Life's Little Adventures

The Avedon Years, Part XLVIV

       IN MEMORIAM

Frank Finocchio (May 6, 1924 - Sept. 18, 2010)

My mentor and friend joined the Avedon studio in September 1953 as Studio Manager and remained in that position until leaving in early 1962.

Frank's credit line on Avedon's 1959 book Observations reads in part:

"We want to thank Frank Finocchio, a wine-loving Sicilian who sings Puccini as he works at his work of photographic printing, a craft in which he has set new standards of excellence..." 

It was Frank who taught me nearly everything I know about studio lighting and darkroom magic. And about the sheer joy he brought to our work. 

Thanks, Frank. It was good to know you.

 

SO, just what Little Adventure am I up to now in 2012? Why, just the most challenging one of them all! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT.

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Just a Reminder

Just a reminder to check out my other blog:

www.assistingavedon.com

It's all about the new book I'm writing about my experiences in the 1950s and 60s assisting the famous photographer Richard Avedon. CLICK the link to visit.

 

SO, just what Little Adventure am I up to now in 2012? Why, just the most challenging one of them all! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT.

Our Studio, Part XXIII

A few weeks ago I was reminiscing about the times in 1968 when my business partner Jim Houghton and I did photographic assignments for Time-Life Books, and especially about our photo essay on the power brokers, movers and shakers in Washington D.C. Completed over a period of several days, it covered no fewer than 63 individuals spread over some 13 pages. This book, The District of Columbia — The Seat of Government, and another one that we did on the Middle Atlantic States were part of the TIME-LIFE Library of America series. Since I haven't seen these books, or even any of the photos, in about 35 years, I did a Google search and found a used copy on Amazon for a mere $4. Here's the story behind it:

 

Photos above are of, left to right, Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, Speaker of the House John McCormack, and House Minority Leader Gerald Ford.

  

For our first book in in the Time-Life Library of America series, on the Middle Atlantic States, we opted to use a large 8x10 view camera outdoors, emulating the work of Richard Avedon — whom both of us had assisted a few years earlier. This time, however, we chose to use handheld Mamiyaflex TLR cameras loaded with 120 Tri-X film, and portable strobe lights. Since this equipment was small, instead of driving we flew down on the wonderful old Eastern Shuttle, which required no reservations, used old Elektra turboprops, and left from LaGuardia Airport in New York. At Washington National Airport we rented a car, drove to a Holiday Inn in Arlington VA, and then set off for the first sitting in the Capitol Office buildings. This was of the Agricultural Committee, who claimed that this was the only time ever that every member showed up!

 The next day we were to work in the Capitol Building itself, so we drove there and looked for a place to park. The most convenient spot was right under the Capitol steps, from which a door led to where we were going. I doubt if you could get away with this today, what with security precautions, but no one bothered us and we left the car there until late afternoon. The most memorable session that day was of the House Minority Leader, Gerald Ford, who engaged me in a long conversation about building a home darkroom. This was before he became President.

Security was also rather lax at the White House, where we drove right in and parked at the door to the West Wing. A guard did check our papers, but never inspected the vehicle or its contents. Actually, President Johnson was out of town at the time, and we were to photograph his special assistant, Joseph Califano, who was called the "Deputy President for Domestic Affairs" by the New York Times. After we finished, he showed us into the Oval Office for a quick look around. I was sorely tempted to liberate a souvenir, but didn't.

Photos on the right are of Presidential Special Assistant Joseph Califano and his staff.

Now I'm interested in finding the other book in the series, as well as the one we did for Time-Life on gardening.

Photos and book text copyright © 1968 Time Inc., used non-commercially under Fair Use Doctrine to illustrate my story.

Blog text copyright © 2010 by Earl Steinbicker

 

SO, just what Little Adventure am I up to now in 2012? Why, just the most challenging one of them all! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT.

 

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PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTOGRAPHY

My fascination with cameras began at about age 5, and by age 12 I had my own darkroom. At age 18 I became an assistant to the famous photographer Richard Avedon, and later his studio manager. Then, in 1965 a friend and I opened our own commercial studio in New York City, which thrived for the next 15 years. Although I am now a writer and book editor, I still take plenty of pictures for those books and for this blog. And also because I enjoy it so much.

CLICK ON the links below for the full story. 

