I have just discovered George Zimbel

I've always been interested in B&W and hopefully start shooting in the next two weeks.

Someone at work posted up a ink to his work, stating some of it was quite old but very good. Needless to say, I was surprised. I love his work and the photo's he produces. I don't know much about photographers in general, but I do know that I like his work!

Just thought I'd share :)

Can you share the link? :)

Sure thing :)

http://georgezimbel.com/collection/n...tern-railroad/

He does have more than railway stuff, just click through his collection.

Thanks for sharing that link, danic. That's great stuff. He has a great eye for details and wonderful timing.

Looking through the photos on that site I was struck by how few photos were actually sharp. But it doesn't matter. His content is strong enough that technical perfection isn't an issue. I believe that our current auto focus, high-resolution cameras make us think too much about the technical aspects of photography. To some extent, we as a group, have forgotten about content. Many classic black-and-white photos aren't perfectly sharp. It's a lot harder to get things perfectly focused when you are following a moving subject with a manual focus ring. Consider old sports photos. How many of them were actually perfectly focused or without any motion blur?

Just thinking...

Photo-John:

Quote:

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Looking through the photos on that site I was struck by how few photos were actually sharp. But it doesn't matter. His content is strong enough that technical perfection isn't an issue. I believe that our current auto focus, high-resolution cameras make us think too much about the technical aspects of photography. To some extent, we as a group, have forgotten about content. Many classic black-and-white photos aren't perfectly sharp. It's a lot harder to get things perfectly focused when you are following a moving subject with a manual focus ring. Consider old sports photos. How many of them were actually perfectly focused or without any motion blur?

Just thinking.

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I'm so glad you said that. Recently I've been giving this type of thing some thought. Personally I've gotten too obsessive about sharpness/color - and finding the perfect cameras/lenses.

Walker Evans is one of my favorite photographers - I have the book "Walker Evans: Photographs for the Farm Security Administration 1935-1938" photographs for which he is so well known. This book includes some of my favorite b&w photographs. They certainly are not technically perfect and include "stuff" that if I were the photographer would have removed from the frame. BUT! as you mentioned, John, it's the content, the human element and human interest, and in this case history. They're intriguing - I can view them many times over tirelessly.

Danic:
Thanks for the link - I'm going to spend more on it later when I return home.

Liz

Ah, film :)

...you should all shoot with Holgas more often.
What a wonderful world of soft focus and vignetting it would be!
Okay - going to check out Zimbel's photos now.

...the New Orleans series is pretty great too. I love Marilyn as well.
Thanks for sharing, it's neat to see such a lifetime of good work.

Thanks for the link :)

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Originally Posted by Liz

...Walker Evans is one of my favorite photographers - I have the book "Walker Evans: Photographs for the Farm Security Administration 1935-1938" photographs for which he is so well known. This book includes some of my favorite b&w photographs. They certainly are not technically perfect and include "stuff" that if I were the photographer would have removed from the frame. BUT! as you mentioned, John, it's the content, the human element and human interest, and in this case history. They're intriguing - I can view them many times over tirelessly...

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Funny you mentioned Walker. I just got a fantastic book of his work in today from the Aperture History of Photography Series...

http://www.amazon.com/Walker-Evans-A.../dp/0893810428

Cheers girls and guys,

I'm just struck by his images and how he has turned an everyday scene into something special, for me at least :)

It has broadened my horizon on photography and I'm just itching to start shooting HP5.