James Gilmore's Viz Arts Ed

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Photography Goes Open Source

1839: With a French pension in hand, Louis Daguerre reveals the secrets of making daguerreotypes to a waiting world. The pioneering photographic process is an instant hit.

Using chemical reactions to make images with light was not quite new. Doing it fast was. Inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niepce created a rough image using silver salts and a camera obscura, or “dark box,” in 1816. The image faded away quickly.

Another decade of work led to the first permanent photographic image, when Niepce fixed a shot of his courtyard onto a pewter plate. The exposure took eight hours in bright sunlight. Niepce continued researching in hopes of making the process faster and more practical.

Daguerre was a successful commercial artist hoping to increase the realism of his giant diorama paintings, some of them 70 feet long by 45 feet high. When using a camera obscura to sketch the outlines (or cartoons) for his paintings, he thought it would be better to create images directly with the camera. He began experimenting.

Daguerre’s optician told him about Niepce’s work. Daguerre and Niepce began a correspondence that turned into a partnership in 1829. Niepce died in 1833, and his son Isidore labored on. But it was Daguerre’s advances with silver-plated copper sheets, iodine and mercury that cut exposure time down to minutes and created positive rather than negative images.

Daguerre was unable to sell his process by subscription, but it caught the interest of François Arago, perpetual secretary of the French Academy of Sciences. It was under the auspices of the academy that Daguerre first displayed his daguerreotypes to the public on Jan. 9, 1839. They created a sensation.

Arago used the buzz to lobby the French Parliament to grant pensions to Daguerre and Isidore Niepce, so they could make all the steps of the new process public and France would “then nobly give to the whole world this discovery which could contribute so much to the progress of art and science.”

Parliament agreed: Daguerre got 6,000 francs (about $30,000 in today’s money) per year and Niepce 4,000 francs per year. With a flurry of advance publicity, Daguerre and Arago made the technical details public on Aug. 19. They also described Niepce’s earlier processes, heliography and the physautotype, but presented the daguerreotype alone as having a future.

And what a future! Within days, opticians and chemists in Paris sold out of the supplies needed to make cameras and plates. Improvements to the process followed within weeks. Daguerre’s instruction manual was translated into a dozen languages within months.

No one wanted to have a portrait painted; everyone wanted a daguerreotype. Studios opened all over Paris. “Daguerreotypomania” spread from Paris to the rest of France, then across the continent, across the channel to England and across the Atlantic to America.

Daguerre did more research, but not to much effect, as many innovators surpassed him. He died in 1851. Another decade and the daguerrotype would be largely supplanted by the albumen print, which made images on paper instead of metal.

Source: Daguerreian Society, others

Image: Louis Daguerre (above) and Isidore Niepce were granted pensions by the French Parliament, allowing them to make their photographic process available to the public.

Daguerreotype: Jean-Baptiste Sabatier-Blot

This article first appeared on Wired.com Aug. 19, 2008.

See Also:

Photo 11A • Next Steps • Presenting Your Work for Critique

Dry mounting a photograph to a display surface, like a mat board or other background, is a clean, professional way to exhibit work without the expense of custom framing.

With this technique, the image is permanently attached to the mount board. It is often used in cases where the image will be float mounted or left un-framed on a thick aesthetically pleasing mount board. The dry-mounting process cannot be reversed. Over time, bubbles can form in the artwork depending on environmental conditions, and the skill level of the person. So, it is important that the beginner takes the appropriate steps to ensure success.

The Drymount MachineDry mounting works by placing a special adhesive tissue between the photograph and the mount board. It is then placed in a special press that will apply pressure to ‘press’ the artwork against the mount board while applying a high temperature to activate the adhesive in the tissue. It’s just that simple.

  • Plug the dry mount press on, set the temperature for 180 degrees, make sure the position of the press’ arm is closed but not locked, and turn on the power. It will take the machine approximately 10-20 minutes to heat up, so turn it on before cutting and tacking your mounting tissue.
  • Set the tacking iron on it’s metal holder and plug it in. The iron is automatically on when plugged in. Make sure it’s head is not touching the table top - it’s hot! Use the metal holder.

Click to enlarge

The issues of presentation accuracy arise with the placement of the print on the matboard. Like many things in life, these issues are not noticeable when done right!

