Wild Callahan
Walking in the winter with Diana and Brendan; I'm not going to not see the Callahan trees surrounding me. Automatic. Can't help it. I know it's cliche. Sorry about that.
But there's history here too. The contrast, the sequence, the rhythm, the simplicity. Those Callahan pictures from the 1950s resonate for me; they come to back to me from my earliest thoughts of pictures and photography.
Do an image google if you're not sure what I'm talking about.
And do you remember the conversation that's in the background, especially of the series of weeds in snow?
The story as I recall it is around Callahan's introduction to photography at a workshop in Detroit by Ansel Adams. Apparently there was a long discussion about how to expose properly for snow — how to keep the detail in the negative but not underexpose, how to compensate in the developing, how to print it just down enough to make it feel bright but not too bright.
Even if you've never done the wet process you know that bright scenes can cause such a headache.
Anyway, the story goes, after that long lecture Callahan returns with his famous results — weeds in snow — and flat empty space, white of the paper, featureless, blank. What was Ansel's reaction? I want to remember that he was amazed and proud: the student exceeds the vision and experience of the teacher by breaking the rules...this is what every teacher waits for.
But frankly I'm not sure what happened next. And I can't find the reference to that story. Maybe I'm dreaming it. Anyone?
Perhaps never mind for now. Visual echoes inspire me to keep making pictures, to keep paying attention. Can you feel the shape of the continuity? Get up, go outside, join the conversation.
Learn about Harry Callahan and be inspired too. Eastman House. Brown University. Wikipedia. Masters of Photography.
Comments