Michael A. Smith's work

Yesterday I made one of the best investments I've made in quite

awhile. No, it was not a financial investment. Instead, before

going home from work, I went to my city's central library (the main

one which serves my area). There they have Michael A. Smith's

Landscapes two-volume set, and his 25-year retrospective "A Visual

Journey." These books are classified as reference books and do not

circulate--and rightly so. So I decided I'd spend an hour or two

looking at the images in them before going home.

 

Wow. I've read some of his writings about AZO and Super XX film, and

the inherent benefits of contact printing versus enlargements are

obvious. But never before have I seen such glorious illustrations of

what he's written about. The photographs in these books are

marvelous. The tonal range and contrast are superb, and if there was

any dodging or burning involved in any of it, I don't see it. I

shoot 4x5 and 6x7 rollfilm, so it's the enlarging route for me, but

viewing his books is enough to make me at least think about going the

contact print route someday. These are truly awesome works. In

fact, I'm ordering a copy of A Visual Journey today. I encourage

anyone with access to these books to give them a long, deep look.

 

And Michael, if you are reading this, how about an autobiography?

You know, something to do in your spare time. :-)

You should check out his site to see if his work is showing anywhere near you:

http://www.michaelandpaula.com/

 

His books are great examples of his work, but the photographs are still better then the reproductions.

 

4x5 is large enough to give contact printing a try.

 

You should try that before thinking about going to any larger formats. I like contact printing the larger sheet film, but 8x10 and 8x20 is not for everybody.

 

George Losse

Mike,

 

I've had the pleasure of looking at dozens, perhaps even hundreds of Michael's prints (and Paula Chamlee's) and the reproductions in that book don't come close to the quality of the real print. I know Michael has one book "The Students of Deep Springs College" that is printed in 600 lpi that does reproduce the print quality quite faithfully.

 

If you haven't tried printing with AZO I reccomend giving it a go. It is capable of making very beautiful prints when processed in Amidol. But I'm sure you know this.

 

And yes you will need to dodge and or burn with AZO. The nice thing about contact printing versus projection enlargement is that it is much easier to dodge and burn without leaving tell tale halos or burn marks.

 

Din Bryant

Gee, thanks so much, Mike.

 

Paula and I publish our books ourselves. We publish them ourselves and

pay for them on Visa cards, instead of finding a publisher who will

pay the costs. We go out on a limb like this so we do not ever have to

make any compromises. The up side is that our books are always

extraordinarily well printed and we never have anything to apologize

for. The down side is that because we are not being promoted by anyone

else, relatively few know about our books. When fine books are

mentioned--on Photo.net or anywhere else, our books are rarely, if

ever mentioned. We just have to get philosophical and figure that it

is other's loss if they don't know our books. (Paula's photographs and

books are as beautiful as mine are.)

 

Thanks so much for your kind posting. The early part of my story of

making a living in photography is told somewhat more fully in the

essay in A Visual Journey.

 

I actually have thought about writing an autobiography, but there is

no time, and I never plan to stop photographing, so it is probably one

of those thoughts that will never be acted upon. Maybe if I stopped

these stolen moment's postings on the Internet, I could work on it.

Someday.

If you are interested in making your photography better no matter what format you shoot, you owe it to yourself to attend Michael & Paula's vision and technique workshop. Not only are they great photographers dedicated to their work ethic but great teachers as well and are really interested in insuring you understand what they are teaching without trying to speak all the technical brew-ha that many people love to spout about. My view of photography is forever changed for the better thanks to Michael and Paula and they are very warm, nice human beings which also is a treat in this fast-pace, instant-gratification society we live in today.

I bought a copy of "A Visual Journey" and I'm equally impressed. The reproductions are very good, but, of course, they are not photographs. I once went to an Ansel Adams exhibit and carried along my copy of "Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs." The difference between the prints and the book was amazing.

 

Michael's book is very good and should be in your library if you like his kind of photography. I have had my copy a couple of weeks and am still studying it. I felt a need to change my vision at the time I ordered the book, and it's certainly giving me insight into that.

j.e.simmons

I'll put in a word for "High Plains Farm" which is Paula's work. It sent me straight back to childhood and adolescence which was spent in a very similar setting. Everything was all so familiar. Really rang my bell. On top of that, studying it from a photographic aspect has been time very well spent. The best lesson I've learned is to photograph what I have feeling for, and yes, that "Flyover Country" can be beautiful.