Take these steps to ensure that your final product looks professional:

  • First and foremost, always trim your print with the tissue attached. You’ll want 100% coverage – if you have less, your print will begin to “lift” from the board. If you have too much tissue, it looks sloppy.
  • Attach your print to the tissue using the tacking iron. Gently rub the tacking iron over the center of the  tissue, against the print, in a circular motion.
  • Trim your print with the attached tissue in the paper cutter. Make sure it stays ‘square’ by using the straight-edge ruler that is attached to the paper cutter as a guide. I make the first cut freehand, and then turn the print counter-clockwise against the ruler to ensure accuracy.
Trimming ExampleNow that you have a trimmed print with mounting tissue attached, it’s time to talk placement on the matboard. As a general rule, the space on the two sides of the print are equal, while the bottom uses 1/4 to 1/2″ more space than the top. This is a typical technique used to give a dynamic ‘lift’ to your presentation.

To attach the print (and attached tissue) to the matboard:

  • Lay out the print on the board. Get it as close as possible by ‘eyeballing’ it.
  • Use the sand bag to hold the print down. This way, you can make minute adjustments easily.
  • Get out your metal ruler and measure it according to the above standards.
  • When it is correct, gently lift each corner of the print and tack the tissue to the board. Use care here so you don’t drag the iron across your board!
Okay, you’re ready to cook it!
  • Make sure the dry mount press is around 180 degrees.
  • Shake out therelease paper, and place your board with print into the fold.
  • Place into press, ensuring that the board is fully covered by the platen.
  • Drop the handle down, and wait ten seconds.
  • Remove print.
Now that it’s cooked:
  • Take another piece of matboard and cover it. Press with your hands so that the print has pressure while the tissue is cooling.
  • Check your cooled print by GENTLY bending the board. If there’s any lift on the corners, or crackly sounds, put it back in the press for another ten seconds.

Congratulations, you’re done!

Materials Provided by COS:

  • Dry Mount Press – mounts up to 36” x 36” done in sections or 18.5″ x 15.5″ at a time.
  • Tacking Iron - a small hand-held hot iron which is used to tack the mounting tissue in place to the image before dry mounting.
  • Release paper - paper used drymounting to keep the image from melting onto the equipment.
  • Paper Cutter - cuts paper up to 24″ wide. Use only for thin paper. NEVER USE ON MATBOARD! Do not force.
  • Metal Rule - sometimes it’s missing! I suggest you buy your own in the COS Bookstore.

Materials Provided by the Student:

  • Metal Rule - see above.
  • Backing - Matboard available by the sheet at the COS Bookstore.
  • Mounting Tissue - available by the sheet at the COS Bookstore.
  • Buy these as you need them. For example, for the next Critique, you’ll need three mounted prints. So, when your prints are finshed, you’ll need to buy three matboards and three pieces of tissue from the COS Bookstore.

First Assignment for Beginning Photo (ART11a)

INSTRUCTOR’S NOTE:
For our first photographic exercise,
we will be making camera-less photographs, or photograms. You will need to purchase a package of 8×10 glossy photographic paper from the COS bookstore for this exercise. I have a box of various things you can use for your photogram, but you might also consider using personal items, such as jewelry, nuts & bolts, keys, feathers, ferns, pieces of cut card shapes, stencils, scissors, tools, nails, safety pins, paper clips, springs, plastic and glass items, netting, developing reels, negatives, bottles, hands, feet, lightbulbs, shells, dried fruit slices… most of all, your imagination!

From ephotozine.com

1 Raise the enlarger all of the way up, so that it covers an area bigger than the paper you are going to use. Open the lens up by turning the collar, and then stop it down THREE CLICKS.

2 With the light off, arrange your objects on the paper.

3 Switch the enlarger on and expose for the time determined by the test strip. As a guide ten seconds should be long enough.

4 Carefully take the objects off the paper and place the paper in the developer, then stop bath, then fix (see darkroom blackboard for times).

5 Wash and dry – success! Your first photogram!

A photogram is a photographic image made without a camera by placing objects directly onto the surface of a photo-sensitive material such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light. The result is a negative shadow image varying in tone, depending on the transparency of the objects used. Areas of the paper that have received no light appear white; those exposed through transparent or semi-transparent objects appear grey.

Artistic cameraless photography, as the technique producing photograms is usually known, is perhaps most prominently associated with Man Ray and his exploration of rayographs. Others who have experimented with the technique include László Moholy-Nagy, Christian Schad (who called them “Schadographs”), Imogen Cunningham and even Pablo Picasso. Varieties of the technique have also been used for scientific and other purposes.

