Today’s Post by Joe Farace
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?
How many books do you typically read during a year? At the beginning of 2022, one of the people I follow on Twitter tweeted about her goal of reading 52 books this year. Just for the heck of it, I started keeping a list in journal of the books that I’m reading to see how far I get toward that goal. If you want to learn more about why I journal, you can watch the end on my Podcast #3, where I explain where I get my quotes and blog post ideas.
As I write this, I just started reading book number 33, a Victorian mystery novel written Mick Finlay. I’ll confess that most of the books that I read are fiction but I do jam in some books about cars and photography now and them. I get lots of questions from readers about my own books and the book reviews that I write for this and my car photography blog. If you want to know why I haven’t written any books lately? You can read about that in a post that I wrote on a that subject…
History Lesson
Around Nov 16, 2006, I was reading a blog associated with a now defunct (in print) photo magazine, in which the writer noted the passing of J. Frederick Smith at 88. The writer states, “I had heard his name but wasn’t really aware of his work until recently.” At first I was offended by this sentence since it appeared in what appeared was an otherwise well-written biography until I realized that Mr. Smith doesn’t even rate an entry on Wikipedia, the home of bios of many people including shiftless politicians and would-be celebrities. I initially thought there were few, if any books by or about Mr. Smith and then I remembered I had one in my own library. It was a 1975 book called Photographing Sensuality from the Masters of Contemporary Photography series that was published at the time by the gone-but-not forgotten PHOTOgraphic magazine.
Mr. Smith’s 1975 book touched the lives of many people and influenced many more, including this then-aspiring 34-year old photographer. Alexis de Tocqueville once wrote that, “History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.” J. Frederick Smith was one of those originals, which is why I urge all people who really care about the art and craft of photography to acquaint themselves with the history of photography and the many unique and wonderful personalities who shaped that history. Copies of this book are still available in hardcover or softcover from Amazon and even if you have just a fleeting interest in this topic, pick up a copy—they’re affordable and I think the book belongs in your library.
Book of the Week
Shooting Film by Ben Hawkins & Liza Kanaeva-Hunsicker is in many ways a throwback book of a kind that camera stores back in the seventies always had on their shelves. The book is exactly what is says it is; an overview of the process of capturing and processing images using film. But what’s different about it from most contemporary photography books can be found in the first part of the book—The Why.
Back in the day, shooters didn’t ask themselves why they were shooting film, they just did it. But nowadays writing about shooting film is like talking to someone who’s shooting and processing tintypes during the heyday of the Canon AE-1. And for younger readers who grew up shooting only with digital cameras and cell phones the process may seem exotic. Darkroom? Chemicals. Yup, all that stuff. Plus the idiosyncrasies and characteristics of each of the various kinds of film emulsions itself. as yesterday’s post points out. If you want to have a black and white image, there ain’t no Instagram filter available, you need black and white film and information about using it too.
And that’s what Hawkins and Kanaeva-Hunsicker do in the pages of this book. They hold your hand while taking you down the yellow brick road of film and film processing, showing the tips, tools and techniques you’ll need while adding an ingredient that’s often lacking in digital imaging – craft. At less than 200 pages, the first five chapters of the book amount to a crash course in film photography with the last two chapters looking at film communities and case studies on photographers using film in new and interesting ways. If you’ve been thinking about trying your hand at film photography this modestly priced ($21.49) but beautifully produced, written and illustrated book will help you get started heading in the right direction. Highly Recommended.
PS: Just a reminder: Podcast #4 is live now on my YouTube channel, Joe Farace’s Videos, featuring a look at a look at my Photo Month project, response to a Q&A that reveals a fanboy confession and an unboxing related to a previous Q&A
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