Bernd Becher, but no M8

[ChrisC]

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Film based view-camera work in the professional domain is all but dead, and its demise in favour of faster, more fluid shooting styles has effected what constitutes a well made contemporary photograph; the M8 plugs directly into these contemporary picture norms.

 

I have previously expressed the suspicion I have that the M8 is really a tripod camera that is also capable of being used hand held. The bulk of my last 25 years photography has been made using a tripod, whether it was view-camera or '120' rangefinder, I like the discipline the tripod gives in helping me define the photograph I think I am about to make. With the M8 I use a spirit level, and viewing loupe to examine the screen as I did with my view-camera, I think it inevitable that I will go the final yard and carry a black cloth with me so I can contemplate the M8 screen and actually see it's image in daylight. Of course the M8 does not have camera movements unfortunately.

 

 

Whilst my decision to downsize to the M8 came after a two year appraisal of my photography and I do not regret the decision, something special has been relinquished by moving away from the full image control the view-camera gives. I was pondering this stuff this morning and thinking about how technology changes our pictures when I visited Mike Johnson's site.

 

Bernd Becher has died, his meticulous and beautifully made photographs [with his wife Hilla] belong to a pre-digital era but are as photographically compelling as when I first came across them 30 years ago. I am not going to return to view-camera work, but in the greed for speed I am in no doubt that the gains digital gives in working efficiency has losses for the pictures. Some of my favourite personal photographs are ones that I previously ignored on the contact sheet, in one case for ten years - but every time I went through the contact sheets this one image winked at me until I finally relented and printed it; and discovered what my own work had been trying to tell me for a decade. That 'gestation' time for images is what we are losing by accenting immediacy, which brings me back to Bernd Becher and the antithesis of motordriven photography, If you want to say goodbye to a true master, try:

 

The Online Photographer

 

....................Chris

[sean_reid]

I'm sorry to hear about Bernd Becher. I used to do a lot of my work with view cameras and when I want to retain some degree of that control now, I use tilt/shift lenses on EOS bodies.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

[scott kirkpatrick]

The precision and control that can be achieved with a view camera is only an element in support of what I think the Bechers contributed. They made us look at everyday utilitarian structures in a new light, as opportunities for individual design. Even when affectionately parodied (as in Andreas Gursky's Pfoertner pictures -- night watchmen at their stations in the lobbies of Duesseldorf office buildings are posed as "utilitarian objects") the dead-serious approach gives a weight to the "objects" that stays with us when we see them again. If we see them again, since part of the Becher's work was to document an era in the industrial heartland of Germany that has now vanished, as it also has in the US midwest.

 

I don't see why a Leica (perhaps on a tripod) cannot produce as carefully constructed a picture as is needed for this formal approach. Take a look at the photos by Julio Bittencourt in the current LFI to see one example.

 

scott

[blakley]

This is a loss but in an important way not sad. I love the Bechers' work (I'm constantly on the hunt for Becher books I don't already have), and I think Bernd Becher's life is something to be celebrated. He had accomplishment, recognition, and a long life shared in every sense with a true partner. His was not a career cut short by tragedy (like Mapplethorpe's) or spent in poverty and obscurity, like so many artists'. If every talented photographer could be so blessed, photo forums would be happy places indeed.

 

When I go to the reception for the conference I'm attending tonight, I'll round up a few photographer friends and we'll raise a glass to Bernd Becher and what he's left us. I invite all of you to do the same, physically or metaphorically.

[tashley]

Some of my favourite personal photographs are ones that I previously ignored on the contact sheet, in one case for ten years - but every time I went through the contact sheets this one image winked at me until I finally relented and printed it; and discovered what my own work had been trying to tell me for a decade. That 'gestation' time for images is what we are losing by accenting immediacy....................Chris

 

Hi Chris,

 

I agree thoroughly: this is why I spend a lot of money on storage - I almost never delete a shot, because there's that little nag at the back of my mind that if I did, it might continue winking at me but blindly!

 

The gear may be getting more uniform but the way in which individuals use and relate to it isn't, as your post so clearly shows!

 

All the Best

 

Tim

[Guest sirvine]

The digital process can be as contemplative and serious as any other. Gursky does great digital manipulations, and there are new generations that get the richness of it.

[ChrisC]

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Thank you for your replies, and as expected, appreciation of Bernd Becher's contribution to photography

 

The digital process can be as contemplative and serious as any other. .....

 

Sol - It can indeed, but it's nature accents speed and immediacy, attributes that reluctantly lend themselves contemplative and 'gestational' photography. For some subjects the view camera with full, and large movements is the best tool for formal picture making, and I think it's working process does lend itself to contemplative and 'gestational' photography. I am not obsessing on this, but I think it appropriate to consider what we lose with our digital gains even though I have no intention of returning to my old way of working.

 

Tim - There's a joke in there somewhere about digital winking bringing joy, but I'm far too serious and contemplative to find it.

 

..........................Chris