History

Some of the first known photographic images made were photograms. William Henry Fox Talbot called these photogenic drawings, which he made by placing leaves and pieces of material onto sensitised paper, then leaving them outdoors on a sunny day to expose, making an overall dark background and a white outline of the object used.

From 1843, Anna Atkins produced British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions in installments, the first book illustrated with photographs. The images were exclusively photograms of botanical specimens. Atkins used Sir John Herschel‘s cyanotype process, which yields blue images. This unique book can be seen in the National Media Museum in Bradford, England.

Man Ray’s rayographs

Photograms were used in the 20th Century by a number of photographers, particularly Man Ray, who called them “rayographs”. His style included capitalizing on the stark and unexpected effects of negative imaging, unusual juxtapositions of identifiable objects (such as spoons and pearl necklaces), varying the exposure time given to different objects within a single image, and moving objects as they were exposed.

Four Fun and Easy Ways to Make Your Photos Look Vintage

Ed note: from our friends at Photojojo:

1: Doctor Up the Shots You’ve Already Got.

Don’t have Photoshop? Don’t worry!

We found some awesome places online to help you convert your digital snaps into old-style vintage masterpieces super fast and without expensive photo-editing software.

  • Wanokato has a fantastic online tool for making your digital photos look vintage. Upload, click a button, and seconds later you’ve got an image that looks like it was pulled out of a hundred year old photo album.
    *Note: The site is in Japanese, but at the top righthand of the screen you’ll see an option to switch to English.
  • Altered with Rollip

  • Try Rollip.com, a simple web application where you can apply over 40 different filters (including specific vintage ones) to your photos. We used “effect #4″ here.
  • 2: Reuse and Diffuse.

  • Old photos are known for looking fuzzy, oddly exposed, scratchy, vignetted, and sometimes even dirty.Good news is: you can get this effect with your current camera, whether it’s digital, analog, HD, or even part of a Barbie Doll.With a cell phone camera (or one you’re not worried about damaging) you can try putting Vaseline directly on the edges of your lens to give your photos an out of focus vignette just like old film cameras.If you’ve got nice equipment, you should probably put your grease of choice on a clear lens filter that you aren’t worried about damaging.A quick search for “Vaseline Filter” brings up some rad photos flickr users have already made. (Like the stunning photo set “Mighty Lubricant” by Flickr member James Blan.) Why not try your own experiments and upload them to our flickr group?You might also want to try:
  • Stretching a nylon stocking over your lens for images that look like they’re from old time toy cameras. (Try different colors, too!)
  • Experimenting with clear paper, wax paper, or anything else slightly transparent to shoot through.
  • Combining our Color filters with the grease/Vaseline method for photos with beautiful colors and awe-inspiring focus tricks!
  • 3: Out With the new, In With the Old!

    old cameras shot on old filmBack in the day, people had to walk uphill (both ways) in the snow for 4 miles just to take a photograph.

    Now we’ve got digital SLRs, cell phone cameras that shoot HD video, and we can share any picture instantly with the rest of the world.

    Been there, vintage-ized that? Then it’s time to break out the original shooters: expired film and old cameras!

    ice skating shot on expired film

  • Resurrect that old 35mm camera that’s been collecting dust in your attic. The dust might even add to the look you’re craving!
  • Try out some expired film! The older the better. The colors usually come out strange or faded, making them look like old vintage prints as soon as they’re developed! (This example was shot with color film several years past it’s expiration date.)
  • If you have a camera that takes Polaroid film, try shooting some Impossible Project Silver Shade Film. With the perfect old-style sepia color, this film also reminds us of beautiful photographs made at the turn of the 18th century.

    4: Find A Photobooth!

    Love nostalgia as much as we do, but don’t have access to working vintage cameras or film? No problem!

    Treat yourself to one of the last remaining endangered species of photography: The analog photobooth.

    Nothing beats sitting behind the curtain, staring straight into a camera for it’s un-timed flashes, and waiting 5 minutes outside the booth to retrieve your photo strip while it develops.

    Luckily, the folks at Photobooth.net have been hard at work making analog machines easier to find around the world!

    Check out their Photobooth Locator to find a working booth near you, and don’t forget to bring your top hat and monocle!

