Treasure Trove visit on a Windy Weekend.

This last weekend was very windy. Not so hot for photography. So instead I

visited my old hangout, the Center for Creative Photograpy at the University of

Arizona in Tucson. http://www.creativephotography.org/

A great exhibit of images was being held, virtually all B/W with 2 exceptions.

The topic was "photo essays", all images being large prints of film exposures

of various photographers, mostly deceased from a large span of the 20th

century. Some frames were just proofsheet prints of images sets, clearly

showing how many bad shots were conveniently ignored in days gone by and that

medium format ruled the roost in the fifties and sixties. I spent quite a bit

of time roaming around, then had a conversation with the kid behind the

counter, about the Center's original days, and I realized how time was passing.

The center as I visited in the early eighties was well before the birth of the

kid behind the counter. Wow. I was attracted to some nice books on display and

purchased a copy of Mary Ellen Mark's AMERICAN ODYSSEY, a nice collection of

images to which I can relate, having worked briefly in a small southern town

before escaping to Tucson. As a bonus to the purchase of the book I was given a

second book for free, a very FAT softcover, titled "Original Sources", "Art and

and archives at the Center for Creative Photography". The book describes the

contents of the archives in an incredibly informative and colorful way, and its

smell is just terrific, of nice paper and great printing ink. In this book, one

of the contributors describes Gary Winogrand, and that app. a year before

passing away, he offered the Center no less than 16,000 images, which are now

archived. The goings-on for the donation give an interesting perspective on

Winogrand's life and at this point in his life he appeared to be badly out of

it and seriously depressed. Perhaps the real fact behind the uncountable rolls

of undeveloped film for which he was well known was NOT what has often been

discussed before, but the truth appears that Winogrand had been struggling

mentally for an extended period of time, often simply not being able face up to

the task of having the film developed. For your reference

http://www.maryellenmark.com/

Thanks for the review and the reminder. Seems like a good excuse to stop in Tucson for more than gas on my upcoming trip to Phoenix. I've seen a couple of articles about efforts to revive the CCP recently, but it doesn't look like they are devoting much of the budget to their web site, which is kind of pathetic.

Great review, thanks for taking the time to post it. I especially liked the comment about contact sheets - I've often wondered about the quantity of, unchosen(?), photographs that were made by the people we consider to be the 'greats' of photography. I'm not obsessed with comparisons or anything, but I do find it interesting when the fact that even the most recognized photographers made exposures that they didn't like comes to light. If I get out that way, I will be certain to stop in.

 

Also, I feel compelled to say that I got the biggest kick out of your description of the Original Sources book. There are fewer and fewer people who appreciate a well-crafted book these days, and your description made my day.

 

- Randy

While I don't go to the center as much as I would like to (University of Arizona Parking during the week reminds me of some kind of reality show), its often a good break to look at some good work done by others for a little mental feedback. I don't know about others, but a good picture often stimulates the senses. Of some I see that were taken in the sixties one of the memories, surprisingly, is the smell of the cigarette smoke everywhere.