Exhibits: James Natchwey

Thanks for the link Barrett. I only wish I could get to NY in time to see the exhibit. For several years now I have been hoping to get the opportunity to see an exhibit of Nachtwey's work. To my mind, he is one of the most expressive photographers working today.
 
amateriat said:
Often amazing, though sometimes tough to look at:

http://tinyurl.com/34gltr

But utterly worthwhile.


- Barrett
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I don't know if I could handle a Natchwey exhibit in person.

A couple people at the 'show' on the "War Photographer" DVD are weeping as they look at some of the images. I had to shut his book Inferno numerous times as I went through it.

That move title is a misnomer, BTW. He considers himself an 'anti-war' photographer.

For those who haven't seen the film, I highly recommend it if you want to see how he works. One thing that struck me is that he never uses a telephoto. Most of his work is done with a WA zoom so you get a sense of being present in some rather terrifying situations.

YMMV/ScottGee1
 
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scottgee1 said:
I had to shut his book Inferno numerous times as I went through it.
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This is how I deal with it as well.

scottgee1 said:
One thing that struck me is that he never uses a telephoto. Most of his work is done with a WA zoom so you get a sense of being present in some rather terrifying situations.
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It seemed to me from the film that he uses a 17-35/2.8 zoom and a 50/1.4.

A couple of weekends ago, I attended a talk given by Christian Frei, the guy who made "War Photographer" with Nachtwey.

According to him, the story on the Indonesian family living between the railway tracks only happened because there wasn't much going on during the Indonesian election campaign which was why Nachtwey was in Jakarta. They decided rather than stay in the hotel waiting for something to happen, they would go and look for a story.

Some photos from the talk:

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nksyoon said:
This is how I deal with it as well.


It seemed to me from the film that he uses a 17-35/2.8 zoom and a 50/1.4.
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Does that zoom work on a full frame film camera? I did notice the 1.4/24, 1.8/28 and maybe the 1.4/35 or 20mm. But it is nice to see that someone still shooting with a 50 on an SLR...


A couple of weekends ago, I attended a talk given by Christian Frei, the guy who made "War Photographer" with Nachtwey.
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Where was this exhibit?

According to him, the story on the Indonesian family living between the railway tracks only happened because there wasn't much going on during the Indonesian election campaign which was why Nachtwey was in Jakarta. They decided rather than stay in the hotel waiting for something to happen, they would go and look for a story.
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That's great.


I got to meet Nachtwey last year at the VII Photo seminar. Nothing much; a handshake and a few words exchanged, as he signed my copy of 'Inferno'.

To say that he's an interesting guy is an understatement. Very polite, cool as a cucumber, but there is no doubt about who is in charge. I really got the feeling that he hates having his a** kissed and being put on a pedestal. As Frei said, in some ways he's a victim of his own success.
 
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Harry Lime said:
Does that zoom work on a full frame film camera?
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That's a Canon EF 17-35/2.8L which is 2 generations removed from the latest recently announced EF16-35/2.8 L II.

Harry Lime said:
Where was this exhibit?
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The Seedamm Kulturzentrum in Pfäffikon, Schwyz, Switzerland: "AUGENZEUGEN – Bilder von Krieg, Globalität & Blogs" (Eyewitness - images of war, globalization and blogs)

www.seedamm-kultur.ch/Ausstellung_akt.html (sorry, German only).

Here's a picture of Frei with the video rig used for the film. The backpack has 2 DV recorders packed in foam with cutouts. I don't know if they were recording in parallel with one as a backup or if it would switch recorders when a tape finished. The image you see on the monitor behind Frei is a live feed from the forward facing microcamera mounted on the Canon EOS1.

425247773_e5d098ee0d_b.jpg
 
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Nick, I meant to compliment your pix. Good captures of a relatively static situation and good light balance as well. Did you filter on camera or custom WB or 'fix' during scanning or . . . ?

ScottGee1
 
Scott, thanks for the comments. They were taken in raw, with auto WB on the Canon 5D. I did a little manual WB adjustment in Photoshop CS3 raw conversion.
 
Ah, so it was NOT the camera featured in your avatar portrait!

One thing I do like about digital is having the ability to control color balance in most lighting situations. Back in the old days when I was shooting slides under all kinds of lighting . . . well, yuck, no fun.

Still don't trust AWB. Whenever I can I custom balance to my ExpoDisc then I can easily tweak (if necessary!) in post-production.

And now, back on topic . . .

Wonder if Natchwey still shoots B&W film? Last I heard he was shooting Tri-X AND digital.

ScottGee1
 
If nybody's interested...there's a Nachtwey exhibition at FOAM Amsterdam (Keizersgracht 609?)...since yesterday. :) I think i go there tomorrow to see it.
 
Nick, thank you for the links. The discussion with Koudelka about the current HCB exhibit at the ICA was also interesting.
 
Mmm... One could really make a day of this. HCB in the morning, Nacthwey in the afternoon, and Koudelka's signing in the evening.
 
I'm going to be there in a couple of weeks to meet up with a schoolboy chum from England. Graham & fam in the morning, HCB/Munkacsi & Nachtwey in the afternoon. :) I think the Koudelka book opening might be a bit of a zoo...
 
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