Marion Ettlinger

Wonderful images and a wonderful read! Thank you for the link.
 
She has great control over the tones in her photographs -- rich blacks, no hair highlights blown out. She says she uses an old Pentax, so presumably 35mm -- a Spotmatic, maybe -- and somehow she has minimal if any grain visible. I have to note that in some senses her photographs look a little "digital" to me, with the kind of steely/silverish tonality that used me more commonly seen in photos made by early digital cameras. But if she's still using that Pentax, what we're seeing must be the result of how she prints. In any case, technical aspects aside, she has made some very perceptive portraits.
 
Not to get too much into a gear discussion, but those pictures just seem too full of detail to be 35mm (though Pentax lenses for 35mm are top notch). I am wondering whether she uses a Pentax 67 -- they have been around a long time.
 
Or, possibly, a 645. Excellent cameras with superb lenses.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, she said she used her boyfriend's Pentax when in college and she continues to use the same model. Since the 645 didn't come out until the late 1980's, it had to have been a Spotmatic or 67. Most likely a Spotmatic since they were plentiful at the time.

(Incidentally, a borrowed Spotmatic was the first adjustable camera I ever used--we have something in common, Ettlinger and I.)
 
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