Moriturii
Well-known
And? His series of pictures of the gangs is hardly his whole body of work, therefore Leica not his main camera of choice, it was just a camera that was appropriate for that situation (imagine that, just a tool, huh..), let's not make a feather into a hen here. There is a reason why he didn't use Leicas when he shot his 6x12, 8x10 (etc etc) pictures...
kosta_g
Well-known
It an interesting albeit advertising read. I do very much like Bruce's work (regardless of what he used to take it) It's his images I find interesting at the end of the day.
I saw him the other day using a Holga in the park!
rolleistef
Well-known
the use of a view camera was the whole point of East 100 street. He was told he was mad to go and take photographs there, but he just stayed for two weeks meeting people before he could come at their home and take photographs of them. And the subway shots were made with Nikon SLRs, and a flash.
However maybe the leica spirit is more than just a camera?
However maybe the leica spirit is more than just a camera?
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Funny how a photographer can become so famous that he/she becomes a myth as well as a legend.
Cal
Cal
filmfan
Well-known
Haha almost every camera system is being touted as Mr. Davidson's choice for the subway series. Who cares?
When I read that bit on the photo with the armed guy pointing a gun at someone in the subway being staged, it made me feel like a child who just found out that Santa Claus is made up.
When I read that bit on the photo with the armed guy pointing a gun at someone in the subway being staged, it made me feel like a child who just found out that Santa Claus is made up.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
At Milk Gallery I heard Bruce Davidson explain that he was with two undercover detectives and that he wore three Leicas around his neck as bait as part of an undercover operation. Not sure if this can be called staged. Anyways at this point it does not mater: its a great shot either way.
Cal
filmfan
Well-known
Yes, great shot either way but it has lost some of its icon-status to me. The guy with the gun was a cop and that makes all the difference in the world.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
I would also add to that list body guards. I sometimes rely on friends to watch my back.
Cal
semilog
curmudgeonly optimist
1. The gun was real, loaded with live ammunition, and being used in an uncontrolled environment.
2. Davidson volunteered to be used as bait, chum. And that was after he'd already been mugged and beaten up.
I don't think that you can call that "staged." The situation was very real and people could easily have died.
3. Davidson has never suggested that that photograph is something other than what it is.
Incredibly gutsy work leading to a fantastic photograph.
kingqueenknave
Well-known
Definitely gutsy. I believe it's a real cop with a real gun in the background, and a real crook in the foreground who has robbed the other cop.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
I think Joel Meyerwitz gaining access to Ground Zero to document the event he called "Aftermath" says a lot about the fortitude and resources of someone of that stature.
Joel Meyerwitz basically used his influence to gain access to a "Crime Scene" via a Park Commissioner. Read the introduction from the book "Aftermath" for great inspiration.
Another shooter who shot 8x10 as well as Leicas. Also seeing color 4 foot by 5 foot prints of this work was stunning.
Cal
Joel Meyerwitz basically used his influence to gain access to a "Crime Scene" via a Park Commissioner. Read the introduction from the book "Aftermath" for great inspiration.
Another shooter who shot 8x10 as well as Leicas. Also seeing color 4 foot by 5 foot prints of this work was stunning.
Cal
BobYIL
Well-known
There is another side of the coin.. (and a not so nice side..)
Many of such top photographers used to receive their Leicas for free.. (I wonder how many of them paid for them from their own pocket.) Some of them (W. Eugene Smith included) used to sell their used Leicas (or other cameras too) to students when they gave courses of photography, as they were always underpaid as being photojournalists and they were receiving some new cameras time to time as gifts. To believe that they could only be "doing" with Leica would be a sort of insult for them, what about the Nikon or Canon rangefinders then? The great majority of Life photographers were using Contax well into the '60s.
Decades later some of these old Leica "hands" are stilll supported by Leica in exchange of some small "promotional" favors.. For example, Elliot Erwitt; he turns on his flame thrower each time a digital camera is mentioned in his interviews however in the last appearance at Solms he was so glad to receive a nylon bag, inside an M9 with lens. (Actually I found he deserved it better than Seal's S2.)
Such photographers like Davidson are indeed the "columns" of the 20th century photographic temple and Leica is indebted to them a lot.. what was not so nice (IMHO) they "employed" him in a commercial as if to promote Leica. "Promote" him instead!
Jamie Pillers
Skeptic
Who cares what he used... GREAT images!
Who cares what he used... GREAT images!
Thanks for posting the link to Davidson video. Always wonderful to hear from an artist about their creative process. I loved it!
Regarding what cameras he used (re: many posts in this thread): WHO CARES!! Bruce Davidson put himself in some amazingly difficult/dangerous situations to give a view into worlds many of us would otherwise never see (and certainly wouldn't venture into!). I for one am in awe of such photographic work, whether done with a Leica, 4x5, or P&S hidden in his coat.
Who cares what he used... GREAT images!
Thanks for posting the link to Davidson video. Always wonderful to hear from an artist about their creative process. I loved it!
Regarding what cameras he used (re: many posts in this thread): WHO CARES!! Bruce Davidson put himself in some amazingly difficult/dangerous situations to give a view into worlds many of us would otherwise never see (and certainly wouldn't venture into!). I for one am in awe of such photographic work, whether done with a Leica, 4x5, or P&S hidden in his coat.
jippiejee
Well-known
Isn't this also a two sided coin? When the clip was posted on the photography subreddit, nobody talked about the Leicas (which is more of an RFF obsession...
) but about his amazing scope of work. Young people might see his work for the first time now and buy his books. This was very much about him I'd say. Him, wearing a Leica cap 
anjoca76
Well-known
Although curious, I ultimately don't really care what sort of cameras he used nor (to a lesser extent) whether his shots were set up. I was really impressed and inspired by the quality of his photographs. Thanks for sharing.
filmfan
Well-known
Yes but there is no more a sense of "the photographer could be next to have the gun pointed at him" since the guy with the gun was working WITH the photographer... that's all man. Don't stress it!
furcafe
Veteran
I think the point was that it was still a very dangerous situation. If things had gone wrong, which they do from time to time in undercover operations, Davidson might easily have gotten seriously injured or killed.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
I agree. Imagine a white man getting invited to take such intimate shots within a poor community like Spanish Harlem in the late 60's, to document the poverty that existed there. The community there grew to trust him.
I live in Spanish Harlem and about a block away from East 100th Street. The poverty that existed in 1969 is not as severe or pronounced today, but East Harlem remains a poor community and still 25% of the residents of East Harlem live in public housing. Also New York and the subways were not safe back then as they are today.
Bruce Davidson in his work was part of history and this adds to his legacy.
Interesting back story about one of the photos he took on East 100th Street of the pregnant naked woman: the subject expressed a wish to be a model and eventually the shot Bruce Davidson took became published in Vogue.
Cal