loved using older Leica lenses and mastered the wonderful nature of uncoated optics in skilled hands. (He fashioned his own lens hoods to prevent fllare).

http://www.jamesravilious.com/gallerypic.asp?gallery_id=12

David H. Bebbington · Sep 13, 2006

Is the picture you meant on this site?

http://www.jamesravilious.com/

Regards,

David

John Bragg · Sep 13, 2006

Sorry David. It is on the Corbis site, and I can not get the link to work. I have posted an alternative from the site you suggested, equally as good.

Regards, John.

David H. Bebbington · Sep 13, 2006

My main feeling about JR's photography is the way in which he is apparently totally in tune with his subject matter. As John says, he sought out good examples of uncoated Leica lenses, in no way as a collector but simply because they gave a unique image quality which was just right for him.

SuzanneR · Sep 13, 2006

I love his work! I have never heard of him before, but there is a wonderful quality to his images, and he has captured rural life with such dignity. His work also reminds me of the French painter Millet. Thank you for pointing this work out. It's just wonderful!

John Bragg · Sep 13, 2006

Suzanne Revy said:
I love his work! I have never heard of him before, but there is a wonderful quality to his images, and he has captured rural life with such dignity. His work also reminds me of the French painter Millet. Thank you for pointing this work out. It's just wonderful!

Hi Suzanne,

He had a very strong affinity with painting, since his father was the painter Eric Ravilious.

Regards, John

blansky · Sep 13, 2006

It must be the light there, but I find it fascinating the lack of contrast between the highlights and the shadows.

It's almost a 3:1 ratio in broad daylight, with the pattern of the trees creating shadows on the ground. In most places I've been the ration is far far higher.

They must have a very subdued partial cloudy/sunlight there.

Michael

Juraj Kovacik · Sep 13, 2006

Light on his pictures is different from normal light. I don't know if it is only about lenses or something different - soft developer or what.

What I love on his pictures is his choose of scenes - everyday simple life. And yes, he can how to find and show beauty of it. Maybe I like his "point of view" more then that special light.

Curt · Sep 13, 2006

It's very fine and could have been 1882. Are the members aware of the "Corbis" business? A certain billlllionair started the business to buy the rights to as many pictures as he can. Then for a fee you can rent a look at them under rigid conditions.

Gay Larson · Sep 13, 2006

I lso had not see his work before but really love it. I had to check the dates myself because at first I thought is was much earlier. They make me want to visit there myself.

David H. Bebbington · Sep 13, 2006

blansky said:
It must be the light there, but I find it fascinating the lack of contrast between the highlights and the shadows.

It's almost a 3:1 ratio in broad daylight, with the pattern of the trees creating shadows on the ground. In most places I've been the ration is far far higher.

They must have a very subdued partial cloudy/sunlight there.

Michael

This was in fact the reason why he used the old uncoated lenses - makes quite a difference. I knew someone once who did a series of pictures of a village in the South of France at midday, normally a total no-no because of the screaming contrast of the overhead sun, but he used an old Nikon F and original lens, which shortened the tone scale considerably and gave a very pleasing effect. I use an uncoated 5 cm Elmar myself from time to time for the same reason.

Regards,

David

blansky · Sep 13, 2006

David, I'll take your word for it but I think it is more than just a lens that creates this effect. I think he worked in a softbox type of diffused thin layer of clouds.

Granted the lens may have had an effect but I doubt this much.

Michael

Dave Wooten · Sep 14, 2006

John,

Thanks for posting this!

John Bragg · Sep 14, 2006

Dave Wooten said:
John,

Thanks for posting this![/QUOTE

It,s a pleasure. A few more technical details on Ravilious, technique; He favoured Tri-X pull processed in D76 @ 250 iso as far as I recall. He printed all his own, until a skin condition prevented this in latter years.

Regards, John.

Jeff Voorhees · Sep 28, 2006

I happened upon "An English Eye" in a used bookstore a couple years ago. Funny enough, I've been going through for the past week. His mastery of uncoated optics and his development techinque make for beautifully produced photographs. What I'd like to see is how he masked "a proprietary Leitz" model hood so he could shoot into the sun.

tom_micklin · Sep 28, 2006

It's beautiful work. I love the softness.

childers-jk · Sep 28, 2006

Forgive me if I am wrong, but it looks like two of these picutures were taken either into the sun or with a very strong side light. (I'm juding by the shadows.) With an uncoated lens and even an impovised hood, would this tend to cause the very soft feeling and lack of harsh contrast? Either way, I really like these a lot, thanks for posting.

copake_ham · Sep 28, 2006

childers-jk said:
Forgive me if I am wrong, but it looks like two of these picutures were taken either into the sun or with a very strong side light. (I'm juding by the shadows.) With an uncoated lens and even an impovised hood, would this tend to cause the very soft feeling and lack of harsh contrast? Either way, I really like these a lot, thanks for posting.