    Tips & Ideas to Take it Futher:

    • You can assemble your own 35mm Pinhole Camera for old style shots on film you can get developed at any local lab!
    • Got an old camera but no film for it? Try our method of shooting through the lens of the old camera!
    • If you have an iPhone, check out our Ultimate Hipstamatic Guide. With over 336 different film, lens, and flash filter combinations, you could doctor your digital images all day long!

    Inspirational links to check out before you shoot:

    • The Flickr Commons: a giant collection of photography archives, made available to the public by Flickr, The Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, and countless other organizations that simply want you to have free access to photo history.
    • Browse the official Flickr group for PX Silver Shade film to see great examples from other shooters – find what works for you and try it out!
    • Another great flickr group to watch: Expired Film. With over 96,000 photos, you’ll never get bored checking out all the wonderful things expired film can do.
  • Caught with a Camera

    Ten local DC incidents where photographers were asked to stop taking pictures

    By Annys Shin, Washington Post

    Still from 2008 Fox 5 interview at Union Station

    Photo courtesy of WTTG-Fox 5

    1

    A Union Station security guard interrupts the taping of a 2008 Fox 5 news segment with an Amtrak official. The official was trying to explain that photography is allowed at Union Station. The incident illustrates the problems photographers encounter at the station, which is controlled by multiple entities. Amtrak controls only the ticketing area and waiting area. A parking management firm has jurisdiction over the parking garage. The guard who interrupted the interview worked for Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate firm that oversees the retail and dining areas. (Photographs inside a store or restaurant require permission from its proprietor.) All three entities say they allow photography in public areas, but photographers are often told inconsistent information.

    _______________________________________
    [Photo]
    Photo by Sonny Jobe
    2

    Sonny Jobe of Reston tried to take pictures inside Union Station two years ago and a restaurant manager asked if he had a permit. (He didn’t need one.) Jobe then asked an Amtrak security officer for guidance about where he can shoot and was told he could not photograph the ticket counters – contrary to Amtrak policy. The security officer suggested that Jobe try the view from the parking garage. Jobe got a few shots of trains from an upper level before being chased off by a security guard on a bicycle, in apparent violation of the garage management’s policy.

    _______________________________________
    Jerome Vorus

    Photo by Jerome Vorus
    3

    Jerome Vorus, a 19-year-old college student from Alexandria, was detained by police twice in the past four months for taking pictures. The first incident took place on a public concourse inside Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport while he took pictures for a project entitled “Airline in Motion” that he created for his aviation blog. The second took place after he took pictures of a traffic stop in Georgetown. He said it is “understandable, but misguided” for police to view photography in public spaces as a potential precursor to terrorism. “I believe there is a good case to be made that having lots of cameras in the hands of citizens makes us more, rather than less, safe,” he said.

    _______________________________________
    Joe Tresh

    Photo by Joe Tresh
    4

    In February 2009, a Metro police officer talking into a radio on his shoulder at 7th and G Streets NW, just outside the Gallery Place Metro station, caught the eye of professional freelance photographer Joe Tresh, who was among hundreds of people in Chinatown that day for the Chinese New Year celebration. Tresh says he stayed about 20 feet away while the officer, along with several others, questioned a man. Tresh says one of the officers spotted him and said he could not take pictures of someone under investigation. Afterwards, Tresh posted one of the photos on the D.C. Photo Rights pool on Flickr. “Had they never said anything, I probably would not have published it,” Tresh said. “But because they decided to assert authority they do not have, I was basically compelled to share the story.”

    _______________________________________
    [HUD Headquarters in Washington, D.C., July 9, 2010]
    Photo by Matt Urick
    5

    This is one of several pictures Matt Urick of Alexandria took of the headquarters of the Department of Housing and Urban Development a few weeks ago, while on his way to work at the Federal Communications Commission. A guard emerged from a hut, stopped him. Urick said he wanted to tell the guard that there are pictures of the building on HUD’s website, that every angle of the building is visible using Google Maps street views, and that he was not a threat. But he stayed quiet. “A lot of these guys have guns and are enforcing laws they obviously don’t understand, and they are not to be reasoned with,” he said.

