Sad News--Roger Hicks

[JohnTF]

Godspeed, Old Friend-- going back to Compuserve Photo Forum and writings, books and tried to not miss any articles, first pages read.

Am so sorry I could not honor the open invitation, though other photo colleagues have proudly made some images with and of Roger-- I kept an image of Roger and Frances in sort of some version of "A Year in Provence"

Am sure it would have been a mix of photography, wine, and food.

Thanks for the kind words, support, and sound advice--

You are missed.

J

 

[Tompas]

Very bad news.

I liked Roger's postings very much, and he is one of the not-so-many people I would like to meet in person -- I always thought maybe one day in Arles.

I wish Roger a clear head and no pain until the end. And a lot of strength to Frances and everyone near him.

Godspeed!

 

[Doug]

It is with great regret that I have to post here that it has been reported that Roger died on Monday 8th. April.
There are threads on the Amateur Photographer web site.

D.Lox.

This is an email today from Frances to the RFF mailbox:

"This is a message from Frances Schultz:

"Sadly Roger Hicks died on April 7. I know that some members of RFF knew.

"The problem is I have never used the forum and when I tried, I could not work out how to send a message. I'm sorry.

"Best wishes to all of you.

"Frances"

 

[Jumillar]

Final Analysis

Final Analysis

I'm fairly new to RFF and because of this I have only belatedly started reading Roger's many postings here and learnt of his his sad passing.
Many years ago I was an avid reader of Amateur Photographer and Roger's back page column "Final Analysis" (if I remember correctly), was always the first page I turned to. It was inspirational, philosophical and humorous. At the same time it installed a love of Leica cameras which has remained with me, but were regretably beyond my means at the time.
R.I.P Roger

 

[Archiver]

Hello Frances, I hope you are reading this. Roger was dearly loved here on RFF, as you can see from all the people who have commented. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

 

[stevierose]

Has anyone heard any news of Frances. In emails before he died Roger told me that she was battling breast cancer. I hope she has had a good outcome from her treatments and is recovering well.

 

[Michael Markey]

Has anyone heard any news of Frances. In emails before he died Roger told me that she was battling breast cancer. I hope she has had a good outcome from her treatments and is recovering well.

I often wonder how she is .
Maybe she moved back to the States .
I don`t know whether she still had family there .

 

[charjohncarter]

You might try to email her at: webmeister@rogerandfrances.com

 

[Trask]

I have a box of clippings of photographic information that I’ve gathered over the years as reference material, prominently among these are Shutterbug articles by Roger and Frances that helped me greatly. Thank you, Roger, and you, Frances, for all you’ve done to promote photography by sharing your wisdom and experience. Don’t doubt that many people, myself included, care for you and wish you well. My thoughts are with you both.

 

[kshapero]

One the great and main influence on me to shoot with film rangefinders.

 

[charjohncarter]

I have a box of clippings of photographic information that I’ve gathered over the years as reference material, prominently among these are Shutterbug articles by Roger and Frances that helped me greatly. Thank you, Roger, and you, Frances, for all you’ve done to promote photography by sharing your wisdom and experience. Don’t doubt that many people, myself included, care for you and wish you well. My thoughts are with you both.

I still read his book 'Perfect Exposure' I may read it today as I'm in 'lock down.' Here is his explanation of Ansel Adams' exposure thought train for 'Moonrise.' I copied it from his book, and I'm not a crackerjack secretary:

Moonrise

Ansel Adams had mislaid his exposure meter, so he based his exposure on his recollection that the brightness of the moon at that elevation was 250 candles per sq. foot, from which he made a quick calculation and the exposure. The quick calculation in question was that the correct shutter speed in seconds to expose a given luminance on Zone V (the 18% grey mid-tone) is the reciprocal of the luminance expressed in candles per square foot at the key stop for a given film speed.

The key stop is the square root of the ASA or ISO film speed. With the ASA 64 film, the key stop is the square root of 64 or f/8, and the exposure is therefore 1/250 second if you want the moon on Zone V. This translates to 1/125 at f/11m 1/30 second at f/22 and 1/15 second at f/
32.

But all that was needed was for the moon to read without burning out to a featureless white, so it was quite safe to give 2 stops more exposure than this: in other words, ¼ at f/32. Finally, figure in the 3x green filter, and you have just over 1 second f/32; and 1 second at f/32 was the exposure given.

