rolleistef
Well-known
Hello everyone,
today I had the opportunity to see Henri Cartier Bresson's first Leica at the Fondation Cartier-Bresson in Paris, where there was an exhibition of his "scrapbook". (the scrabook was made in 1946 after the Moma had announced a retrospective of the Great HCB who had unfortunetely died in Germany in 1940. HCB found it highly amusing, and selected 343 prints which were put in the scrapbook). It is a chrome and vulcanite 1931 vintage Leica Standard , he bought it in Marseilles when getting back from Ivory Coast where he had gone hunting, and had fallen so ill that he had had to be taken back to France.
It is such a beautiful thing! Even more that there is some brassing on the various parts of the cameras : rewind lever, advance button, speed dial (especially between 100 and 25th), on the Elmar (they should put a cap on it or, even though the lens is stopped down 18, it may burn burn the shutter curtains) and on the baseplate. I stayed at least 5 minutes in a kind of extasy watching that pure piece of jewellery that had taken so many great photos. All right that thread wasn't necessary at all but some impressions need to be written down before vanishing in the haze...
cheers!!!
today I had the opportunity to see Henri Cartier Bresson's first Leica at the Fondation Cartier-Bresson in Paris, where there was an exhibition of his "scrapbook". (the scrabook was made in 1946 after the Moma had announced a retrospective of the Great HCB who had unfortunetely died in Germany in 1940. HCB found it highly amusing, and selected 343 prints which were put in the scrapbook). It is a chrome and vulcanite 1931 vintage Leica Standard , he bought it in Marseilles when getting back from Ivory Coast where he had gone hunting, and had fallen so ill that he had had to be taken back to France.
It is such a beautiful thing! Even more that there is some brassing on the various parts of the cameras : rewind lever, advance button, speed dial (especially between 100 and 25th), on the Elmar (they should put a cap on it or, even though the lens is stopped down 18, it may burn burn the shutter curtains) and on the baseplate. I stayed at least 5 minutes in a kind of extasy watching that pure piece of jewellery that had taken so many great photos. All right that thread wasn't necessary at all but some impressions need to be written down before vanishing in the haze...
cheers!!!
Flyfisher Tom
Well-known
Stephane,
Thanks for sharing. I intend to visit the Fondation next time and immerse in all things HCB. Amazing that some of his best work was accomplished with that setup ... and a maximum lens speed of 3.5. It puts our constant addiction to the newest glass and fastest technology in perspective Can't wait to visit.
cheers
Thanks for sharing. I intend to visit the Fondation next time and immerse in all things HCB. Amazing that some of his best work was accomplished with that setup ... and a maximum lens speed of 3.5. It puts our constant addiction to the newest glass and fastest technology in perspective
Can't wait to visit.cheers
Krosya
Konicaze
HI,
It must have been sooooo very cool. Are there photos of it? I wish I could see it too.
It must have been sooooo very cool. Are there photos of it? I wish I could see it too.
reagan
hey, they're only Zorkis
Thanks for sharing, Stephane. You probably won't forget that experience for awhile, eh? I'd love to see it.
I always scour the pages for a shot of the photographer with gear in hand and, like the Barnack there, it's usually a shot of the guy with some regular looking Leica, Contax or whatever hanging around his neck. When I start thinking I need better gear, I'll remember those pictures (or the little Barnack under the glass there in Paris) and slap myself, "Reagan, if you want it, get it. But you can't pretend you need it."
"A picture is worth a thousand words" and one thing that many of the old classics scream out to us is, "It's not the photographic tools, it's the photographer."
How true. For the last 3 or 4 months I've frequented the local library toting home several books about guys who were out there gettin' the shots "back.in.the.day" shall we say, with what would be called "meager" equipment now. It's quite motivating and encouraging for sure.Flyfisher Tom said:Amazing that some of his best work was accomplished with that setup ... and a maximum lens speed of 3.5. It puts our constant addiction to the newest glass and fastest technology in perspective
I always scour the pages for a shot of the photographer with gear in hand and, like the Barnack there, it's usually a shot of the guy with some regular looking Leica, Contax or whatever hanging around his neck. When I start thinking I need better gear, I'll remember those pictures (or the little Barnack under the glass there in Paris) and slap myself, "Reagan, if you want it, get it. But you can't pretend you need it."
"A picture is worth a thousand words" and one thing that many of the old classics scream out to us is, "It's not the photographic tools, it's the photographer."
350D_user
B+W film devotee
You've just got to admire the manufacturers marketing know-how, when it comes to "Image stabiliser" junk.Flyfisher Tom said:It puts our constant addiction to the newest glass and fastest technology in perspective
A tripod... that's all that needs, or just the techniques (skill?) of handheld photography and available light... not £££'s into their coffers.
RayPA
Ignore It (It'll go away)
Nice post, Stephane.