    _______________________________________
    [Guard outside Department of Transportation headquarters in Washington, D.C., September 2009]
    Photo by Erin McCann
    6

    Erin McCann took this photo outside the Department of Transportation headquarters in September 2009 to see what would happen. A female security officer questioned her, but otherwise left her alone. She found that to be a welcome improvement over the many times photographers had been told that taking pictures outside the building was illegal – contrary to official guidance put out by the Federal Protective Service, which guards DOT as well as thousands of other government buildings across the country. Issued in 2004, the guidance explicitly says that photography is not prohibited outside the DOT building. McCann, an organizer of the D.C. Photo Rights pool on Flickr, blames continuing harassment of photographers on inconsistent enforcement by individual officers, which, she said, makes trying to stop it a bit “like playing whack-a-mole.”

    _______________________________________
    [A D.C. police officer at New Hampshire Avenue NW and Taylor St. NW, September 2007]
    Photo by Wayan Vota
    7

    Wayan Vota, who lives in the Petworth section of northwest Washington, was thrilled to see D.C. police pulling over speeders on New Hampshire Avenue NW, just south of Grant Circle. He says he wanted to “celebrate” the police by taking a photo of two officers standing nearby on the sidewalk. One officer smiled and told him he was not allowed to take their picture. Vota argued that they were public officials acting in a public capacity and was told to put his camera away and leave the area. Courts have ruled – and MPD officials concur – that police on a public street have no expectation of privacy.

    _______________________________________

    [D.C. police performing a traffic stop in Georgetown, July 2010]

    Photo by Jerome Vorus
    8

    Earlier this month, after Jerome Vorus, a 19-year-old college student from Alexandria, took photos of a traffic stop in Georgetown, District police detained him, ran his name through a database, and then released him. Courts have ruled that police have no expectation of privacy when performing their duties in public. The officers said Vorus was taking photos of the inside of the squad car, where personal information is sometimes visible on a computer monitor — a claim Vorus denies. Second District Commander Matt Klein said while there is no official prohibition against taking pictures of the inside of squad cars, the officers acted appropriately because they felt Vorus was escalating the situation. Vorus said he was merely asserting his rights.

    _______________________________________

    [American flag outside federal building in Reston, January 2010]

    Photo by Jenn Francis
    9

    In January, Jenn Francis of Frederick was driving in Reston and pulled over to take a photo of an American flag set off against a reflection of the sky in the windows of an office building. She did not realize that the building housed federal offices. After Francis snapped a few photos, a Fairfax County police officer pulled in behind her, blocking in her vehicle so she could not leave, and asked her for identification. After running her name through a police database, he wrote up a report and released her. Outside most federal buildings, security officers can stop and question photographers, but they may not prohibit anyone from taking pictures from a public location, such as a sidewalk or the side of a road.

    _______________________________________

    [Security officer outside Chinese Embassy, Washington, D.C.]

    Photo by Carl Weaver
    10

    Two years ago, Carl Weaver of Arlington was driving by the Chinese Embassy on Connecticut Avenue NW when he saw a Tibetan freedom protest. Weaver, who photographs and writes for WeLoveDC.com, parked and walked over. He noticed that someone had thrown some red paint on the building. He crossed over to the same side of the street as the embassy to get a better shot and an officer stopped him, telling him he was not allowed to take pictures of the embassy. He argued that the building was in public view and he was on a public sidewalk. Police told him he was not even permitted to cross the street. Once he produced media credentials, they left him alone. “That I needed the credential to cross the street, that bothered me,” he said.

    A.D. Coleman’s “Cowflop From the Adams Herd”, Part II

    Photo critic A.D. Coleman offers a salient and excellent op-ed via his site Photocritic International about the Ansel Adams glass plates fiasco. saving some serious and deserving vitriol for Adams’ grandson, Michael.

