W. Eugene Smith - any idea what cameras he used?

[Benjamin]

What an interesting read. Thank you Bill.

 

[Roger Hicks]

yeah, but she's cute!

She is?

Cheers,

R.

 

[KenR]

While I can't comment on Ms. Beckham's photographic abilities, she and I have a lot in common - we both leave the lens cap on!

 

[Bike Tourist]

This thread is so old, I don't know if anyone's reading it anymore. I found it because Gene Smith is on my mind having just seen the fantastic "Jazz Loft Project" exhibition in New York.

I believe it is possible to look at W. Eugene Smith's entire archive at the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, AZ, if you contact them in advance and make an appointment.

Bakersfield is not (obviously) New York and so I haven't seen this, but I did enjoy an NPR series on the "Jazz Loft Project" recently. They aired a lot of audio Gene Smith had taped, Monk and many other jazz greats of the era, who hung out there. Apparently, Gene taped constantly, no matter what was going on.

 

[aoresteen]

..... Jim Hughes was one of the first to publish any of the Minimata pictures. I don't remember if it was in Popular Photography or Camera 35. ......

I'm pretty sure it was Camera 35 as I think I have a copy in storage. I'll look when I get back to the USA.

 

[rlouzan]

I recall the late Howard Chapnick telling us, one day, at Black Star that one of Smith´s most famous WW II pictures was actually a cropped MF photograph.

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FS: Hand Made Leather Camera wrist Straps
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/phot...ate/1248809875
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[CameraQuest]

 

[swhiser]

Hard to improve upon burninfilm's synopsis above. But just having finished Jim Hughes excellent bio of WES (WHICH IS A MUST-READ!) , I picked up some interesting insights.

WES was shooting Leica IIIf's and IIIc's in Pittsburgh. When his car was broken into and a bunch of prints and cameras were stolen, he immediately went and bought an M3. But the cameras were reclaimed when they found one and developed the film to find images of the perps, which the cops helped them track down and get the cameras out of hock (for like $40).

Also, he seemed to like the Ikoflex and had a couple of them in the Pacific along with his Speed Graphic on the <em>Bunker Hill</em>. You'll see the final image that was salvaged from the camera that was blown out of his hands on Okinawa; it's a square, so I deduce may be from his Ikoflex. Perhaps there's some actual knowledge of this somewhere? The nature of his wounds -- a couple fingers (left hand) badly wrecked and a second mouth back by the hinge of his left jaw -- are consistent in my mind with what a piece of shrapnel would do if one were peering down into the finder of a 2 1/4 TLR.

We also learn from Jim Hughes that WES received a lot of support from Minolta in the 1970's in Japan (so he and Aileen probably had Minoltas in Minimata) and that he was shooting a Pentax SLR (Spotmatic?) and very much enjoyed the WYSIWYG nature of the viewfinder.

One last item, people apparently have inquired as to how the Jazz Loft images were so decent when the light was so bad, and you hear on some youtube archival footage someone imply that he used a monopod (probably with a Lieca) there. (Makes a lot of sense 'cause that's what I would do in that situation ;-)

It's interesting. Cameras are not particularly important; not more important than LIGHT, or VISION certainly -- but it helps the comprehension of WES' attitude and his facility.

 

[aoresteen]

WGS in an article (Camera 35?) stated that he would load two rolls of film on a single 35mm SS reel so he could develope twice as much film in a tank. Sounded resonable so I tried it. The results were a disaster! I had kisses all over my film. My respect for Gene's ability in the darkroom went up by about a factor of 50 times. He truely was an artist & a craftsman in the darkroom.

 

[mdarnton]

Did you load it back-to-back?

 

[aoresteen]

Well, I'm a bit late answering here.......

mdarnton,

Yes I loaded them back-to-back. It was very hard to do. I never tried it again.

 

[x-ray]

WGS in an article (Camera 35?) stated that he would load two rolls of film on a single 35mm SS reel so he could develope twice as much film in a tank. Sounded resonable so I tried it. The results were a disaster! I had kisses all over my film. My respect for Gene's ability in the darkroom went up by about a factor of 50 times. He truely was an artist & a craftsman in the darkroom.

You just don’t have the touch. It works quite well.

 

[Mos6502]

I would think loading two rolls onto a single reel would risk exhausting the chems if we're talking about using the old single reel Nikor developing tanks, there's not a whole lot of liquid in there in the first place.

 

[Nokton48]

He used an 8x10 Sinar Norma to photograph the Steel Mills.

18x24 8x10 Norma 300 Symmar Norma Auto Iris by Nokton48, on Flickr

Here's one of mine.

 

[CameraQuest]

Yes, WGS shot with most everything he got his hands on, including a chrome Leica M2 with a 40/2 Rokkor.

 

[Freakscene]

Well, I'm a bit late answering here.......

mdarnton,

Yes I loaded them back-to-back. It was very hard to do. I never tried it again.

This is just perfect. And I love the understatement of ‘a bit late’ 😂

The main problem with doing this with modern film is that the antistatic and antihalation coatings on the reverse side of the film, which didn’t exist in Smith’s day, don’t get removed in processing. I used to load reels like this in the 1990s but they almost always needed an individual dip in fix and an wash to get them anything other than terribly marbled.

 

[Halftrack]

At one point in the 1950s, according to a magazine interview, W. Eugene Smith carried *nine* 35mm rangefinder cameras on assignments. He arranged these cameras in three "sets". Each set had one camera with a wide-angle lens (usually 35mm), one camera with a normal lens (50mm), and one camera with a telephoto lens (85mm or 90mm). This arrangement enabled him to switch focal lengths without changing lenses.

In addition, he loaded one set with slow-speed film, one set with medium-speed film, and one set with fast film (often pushed). This arrangement enabled him to switch film speeds without changing films.

Smith said his nine cameras were Canon rangefinders or Leicas with Canon lenses.

Today, his nine-camera outfit could be replaced with one digital camera mounting a 35-90mm zoom lens. Variable ISOs would replace the three different film speeds. It would also enable shooting in color and b&w simultaneously.

 

[Beemermark]

I think he used a Retina IIA. Seriously what did it mater what camera he used? His pictures told a compelling story. Might of used Kodak Brownie. His photographs were about the subject and not what a camera he used.

 

[kkdanamatt]

At one point in the 1950s, according to a magazine interview, W. Eugene Smith carried *nine* 35mm rangefinder cameras on assignments. He arranged these cameras in three "sets". Each set had one camera with a wide-angle lens (usually 35mm), one camera with a normal lens (50mm), and one camera with a telephoto lens (85mm or 90mm). This arrangement enabled him to switch focal lengths without changing lenses.

In addition, he loaded one set with slow-speed film, one set with medium-speed film, and one set with fast film (often pushed). This arrangement enabled him to switch film speeds without changing films.

Smith said his nine cameras were Canon rangefinders or Leicas with Canon lenses.

Today, his nine-camera outfit could be replaced with one digital camera mounting a 35-90mm zoom lens. Variable ISOs would replace the three different film speeds. It would also enable shooting in color and b&w simultaneously.

I saw a photo of W.E. Smith using a Contax llA, so apparently, he favored rangefinder cameras, but he did shoot with almost anything that was available.