Sieff's style-of-work - tripod?

[KenD]

Hi Tom,

You knew Jeanloup Sieff during your Paris days. He has said that he worked very slowly - he tells of a model once falling asleep while he got ready. Do you happen to know if he used a tripod in fashion/ portrait/ nude work? If he did, infrequently<--> a lot?

KenD

 

[Tom A]

Funny enough, we rarely discussed shooting style when we met. We muttered about the high cost of living in Paris, extolled virtues over various exotic cars (he was a confirmed car nut) and drank coffee!
He was very precise in his style of working, I know that. Carefully metered and processed stuff - you don't get his quality of black/white by being sloppy.
As a lot of his stuff was studio and also set up locations, he used tripods and lights. To what extent his studio work was strictly tripod I don't know, but was working with larger format's than 35 for commercial work.
The Leica's was his walk about cameras too. Never saw him without his M4 and usually a Super Angulon 21f3.4 or the 28 f2.8 ( first version none the less).
Tom

 

[tedwhite]

Tom, are there any of his Leica photographs available for a look-see?

 

[Tom A]

Ted, there are several books of his out there, including a massive 40 year retrospective "Jean Loup Sieff" which has a lot of his 35mm work (he used Leica and Nikon SLR's). There is also a bit of a rarety - his book on Death Valley, mainly shot with Leica. The big retrospective is not that difficult to find, check with Amazon.com. My copy is the french version, but i know that there is an english version published too.
He was also a very good writer, quite funny and though a master printer and craftsman, he did not seem to take himself too seriously. He was once asked why he shot most of his nudes from the back "Oh, I am a bit shy!"

 

[horosu]

His webpage is here http://www.jeanloupsieff.com/

Fabulous site!

Horea

 

[J. Borger]

I saw al lot of his prints at a large exhibition about him and was amazed by what can be achieved with 35mm ... also in the field of landscapes. His prints wee among the most beautiful i ever saw ... a true master!
The 40 years retrospective is a must have for everybody who loves the leica.
Dirt cheap too ..... (around 20 Euro)!

 

[tedwhite]

Thanks for the link, Tom. A truly amazing site. His Death Valley images in "Landscapes" with a Leica are remarkable. Well, and so are all of the categories.

 

[chris000]

Ted, there are several books of his out there, including a massive 40 year retrospective "Jean Loup Sieff" which has a lot of his 35mm work (he used Leica and Nikon SLR's). There is also a bit of a rarety - his book on Death Valley, mainly shot with Leica. The big retrospective is not that difficult to find, check with Amazon.com. My copy is the french version, but i know that there is an english version published too.

I have a version of the retrospective published by Taschen in 2005, where the text is in English but repeated in both French and German

ISBN 3-8228-4439-x

Brilliant collection of photos.