Mapplethorpe - technical data?

[chris91387]

after many years of sitting on a shelf, i've recently perused a couple mapplethorpe books and was really wondering what gear he used for much of his work? content not being the focus here, but he really achieved some beautiful work. his b&w portraits, "vegetable studies" and flowers are lovely.

anyone know if he shot medium or large format? did he do his own darkroom work? anyone know any details about his b&w workflow?

if you're not familiar with his work you might want to look him up. and oh yeah, you might not want to do a big internet search with coworkers around. consider some of his images NSFW.

 

[Al Kaplan]

So post some links!

 

[chris91387]

So post some links!

lol.

ok, enter at your own risk:
http://www.mapplethorpe.org/

 

[dof]

With the exception of his body of Polaroid work, Mapplethorpe shot primarily with a Hasselblad. He was interested in shooting, but wanted little to do with printing. It's been reported that he was intimidated by the more technical aspects of his craft.

Tom Baril worked for him as a printer for many years and is responsible for much of what we now know as Mapplethorpe's canon. As I recall from the Patricia Bosworth biography, he always used semi-gloss paper for images of the fair-skinned and matte paper for the portraits of dark-skinned subjects.


-J.

 

[Roger Vadim]

As I recall from the Patricia Bosworth biography, he always used semi-gloss paper for images of the fair-skinned and matte paper for the portraits of dark-skinned subjects.


-J.

Recently I had two vintage (i.e. original) prints in my hands, unframed, unmatted, and they where 16x20 baryta prints, air-dried, so the finish had a baryta semi-matte look.

both of these where self-portraits, and beautyfully executed, but not extremly overdone: the stuff you expect how a good printer handles a good hasselblad/ 6x6 neg..
In the beginning he also shot 35mm, there are some portraits of Patty Smith in 135. but as I recall the story, with the square and the hasselblad he found his tool - and he became a true master of the square.

 

[leighmarrin]

I read the Bosworth biography of Mapplethorpe a few years ago, and got the impression he was not very technically inclined, despite his many excellent photos.

As I recall from the book Mapplethorpe's father was an amateur photographer, and his father was very surprised to find out his famous photographer son did not even understand the concept of depth-of-field as controlled via aperture. Mapplethorpe had been told to always use f11 as it was supposed to be the sharpest f-stop on his lenses, so he only adjusted the shutter speeds.

He was supposed to be very incompetent in darkroom work, and was fortunate to have an excellent printer working for him. Bosworth's book accounts how both Mapplethorpe and his printer hated each other, and only communicated with notes. His printer often refered to his boss as a "fag" and hated his hedonistic all-night lifestyle, so the printer worked days and Mapplethorpe's photos were produced late at night & the two very different men rarely would have to meet face-to-face.

Mapplethorpe also comes across as being someone creepy personally: he continued to have unprotected sex long after he knew he had AIDS and also had a racist contempt for his black models.

So after reading Bosworth's biography about a flakey, druggy guy who routinely stayed up all night "cruising" the gay sex clubs and who often could not be organized enough to pay his phone bill without the help of a "sugar daddy", it is a little surprising to me that Mapplethrope left behind such a large portolio of excellent photos.

 

[MickH]

I have always found Mapplethorpe's photographs really well executed but lacking in any kind of soul. Everything is in the right place, perfectly exposed, but as cold as a dead cod.

 

[Keith]

Years ago I went to a Mapplethorpe exhibition in Sydney ... it had been banned in Queensland where I live and New South Wales had a much more open attitude so it was shown without problems. I was holidaying with friends in Sydney who dragged me along to the exhibition and although I had no real interest in photography at the time I was truly stunned by what I saw. That was probably at least twenty years ago but the event is still vividly fresh in my mind ... yes I was impressed!

The body of work confronting the viewer was mind boggling in it's diversity and although a lot of people associate Mapplethorpe with his somewhat 'hard core' images and probably are a little confronted by them ... I personally found so much more to admire!

 

[35mmdelux]

Hasselblad? Also shot 8x10.

 

[mh2000]

I think there is something to be said with shooting at f11 and being "there" ... all these "dreamy" wide open shots people love to show off in lens forums... neat and all, but...