Mirror image of Pepper #30 in Weston Collection.

[allenspencer]

I've just gotten Edward Weston & Tina Madotti: The Mexico Years. And the print

of Pepper #30 is a mirror image of all other prints of it that I've seen. Has

anyone else seen this?

 

Just thought it was odd.

[oxide blu]

Haven't seen it, read tons on Madotti, and Weston. I don't know the book you mention. Weston wrote his Day Books during those years, and of course, Madotti was never allowed back into the US.

 

One of the two best parts of Weston's Day Book is when he came back to California and Madotti was still in Mexico and occasionally sending Weston images she made, and Weston writes in his Day Book something to the effect "she has finally surpassed my ability with a camera. She is better than me." Or something like that.

 

I recall the pepper images being made in Monterey/Carmel California BEFORE Weston went to Mexico. Perhaps I am remembering incorrectly and it was after? Anyways, they were very long exposures made on a wooden table that was frequently ruined by trucks driving by on the road outside. Vibrations. That and his kid (Brett?) ate one of the three peppers he was given and was photographing inside a funnel on the table.

 

Fwiw, Weston's famous picture of the nautilus shell in the funnel, on the same table, was made around the same time.

 

Pepper #30:

 

http://www.masters-of-photography.com/W/weston/weston_pepper_number30_full.html

[david j.lee]

those peppers were made after he returned to the united states the second time and never

went back to Mexico again. i don't recall Weston writing in his daybooks that Tina finally

surpassed his ability with a camera ( i'll have to check ) but she did send photographs to him

from Mexico, including some by Alvarez Bravo.

[robertshults]

I would say the definitive orientation is the one shown here:

 

http://www.edward-weston.com/

 

Of course, the orientation shown at the link above is the standard one as best I can tell. I

suppose mistakes in that regard are not impossible, but it sure seems unlikely.

 

Interestingly, just today I experienced a similar phenomenon with the following Alfred

Stieglitz photograph.

 

http://www.masters-of-photography.com/S/stieglitz/stieglitz_equivalent_1930_full.html

 

The layout shown in the link is the one I've typically seen reproduced, but, today, I picked

up a book entitled "Literary Admirers of Alfred Stieglitz" (an interesting text on several

mid-century writers who acknowledged being influenced by Stieglitz's photos). The book

includes a plate of the image linked to above, but it is oriented vertically, with the glimpse

of tree branch in the lower left-hand corner.

 

I am presently teaching a workshop in which we have viewed several Stieglitz images,

including the one linked above, so I brought the book in. Frankly, we all agreeed that the

photograph is more powerful when oriented vertically. Suddenly we all seemed to "get it".

Don't know how it is actually supposed to look, but, if the book has a misprint, it sure is a

lucky one.