Archive for December, 2010
Death of Fox Talbot
Quinn Jacobson, The Death of Fox Talbot Here is a curious thing, a photographic joke for insiders. Quinn Jacobson, the Wet Plate exponent (see my Arcana post of November 10 below) was at Kensal Green cemetery in London for a commemoration of Frederick Scott Archer. Archer was the 19th century photographer who invented the Wet […]
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Tags: Frederick Scott Archer memorial, Kensal Green cemetery, Kensal Green Scott Archer, Quinn Jacobson, The Death of Fox Talbot, Wet Plate
Lawrence, by Coster
This perfect photograph is a portrait of Lawrence of Arabia in 1931. It was made by the prominent London photographer Howard Coster and sold recently at Sotheby’s for about $6000. The print was owned by T.E. Lawrence himself, and is signed by Coster. Lawrence wrote, On Friday I was on the embankment near the Temple when a […]
Filed under: Artists, photographers | 2 Comments
Tags: Coster portrait of Lawrence, Howard Coster, National Portrait Gallery, photographer of men, portrait of Lawrence of Arabia, portrait of T.E.Lawrence
Odds Against Tomorrow 3
For a Hollywood genre film Odds Against Tomorrow was experimental and arty. The opening shot was filmed in infra red film which bleached the skin of the racist character played by Robert Ryan above. Since the story hinges on the racial conflict between white man Ryan and black man Harry Belafonte, whitening Ryan’s skin in […]
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Tags: Infra Red film, Odds Against Tomorrow, Robert Ryan, Robert Wise
Odds Against Tomorrow 2
Odds Against Tomorrow was mostly shot on location in New York city and upstate New York. The locations were carefully chosen, each scene plays out in very distinctive place. It gives the film a sense of reality, as if the events could be happening right next to you. In these shots the skyscrapers are composed […]
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Tags: location photographs New York, Odds Against Tomorrow, portraits in Life Magazine, skyscrapers and actors
Odds Against Tomorrow 1
Odds Against Tomorrow is a 1959 film noir, a combination heist-movie and message-film (is that three genres?). It was directed by the great Robert Wise and starred Harry Belafonte and Robert Ryan, whose shadows you can see in these photos. The climax is a chase through an oil refinery at night. Harry Belafonte is chasing […]
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Tags: Joseph Brun cinematographer, Joseph C Brun, Odds Against Tomorrow, Robert Wise
My funny Ballen find
This is the Roger Ballen print I’ve just bought, called Culprit. Am I in the income bracket that can afford Roger Ballens? Apparently yes. This print cost me $100, and I bought it from the online gallery 20×200, a project of Jen Bekman Gallery in Manhattan. It’s a very fine pigment print on artists paper, […]
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Tags: 20x200, Jen Bekman, Jen Bekman gallery, Lorenz Hart My Funny Valentine, Paula Scher, Roger Ballen Culprit, Todd Hido