William Albert Allard, Leica photographer

Just finished reading <U>William Albert Allard: The Photographic

Essay</U>. To me Allard's work is quintessential <I>National

Geographic</I> photography - unaffected, straightforward, and

concerned with, more than anything else, telling a story as well as

possible, evoking the environment of it. It reminds me of Vladimir

Nabokov, who admitted the legitimacy of no "schools" and eschewed all

trends, saying that in the end there is only good storytelling and

the task of finding your own approach to it. <P>

 

I put <a

href=http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0205/feature6/index.html>

Allard</a> on one end of a spectrum of approaches. On the other end

is <a

href=http://www.mare.de/hefte/mare_32/32_swedlogorsk.html>Gueorgui

Pinkhassov</a>, disjointed, almost totally abstract, highly complex,

and all the more compelling for all of it. While <a

href=http://www.edelmangallery.com/webb1.htm>Alex Webb</a>, say, is

it seems to me somewhere in the middle - both linear and complex in

his approach.<P>

 

This Allard book is terrific. It describes in detail (for those not

familiar with it) Allard's photographic biography and his approach to

each of the major projects he's been involved with. It also goes

into some detail as to his equipment, views on various focal lengths,

etc. For instance, here is the list of gear for a three week

assignment in Mississippi:<P>

 

"- Four SLR bodies (Leica R4s)<BR>

- Two rangefinder bodies (M6s)<BR>

- Eleven lenses, seven of them for the SLRs:<BR>

19mm ('almost never use it')<BR>

24mm ('use rarely')<BR>

28mm ('sometimes')<BR>

35mm ('my workhorse')<BR>

50mm ('I use it more and more')<BR>

80mm ('as long as I usually need')<BR>

180mm ('sometimes')<BR>

and four for the rangefinders, a 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 90mm<BR>

- Three flash units:<BR>

1 Metz handle-mount<BR>

1 Vivitar 283<BR>

1 small Mecablitz Hotshoe-mount<BR>

and a few small "pocket" strobes<BR>

- One small Tupperware box with a square hole cut in the lid, to fit

over the strobe head as a diffuser<BR>

- Film: 'I brought more than I figured i'd use: a couple hundred

roles of Kodachrome 64, a couple bricks of Kodachrome 200, and a few

roles of high-speed tungsten Ektachrome."<BR>

- One tripod ('I should use it more')<BR>

- Extra batteries<BR>

- Several felt-tip pens for labeling film canisters<BR>

- Caption Books<BR>

- Expense report books<BR>

- Not to mention five hats, nine pipes, one-and-a-half pounds of

Royal Viking Plus tobacco, and a fifth of George Dickel bourbon

whiskey.<P>

 

"Allard apologizes for the overkill. 'Most of the pictures I take,

and that I've had published, could be made with one of two or three

lenses - pretty much in the 35mm-50mm-90mm range.' [. . .] It says

something about Allard's sensitivity to light and his preference for

marginal lighting conditions that he owns three 50mm lenses for his

rangefinders: an f/2, an f/1.4, and an ultra-fast f/1 lens

[. . .]. 'Much of my work is done at maximum aperture,' he

says, 'and, even then, in the hail Mary range of shutter speeds.'"<P>

 

Most interesting of all though is the insight this book gives into

Allard's intensity and dedication to his work - almost like a recipe

book for improving your own efforts. I've spent probably more time

trying to avoid his influence, as trying to emulate him. That says

something for his impact. I'd be interested in hearing what others

think of this most National Geographic of <I>Geographic</I>

photographers.

When was the book published? Last I heard he was using EOS as SLR.

The book was published in 1989 and is currently out of print.

Where did you hear he used an EOS? Maybe it's true, but I couldn't find any indication of it in google. In any event, his main camera appears to be still the M6 - as witness his recent story on India's <a href=http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0306/feature1/zoom5.html>Dalits</a> - that seems to be the only camera he used on the assignment. I wonder if he still smokes tobacco and drinks George Dickel? He still shoots with a good eye.

Oh, and, yeah, the book is out of print - but available at your local library. That's where I borrowed my copy from.

And of course those should be <I>rolls</I> of film; <I>roles</I> are what we play here.

Doug,

 

For a three-week stint in Mississippi, I would also recommend:

 

one can of mosquito repellent.

:) Bet he'll add that to the list for next time.

WAA is also featured in the 1995 NG video "The Photographers".

James Stanfield, Sam Abell, and others are also featured.

Probably find it at your local library also.

Allard IS wonderful, but my favorite NG photographer is Jim Brandenburg.

 

In the Nov. 1997 NG edition he has a presentation called "North Woods Journal" in which he disciplined himself to take only ONE photo each day on a 90 day trek in the isolated wilderness of Minnesota and Ontario Canada. This became a most beautiful book titled, "Chased by the Light." This inspired me greatly, and caused me to think about what we do in photography. I have two NG copies of this article...I don't have the book.