    Before you dismiss his opinion as just another blowhard’s weighing in on the controversy, consider that A.D. Coleman was the first photo critic for the New York Times, authoring 120 articles during his tenure. He started writing in 1967 and has contributed to the Village Voice, New York Observer and numerous magazines, artist monographs and other publications worldwide. He has also received the first Art Critic’s Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1976 and was a Fullbright scholar in 1994. He was named one of “The Top 100 People in Photography” by American Photo Magazine.
    Coleman has also had several collections of his reviews/criticism published in book form including:
    • The Digital Evolution Visual Communication in the Electronic Age. Coleman, A. D. Nazraeli Press, Tucson, AZ 1998. ISBN 9783923922529
    • The Grotesque in Photography. Coleman, A. D. Summit Books, 1977. ISBN 9780671400163
    • Light Readings: A Photography Critic’s Writings 1968-1978. Coleman, A. D. Oxford University Press, 1982. ISBN 0195031962
    • Looking at Photographs: Animals. Coleman, A. D. et al. Chronicle Books, 1995. ISBN 0811804186
    • Looking at Photographs: People. Coleman, A. D. et al. Chronicle Books. ISBN 9780811804462
    Critical Focus: Photography in the International Image Community. Coleman, A. D. Nazraeli Press, 1996. ISBN 9783923922260
    • Tarnished Silver: Essays and Lectures 1979-1989. Coleman, A. D. Midmarch Press, 1996. ISBN 1-877675-20-2
    • Depth of Field: Essays on Photography, Mass Media, and Lens Culture. Coleman, A. D. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998. ISBN 082631815

    Top Thirteen Ways to Piss Off a Photo Editor

    by Grover Sanschagrin via PhotoShelter

    13-number.jpgWhen photographers get together, they tend to talk about two things: camera gear, and working with photo editors. But what many photographers don’t realize, is that when photo editors get together, they talk about YOU.

    There are only two proven methods that you can use to ensure that your name comes up in a conversation. Do something really amazing, or do something that pisses them off. You really don’t want to find yourself part of their conversation for the latter.

    What are the things that will piss off a photo editor? I decided to ask a panel of really talented photo editors. They were kind enough to share what really gets under their skin.

    Magnum Photos Collection Opens to Researchers, Students and Public

    AUSTIN, Texas—The Magnum Photos Collection, comprising more than 1,300 boxes of photographic materials, is now open to researchers, students and the public at the Harry Ransom Center, a humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin.

    Dating from the 1930s to 2004, the bulk of the 210,000 photographs from Magnum Photos’ New York bureau are gelatin silver prints, though the collection also contains some color prints.

    An inventory of the collection can be found online.

    THEORY: “Lewis Baltz – Notes on Recent Industrial Developments in Southern California” (1974)

    Lewis Baltz – Notes on Recent Industrial Developments in Southern California (1974), Journal of Photography, George Eastman House
    Descriptive Text by Lewis Baltz

    Typical locations: Previously unimproved land. Proximity to freeways and airports is of primary importance. Secondary consideration is given to the availability of rail and marine transport.

    Typical considerations in site selections: Flat land requiring a minimum of grading and which poses no unusual problems in soil or foundation engineering. Typical choices are valley bottoms or the flood plains of rivers. As this type of land is originally often agricultural, the development of one or more large industrial areas may cause severe dislocations in the local economy, such as have occurred in parts of Orange and Santa Clara counties, where agriculture has been almost completely supplanted by the development of industry.


    Typical site planning: One developer plans the entire industrial area, usually in conformity with a county or regional master plan. The site is divided into a simple grid of streets and blocks. The grid pattern is broken only at the perimeter of the development, where an encircling frontage road may channel traffic to freeway access or to previously existing surface streets. Broad interior streets are designed to accommodate large numbers of heavy vehicles. Lot sizes, setbacks, and other zoning determinations are incorporated into the master plan and maintained uniformly throughout the development.

    Typical construction techniques: A 6″ thick concrete slab is poured to form the floor. Concrete slab walls are then poured in forms on the floor slab. These wall slabs are poured in modules. A typical module for a light industrial building would be 18′ x 18′ with a thickness of 6″. Cranes lift these into an upright position along the perimeter of the floor slab, leaving a space of approximately 18″ between the edges of the wall modules. Concrete columns are then poured to join the wall modules. These columns often protrude from the exterior surface of the wall and are commonly painted a color different from that of the wall modules as an element of decoration. Roof structure is usually constructed of glue-laminated wood beams. In cases where the area to be spanned is unusually large and the tenant requires that the interior space be free of supporting columns, pre-fabricated roof trusses are employed. Pre-fabricated windows and doors are available in a number of standard sizes. A building of this type, suitable for warehousing or light manufacture, can cost between $11.00 and $50.00 per square foot, depending upon the division of the interior spaces and the quality of finish required.



    Typical functions: Such developments typically house industries which have become significant in the years since the Korean War. These include: aerospace; data processing and information storage; leisure time industries, such as the fabrication of recreation vehicles and equipment. Often these developments house storage and distribution centers for firms whose manufacturing occurs in other parts of the country or abroad.

