[pg 11]
Evaded the Statute, but Made a Picture
See [Cables]
“Cables” is the pictorial result of several months' study of the Brooklyn Bridge towers. When I found the composition I wanted, the rest was easy. Except for the police. To a Bridge policeman anything on a tripod is a movie camera, and that means: “Some guy's gonna jump! Where's he at?” I evaded, not the law, but the majesty thereof—and with an 8×10 view camera.
The light was bad. (My lens would give an optical savant brain fever; I designed it myself.) I used the rising front to the limit, and stopped down to F:11 to cover the plate. Result, under-exposure, at one-sixtieth. I developed first in Rodinal, 1:120; then finished in Rodinal 1:30. Stanley plates can endure much cruelty. The print for reproduction is made on matte Azo, soft, using strong M.-Q. developer.
Arthur D. Chapman.
A Few Beliefs of a Negative Tendency
See [The Bugle Call]
I believe that the data of camera, plate, lens, exposure, paper, etc., have no essential value as aids in pictorial photography.
That pictures are made with the camera by feeling alone. The selection of the subject, the lighting, the composition, the exposure and development, and the after-treatment and selection of the printing medium, are all a matter of feeling.