Paul Strand

[Rob MacKillop]

Today I discovered and became an instant fan of the work of the American photographer, Paul Strand. I guess he is a household name in many of your households, but his name is new to me (so much to discover!) but I do recognise two or three of his pictures.

Anyway, in a charity shop I found a book called "Paul Strand" in the Masters Of Photography series, published by Aperture. There is an introductory essay by the curator of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and then 90 pages, half of them showing one photo per page. I must say the quality of the paper and reproduction is extremely high - I enjoyed just letting my fingertips slide over the pages. Books of this quality would cost a lot these days, but this book was £4 - about seven dollars.

What strikes me most about the images is how beautifully exposed they are, some of the most technically perfect film images I've seen. I instantly wanted to throw all my cameras in the bin! And the imagery is superb - some can be found here: http://lumieregallery.net/wp/197/paul-strand/ - but without the quality of the paper book.

If you don't know his work, please do yourself a favour and check it out...

 

[Glenn Clabo]

Thank you for the reminder Rob. If you can find it his "Time in New England " has some wonderful photography and words about New England. I think is dates back to the early 50/60's. I need to dig it up.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

He also made it to the west coast of Scotland...

 

[Brian Moore]

There is a documentary--I have the DVD--about Strand. The DVD also contains his motion picture film documentary "Manhatta," which itself is fascinating. Good find indeed, Rob! Nay,...GREAT find!

 

[Rob MacKillop]

@Brian Moore @Glenn Clabo @Pete Askew and anyone else Does anyone know what equipment he used?

 

[Glenn Clabo]

@Brian Moore @Glenn Clabo @Pete Askew and anyone else Does anyone know what equipment he used?

I think he shifted to a roll film as he got older...but I found this

 

[Rob MacKillop]

...lder?

Ah, that figures...

 

[Pete Askew]

I think most of his work was shot using large format cameras, 5"x7" and 10"x8" but which ones I have no idea.

 

[Pete Askew]

Ah, there you go.

 

[Paul Lange]

Great find Rob, I never heard of Paul Strand or had seen any of his photographs (that I know of) before you posted this. I also done a Google image search and quite a lot of his work came up as well.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Cheers, Paul. Worth a look, for sure.

 

[Glenn Clabo]

Found another Quote from a blogger named Mike... " As might be expected he started off shooting glass plates; his cameras included an 8x10 Korona view camera and a 4x5 or 5x7 Graphflex. There is a claim there that Strand ultimately did some work with 35mm, but I have not seen confirmation of that and am doubtful he could have brought himself down to that format outside of his motion picture work. A posting on Photo.net reports the existence of a video showing Strand using a Mamiya 330 twin-lens reflex in his later years in France."

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Hey, I also have a Mamiya C330S. Here's a link to a SET on Flickr:

http://500px.com/RobMacKillop/sets/mamiya_c330s

Other than that, there is no connection between us, sadly. He was clearly a master of exposure and development, not to mention composition. I really wish I could develop my own shots, but sadly, as some of you know, I am allergic to the chemicals. I send my film to a guy who specialises in B&W development, and he does a decent job, but it's not the same as doing it yourself, and also expensive...

 

[Chris Dodkin]

nice find Rob