STARTING OUT IN PHOTOGRAPHY...An early start leads to a big break. Long before I ever though of travel or publishing, I developed an interest in photography, which led to becoming an assistant to one of the world's greatest photographers. So, to start at the beginning:

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART I: Becoming a Professional Photographer. How a 17-year-old high school senior in Allentown, PA contacted the great master, asked for a job — and got it.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART II: My First Career Begins. Freshly graduated and just turned 18, it's off to New York City and a new life.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART III: First Months On The Job. It wasn't all fun, but some of it was. And that's what I remember.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART IV: Assisting Richard Avedon. More little adventures, from California to Jamaica.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART V: How Those Great B&W Prints Were Made. The inside story about now-obsolete darkroom techniques.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART VI: A Milestone is Reached — California 1955. The greatest adventure of my life up until then.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART VII: Assisting Richard Avedon — 1959-1962. Back from my army service, I move up the ladder at the Avedon studio.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART VIII: The First Time I Saw Paris. Now promoted to studio manager, I get the big annual assignment to work in Europe.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART IX: Changes Come To The Avedon Studio. New technologies are adopted for greater efficiency. Alas, they are now completely obsolete.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART X: The Famous Photographers School. A mostly-forgotten part of Avedon's career is remembered.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XI: Nothing Personal. Adventures in producing a most unusual book of photographs by the great master.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XII: Photographing The Beatles. We're off to London in January 1965 to photograph Fab Four, as astronauts no less.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XIII: A Hanging at the Smithsonian. We hang an exhibition of Avedon's photographs in the Smithsonian Institution in 1962.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XIV: Covering the Paris Collections. It's off to Paris for the Fall Couture Collections.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XV: My First Experience at Writing for Pay. My position with Avedon opens new opportunities.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XVI: Defiling a castle in Spain. We do forbidden photos at the Alhambra, then flee the country.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XVII: About Cameras. What cameras did Avedon use? Find out here.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XVIII: The Kennedys. Avedon takes pre-inaugural portraits of the First Family.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XIX: Personal Life. Find out a bit about his personal life.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XX: Lighting Techniques. How Avedon lit his pictures in the earlier years.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XXI: Avedon's Studios. This thread begins with a description and floor plan of his studio in the early 1950s.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XXII: Avedon's Other Side. How advertising photography financed his creative side.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XXIII: Photographing Hair in the Sun. A series of fun-filled location trips for Clairol hair products.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XXIV: Avedon's Real Talent. A look into just what made him so great — it wasn't cameras or photographic skills.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XXV: Avedon's Studios, Part 2. The studio moved to East 49th Street in 1954.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XXVII: Assisting Avedon. About the people who worked for and with him in the 1950s and '60s.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XXVI: An Invitation to Participate. An appeal for more information about his life. 

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XXVIII: Leaving Avedon. I finally got up the nerve to head out on my own.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XXIX: Visiting the Avedon Foundation. I am invited to an interview and video session in New York. 

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XXX: The 58th Street Studio, with a floor diagram and lighting setup.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XXXI: Mobility in Studio Lighting. Avedon's use of hand-held lights.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XXXII: Music and the Wind makes the studio hum. 

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XXXIII: How La Dolce Vita influenced the master.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XXXIV: Mug Shots: Portraits of Power.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XXXV: Testing, 1-2-3. How we maintained quality film processing.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XXXVI: Why 8x10? Why Avedon used a large-format camera.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XXXVII: About That Ubiquitous White Background. How Avedon isolated his subjects from any context.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XXXVIII: Museum exhibitions. Two new exhibitions of the master's work, in Amsterdam and New York.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XXXIX: On Being an Assistant Photographer. Some advice for those interested.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XL: Avedon's books. A roundup of books by and about Richard Avedon.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XLI: Darkness & Light. PBS American Masters' homage to Avedon, on DVD.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XLII: Paying for Portraits? Avedon chose his subjects; they didn't chose him.

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XLIII: When Photography Became Art. 

THE AVEDON YEARS, PART XLIV: Think Pink - The Making of Funny Face. 

OUR PHOTO STUDIO, PART I: How, with little money and few contacts, Jim and I took the plunge and went out on our own.

OUR PHOTO STUDIO, PART II: Business Begins. Those first clients and how they got us off the ground.

OUR PHOTO STUDIO, PART III: We move to Fifth Avenue. Now profitable, Steinbicker/Houghton Inc. moves to new quarters on New York's Fifth Avenue.

OUR PHOTO STUDIO, PART IV: On assignment for Time-Life Books, we travel to Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington D.C. to photograph all sorts of people, including some in the Capitol and the White House.