An entirely, separate way to come to very much the same conclusion is via the ‘sunny f/16 rule’. The moon is illuminated by the sun: at ASA 64, the correct exposure is therefore about 1/60 second (1/ASA) at f/16 or 1/30 at f/22. This is the same figure as Ansel Adams arrived at with his convoluted calculations, and you now make the allowances for over-exposing the moon while retaining texture -2 stops and finally 3x for the filter.

From Roger Hicks

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I still read his book 'Perfect Exposure' I may read it today as I'm in 'lock down.' Here is his explanation of Ansel Adams' exposure thought train for 'Moonrise.' I copied it from his book, and I'm not a crackerjack secretary:

Moonrise

Ansel Adams had mislaid his exposure meter, so he based his exposure on his recollection that the brightness of the moon at that elevation was 250 candles per sq. foot, from which he made a quick calculation and the exposure. The quick calculation in question was that the correct shutter speed in seconds to expose a given luminance on Zone V (the 18% grey mid-tone) is the reciprocal of the luminance expressed in candles per square foot at the key stop for a given film speed.

The key stop is the square root of the ASA or ISO film speed. With the ASA 64 film, the key stop is the square root of 64 or f/8, and the exposure is therefore 1/250 second if you want the moon on Zone V. This translates to 1/125 at f/11m 1/30 second at f/22 and 1/15 second at f/
32.

But all that was needed was for the moon to read without burning out to a featureless white, so it was quite safe to give 2 stops more exposure than this: in other words, ¼ at f/32. Finally, figure in the 3x green filter, and you have just over 1 second f/32; and 1 second at f/32 was the exposure given.

An entirely, separate way to come to very much the same conclusion is via the ‘sunny f/16 rule’. The moon is illuminated by the sun: at ASA 64, the correct exposure is therefore about 1/60 second (1/ASA) at f/16 or 1/30 at f/22. This is the same figure as Ansel Adams arrived at with his convoluted calculations, and you now make the allowances for over-exposing the moon while retaining texture -2 stops and finally 3x for the filter.

From Roger Hicks

And the negative was still seriously underexposed. Adams later used Chromium Intensifier on the foreground and even with that it required a lot of dodging and burning to make the print look good.

 

[Mackinaw]

Has anyone heard any news of Frances. In emails before he died Roger told me that she was battling breast cancer. I hope she has had a good outcome from her treatments and is recovering well.

I just saw this on Photrio:

"Frances Schultz, is living alone in a big ancient house in the middle of France that she and Roger moved to years ago, and if you're so inclined to send her your good wishes or remembrances of Roger, I think it would be really great.

Her email address is already pretty public: roger.hicks@wanadoo.fr

(Please be mindful of the fact that Frances has a condition that causes her to tremble violently and therefore has trouble writing long emails .. therefore, a short message to her that doesn't necessarily require a response would be ideal!)"

 

[dee]

Roger always encouraged my weird posts back in the day , I will miss his common sense simplicity .
dee

 

[jarski]

can someone remember what was the yearly photo event Roger went (somewhere in France), and invited people from here too? I'd like to go there some day.

 

[raydm6]

can someone remember what was the yearly photo event Roger went (somewhere in France), and invited people from here too? I'd like to go there some day.

I believe:
https://www.rencontres-arles.com/en

 

[jarski]

yes thanks. that was fast 🙂 (link)

 

[robert blu]

I met a few times Roger and Frances in Arles, during thre rencontres.

Last time was two years ago when Frances showed me adn my wife her photos hand painted. Really an art work.

Unfortunately because of a sad unexpected family reason I had to leave and go back to Italy without saying goodbye to them.

Beside Roger's photographic knowledge it was a pleasure to spend some time chatting together.

 

[CLAdictic]

I know that this is an old post, one year +, but I just found it and am saddened to read of Roger’s passing and likewise Florence’s condition. I can remember years ago when I was first wetting my toe in the world of photography. I found one of their books and then an article in Shutterbug. I was hooked by the insight and the thoughtfulness in their writings. Roger helped me, through his books, to make me into a photographer. Thanks.

 

[Bolo Kukus]

Has anyone here followed up on Frances recently? She was as much a creator of the wonderful archive of photo books she and Roger produced from the 1980s onwards - their meeting in the USA (in, IIRC, 1981 or 1982) was a true meeting of the minds as well as a love match, and the prolific results of their union and their united talents in photography and art will remain with us for a long time.

The last news of her I remember reading was some months ago, she was still living in their home in France but somewhat limited in her ability to use email and internet. I hope she is well.

I will be checking to see if their photo web site is still online, and if yes, I will drop her a cheery email card to say hello. Others can do the same, and we should.

Our mentors must not be forgotten...