    Typical names: Often companies tend to select names which obscure the nature of their activities and the identity of their owners. These names are often drawn from the terminology of space exploration, cybernetics, electronics, plastics, and similar new technologies.

    Typical environmental relations: Industries which tenant the new industrial parks are often induced to locate there by neighboring communities which regard light industry as an economic asset. Characteristics of heavy manufacturing and extraction industries, such as air, water and noise pollution, unsightly structures, and the necessity of a large unskilled labor force are explicitly absent from the new industries. In contrast, new industries tend to have substantially lower pollution levels; are housed in inoffensive, anonymous structures, often with extensive landscaping; and are staffed by a small, technologically trained labor force, earning middle to upper-middle range salaries.

    Typical economic considerations: As these industries provide goods and services of a more highly specialized nature than the older heavy industries, they are therefore more subject to economic fluctuations. Furthermore, as these industries often depend in sum or part upon government contracts, they are vulnerable to changes of priorities in the federal budget even in periods of general economic stability.



    William Jenkins:

    There exists a thoroughly understandable tendency to regard Lewis Baltz’s work as astringent reportage: a simple and accurate re-presentation of subject matter. In fact, when Baltz’s series “The Tract Houses” was exhibited at the International Museum of Photography in 1972, photographs by Bernd and Hilla Becher purposely appeared in an adjoining gallery. Such a comparison is obvious, particularly if one considers the precise, almost restrictive delineation of subject matter present in both groups of photographs. It is, however, the remarkable differences between Baltz and the Bechers that are of interest to me, differences that can be easily seen once the superficial similarities involving style and subject matter are removed.

    Clearly the Bechers are involved in conceptual problems concerning function, form and anonymity and address these problems through the medium of photography, it being the most convenient method of keeping visual records. But they do not function as photographers in the sense that their prints are not pictures but flat, minimal, detached, analytical documents. The Bechers are interested in anonymous sculpture, not photography.

    These pictures by Baltz are much like the written material he has provided to accompany them in they pretend to a detached analysis of subject. In order to realize that this is indeed a pretense one need only to consider how very much in keeping with the subject matter Baltz’s records are. If they are documents they are very poor ones since they provide so little useable information. The only transperancy present is in the photographs themselves. We see clearly through them, but only as far as the opaque concrete facade with the company name PLASTX upon it. The name doesn’t tell us what they make and, conspicuously, neither does Baltz.

    Copyright 1974 by International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House Inc.

    Say It Ain’t So, Joe

    DealPicEd. Note: My first rejection of the f64 status quo in the mid-1970s was largely influenced by the New Topographers, led by Lewis Baltz, Robert Adams, and Joe Deal.

    From the PDNPulse blog:
    Photographer and educator Joe Deal, who was instrumental in the development of the landmark exhibition “New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape” in 1975 and was the subject of several solo shows, died June 18 at a hospice in Providence, Rhode Island. The cause of death was cancer, according to his gallery,
    Robert Mann Gallery in New York.

    Born in Topeka in 1947, Deal became a photographer of the American landscape after studying at Kansas City Art Institute and receiving masters degrees in fine arts and photography at the University of Mexico. In 1975, his images were included in the influential “New Topographics” show at the George Eastman House alongside images by Robert Adams, Stephen Shore, Bernd and Hilla Becher and others. Deal worked closely with curator William Jenkins on planning the show and the catalogue. In recognition of the exhibition’s continuing influence on contemporary landscape photography, the Eastman House revived the show last year, and it is currently touring the country.

    Deal’s documentation of the American West continued over the coming decades. He was commissioned by the J. Paul Getty Trust to photograph the site and construction of the new J. Paul Getty Center in Los Angeles in 1984. In 1992, he had a solo show at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery called “Joe Deal: Southern California Photographs, 1976-86.”
    One of his recent series, “West and West,” opened at the Rhode Island School of Design last year and was exhibited in 2010  at New York’s Robert Mann Gallery; it is currently on view at the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson through August 1.
    Deal managed to pursue photography while maintaining an academic career. After the success of “New Topographics,” he began teaching at the University of California/Riverside. In the 1980s and 90s, he served as professor and dean of the School of Art at Washington University in St. Louis. He served as Provost at the Rhode Island School of Design from 1999 to 2005.  Last year, Deal received an  award from the National Council of Arts Administrators, the St. Louis Beacon reports.