OUR STUDIO, PART V: Touring the Pacific for Pan Am.

OUR PHOTO STUDIO, PART VI: Working on the railroad. We do assignments for Amtrak and I get to ride up front with the engineer.

OUR PHOTO STUDIO, PART VII: Shooting fashions in Jamaica. We spend a week with a famous designer away from the tourist haunts.

OUR STUDIO, PART VIII: What's a Go-See? How both photographers and their models develop skills and build portfolios.

OUR STUDIO, PART IX: Los Angeles on Pocket Change.

OUR STUDIO, PART X: Rockin' in the Bahamas. We travel to Nassau to do an album cover for prog rockers Emerson. Lake & Palmer.

OUR STUDIO, PART XI: To Specialize or not to Specialize — That is the Question.

OUR STUDIO, PART XII: Highway to Hell — we do the cover for AC/DC's first really big rock album.

OUR STUDIO, PART XIII: Hard times in the Photo Business — an attempt to unionize New York's commercial photography fails.

OUR STUDIO, PART XIV: Working on a Movie Set for TWA — we do advertising photos inside a plane mockup in Los Angeles.

OUR STUDIO, PART XV: Why we HAD to be in New York, why no place else would do.

OUR STUDIO, PART XVI: Our first photo assignment in Europe. We capture the visual essence of three operas.

OUR STUDIO, PART XVII: The Cameras We Used.

OUR STUDIO, PART XVIII: Location Vans.

OUR STUDIO, PART XIX: Photographing Chicago (The Band, not the City).

OUR STUDIO, PART XX: A Chance Meeting with a King.

OUR STUDIO, PART XXI: Photographic Studio Lighting for Hair and Cosmetics.

ADVENTURES IN SUPER 8: I try making movies.

CONVERTING SUPER 8 TO DVD: Includes a sample viseo!

CONVERTING COLOR PHOTOS TO B&W: How a once difficult procedure was made easy.

PHOTOGRAPHER'S ASSISTANTS: An article I wrote in a trade journal back in 1965 about the hiring of assist photographers and what to look for in them. 

MY JUNK CAMERAS: A professional photographer admits his love of oddball cameras.

RESURRECTION: Bringing the junk cameras back to life.

My Junk Cameras, Part III: The first results are in.

LARGE FORMAT PHIOTOGRAPHY FORUM: A discussion group about big cameras.

A Fond Farewell To Kodachrome: After a 74-year run, Kodak's classic color film is being retired.

Flipping for the Flip: A tiny new video camera enters my life.

A Long-Forgotten Photographic Process: Turning black-and-white photos into full color back in the 1950s.

 

My New Blog:

CLICK BELOW TO VIEW:

www.assistingavedon.com

SO, just what Little Adventure am I up to now in 2012? Why, just the most challenging one of them all! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT.

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The Avedon Years, Part IX: New Technologies

CHANGES COME TO THE AVEDON STUDIO

CLICK HERE for the previous entry in this thread.

After I became Richard Avedon's studio manager in early 1962, I began adopting new photographic technologies that were cutting edge in that pre-digital era — but may be more than a bit quaint today. If these things fascinate you for historical reasons, stay with me. Otherwise, you might find something of interest elsewhere on this blog. Or not.

This may get somewhat technical. You have been warned.

Actually, we had already adopted the Thomas Strobe Meter (photo, right, in its carry case) a year earlier, in 1961. Until then, getting a correct exposure with electronic "strobe" lights was a hit-or-miss experience. Oh, there was an earlier meter made by, I think, General Radio, but it was a nightmare to use. Fred Thomas, a photographer with a background in electronics, set about solving the problems and invented a compact unit that really worked. Other photographers took note, and asked him to build them one, too. Soon Fred set up the Thomas Instrument Company to manufacture these goodies. With this hand-held unit, all you had to do was walk out on the set, aim the meter at the camera lens, and fire off a flash. It then told you the exact f/stop, to a small fraction, to use. And it was deadly accurate. Of course, it worked on analog principles and used tiny vacuum tubes, so it had to be "warmed up" and "zeroed in" before use. Today's meters are smaller, all digital, and usually measure both flash and ambient light.

