The Lemon Fool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14ih3WgeOLs

One of the greats of photography and I found this 18 minute short on youtube which is just H C B in his own words with some of his greatest photographs.

I enjoyed listening to his thoughts both on photography and life.

John

Many years ago one of my favourite shopping avoidant strategies when visiting London was to spend the afternoon in the print room of the V&A where any Jo Bloggs could ask to view a box of prints from their collection. it was a great way to enjoy photographs and I still remember how nice it was to have a box of some of HCBs most famous photos to gaze at while sitting at a desk with a lectern, mounted but unframed (we were given cotton gloves) and printed by the man himself. There was something about the quality of print produced, not sure if it was the old negative film or the Leica lenses used but the mid tones had a nice quality to them that was not found in modern black and white prints at that time.

colin wrote:Many years ago one of my favourite shopping avoidant strategies when visiting London was to spend the afternoon in the print room of the V&A where any Jo Bloggs could ask to view a box of prints from their collection. it was a great way to enjoy photographs and I still remember how nice it was to have a box of some of HCBs most famous photos to gaze at while sitting at a desk with a lectern, mounted but unframed (we were given cotton gloves) and printed by the man himself. There was something about the quality of print produced, not sure if it was the old negative film or the Leica lenses used but the mid tones had a nice quality to them that was not found in modern black and white prints at that time.

Actually, I don't think they were printed by the man himself. I have heard it said that HCB was a bit of a dilettante and that his pictures would not have received the attention they did if he had not employed a top printmaker.

The print quality would reflect the quality of the photographic paper.

Ah that's interesting to know . I guess with the amount of travelling he did seeking out darkrooms around the world would have been somewhat impractical, perhaps that's one of the reasons he co founded Magnum?