Wright Morris

howdy folks!

would anyone happen to know what developing & printing technique Wright Morris used for his beautiful shots of the silos & old buildings?

i have a 4x5 toyo view and an older rolleicord.

i love detail shots and the view camera clarity. can anyone recommend a current film/developer/paper that may come close?

i expect i'll get a lot of opinions, but that's ok! fire away!

Randall,

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What a delight to see the name of Wright Morris raised after all

this time! He's a hero of mine who preserved the slices of time

in his own life and set them aside in the hope that we might get

a glimpse into the way things were.

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It seems there was a show of his work at the Sheldon memorial

Art Gallery entitled "Structures and Artifacts, Photographs

1933-1954" Most of the agricultural structures I've seen of his

are dated in the 1940's so that precludes Tri-X and possibly even

Super XX. So let's go to the source and see what Wright has to

say:

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"On Cape Cod, in the summer of 1939, I moved up from the

Rolleiflex to a 3.25 x 4.25 speed graphic, with a Schneider

Angulon, and dreamed of a 4x5 Linhof. With the affluence of a

Guggenheim Fellowship I acquired a 4x5 graphic view camera

and a long-sought-for seven-element anastigmatic lens whose

name I haave forgotten. I'm not proud of that. It might have been

a Steinheil. It was a great satisfaction just to possess it.

Fine-grain Panatomic film packs suited my purpose, as did

Eastman's Velour-Black paper. An amidol solution, which I

varied in strength, gave me the deep blacks I wanted. As an

image maker, I emphasised structure at the expense of a full

range of tones. Never having shaown a faculty for chemical

solutions, I have left the developing of the film, with few

exceptions, to the laboratories."

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Wright Morris quoted from the essay 'The Romantic Realist'

page 26 in "Time Pieces ... Photogrpahs, Writing and Memory" -

Aperture ISBN: 0-89381-382-6

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If you have not read Wright's essays you must. Folk like him are

too far apart to ignore.

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Cheers, ... Walter

Sorry Randall,

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I forgot to address your query about contemporary materials.

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I shoot similar subjects in the built environment and, although

the new T-Max and Delta films perform splendidly in tandem with

new brews, I find that the results I get on 120 (6x12) using Ilford

Pan F and developing in Rodinal 1+100 please me very much.

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Some subjects demand more tones than Mozart and I use the

tabular grain films for them, but there are also times when a toe

and a shoulder can do you proud.

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Hope this helps ... Walter

"...as did Eastman's Velour-Black paper"

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I thought Dupont made Velour Black.

If I understand correctly, Cachet bought the license for Dupont Velour

and manufactures it as Cachet graded Expo paper. I have tried only

their multigrade Multibrom paper and have found it radically different

from most fiber based papers. I have had good luck with Edwal Ultra

Black on these papers.

I just did a Google search and answered my own question. All I can

say is WOW!!!!

I'm also a Wright Morris fan having stumbled onto his aperture book

"Time Pieces" at a used book store one vacation. It's probably

counterproductive to try to turn the clock back to 1940.

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Interestingly though Kodak Panatomic F is still in production (still

catalogued at any rate) as Panatomic-X Aerecon II #3412 4mil estar

base, and 2412 7 mil estar base. I bought a 5" X 200 foot roll on

Ebay a while ago and have thoroughly enjoyed using it in the 5X7.

It's almost too much trouble for 4X5. You have to cut to length, and

since it doesn't have the thick base that we're used to with

sheetfilm, tray development is the only way possible. I shoot it at

ASA 32 and it is very contrasty in ABC+ Pyro. 3 1/2 to 4 minutes is

normal for full development. The Estar base precludes almost any

stain. I have a difficult time getting a perfect focus in the

enlarger because THERE IS NO GRAIN! It's like Tech pan without all

the baloney. As you might expect with grain structure like that,

tonality is endless. Oh yeah, 5X7 negs are 17 cents each........just

like 1940!

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If you're new to 4X5 don't go looking for that stuff. You'll drive

yourself crazy! I also use Arista 125 speed sheet film from Freestyle

Sales Co. in Los Angeles which is Ilford FP4. Now that is a good

starting point. A very forgiving film that does what it's supposed

to. And fabulous in Pyro. I'm leaning towards Forte Fiber papers. I

must be the only one because they're getting harder to find. (means

freestyle doesn't have them any more.) Bergger has some very nice

papers too, but pricey.

Ah! Somebody out there is noticing Wright! I have one of his books

a beautiful old copy of... darn I packed it away for the new carpet.

Still it's good to hear his name. Beautiful work, some lovely books

at powells books and e-bay. I'd never thought to ask what kind of

film and developing he did. Great idea.

I am also a huge fan of Wright Morris. (Well, I am not that huge,

although I ate a lot of Key Lime Pie on my Florida vacation last

week.) I have several of his books, including a first edition of "The

Inhabitants." I am interested in his images but also in his photo-

texts, which were ahead of their time and not appreciated as much as

they should have been. He received more acclaim for his novels. Anyone

who works with photography and text together should study what he has

done, presenting these media side-by-side as one work, each with a

great sense of place and time, structure and light.