karl blossfeldt ... ignored by photographers?

[jtk]

 

[jtk]

Dead Link Removed

IMO "composition" is almost a non-concept, compared to "design" ... the former is primitive, the latter is more complex, harder to address verbally.

Are you familiar with Blossfeldt? I only became aware of him a couple of years ago.

 

[jtk]

Wiki: "Swiftly regarded as a seminal book on photography, Blossfeldt’s objective and finely detailed imagery was praised by Walter Benjamin,[5] who declared that Blossfeldt ‘has played his part in that great examination of the inventory of perception, which will have an unforeseeable effect on our conception of the world’. He compared him to Moholy-Nagy and the pioneers of New Objectivity, and ranked his achievements alongside the great photographers August Sander and Eugène Atget. The Surrealists also championed him..."

 

[macfred]

I have his The Complete Published Work https://www.amazon.de/Karl-Blossfel...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ATEYHCW6QKF5M6PKBFH5 and Icons https://www.amazon.de/ICONS-Karl-Bl...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=7Y2879678MBYTB2T1D6X
Beautiful photographs and a pleasure to look at. Those books are available new and used for relatively small money.
A recommendation!

 

[AgX]

Are you familiar with Blossfeldt? I only became aware of him a couple of years ago.

Unknown is something different from ignored.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

A lot of old work isn't that popular anymore. Ask a youngster about Weston. Just the way it is. Blossfeldt made simple pictures, although they are beautiful. They don't have much to say beyond what they are.

 

[Vaughn]

Thanks. Sort of the grandfather of present-day focus-stackers...but with a better sense of design.

Patrick, I would agree except for the elegance of his images...and the marriage of innovative techniques with his sense of composition and design. And with a touch of the mad German scientist/botanist about him.

 

[jtk]

A lot of old work isn't that popular anymore. Ask a youngster about Weston. Just the way it is. Blossfeldt made simple pictures, although they are beautiful. They don't have much to say beyond what they are.

As to "say what they are"... No photo "says"more than what it is if the viewer's ego gives it a chance.

http://shifter-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Sontag-Against-Interpretation.pdf

(EZ readers might take a look at www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/against-interpretation-by-susan-sontag-1792577.html )

As to Weston and "youngsters"... EW was a youngster once, but hardly any large format photographer is one today.

 

[macfred]

... They don't have much to say beyond what they are.

I must admit that exactly this has a special quality for me.

 

[Eric Rose]

His imagery follows his sculptor's ethos. Those that like sculptures as an art form will also more than likely appreciate this style of photography. While his photography leaves me a bit flat, that's not saying much as I don't appreciate most sculptures either. Someone who is more conversant in this form of art would be better to comment on this photographers place in art history.

 

[jtk]

Unknown is something different from ignored.

Not unknown to formally trained, graphic design-oriented photographers, I've discovered

 

[Patrick Robert James]

As to "say what they are"... No photo "says"more than what it is if the viewer's ego gives it a chance.

http://shifter-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Sontag-Against-Interpretation.pdf

(EZ readers might take a look at www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/against-interpretation-by-susan-sontag-1792577.html )

As to Weston and "youngsters"... EW was a youngster once, but hardly any large format photographer is one today.

I love getting "art-splained" with drivel from Sontag. You can't be serious...

 

[Eric Rose]

Ahhh, Sontag, where's my razor blade.

 

[AgX]

Not unknown to formally trained, graphic design-oriented photographers, I've discovered

I assume most academically trained photographers over here know him, likely through their lecturers.

 

[David T T]

Just picked up the complete works book, along with a couple of books of fashion photography. I'm so excited I got 2-day shipping! Cheers to the OP.

 

[Erik Petersson]

I just love him. Composition is perfect. Will buy his complete work now.

 

[removed account4]

remembered his images but never remembered his name, always thought someone else did them
like i always think paul strand photographed typewriter keys.
liked them for their static macro sculptural effect. he's the guy peopel who do macro work always
wish they photographed like ... thanks for reminding me about him .. probably will forget him again for another 35 years..