Soon after that, in late 1961, we began using BALCAR portable studio strobes for location work. These were a immense improvement over the ASCOR units we used in the studio — which weighed a ton (or more!), occupied at least 12 square feet of floor space, moved on casters, and required a special high-voltage electric feed. Each BALCAR unit (and we had about six of them) put out 1,200 joules of discharge power, recycled in about two seconds, could be plugged into just about any household outlet, and was light weight and easy to carry. For comparison, typical flashes on cameras put out a mere 20 joules, if that much. BALCARs were made in France and imported by the abovementioned Thomas Instrument Company.

For outdoor and other ambient light conditions, we had been using the industry-standard Norwood Director meter, which was good but never quite accurate enough, especially for cosmetic photography where precise skin tones were critical. Then in 1963 the Spectra meter became available. It was somewhat like the Norwood, but more sensitive and with finer gradations. So I ordered one for the studio. A few days later the famous photographer Alfred Eisenstadt was visiting, saw it laying on a table, and said in his German accent "Ach, you have the hundred-dollar meter!" To which the boss turned to me and shouted "You paid a hundred dollars for a meter?" At this time Norwoods cost about thirty. But he was so happy with the results that he forgave this bit of extravagance.

Then there was the matter of the huge studio camera, a wooden 8x10 Deardorff that was cumbersome to operate. First you had to open both the shutter and lens, compose the picture on the ground glass, then close the shutter, set the f/stop, put in the film holder, and pull the slide. This operation was repeated for each exposure. When a new model SINAR 8x10 camera came on the market, I explained to Avedon how it would speed things up as most of these steps were now automatic. Inserting a film holder caused the shutter to close and the lens to go to its pre-determined stop. Removing the holder opened everything up again. Reluctantly, he agreed to purchase this shiny Swiss beauty along with a new 300 mm Schneider Symmar lens, which together cost several thousand dollars.

Several darkroom improvements were also made at this time, which are discussed on the "How We Did It" entry. CLICK HERE TO VIEW.

And now for the biggie. Having gained confidence from implementing these small improvements (and not getting fired!) I went whole hog and asked him to invest in a new, unproven, and thoroughly unconventional color film processing machine that Kodak said wouldn't work.

I first heard of the Color Automat (photo, right) from Fred Thomas, the genius behind the strobe meter and by now an importer of strange professional studio gear from Europe. He had seen it at a trade fair in Germany, and wanted to be its U.S. distributor. But first he needed a leading photographer to adopt it before the others would follow. The natural choice was Avedon.

The macine was ordered with the understanding that if it didn't meet specifications, back to Hamburg it would go. It arrived via Lufthansa on a pallet, complete with two technicians who spent the next two days installing and testing it.

Until then, all professional color processing was done using the nitrogen-burst system in which the film hung in a large tank of chemicals as bursts of nitrogen gas were released from a bottom manifold. This moved the chemicals around the film surface without oxidation, as nitrogen is inert in this regard. The Color Automat, on the other hand, sloshed the film around in a drum, in and out of a puddle of chemicals, with just plain air touching it. Kodak was incredulous that we would even think of doing something this foolhardy. But the proof was in the results. In fact, Kodak sent a team of "experts" down from Rochester to watch as we processed 8x10, 120, 35mm and 16mm Ektachrome films.

The results were astonishing, the best film processing any of us had ever seen. I even wrote an enthusiastic article about it for Photo Methods for Industry magazine. That's me leaning on its control panel in the photo on the left.

For reasons best known to Avedon's accountant, the machine became a separate corporation, which we named Tech Photo Inc. It was still in operation several years after I left the studio in late 1965. More Color Automats were imported and sold to proceesing labs as well as to large studios, but in the end maintenance became a problem as Thomas Instrument went out of business for other reasons and there were no longer trained technicians to service the machines.

As a postscript, by 1965 Kodak began marketing a small color print paper processor for home use that used a suspiciously similar method — and no nitrogen!

Since 1963 I had been writing for two photographic trade magazines, Photographic Product News and Photo Methods for Industry. One of these articles concerned a state-of-the-art darkroom complex that I and Dick Balli (of Balcar fame) worked together on for the Paris office of Harper's Bazaar Magazine.

By the summer of 1964 it had become apparent that Harper's ancient Paris darkrooms were no longer viable, so since I was there to help cover the Fall Couture Collections, I was asked to design the new operation. This I later wrote up for the November 1965 issue of Photographic Product News (above).

Essentially, the problem was that literally hundreds of photos had to be processed and printed within a few days, and these had to be edited, laid out in pages, and prepared for the printer fast enough to meet the competition, namely Vogue Magazine, which had full facilities right there in Paris. They also came out every two weeks, whereas New York-based Harper's Bazaar was a monthly. Whoever got into circulation first got the ads. Speed was of the utmost concern.

