How to emulate the Atget look

[snusmumriken]

I think the time of day had a lot to do with it. Some look like very early morning shots. Perhaps he couldn't sleep unless he was out there living his dream?

You have to wonder how he got to all these places at an early hour. Paris itself is not small, and if we include the outlying villages, it’s quite remarkable. Did he hitch lifts with carters, or walk through the night?

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I understand he walk A LOT with his gear, and also relied on buses, to get around.

 

[runswithsizzers]

I would just get my hands on some ortho film, or even that FPP 120 xray film...If you want to take advantage of no AH layer. I have a roll that I've been meaning to use. Are you planning on hand holding or using a tripod?

I totally missed the 120 X-Ray film on FPP's website -- thanks for bringing it to my attention!

When there is enough light, I sometimes hand-hold my Rolleicord and Zeiss Icon 517/2, but my Agfa Clack needs to be on a tripod due to its slow shutter speed. Sometimes I use the tripod with the Rolleicord even when there is plenty of light because it allows me to frame the scene more precisely.

 

[runswithsizzers]

Not so much that, but the general image [of the Holga 120?] has a 19th C. look, low contrast plus the slight vignetting in the corners. And if it is hazy you might get that too, especially against the light. Might be worth a try.

I don't have a Holga, but I do have a FPP DEBONAIR Plastic Filmtastic 120, which I believe may have the same lens(?)

 

[runswithsizzers]

You have to wonder how he got to all these places at an early hour. Paris itself is not small, and if we include the outlying villages, it’s quite remarkable. Did he hitch lifts with carters, or walk through the night?

According to Maria Morris Hambourg, Atget traveled by train and tramway from Paris to the villages and countryside south of Paris*. In her Notes to "Old France" (Volume 1 of "The Work of Atget" MOMA), she says:
"...Atget lived near the southern rim of the city, only a block or two from the Montparnasse and Denfert stations from which the southern-bound trains departed, and not much farther from the southern tramway termini. [...] The railroads that served the southern environs, for example, the Ligne de Sceaux and the Ligne d'Arpajon, were short-haul or commuter lines..." [p.153]
"In Album n 11, environs Atget noted the trains and trams that took him to the villages he photographed." [pg. 167]

Atget also did some early "environs" photos in the countryside north of Paris (Somme), but he lived in that region from 1888 to 1892, so he was not traveling from Paris then.

* of course, if you have ever traveled by train, you know the train station is not often located close to where you want to go, so I'm sure he did plenty of walking, too!

 

[MattKing]

I am not trying to copy Atget to any great degree, so the title is somewhat misleading. In my defense, I did not write the title of this thread. The title was done by the moderator who created this thread from my post in another thread (@MattKing?).

I am going to treat this as a request for a change - my 1st choice was merely a best guess

 

[DREW WILEY]

As a lesson in contrast (in dual senses of that term), take a look at the blue plate work of Timothy O' Sullivan, of an even earlier era of equipment, but who often shot in the clear air of the West instead of smoggy conditions, e.g., his Black Canon (canyon) of the Colorado shot.

 

[runswithsizzers]

I am going to treat this as a request for a change - my 1st choice was merely a best guess

Yes, thank you. But I am not trying to emulate the Atget look in its entirety, so the revised title is still misleading. My goal is only to discover how or why many of Atget's photos appear to have atmospheric haze -- and, if any of the materials or techniques which contributed to that effect can be practically adapted to medium format photography.

So maybe a more precise title would be something like, "Atget's Atmospheric Haze -- how did he do it?"