Picture Post, a humble tribute

[Peter Roberts]

Prompted by Bill's comments to my 'Accidental irony' post I thought of sharing this little effort that I put together years ago.

Picture Post was a weekly pictorial magazine that ran in the UK from 1938 to 1957. It was ground breaking in as much as it consisted of true photojournalism rather than merely using a few photographs to illustrate a story. The covers usually featured an eye-catching image especially chosen, perhaps even taken, with regard to the need to accommodate the Picture Post title banner in the top left corner.



Sorting through old negatives with a newly acquired scanner I came across this photo of my son coming down a vintage helter skelter in about 1990. It struck me that it had all the elements of a Picture Post cover.



A little bit of playing with simple tools (Picassa and the photo editor that came with the scanner) and I came up with this.



Crude and simplistic by today's standards but it served its purpose as a family joke, and still does.

 

[Gary R. Smith]

I have a copy of the Taschen bound version of Stieglitz's collected "Camera Work. "Camera Work" was published here between 1903 and 1917.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

I truly enjoy this game. It’s clear that this forum includes individuals like you all, with photographic archives full of remarkable surprises. Truly interesting and enjoyable!

 

[Bill Brown]

Love it! I think this is one of the fun aspects of photography in that it can inspire fun and crazy projects. This get's me to thinking about another real and imagined series I created from the 1970's. Hmmm, where are those prints?

 

[Bill Brown]

I dug out my 1979 photos from the 1960's to 2000's bin. There are four total but only had time right now to scan and work up these two. These prints were probably made in 1980. They were Type R prints. This was prints made directly from transparencies. As you can see they are showing their age.

In 1979 I did an 8000 mile tour across the western U.S. and up to Canada. This trip is still one of my lifetime high points. When I returned home and saw my photos I was inspired to create a set of concept ads for Yamaha. I never did anything with these photos and this is the first time I've ever shown them.

I am a retoucher as most of you know and before PS all the work was rendered directly on the photo using paint and a brush or airbrush. I used both on these. They are concepts or mockups so they are not perfectly rendered. Kind of like a quick sketch in a sense so someone can get the idea. Pretty much a lost art in this day and time.



The night image was shot using my campfire for illumination and strictly guessing about exposure. I was happy with the result. The second concept photo was shot on Highway 89 headed north to Page, Arizona from the Grand Canyon. Thanks Peter for your inspiration so I could remember these.

 

[Peter Roberts]

I have a copy of the Taschen bound version of Stieglitz's collected "Camera Work. "Camera Work" was published here between 1903 and 1917.

Stieglitz. Now there's a name to conjure with. I shoot both digital and analogue but whenever I see the work of such pioneering masters it has me reaching for a roll of film and something to put it in.

 

[Peter Roberts]

I truly enjoy this game. It’s clear that this forum includes individuals like you all, with photographic archives full of remarkable surprises. Truly interesting and enjoyable!

Thanks Gianluca. I like the way the members of this forum are able to bounce ideas off each other. It's a great place to be.

 

[Peter Roberts]

I dug out my 1979 photos from the 1960's to 2000's bin........

Great work Bill. I'm really impressed by results you achieved there.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

As you can see they are showing their age

They show their age, but this is their flaw and at the same time their merit.