Fred Picker's Zone VI Newsletters

hal9000 · May 31, 2008

Just to keep everyone up-to-date, I have sent Calumet information about Jeremy's UNT digital library site and have an appointment for a telephone conversation with Brendan Sullivan (CMO of Calumet) for this coming Tuesday afternoon. I'll post a summary of the results of that conversation.

jstraw · May 31, 2008

I would speculate that Calumet views the market for this material as sufficiently small that it's not worth the trouble for them to package it for sale. I would agree with that. I'd also speculate that it annoys the heck out of them when someone else illegitimately profits from their copyright. As it should. Making this available material on a free archive is an excellent solution. It undercuts the ability for anyone to sell copies and earns Calumet some good will for something they're not making any use of.

Good luck!

hal9000 · Jun 3, 2008

Hi,
I spoke with Brendan Sullivan today (CMO of Calumet). He said that Calumet is currently working on some commercial materials which may use some of the Fred Picker material including perhaps the Newsletters and videos. So the request to release this material to the public is somewhat premature.
Brendan said that later on in the year after this project has been completed it might be possible to publish this material for free as we discussed. We have a date to speak about it again on Oct. 3, 2008.
Hal

NavyMoose · Jun 18, 2009

I'm bumping this to see if the conversation on 3OCT08 happened. I've heard good things about Fred's newsletter and I wouldn't mind seeing it available again.

RJS · Jun 19, 2009

I wonder if anyone would volunteer to edit the wheat from the s - - - in putting out a new set. Just eliminating "The best damn . . . ." would seem a somewhat herculean task. Particularly in view of the various very excellent books, i.e."Way Beyond Monochrome", "Post Exposure" etc. most of which are, to coin a phrase, "Way Beyond Zone VI".

mikebarger · Jun 19, 2009

Fred put out a very nice book of his own.

Mike

Jeremy · Jun 22, 2009

NavyMoose said:
I'm bumping this to see if the conversation on 3OCT08 happened. I've heard good things about Fred's newsletter and I wouldn't mind seeing it available again.

Calumet expressed an interest, but then none of my phone calls or emails were returned as the particulars were being worked out. I'm focusing on completing the digitization of Camera Work right now and then I'll try and enter into the conversation again with Calumet. Also, we're updating our digital library system over this summer so we wouldn't be adding any such a collections until after the upgrade is complete.

NavyMoose · Jun 23, 2009

Jeremy said:
Calumet expressed an interest, but then none of my phone calls or emails were returned as the particulars were being worked out. I'm focusing on completing the digitization of Camera Work right now and then I'll try and enter into the conversation again with Calumet. Also, we're updating our digital library system over this summer so we wouldn't be adding any such a collections until after the upgrade is complete.

Thank you for the attempt!

cloudhands · Jun 23, 2009

Interesting stuff.
I am new to this scene so take my comments with a grain of salt. I know photographers (and other artists) are very sensitive about copyright blah blah blah. Personally, I am against all forms of copyright. That's not going to elicit any warm feelings on here, I know.
It seems a crime that there is this information out there that people have to wait for some corporation to grant rights for it to be released. Absurdity is the word that comes to mind. If I had a copy of these newsletters, you can bet I'd scan them and put them on bittorrent ASAP. Knowledge should be free.

eddym · Jun 23, 2009

cloudhands said:
Interesting stuff.
I am new to this scene so take my comments with a grain of salt. I know photographers (and other artists) are very sensitive about copyright blah blah blah. Personally, I am against all forms of copyright. That's not going to elicit any warm feelings on here, I know.
It seems a crime that there is this information out there that people have to wait for some corporation to grant rights for it to be released. Absurdity is the word that comes to mind. If I had a copy of these newsletters, you can bet I'd scan them and put them on bittorrent ASAP. Knowledge should be free.

Do you make your living by producing copyrighted works?

cloudhands · Jun 23, 2009

What do you think? Obviously not. Is it impossible to make a living producing works that are not copyrighted? As a compromise, I suggest copyleft. Check the wiki.

36cm2 · Jun 23, 2009

What? Making a living?!! Eddy, where have you been? This is an idyllic society where horizons are straight, clouds converge in timely fashion to add drama and reduce flare, Hasselblads are free and no one ever takes your Kodachrome away!!!! Animadvertistine, ubicumque stes, fumum recta in faciem ferri?

For the record, I'm not partial to either side of the impending argument. It's great that we all love photography even though we view so many other things from vastly different perspectives.

Vanishing Point Ent. · Jun 24, 2009

Murphy's Law will see to it.

This was an interesting read, but pie in the sky. I predict that Calumet will release Fred Picker's newsletters, when there is NO Longer any interest in them. Murphy's Law will see to it. Such is the speed at which a corporation moves.
Sometimes merely having a thing is satisfaction enough to a corporation.

