Leica LTM HCB's Leica

[Graybeard]

I had the opportunity to see some prints made directly from HCB negatives when I visited a gallery in Sante Fe this Fall (also had a number of Ansel Adams prints).

The HCB prints were slightly larger than 10" x12" and had an asking price of several thousand dollars apiece. They were HCB work, so, of course the composition and timing were superb. They were, however, best viewed at a distance of 3 to 4 feet. Being relatively large enlargements from 1940's technology film and process chemistry, the grain was easily apparent and there was a "chalk and charcoal" aspect to the print contrast. It was an illustration of when to stand back and appreciate the story the photographer was telling rather than dissecting thed emulsion structure with a magnifying glass.

 

[thomasw_]

Stephane: thanks for posting the snap.

Ted: Fort Langley sits on the south-western region of BC near Vancouver, a few miles east of the coastline along the south side of the Fraser River. It was the original capital of BC in 1858.

 

[tedwhite]

Thanks Thomas, found it on my map.

ATON: I can see the thumbnail pics just fine but can't see the file attachments at all. When I click on one it comes up blank and in the lower left hand corner it says "done."

Shucks.

 

[Harry Lime]

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.

Actually 35mm negs found early acceptance by European magazines. It wasn't until well into WWII that US magazines like LIFE started to use the smaller format. In some ways they were forced to accept 135, because shooting a 4x5 under fire was rather ridiculous and most shooters told their editor to go peel an eel. At a very minimum US magazines wanted 120 roll film (i.e.Rolleiflex etc)

European magazines, German in particular, drove the development of the fast moving reportage style pioneered by Capa, HCB etc. that the Leica and Contax lent itself to.

 

[aad]

They're huge.

The third picture of HCB was taken by a Rolleiflex, I believe.

 

[raid]

Ste'phane: Thanks for your thread and for the description of your emotions.
The masters went with simple set-ups, and this has always inspired me to work with older lenses and cameras and focus on my own photography and not equipment. It is a humbling experience, isn't it.

I switched my beautiful Canon VI-L for a simple Standard Leica and then I got an old 50/3.5 Elmar for it. Your thread removes any of the remaining doubts I had about the switch I made.

Raid

 

[rolleistef]

Great, Raid! You'll certainly have load of fun with your standard, using scale focusing and framing with a quite archaic vf... Let's start a new non-RFF!

 

[lubitel]

"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.

It sounds like what he really needed was a P&S camera 😉 but he must have been a gearhead at least a little bit, because as far as I know he stayed loyal to leica throughout his life. Come on folks, who owns leica and can claim that its only, ONLY a tool? 😀

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

I have a book of photographs of HCB ('Faceless') of him sitting holding a Leica Minilux and looking very interested in it.

 

[lubitel]

I have a book of photographs of HCB ('Faceless') of him sitting holding a Leica Minilux and looking very interested in it.

Okay, but its still a leica! 🙂 not canon or nikon or something else. I am telling you this guy was a gearhead just like all of us 😀 we have nothing to feel bad about when lusting for more gear.

 

[rolleistef]

yeah after all he had all the camera we've been dreaming of : a standard, a III, IIIc, IIIf, M3, M4, M6 etc...

 

[xayraa33]

there is a book by Beaumont Newhall that has a small photograph in it, of HCB using a bottomloader Canon.

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

HCB was both a great photographer and a gearhead. He surely could have taken the same photos with a Nikon or Canon, but he preferred a Leica throughout his career, and ran through the models. Nothing wrong with being both, or either for that matter, as long as you enjoy it.

 

[Will]

I have a book of photographs of HCB ('Faceless') of him sitting holding a Leica Minilux and looking very interested in it.

Minilux on the table and HCB looking away (reader's right)..?

He love his toys as much as anyone else.... LOL

 

[Beniliam]

Recently, I discover this image taking by HCB in Italy.

Its new almost for me.

I think that can describe very well who is HCB and how he feel the photography.



Moreover, I think that photography is daughter of the Technique (or Technology) and the 35 mm RF cameras were one moment of the history the most advanced cameras, like today DSLR. Because of we dont have to never forget that HCB and his journalist friends use the ´better´ cams of their time.

 

[peter_n]

That's a wonderful picture David, I don't think I've seen it before either. Thanks for posting!

 

[tedwhite]

Never saw it before, either. And the woman walking is a neat touch.

 

[dostacos]

as to the question wrist srtap or neck strap the color shot seems that he wrapped the neck strap into a figure eight around his wrist 😀

 

[tedwhite]

Although not available at the time, HCB might have taken a liking to Gordy's Wrist Strap?

 

[aton]

The first Leica of HCB at the Fondation HCB in Paris