 

[jtk]

One of the to-me astounding facts about Blossfeldt's work is that it was all done with large format.

 

[removed account4]

One of the to-me astounding facts about Blossfeldt's work is that it was all done with large format.

why is that astounding ?

 

[Vaughn]

Not too astonding since LF was the format available -- and he did a lot of work on adapting it for macrophotography. He did not have formal university training, but I wonder how much he knew of the new work in fractals (though before that term was invented). A lot of the ground-breaking work in the mathematics behind fractals was being done when he was born.

 

[jtk]

why is that astounding ?

Isn't astounding to everybody, but Blossfeldt had to build his own macro camera, devise non-commercial optics with just the right depth of focus, exquisitely light his small subjects etc etc...

It astounds me because I've tried and failed with exceptional digital optics, despite having learned a lot making literally thousands of macro photos with 35mm Ektachrome and Lith film using a 600 pound animation stand with 1200WS Norman strobes with polarized lamps. As a modern old man, I'm astounded by what people accomplished long before I came along. YMMV

I enjoy being astounded, the opposite of cynical.

 

[cowanw]

Ambient light with an Aplanat 1:36, F=50-cm lens (500mm) and an exposure time of eight to twelve minutes on a camera with a bellows of 100cm, so 1 to 1 magnification.
MOMA certainly knows about him
https://www.moma.org/interactives/objectphoto/assets/essays/Murata.pdf
Repeated statements suggest he could enlarge 40-50 times but I am not clear if that is on the negative or the enlargement. It is possible that it was 1 to 1 on a glass slide which was projected so that students could draw from the projected image or prints or photogravures could be made.

 

[macfred]

...
https://www.moma.org/interactives/objectphoto/assets/essays/Murata.pdf
...

Stunning ! Thank you for sharing, Bill !

 

[removed account4]

Isn't astounding to everybody, but Blossfeldt had to build his own macro camera, devise non-commercial optics with just the right depth of focus, exquisitely light his small subjects etc etc...

It astounds me because I've tried and failed with exceptional digital optics, despite having learned a lot making literally thousands of macro photos with 35mm Ektachrome and Lith film using a 600 pound animation stand with 1200WS Norman strobes with polarized lamps. As a modern old man, I'm astounded by what people accomplished long before I came along. YMMV

I enjoy being astounded, the opposite of cynical.

hi jtk
im not cynical or astounded, but i realize that often times people build and use their own apparatus
because sometimes things aren't available and they need it.

thanks bill for the information / that link !

what i find to be more amazing than the fact that he made a obscura and rapid rectilinaer lenses to use
is the work he did to the negative after he got an image. the lost art of intensification and reduction to make
his images the only thing we see. while there are still people "these days" who might know about mercury or selenium intensification
or farmers reducer or somethings that are similar, these methods were common to photographers at a certain time,
and the post process alchemy is what is is mind blowing. he was the equivilant of a photo shop wizard !

im equally amazed at how miroslav tiche was in the same boat but different circumstances.

 

[jtk]

hi jtk
im not cynical or astounded, but i realize that often times people build and use their own apparatus
because sometimes things aren't available and they need it.

thanks bill for the information / that link !

what i find to be more amazing than the fact that he made a obscura and rapid rectilinaer lenses to use
is the work he did to the negative after he got an image. the lost art of intensification and reduction to make
his images the only thing we see. while there are still people "these days" who might know about mercury or selenium intensification
or farmers reducer or somethings that are similar, these methods were common to photographers at a certain time,
and the post process alchemy is what is is mind blowing. he was the equivilant of a photo shop wizard !

im equally amazed at how miroslav tiche was in the same boat but different circumstances.

Here's Mirislav.. far from the "same boat" as Blossfeldt, but ingenious just the same.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/arts/design/12photos.html