Photographs of Edward Weston's darkroom

tbm · Dec 4, 2005

Attached are two photographs I got of Weston's darkroom with my Leica M6 and 28mm Elmarit in June. In the first one, the stand next to the small lamp on the right is the windowed holder for Edward's 8x10 inch negatives which he used to adjust the negatives with pencils before contact printing them. The second photo shows the north wall. It was strange being in there, knowing Edward had once used the room daily to contact print many 8x10 inch negatives!

David A. Goldfarb · Dec 4, 2005

That's a retouching desk. You can find them fairly inexpensively these days, or go all the way for an Adams Retouching Machine, which is also pretty cheap in the wake of the "cloning tool", but much more versatile than the older style with the mirror and the window.

With all the attention paid to things like Azo, amidol, film choice, lenses, etc., in trying to achieve the print quality that Weston and others of his era were capable of, I think handwork on the negative is one important area that's been neglected.

Bob Carnie · Dec 4, 2005

Good point David

I worked for a portrait/wedding photographer in the late 70's who used mostly 4x5 neg B&W . He was a master retoucher in Germany before and during the war and one of his tools was Red Coccine . sp dye which he put on all his negatives to correct blemeshes and dodge shawdow areas and create highlight contrast.
I believe Lillian Bass ( sp ) was a master of this methodology, Seeing her work at Tator Alexander Gallery here in Toronto , say around 96 , completely blew me away . I think she is one of the greats of all time in the Fashion Industry and she must of used the Red Coccine.sp
Her black and white photographs are a must to be seen

Dave Wooten · Dec 4, 2005

I don't see a vaccum frame?

tbm · Dec 4, 2005

I forgot to mention how the dark black paint on all the walls, and the floor, in Edward's darkroom made me feel cold and lonely. My darkroom is only 8 x 6 feet and neither the 2x4 frame boards nor the particle board walls are painted at all and that has no effect on making prints (IOW, it doesn't affect print exposures).

df cardwell · Dec 4, 2005

Dave Wooten said:
I don't see a vaccum frame?

Behind the Jobo.

.

seadrive · Dec 4, 2005

Wow, talk about visiting a shrine...

Thanks for sharing those pic's.

tbm · Dec 4, 2005

Two more photos

Attached are two more photos, this time of the south and west walls of the living room which contain some framed Edward Weston prints. The one on the left shows Edward with some photographer friends, then his famous "Pepper #33", and then his Italian mistress, Tina Midotti. I can't remember what the framed print on the far right is. The photo on the right shows Edward in the center and to his right is his former wife, Charis Wilson, in a famous pose that was captured by Edward at their house in Santa Monica, California many decades ago. The living room, kitchen, and large dining table all comprise one room at the house, and the door to the darkroom is four feet from the northwest corner of the dining table. Both photos were captured with my Leica M6 and 35mm Aspherical Summicron lens with my Metz 54MZ-3 flash on Delta 100. The film was processed in Microdol-X with a dilution of 1:3 at 75 degrees for 18 minutes.

User Removed · Dec 4, 2005

Thanks for sharing! Did you take a workshop from Kim, or just stop by and visit him and take a few pictures around their house?

tbm · Dec 4, 2005

I attended a nude model workshop. There were four females and two males, and the workshop lasted four days. The attached photo of Kim was acquired on the last day of the workshop, after a sumptuous dinner cooked by Kim and Gina (his wife), while he was showing us some 8x10 and some larger prints from his portfolio, some of which he'd never shown anybody. Kim and Gina are two wonderful people! I thoroughly enjoyed their presence!

Photographs of Edward Weston's darkroom

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