I noticed that too. I also checked the gallery and noticed that many other shots have similar "soft shadows". So I'm inclined to think that it does have to do, in part, with the uncoated nature of the lenses (wouldn't coating result in some degree of polarizing?).

But I did notice that some of the shots that included "sky" showed partly cloudy conditions....so maybe he did favor "supple" conditions?

Oh, btw, the shots and subject matter are great - as I watch the Copake countryside slip away into exurbian sprawl - I wonder how idyllic these shots are and how much they were "selectively rural"?

catem · Oct 7, 2006

I completely missed this thread!

Thanks for posting it, John. Wonderful work...

Cate

Charles Webb · Oct 8, 2006

I had never heard of Ravilious the photographer, his work is in my opinion very, very good. I appreciate your posting his name etc.

Charlie...............................

Pastiche · Oct 8, 2006

Part of what's so strong about his images is the tight unity he's achieved by keeping certain elements in line... ( if the body of work were to cover a broader range of emotion the impressions we would gather from it would also not be so pristine... and so, we might end up with a "mixed" bag of feelings for the totality of the portfolio... as it is, the message is clear... which, I think, is part of what a good portfolio should do for the viewer... BE CONCISE)

Most obvious is the control of tones throughout... it's beautiful to see a oeuvre where you can tell the man's mastered what he does...

Some other things that struck me -
His use of space.... unless an individual in the focus, he gives them some room up front.... he's careful to compose such that he never looses the illusion of space.. he's shooting from the same POV throughout .. . his compositions are well resolved... I don't remember any images where the subject was either entering the frame or leaving the frame (half way though it)... he's got everyone IN the picture....

Another element that I think is emotive, is that whether we like it or not, there is a certain romanticized image of rural life.. and these images play to that concept... Many of the images depict "perfect" examples of this or that "character" from the farm-mythos....

It seems JR was a man in love with his surroundings, and it shows in his images... not only in the tonal and compositional qualities he's expressing.. but also in his careful editing of character and narrative content...

RH Designs · Oct 10, 2006

If you like Ravilious' work and can find a copy, "An English Eye" (ISBN1855226286) is well worth getting. 113 beautifully reproduced photographs and an insightful commentary by Peter Hamilton which includes an account of James' working methods. "Down the Deep Lanes" is currently available from amazon.co.uk and while billed as a paperback, mine arrived as a hard cover. In this case there is nothing in the text about James' methods and philosophy however.

pentaxuser · Oct 10, 2006

Nice representation of rural France. As it's winter or early spring, the shadows from the trees are soft and the light looks right for the time of year and wintry sun. However, unless its the scan or my monitor the lead cow has lost all detail in its face which in the light conditions doesn't feel right. Yet his picture of Cheddar Gorge which is more contrasty has retained detail even in the rockfaces.

I have just been reading Barry Thornton's "Elements" and while his subject matter doesn't always do something for me, his tonal range tends to spoil other prints I have seen.

pentaxuser

bruce terry · Oct 10, 2006

Good Lord! I too had no clue of James Ravilious' work. What an eye, what patience, and how, how, did he bag scene after scene with his little Leica, any of which a large format photographer would immediately adopt as his or her signature print - limited number of zones be damned.

The second I hear of an exhibit of Ravilious' original images, I'm there, for they are ... inspiring!

Thanks John for this magnificent eye-opener (I'm gushing I know but WOW).

Wow. Wow.

RH Designs · Oct 11, 2006

pentaxuser said:
unless its the scan or my monitor the lead cow has lost all detail in its face

It's blocked up on my screen too but there's plenty of detail in the repro in "An English Eye". I saw an exhibition of his photographs a few years ago in Devon and they really are superb. I wish I'd bought a print there actually ...

Discussing a James Ravilious Photograph

John Bragg

David H. Bebbington

John Bragg

David H. Bebbington

SuzanneR

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John Bragg

blansky

Juraj Kovacik

Curt

Gay Larson

David H. Bebbington

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Jeff Voorhees

tom_micklin

childers-jk

copake_ham

catem

Charles Webb

Pastiche

RH Designs

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pentaxuser

bruce terry

RH Designs

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Discussing a James Ravilious Photograph

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