106 degrees & Snow and Ice Photography: a book review

It was 106 degrees today and I just started reading a vintage 1938

book entitled Snow And Ice Photography I won on eba...aba..eb---well

you know the place. Its a gem of a little book that answers some

questions I've had about how those old time photographers got such

detail in the texture of snow using old, uncoated lenses and film

emulsions that are long gone. Vittorio Sella, Bradford Washburn,

Ansel Adams...those guys. While they don't have illustrations here,

it is the textures they achieved that have become a kind of 'holy

grail' for me, hence my interest in this book. The illustrations

themselves are interesting examples of the kinds of materials used

back then: Agfa SS Plenichrome, Isopan, Superplenichrome, Eastman

Commercial Ortho and SS Panchro seem to be Wagner's(the author)

films of choice, and Eastman PMC #11, Kodabrome G, Vitava Opal G,

Agfa Indiatone Kashmir White, and Brovira Rough were the papers he

often used. I found one reference to pyro for the soup as well. All

in all though, an entertaining read. The styles of photography

represtented lean heavily toward the pictorialist style, but have a

definate charm but there are also crisp images featuring the icey

crystalline textures I unashamedly covet. There is a lot of

discussion on compostion in a snowy landscape that I found

worthwhile, too. If this sounds like something that floats your boat

you might find it an interesting little book. ----Cheers!

John,

I enjoyed your post on a subject close to my heart. Another book you may consider if you are interested in detailed "old" how to books on the subject of snow is Mountain Photography by C.D. Milner printed in the UK by Focal Press 1945. Actually I was dipping into it last night. I have myself struggled with the issue of how to get decent "snow". Milner draws on a lot of publicatons from the 1930's. The interesting thing for me was that the advice was consistent with that in several more recent publications - do not use too strong a filter. I.e stick mainly with a medium or strong yellow depending on the time of day.

Hope this helps. If you want to see my recent "snow" photos you can see them on my website.

Alex