And as far as the death of Kodachrome. This is the beginning of the end of Kodak.
This is a company, that can only show a profit, by discontinuing product & firing workers. Kodachrome is just another example in a long history.

Laurent · Jun 24, 2009

Vanishing Point Ent. said:
This is a company, that can only show a profit, by discontinuing product & firing workers.

This seems to become the case of most big ones. I worked for several companies, and most of them would even sell the factories themselves so that they can show profit and earnings per share... Just wondering what happens when they'll have sold all the facilities ?

bdial · Jun 24, 2009

I think it's fair to say that Calumet bought Zone VI because of the name, not because they wanted to extend Fred Picker's legacy.

As for Kodachrome, if enough of us film users were buying enough of it that it was more than .x percent of their film sales, Kodak would still be making it.

Kodak can't afford to produce Kodachrome for no profit, any more than any of us can afford to sell the products of our labors for nothing, whether it's time, prints, words, or widgets.

Neither can any of us afford for someone else to rip-off what we've produced to sell it cheaper.

Joel_Heffner · Dec 17, 2010

One of the Fred Picker newsletters described a workshop activity where he sent folks out with a Polaroid camera to shoot within an old bus. Does anyone have that issue? Thanks.

Joel

craigclu · Dec 18, 2010

Is there any follow-up on Calumet's position on this? I've got a set that goes to #61 but would like to see the rest of them somehow. I recall this old thread and had forgotten it over time....

jgbald · Sep 27, 2012

The final Zone VI newsletter

I am looking for a copy of the final Zone VI newsletter. I got a hit on this site that indicated you might have one.

THanks.

ann · Sep 27, 2012

this thread is very old, however, which newsletter ? I have the whole set.

Ken Nadvornick · Sep 27, 2012

Are you looking for a copy to purchase? Or just the scanned contents to read?

I was an original subscriber and still have my complete set, including some of the follow-on Calumet replacements. The first issue was in August of 1973. The final issue (announcing Fred's resignation) was #83 in September, 1995. It begins with a quote from Salvador Dali. I still read them beginning to end every couple of years. I like his curmudgeonly outlook on photography.

I'm not willing to sell my originals. But I would be willing to scan a few missing issues for you to read, just to fill in any holes. I've done this for others.

PM me (click on my name to the left and choose Private Message), if interested.

Oh, and welcome to APUG.

Ken

[Edit: Looks like Ann is also willing to help...]

Bob Carnie · Sep 27, 2012

I too have the complete set, they will make great reading someday , to revisit Fred's notes.

scheimfluger_77 · Sep 28, 2012

Marv said:
#24, April 1980. Even 28 years later the information and technique are worth studying. Brash, bordering on arrogant and full of himself Fred still managed to convey useful information in a no frills way that helped many a tyro on the path they now tread.

Anybody that actually set their tripod and camera up 50 times before they went out the first time benefited enormously from the exercise and if you didn't learn "different is not the same" and "Try It", you just weren't listening!

A searchable file would be pretty neat to have. I'll be curious to see where this goes.

Usually anyone worth studying or emulating can be brash and arrogant. The trick is to set that stuff aside and glean what useful bits you can. I hope you guys can pull this off, I've wanted to at least read his newsletters.

Steve

Hi Marv!

P.S. Missed the origination date of this thread, oh well.

jgbald · Oct 13, 2014

I have 1 thru 54 but would like the complete set or those that are missing, copy or scanned or what ever I can get.

Thanks

Ken Nadvornick · Oct 13, 2014

jgbald said:
I have 1 thru 54 but would like the complete set or those that are missing, copy or scanned or what ever I can get.

Thanks

I have been pretty consistent over the years in being willing to supply rough scans of the occasional missing issue for individuals to read. But I have been equally consistent in not offering to supply the entire series, or large portions of it.

The reason is that I am not the copyright holder, and placing a full or major partial set out into the wild almost guarantees it will show up somewhere for sale. That's just the reality of Internet Thinking these days. Others can do it if they like, but I ethically choose not to.

In the recent past Calumet Photographic was the legal copyright holder, having originally purchased the Zone VI Studios business directly from Fred Picker upon his retirement for health reasons. At least that's my understanding.

Since Calumet subsequently filed for bankruptcy, their assets have been purchased by C&A Marketing Inc., who presumably have now become the legal holders of that copyright asset. They are currently attempting to restructure Calumet and have been reopening a small number of stores again in the Chicago area.

A number of attempts were made in the past to persuade the original Calumet to publish the full set of newsletters. To my knowledge, nothing ever came of those attempts. Perhaps because they were quietly dealing with bigger fish existential issues? I don't know.

But now, given that C&A Marketing is currently trying to make a new go of it, perhaps if someone were to approach them with the idea of commercially publishing Mr. Picker's newsletters in full, they might have more of an incentive to look into it?

Money talks...

Ken

Fred Picker's Zone VI Newsletters

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency