Author Topic: Capa in color  (Read 3118 times)

hookstrapped

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,289
    • Peter Brian Schafer PHOTOGRAPHY
« Last Edit: December 23, 2014, 04:04:59 PM by hookstrapped »

02Pilot

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,866
  • Malcontent
    • Filmosaur
Re: Capa in color
« Reply #1 on: December 23, 2014, 06:16:17 PM »
Went and saw the exhibition at ICP earlier this year. Nice to see the color photos (lots of them, mostly from post-war magazine shoots), but what I found even more interesting was the correspondence from Capa, his brother Cornell, and others regarding how to deal with the various color issues that arose with early chrome emulsions; lots of discussion of color casts and recommendations for using filters (UV, primarily, IIRC). There was also a detailed display showing the differences in how Kodachrome and Ektachrome had aged (Kodachrome looked far better), and what had to be done to restore the images.
Any man who can see what he wants to get on film will usually find some way to get it;
and a man who thinks his equipment is going to see for him is not going to get much of anything.


-Hunter S. Thompson
-
http://filmosaur.wordpress.com/

Late Developer

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,033
    • My Website
Re: Capa in color
« Reply #2 on: December 23, 2014, 08:38:22 PM »
Just a stunning bunch of Kodachromes. Thank you for posting.

That first one of the French model "Capuchine" is magical.  I'm presuming , from the image quality and square format, that these photos were shot on a Rollei (or similar) 6x6 camera.  I never got to shoot Kodachrome in MF, though I must have shot hundreds and hundreds of rolls of K25, 64 and 200 in 35mm down the years.  How jealous am I of Capa getting to use an MF version? VERY  :o
"An ounce of perception. A pound of obscure".

Indofunk

  • Global Moderator
  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 3,566
    • photog & music
Re: Capa in color
« Reply #3 on: December 23, 2014, 11:18:21 PM »
That Capuchine ranks as one of the absolute best photographs I've ever seen. This recent spate of Kodachrome posts almost makes me want to develop some E6 film in E6 ( :o )

I said "almost" ;)

02Pilot

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,866
  • Malcontent
    • Filmosaur
Re: Capa in color
« Reply #4 on: December 24, 2014, 12:39:58 AM »
Just a stunning bunch of Kodachromes. Thank you for posting.

That first one of the French model "Capuchine" is magical.  I'm presuming , from the image quality and square format, that these photos were shot on a Rollei (or similar) 6x6 camera.  I never got to shoot Kodachrome in MF, though I must have shot hundreds and hundreds of rolls of K25, 64 and 200 in 35mm down the years.  How jealous am I of Capa getting to use an MF version? VERY  :o

From memory, most of those were on a Rolleiflex (there was a picture at the ICP show of Capa with an Old Standard shipboard during the war, but I'm sure he used others later on). The Vietnam shot was on a Contax, I believe (last photo he ever took), and the one of Judith Stanton in Zermatt was on a Linhoff (there was a photo at the exhibit of him using that as well).
Any man who can see what he wants to get on film will usually find some way to get it;
and a man who thinks his equipment is going to see for him is not going to get much of anything.


-Hunter S. Thompson
-
http://filmosaur.wordpress.com/

Peter84

  • Peel Apart
  • ***
  • Posts: 224
Re: Capa in color
« Reply #5 on: December 24, 2014, 10:26:39 AM »
*Christmas wish* bring kodachrome back!!

Maybe a kickstarter  idea?

Francois

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 15,572
Re: Capa in color
« Reply #6 on: December 24, 2014, 02:09:11 PM »
I really doubt anyone will attempt something like this... Kodachrome is a pretty complex film with an insane development process. It's not because it was invented by a couple of musicians in a New-York hotel room in the 20's that it would be easy to redo.
Francois

Film is the vinyl record of photography.

gothamtomato

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,144
Re: Capa in color
« Reply #7 on: December 24, 2014, 06:41:19 PM »
*Christmas wish* bring kodachrome back!!

Maybe a kickstarter  idea?


That's a beautiful dream - and I'd love nothing better than to be able to shoot 2 1/4 Kodachrome with my Haselblad, but there's no way it could return. For years before they stopped making it, they couldn't even make it like they used to because of environmental laws. For decades Kodak was the state's biggest polluter. When environmental laws were put into place they had to make changes in the formulation of Kodachrome and the colors were never quite the same. It was still better, in many ways, than anything else, but it wasn't like what we see in these classic photos.

Indofunk

  • Global Moderator
  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 3,566
    • photog & music
Re: Capa in color
« Reply #8 on: December 24, 2014, 07:56:28 PM »
it was invented by a couple of musicians in a New-York hotel room in the 20's

I didn't know that part ... *reads up on history of Kodachrome*

Ed Wenn

  • Global Moderator
  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,276
  • Slowly getting back into it. Sometimes.
Re: Capa in color
« Reply #9 on: December 24, 2014, 09:22:29 PM »
Indofunk: I thought François' comment about New York and musicians may just have piqued your interest  :D :D

Indofunk

  • Global Moderator
  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 3,566
    • photog & music
Re: Capa in color
« Reply #10 on: December 25, 2014, 02:32:09 AM »
Seems I am one half of Kodachrome's story ... just 70 years too late ;D

Francois

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 15,572
Re: Capa in color
« Reply #11 on: December 25, 2014, 04:15:17 PM »
Now I have some really strange trivia for you!
There us a place in Utah north of Cannonville that was explored by people from National Geographic in 1948. The place first got a name, then it was changed to Chimney Rock State Park for fear of a lawsuit by Kodak. Then Kodak accepted willingly to let the original name be used.
If you travel there and want to visit a spectacular state park, make sure to look for signs indicating the road to the...Kodachrome Basin State Park!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodachrome_Basin_State_Park

And for the original musical part of Kodachrome: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodachrome#Development_of_modern_Kodachrome
Francois

Film is the vinyl record of photography.

Indofunk

  • Global Moderator
  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 3,566
    • photog & music
Re: Capa in color
« Reply #12 on: December 25, 2014, 06:36:22 PM »
That's much more detailed than the Wiki I read, thanks :)

Has any other specific line of film been the basis of a popular song? Because it keeps killing me that Paul Simon sang "Mama don't take my Kodachrome away" and Mama Eastman indeed DID take Paul's Kodachrome away  :'(

Francois

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 15,572
Re: Capa in color
« Reply #13 on: December 25, 2014, 08:39:20 PM »
I think that's the only song dedicated to a precise emulsion stock... though there were quite a few about Polaroids...
Francois

Film is the vinyl record of photography.

02Pilot

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,866
  • Malcontent
    • Filmosaur
Re: Capa in color
« Reply #14 on: December 25, 2014, 09:59:37 PM »
I think that's the only song dedicated to a precise emulsion stock... though there were quite a few about Polaroids...

I suspect it's really hard to work "Tri-X" or "Pan F+" into song lyrics....
Any man who can see what he wants to get on film will usually find some way to get it;
and a man who thinks his equipment is going to see for him is not going to get much of anything.


-Hunter S. Thompson
-
http://filmosaur.wordpress.com/

Francois

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 15,572
Re: Capa in color
« Reply #15 on: December 25, 2014, 10:11:46 PM »
Camera names are easier... there's a few of those too. And Kodak comes out in a few songs too.
Francois

Film is the vinyl record of photography.