A quick comment for Michael and Paula. Thank you for a couple very well posted comments and suggestions in this and another thread!

 

I think I have more books on so many varied subjects by a factor of 50 to 1 than all the photo equipment and gadgets I have bought over the years. However, the one photo book which has stayed always on top and is frequently read and looked at is Paula's "High Plains Farm". Paula, your book evokes such a sweet wonderfulness, some personal memories of an Aunt's farm and captures a segment of real American life! I so admire this work. Anyone who has not seen the book should immediately do so!

 

Thank you for contributing so much!

 

Regards,

 

John Bailey

Thank you John and Alex for your kind comments about High Plains Farm.

It is deeply gratifying to learn that it has touched others' lives in

a meaningful way. I am in Belgium printing other books at the moment

and was very surprised to get the same response as yours from a young

Belgian girl who works here at the printing company and saw a copy of

HPF here. The essence of home and one's sense of place is surely

universal. Thank you again.

 

Paula Chamlee

I am very late to this thread, but I want to comment anyway. It�s amazing how many good threads you can miss when you spend a week replacing siding and repainting your house. What a chore, especially when you�d rather be in the darkroom!

 

I have all of Michael and Paula's books. They are extraordinarily well printed, especially Michael's Landscapes volumes II and I. I was fortunate to be able to see a large number of Michael�s and Paula�s prints when I attended their workshop last September. The prints are better than the reproductions in the books, of course, but the reproductions come closer to doing justice to the original prints than most do.

 

The books that I find myself spending the most time studying are Visual Journey (Michael�s) and Natural Connections (Paula�s). I look to those books most often for inspiration before heading out with my camera. I love the compositions, and so many of the images in these two books are so incredibly sharp and detailed that they almost look like engravings. I wish my actual prints looked even half as good as the reproductions in those two books.

 

By all means, do yourself a favor and see Michael�s and Paula�s original prints if you have the chance, but if your only exposure to their work is through their books, you�re still in for a treat. I am very much looking forward to viewing their Tuscany books, which I think they are currently in the process of printing.

I recently had the opportunity to compare some of the actual photographs reproduced in "Natural Connections" to their reproductions in the book. The book was not even close, and that's the best printed photography book I own.

 

If you admire their work, you should make every effort to see the real thing.

What I know of Michael A. Smith's work(which also applies to his wife, Paula Chamlee) is that the work is excellent in every respect. The books are very good and the original prints even better. Both give freely of their time, talent, energy, knowledge and experience to those who ask. Both are opinionated yet still open to new information and knowledge. Both believe strongly in the idea of getting the technical end down so it does not get in the way of the creativity needed in looking for good composition & images. They work as simply as possible so nothing interferes as they photograph.

 

As you look at their work you find two different styles that complement each other. As you look at the work closer & longer it becomes even more apparent that both are even better than one thought when first exploring their images.

 

Michael is an Easterner while Paula is a more relaxed country girl from Texas. Both are among the finest photographers ever in large format work or, in my opinion, in any format. They demand excellence in their images, vision and craft & do whatever it takes to get it, day in and day out.

 

If you get the chance, see their work and purchase their books. It is some of the finest photography being done today. Modernists in the Weston tradition they have carved out a unique niche in the world of fine art photography and are some of the very few who actually make their living selling their images. If possible, take their workshops and get a perspective on how these current masters of the medium work. Even if you don't change your methods being exposed to theirs will help as one works for direction in their photography.

Well said, Dan.

 

Michael will have a show up at the Paul Paletti Gallery in Louisville, Ky. from Oct. 1 through the end of the year. If anyone within earshot will be anywhere close (like say, Cincinnati, Indianapolis or Nashville - all within 100 miles), it will be well worth your time to make the detour. There are also original prints on the walls there of such legends as Brett Weston, Aaron Siskind and Albert Renger-Patzch as well as such popular contemporary successes as Michael Kenna, Rolfe Horn and Dick Arentz. Michael's prints are superior to any of them (excepting possibly, Brett Weston's).

<i>Michael's prints are superior to any of them (excepting possibly, Brett Weston's).</i><p>

 

 

Ohhhh...pplueeeeaasss give me a break....(groan).....