The 50mm HCB myth?

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Nh3

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Look closly at this video (click on the image). HCB is carrying three cameras. I assume that like all serious photojournalist of that period his carrying a wide, normal and a long lens. You cannot judge from the video which lenses or bodies his using but I would be totally surprised if he carried three 50mm lenses at the same time.

 
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It is sorta well known fact that HCB used wide and long lenses occasionally. It's just that vast majority of his work was shot with a 50.
 
Wow, I have never seen him actually taking photos before. He was more dapper than I even imagined. Anymore video lurking out there?

I also agree that it would be strange that all he had there was a 50mm.
 
I'm going to start walking around with three cameras with 50's but loaded with three different films just to add mystery to my own legacy lol.

Oh, and I'll make sure I'm dressed for a wedding before letting anyone take MY picture :)
 
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I've been looking at his photos for my whole adult life, and I'm quite sure that he used both wide & long lenses on occaision. But all his really good pictures were made with the 50mm. I think it was usually a Zeiss Sonnar 1.5. Remember that Beaumont Newhall shot his famous out of focus portrait of HCB with HCB's own 90 mm lens. I think anytime you see a picture shot at close range and you see the subjects feet, it's a 35mm.
Vic
 
The majority of photos shot before the advent of the SLR were probably shot with a "normal" focal length.
Items like telephotos were regarded very much as special-use optics. If you study photo magazines and annuals from the '40s and '50s (as I did one summer when I was supposed to be working for the county library) you'll find that normals dominated. Even 35s were regarded with a little suspicion and there simply weren't that many good wide lenses generally available.
HCB, like other shooters, used what was available and appropriate at the time. I don't remember anything in his writings or interviews that committed him to a one-lens or a 50mm philosophy.
 
pachuco said:
He was more dapper than I even imagined.
Click to expand...

This would be the era before backwards baseball caps, jeans and t-shirts. Men used to wear jackets and ties, women had dresses, hats and gloves when they were out of the neighborhood. Note the other people in the photos.
 
Beaumont Mewhall

Beaumont Mewhall

Vics said:
I've been looking at his photos for my whole adult life, and I'm quite sure that he used both wide & long lenses on occaision. But all his really good pictures were made with the 50mm. I think it was usually a Zeiss Sonnar 1.5. Remember that Beaumont Newhall shot his famous out of focus portrait of HCB with HCB's own 90 mm lens. I think anytime you see a picture shot at close range and you see the subjects feet, it's a 35mm.
Vic
Click to expand...

Hi all, years ago I picked up some hints that this shot in the MOMA Catalogue was taken with a Summarex! But I can`t give evidence or documentation now, it has stayed fixed in my memory all the time since!
best regards Wolfhard
 
It is entirely possible that the man did all or most of his work with a "normal" lens. Many photographers used only fixed lens cameras like the Rolleiflex.
 
"Floats like a butterfly ... stings like a bee!" ... neat footwork! :p
 
Yes, HCB himself actually claimed that much of his work was with 50mm, and he despised anything but the full negative in print. As far as being dapper and looking like he was dressed too formally, you should know that as early as 3 decades ago people actually dressed appropriately. HCB was dressed normally for the time & place (in the original post)...not all flip flops, ball caps, jeans falling off, exposed navel's, etc.,

I'm not that old (30's), but I love looking at old family albums, movies, etc., -- seeing women walking down the street with high heals, matching hand bags, smart dresses & gloved hands. Men wore 3 piece suits with watch & fobs, and hats...to go to the post office, or grocery store...not just for formal occasions like weddings, or work...I wish JFK never took off his hat!

I absolutely cringe when I see adults wearing flip flops off the beach or outside of the locker room, or men—young or otherwise "expressing" themselves with baggy jeans, ridiculously hanging off their arses. When did this become acceptable?
 
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