But wait a minute. You guys are talking like HCB was out shooting with a low tech humble rig. The way I read this, at the time, that rig was anything but low tech and humble (it was ~15yrs old at the time?). It may not have been state of the art, but it was pretty current equipment—especially considering how slowly equipment went out-of-date. It was good equipment then, as it is now. We've faster films now, but folks here are shooting with the same or similar gear and getting great results.
But wait a minute. You guys are talking like HCB was out shooting with a low tech humble rig. The way I read this, at the time, that rig was anything but low tech and humble (it was ~15yrs old at the time?). It may not have been state of the art, but it was pretty current equipment—especially considering how slowly equipment went out-of-date. It was good equipment then, as it is now. We've faster films now, but folks here are shooting with the same or similar gear and getting great results. Ash
Selflessly Self-involved
Heh... that must have been the same as my amazement at the photographic museum in the basement of a science museum in Oxford, they had some lovely Leica and Contax cameras.. I stood in awe. Of course, it ruined my chances with the girl I was on a date with. She said it was cute how nerdy I was, then never called again!!
(oh I better add, she was an intellectual, and we were searching for the ashmolean, but she settled with me for the day... lol)
(oh I better add, she was an intellectual, and we were searching for the ashmolean, but she settled with me for the day... lol)
thomasw_
Well-known
Thanks for the post, it inspires me.
Finder
Veteran
Cartier Bresson was ahead of his time by going to a minature format, as 35mm was known then. There were lots of magazines and agencies that would not take it because the technical quality was not up to snuff compared with 4x5. (Eugene Smith even had a hard time early in his career because he used a Rollei and only medium-format film.) Even Hanri's working style, coined as the "snapshot aesthetic," was not appreciated. He was very much a revolutionary.
But one thing that was obviously lost on the folks displaying the camera - Henri was not a gearhead. The camera was just a tool. He gravitated to 35mm because it offered fewer compromises to the way he worked rather than it being some kind of "perfect" machine. He believed in the skill of the photographer, and perfecting that skill to overcome the limitations of the machine. Leica was just coincidental.
But one thing that was obviously lost on the folks displaying the camera - Henri was not a gearhead. The camera was just a tool. He gravitated to 35mm because it offered fewer compromises to the way he worked rather than it being some kind of "perfect" machine. He believed in the skill of the photographer, and perfecting that skill to overcome the limitations of the machine. Leica was just coincidental.
rolleistef
Well-known
"If you see the scene is worth being taken in photo, just let the camera do the job". That was his motto. The camera was a scene-recorder, nothing more. And when you see his Leica, you understand what it meant : no focusing device except scale focusing, no slow speeds, a simple viewfinder. What was important to him was the "instant décisif". Watch, frame and shoot. That was what photography meant for him.
I think he liked the Leica because it's a camera that wouldn't mind being forgotten once in your hands. It's design is so pure and smooth that it's a kind of anti-design. It's particularly true for the Standard and the M. The III is beautiful, but it does have a real design. It is an icon.
i took a photo of HCB's standard, let's hope the picture'll be good enough (low light, f:2, 1/15th, the camera beind a glass...)
I think he liked the Leica because it's a camera that wouldn't mind being forgotten once in your hands. It's design is so pure and smooth that it's a kind of anti-design. It's particularly true for the Standard and the M. The III is beautiful, but it does have a real design. It is an icon.
i took a photo of HCB's standard, let's hope the picture'll be good enough (low light, f:2, 1/15th, the camera beind a glass...)
thomasw_
Well-known
rolleistef said:
ah, well, post it!
T
tedwhite
Guest
Yes, for God's sake, post it...
Thomas: Just what part of BC does Fort Langley inhabit?
Desert Rat Ted
Thomas: Just what part of BC does Fort Langley inhabit?
Desert Rat Ted
rolleistef
Well-known
let's make a deal, I post the photo and you RFF pals collect enough money to buy a IIIf with a collapsible lens (don't really mind which, Elmar, Summitar, Summicron...)
It will be posted in a week or so, as soon as I have finished my roll of Tx400 (sorry no digital camera...)
It will be posted in a week or so, as soon as I have finished my roll of Tx400
(sorry no digital camera...)rolleistef
Well-known
as promised
as promised
As promised, Henri Cartier-Bresson's 1931 Leica Standard. I'm sorry the photo is so bad but :
It was taken in difficult conditions (slow 1/15th, f2) at a short distance.
It is directly scanned on the neg and my scanner is not very suitable for that kind of operations...
Now would you be kind enough to offer me one for Xmas?
as promised
As promised, Henri Cartier-Bresson's 1931 Leica Standard. I'm sorry the photo is so bad but :
It was taken in difficult conditions (slow 1/15th, f2) at a short distance.
It is directly scanned on the neg and my scanner is not very suitable for that kind of operations...
Now would you be kind enough to offer me one for Xmas?
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reagan
hey, they're only Zorkis
cool. Looks like it's ready to go.rolleistef said:
erikhaugsby
killer of threads
d'ya think that he used that NRC behind the camera much?