 

But, think about it: you go out on a trek anywhere and you allow yourself to take only ONE photo...what do you photograph?

 

Wow, I just couldn't do it!

You can see some of his work in the latest issue of the NG Traveler, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/

 

He visits Siena in the Tuscany region og Italy. The pics are better in mag than on the site.

I was there (again) this summer and can only agree that it is a fantastic piazza. If I had gotten around to buy a scanner I would have shown some M6 and XPan pics, but do get the magazine

The book also talks about his getting fired from NG because of personality problems there and his horrible marriage/family problems caused by being the type of driven photographer he is.

 

I used to think that I wanted to be a NG photographer. But after I realized what I had to give up to get there, it didn't look so appealing.

Hi

 

Josh: David Alan Harvey also had a failed marriage. Ah the price of being a National Geographic photographer....that's why i like Sam Abell so much. He seems to be the only guy able to have not only a close r/s with his wife, but also his late father.

 

Doug: Allard does use an EOS camera now in addition to his Leica M6. in the book "National Geographic photography Field Guide" there's a section on him and it states that he has since switched to Canon's EOS system. it has a short mention on him preferring the EOS for doing low light fill flash photography.

 

the latest edition of the book, which came out this yr shows no change to that feature.

Doug--good take on Allard. I always love those lists of equipment. American

Photographer -- is now American Photo or some such -- use to do "camera

bag" features. They'd get a photographers camera bag and "dump it out" and

photograph all the stuff they carry.

 

BTW, it's just not NGS and failed marriages. Most good photojournalists I

know have at least one failed marriage. Wierd hours, traveling and other stuff

lead to extreme disruptions in personal life. My (second) wife and I didn't

have children until I was in my late 40's. (more info than you probably

need--sorry).

 

Doug, as I said--good piece on Bill Allard.

Doug,

Thanks for sharing your insights. I'll be looking for this book. Allard is one of my favorites. A photography teacher turned me on to him. Thanks again.

At least in the US failed marriages are at or above 50% so I don't really think you can infer too much from the stats of NG or any other photographers. As long as your wife gets to spend an equal amount on clothes or jewelry as you do on camera gear, you should be on par with everyone else in terms of the odds ;>)

Jay wrote: "At least in the US failed marriages are at or above 50%"

<p>

Not true!

<p>

This oft-repeated canard is a misinterpretation of the statistic that, in any given year in the US, the number of divorces is approximately half the number of marriages <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/mvsr/supp/44-43/mvs43_13.htm">(National Center for Health Statistics at the CDC reference #1)</a>. Therefore, the "50% of marriages end in divorce" statement would only be true if the average length of marriage for marriages that end in divorce was one year. In fact, it's over _seven_ years <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/mvsr/supp/44-43/mvs43_9s.htm">(National Center for Health Statistics at the CDC reference #2)</a>

<p>

Nothing to do with Leicas or Allard, but this mis-statistic needs to be put out of its misery.

"Likelihood of new marriages ending in divorce in 1997: 43% "

 

http://www.divorcemag.com/statistics/statsUS.shtml

 

I guess our throw-away society likes to discard marriages as well! Fortunately this hasn't happened to me.

I dunno, empirically I'd say the d-rate is higher than 50%. All but two of my lifelong friends and most of the acquaintances I run into have been divorced, and according to my boy, he's the only one from about a hundred friends he knows going all the way back to elementary school whose biological parents are still married to each other.

Yeah, it feels that way for my acquaintances also. It may just be that our samples aren't that representative of the entire country. There are a number of factors that affect likelihood of divorce. For example, people of Asian descent in the US have a lower divorce rate than non-Asians. Also, being older at marriage drops the divorce rate (women married <18 years old have a divorce rate of 48% in 10 years, vs 24% for those >25yo).

 

Regardless of the exact number, I agree that it's higher than ideal. And the problem is likely to get worse as people who's parents were divorced are more likely to get divorced.

 

(statistics still from the CDC, this time a recent report titled "Cohabitation, Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage in the United States" available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_23/sr23_022.pdf)

I'm just amazed Pinkhassov got a mention within these pages. He certainly is a great talent. Nice going Doug!

Thanks for the info. Doug,

 

Just to let you guys know, David Allen Harvey will be featured at the Leica Gallery Starting October 21 at the Leica Gallery in NYC. The Openning reception will be on Thursday, October 20th. at 6pm.

Felix, do photogs make appearances at their respective opening receptions as well as on their book-signing dates?

"I dunno, empirically I'd say the d-rate is higher than 50%. All but two of my lifelong friends and most of the acquaintances I run into have been divorced, and according to my boy, he's the only one from about a hundred friends he knows going all the way back to elementary school whose biological parents are still married to each other."

 

That's called "anecdotal evidence," and since your sample size is far smaller than the population, your results have a huge margin of error.

I like Allard's work, but that list of equipment he claims to carry would require a pack mule. He needs 6 cameras? Why does he think anyone would care?