Eugene Atget Appreciation

[joho]

When talking about photography like Aget, think what it is like.
Now try to carry a tripod that is 16 kilos, a camera that is an other 14 kilos + film chassis for large format. So walk around to find the PHOTO ---do this up to 10 hours for say three photos. with exposure times in the range of 1 hour !!!
Get the picture???

 

[joho]

welcome to Nikos79
do you talk to Platon ?? if so give him my regards.

 

[warden]

To get back to the original spirit of this thread, let's contemplate :

Love that shot. Just great.

 

[nikos79]

welcome to Nikos79
do you talk to Platon ?? if so give him my regards.

Yes I do, I am doing his online weekly seminars! Do you know him?

 

[Don_ih]

Now try to carry a tripod that is 16 kilos, a camera that is an other 14 kilos

Uhhhh, there's no way his tripod and camera added up to the weight of a 13-year-old boy. What do you think they were made of - cast iron?

 

[lecarp]

Uhhhh, there's no way his tripod and camera added up to the weight of a 13-year-old boy. What do you think they were made of - cast iron?

Well yes! Some of my kits achieve the weight of a 13 year old boy, (a boy on the lower end of average). His kit probably wasn't quite as heavy as mine, but then, the average 13 year old boy of Paris in Atget's time probably weighed far less than one today.

 

[lecarp]

This thread has been hijacked more frequently than a late 60's airline.

 

[DREW WILEY]

There are pictures of him using his gear. He hardly had a full featured view camera or particularly heavy tripod; more a simplified affair with a single petite lens, not very heavy at all. What his filmholder case by itself weighed I don't know. Apparently 13 year old boys were starving at that time.

 

[Don_ih]

You can see the legs of the tripod in this photo. The camera was an 18x24 cm wooden camera.

Apparently 13 year old boys were starving at that time.

No McDonalds and no television.

 

[joho]

Aget to make his photos had to haul what with him ???​

just a note ---- Linhof 8x10 Kardan Weight?​

without a lens it's 8200 gramme = 18 pounds with tripod base add 4.5 kilos and 1/2 kilo for every film holder ....of 18 × 24 [centimetre] photographic negatives holders ???

I state this to point out the sheer difficulty of large format photography. So back to our hero Aget !! to walk through the streets of Paris to carry all his equipment and cherry pick his images, is an act of "labor of love".

 

[Don_ih]

Market Porter, Paris​

c. 1898-1900

 

[koraks]

The camera was an 18x24 cm wooden camera.

Yesterday I went to see a show together with @Cor featuring (many) prints by the Séeberger brothers. Photographed at 18x24 and 13x18cm and enlarged onto bromide paper, the subject matter overlapped strongly with that of Atget. Stylistically, it's more varied, and the prominently featuring posing figures are a fundamental difference. But one particular series featuring back-alleys and view of tannery works could have been made by Atget, if not for the different printing technique. Same subject matter, same era, same format much of the time, and in several instances, the same compositional choices. One key difference is the technical superiority of the Seeberger images from an objective viewpoint - they are pretty much immaculate. This says little of course about the subjective appreciation of technical choices/outcome that may not be objectively optimal.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I'd bet Atget if he could speak would prefer life to fame.

 

[joho]

The work of Aget was more a personal retrospect of his surroundings, as the cityParis [as whole] was a part of his life.
In contrast to the Seeberger brothers, that worked as a team, and had a focused new market outlet "fashion", which was not Agets cup of tea ??

 

[Don_ih]

In contrast to the Seeberger brothers, that worked as a team, and had a focused new market outlet "fashion", which was not Agets cup of tea ??

Those guys got good before they took fashion photos. They had entered scenic photos in competitions, had several published, and also had photos printed as postcards. They were motivated a little differently than Atget.

 

[Alex Benjamin]

Yesterday I went to see a show together with @Cor featuring (many) prints by the Séeberger brothers. Photographed at 18x24 and 13x18cm and enlarged onto bromide paper, the subject matter overlapped strongly with that of Atget. Stylistically, it's more varied, and the prominently featuring posing figures are a fundamental difference. But one particular series featuring back-alleys and view of tannery works could have been made by Atget, if not for the different printing technique. Same subject matter, same era, same format much of the time, and in several instances, the same compositional choices. One key difference is the technical superiority of the Seeberger images from an objective viewpoint - they are pretty much immaculate. This says little of course about the subjective appreciation of technical choices/outcome that may not be objectively optimal.

Thanks for this. I had never heard of them.

Interesting to note that many of their Paris street photographs from the mid-20s were done for the International Kinema Research company, who sent them to set decorators in Hollywood so they could re-construct the Paris decor in the studios.

 

[koraks]

Interesting to note that many of their Paris street photographs from the mid-20s were done for the International Kinema Research company, who sent them to set decorators in Hollywood so they could re-construct the Paris decor in the studios.

Hey, that's funny; I never knew this. So Hollywood used Paris photographs for the decors, and they imported Korngold from Germany for the music...(if you listen to film music by e.g. John Williams, it becomes clear how much of it ultimately draws on Korngold).

 

[MattKing]

I'd bet Atget if he could speak would prefer life to fame.

As he would be almost 170 years old now, I doubt he'd be keen either way.

 

[koraks]

I imagine it'd be very confusing to live to that age. And probably pretty lonely, too.

 

[Maris]

When talking about photography like Aget, think what it is like.
Now try to carry a tripod that is 16 kilos, a camera that is an other 14 kilos + film chassis for large format. So walk around to find the PHOTO ---do this up to 10 hours for say three photos. with exposure times in the range of 1 hour !!!
Get the picture???

Atget may have worked like this and so deserves all the admiration his physical pains might have earned for him.

But I spent years under a 35kg pack doing 8x10 photography in areas rough and smooth and approached the challenge differently.
Rule number one was to never carry heavy large format gear when just scouting for pictures. Instead walk around, hands in pockets, perhaps with a little notebook, and record interesting locations, time of day, angles, and lighting. Then with the shoot fully plotted out, carry the camera, accept the weight, make the exposures, and get back home for a rest. Excess energy can be expended in the darkroom.

I don't know how Atget went about his photography but I hope he did it the "easy" way; at least sometimes.

 

[cliveh]

I think he wheeled his gear around in a pram like cart.

 

[snusmumriken]

Josef Sudek managed similar with only one arm and no cart.

 

[lecarp]

I think he wheeled his gear around in a pram like cart.

Clive, have you seen a legitimate reference to this?

 

[lecarp]

Josef Sudek managed similar with only one arm and no c

I remind myself of this frequently as I age. Watch the video of Sudek at work to remind myself.

 

[cliveh]

Clive, have you seen a legitimate reference to this?

I think I read it somewhere, but can't remember where.