This opening paragraph should validate my opinions and background as it relates to this month’s Story. This past October marked 40 years I have been involved seriously with pro level photography. In 1981 I joined the Connecticut Professional Photography Association and quickly learned as much about what I did not want to do with my time in photography as I did going forward. Those formative years would yield the closest friends I have to date. Just two weeks ago my wife and I spent 5 days at a retired photography business owner’s home in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. There would be a gallery opening on Friday for my friend Tim Jones in Bethlehem, NH. We were joined by my mentor Jack Holowitz for the weekend along with  the photographer who made this month’s image. We all trace our roots to 40 years ago and those New England photography associations. In that span of time I have come to understand there are dozens of photography genres and specialties. In my own genre of photography I have been fortunate to meet, and sometimes call friends with the most famous in the Black & White field alive today. I’ve even spent a weekend at the home of Edward Weston, now owned by grandson Kim. The senior Weston along with Ansel Adams are considered to be the forefathers of creative landscape photography ! So, in that context, I can easily say this month’s image is an extraordinary execution of talent and intuition !!

    I am fortunate to have a wife, a home and a large darkroom (in that order BTW) to host large gatherings of serious, like minded photographers. Personally, I draw untold amounts of inspiration from these gatherings and would like to share a story that took place several years ago. My daughter and her family are local, and it would seem much to her surprise, her parents can still party with the best of them. Therefore, my local granddaughters essentially grew up with these photographers, several who became close with them and would often ask them to sit and model for really large film photographs. This month’s story is about a good friend and present day owner of a northern Vermont photography studio which opened in 1886, dating back to his Great-Grandfather.  Bob Jenks, Jenkys as he is affectionately known is one of the most creative, intuitive, and accomplished photographers I have ever met.

    As it happens, my house and garage face directly North. There’s no secret among great painters and photographers alike, they understood light coming from the North was most flattering to the human face and would create the greatest sense of roundness and dimension. Back in the mid 80’s I took a week-long portrait lighting class at a photography school in New Hampshire. The visiting instructor would conduct daily outside portrait sessions in the shade, each time with his subjects facing North. The talk was always about the “quality of light” falling on the face, i.e. the ratio between the light and dark side of the face. I remembering not being able to see any ratio, it seemed so subtle, the difference between highlight and shadow. I remember thinking this is hard to see. I would come to understand, the amount of contrast that film can tolerate, or portray is substantially less than the human eye can process. However, once you finally see the subtlety, it’s something you never forget. It surely is a learned skill that has helped my own landscape photography in many ways.

     I verified the sequence of events leading up to this portrait with Bob who is seen below in a blue shirt. He asks my oldest granddaughter to wear her 1st communion outfit from earlier that year, (2017) to one of our photography weekends here at my house. Bob, understands light and the ratios of shadow to highlight to best portray a young girl in a white 1st communion dress. Bob sits Tessa down near the edge of my garage door, facing North, as seen in one of the cell snaps below. That’s key to the quality of light coming in that direction.  Bob opens the door of a large cabinet behind Tessa which stores baseball equipment. He throws his white focusing cloth over the cabinet door as a background. Making sure the cloth has several folds (creating light and shadow) even though they would be well out of focus in the final portrait. Bob moves Tessa farther inside the garage to change the ratio of north light falling on Tessa’s face until it’s just the ratio he wants. He looks at the intensity of light on her face. Accounting for film speed and process development he says “I’m going with 2 second exposure”, this without the benefit of a light meter ! Bob tells Tessa to draw a deep breath and hold still while he exposes the film. Exposing the film amounted to no shutter, before the dark-slide of the film is removed, the lens is covered with a piece of cardboard. When Bob sees the expression and stillness he wants he instructs another photog Lloyd, who is a regular at these Large Format weekends to remove the cardboard as he counts one-thousand one, one thousand two and the cardboard is moved back in front of the lens and the dark-slide is reinserted. With the price of 11×14″ film, there is only one holder, or two sheets of film exposed. Expression, proper exposure and development is all accounted for by Bob’s experience and intuition.

   Interesting side notes to this image are the camera and lens. The camera is an 11″x14″ Eastman Century, first used by Bob’s great-grandfather and is likely more than 120 years old. The camera, originally used for exposing glass plates has been retrofitted to use a double-sided wooden film holder, a single sheet of film on each side of the holder. The lens is known as a “soft-focus” lens, these lens are easily identified by the small circular dots seen in the photo below with Tessa and her Dad. The lens is a Rodenstock Tiefenbildner Imagon 420mm lens, with the f-9.5-11.5 disc. This Imagon lens designed basically is “uncorrected” for Spherical Aberration which essentially means, light coming through a lens spherical surface is redirected to critically focus at differing points. The small diameter holes surrounding the central lens opening redirect light resulting in a glow and roundness unlike anything achievable with an ordinary lens. Notice the glow seen on the gold cross on Tessa’s dress. Areas of higher contrast make it easier to see the effects of this lens design. The contrast ratio on Tessa’s face is much less abrupt and therefore the glow is not as obvious. Nevertheless, the end result is quite appropriate for her angelic features. The circular holes vary in size when changing from f9.5 to f11.5. During the 2 second exposure Bob chose to rotate the disc from smaller to the larger opening, adding yet another intuitive interpretation of this 1st Communion portrait.

   Lastly, a 420mm lens is close to a “normal” focal length on an 11×14″ camera. However, it has the exact same depth of field as a 420mm on a 35mm camera! Critical focus is therefore on Tessa’s eyes, likely is why her face is not turned at more of an angle to the camera, her far eye may not have been in focus. Once again, these were all intuitive contributing decisions that Bob made prior to exposure!

    The sequence of decisions to make this portrait, the old equipment, the lens actually taped on the from of the camera. A simple piece of cardboard as a shutter in the hands of a photographer who understands the fundamentals of light and his equipment is in stark contrast to the automated cameras costing thousands of $$ today. It’s never fair to disparage everyone using modern equipment, nevertheless, technology and automation has created a generation of “camera owners” who believe they have the skills and knowledge that went into making this portrait. A perfect analogy to contrast real photographers versus many who simply own the latest and greatest equipment is best played out in a simple story that follows.

   A working photographer is invited to a fancy socialite dinner party, he’s greeted by the host, who says “your photography is outstanding, you must have a terrific camera”. He thanks her and moves on. After an impressive dinner, as the photographer is saying good night, he says to the host, “that meal was just wonderful…you must have a terrific stove”!

   A short but worthy metaphor, but not totally appropriate in today’s climate, my own father would constantly preach to me…“It’s never the Arrow, it’s always the Indian”!! 

As mentioned, granddaughters have formed a special bond with these photographers!