Just as soon as the film was developed, the negatives were fed into a continuous contact printing machine that worked in tandem with a rapid-access stabilization processor, delivering damp-dry proof prints within minutes of the shooting. After choices were made, scaled layout prints were made using automatic equipment. At the same time, high-quality finish prints were being made in another room. Both were shipped by air to New York only hours after the photos were taken. Just days after the collections closed, the magazine was on the presses and enroute to newsstands.

Of course, today this is all ancient news. Digital photography is vastly more efficient and has rightfully won out. But I hope that the processes of the not-so-long-ago past are not forgotten, at least not for a while.

SO, just what Little Adventure am I up to now in 2012? Why, just the most challenging one of them all! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT.

 CLICK HERE for the next entry in this thread.

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The Avedon Years, Part VIII: The First Time I Saw Paris

THE FIRST TIME I SAW PARIS

Friday, July 13, 1962, Idlewild Airport, New York City. Having been promoted to studio manager for the famed photographer Richard Avedon, I was now about to get the plum assignment that my esteemed position called for. In the world of fashion photography, nothing is more important than the Fall Couture Collections in Paris. So tonight it's off to the City of Light aboard Air France — my first trip to Europe. I'm going there a week before the rest of the crew as the boss thought it would be adventageous for me to get acclimated first. He was a kind person.

It never occurred to me that I'd be landing on the morning of Bastille Day.

For the French this is the most important day of the year. Just about everything closes down for the celebrations that begin in the morning and continue until very late at night (photo above).

I was met at Orly Airport by Marianne, the lovely young lady who ran the Paris office of Harpers Bazaar magazine, for whom we were working. She had reserved a room for me at the Hôtel San Regis, between the Champs-Élysées and the Seine. An area that was closed to traffic for the big parade. We wound up walking the last few blocks.

It was still morning, so my room was not yet ready. The hotel insisted that I wait in the dining room, which was occupied by only one other person — whose face was hidden behind a newspaper. The paper came down, and I was completely stunned to see...my younger brother, Richard! They had this all arranged! Rich was at that time in the army, stationed near Munich, and took a few days off to join me. That's him on the left, in a photo taken the next evening just before dark. You've probably seen that tower before.

We had lunch at a very old-fashioned restaurant on the Rue Marbeuf, at an sidewalk table. I ordered what I thought was a small pitcher of wine, but got my words wrong. What came was a huge, monster carafe of the same house wine. Manfully, we drank it all. And staggered up to the Champs-Élysées just in time to watch Général Charles-de-Gaulle lead a parade down from the Arc de Triomphe. At least we tried to see him, not having had the foresight to bring along one of those strange paper periscopes that let you see over the heads of the crowd. The people in the photo, right, are watching him. We did get a glimpse, however.

Jet lag be damned! For the remainder of the day we wandered around town seeing the sights, and figured out how to use the Métro without getting lost. One of the places visited was Montmartre, where bad artists sell their creations at the Place du Tertre (photo, left). We also went to the flea market, the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame Cathedral, and other places. Some of those may have been on the next day or so — my memory is not all that clear after all those years.

I do remember stopping at several sidewalk cafés for refreshments, and to rest the weary legs. That's me on the right, doing just that.

Eventually, jet lag won out and we headed back to the hotel for a rest. Then we found out that there would be big celebrations after dark, so it was back to the Champs-Élysées (photo at top of page) for a while, and then over to the Left Bank to watch students cavort.

The photo above depicts students and other Parisians cavorting. The excellent photographic technique is testimony to my sobriety all evening. This was taken right off the Seine, at the Quai de Conti (I think).

After two or three days Richard went back to his army base in Germany, and I began getting things ready at the Harpers Bazaar Studio on Rue Jean-Goujon. The setup there dated from the 1920s, so I shopped around for some more modern darkroom equipment. We had previously shipped the cameras, film, and chemicals over by air freight. Then the work began. We could only get the fashions to photograph at night as during the day they were being shown to clients, store buyers, and journalists. So all night long we took pictures, and all day long developed them. Not much sleep for nearly two weeks.

My vacation began as soon as the collections ended, so I took the Orient Express to Vienna to explore my Austrian heritage. Then to Italy, and finally a few days in Switzerland before flying back to New York.

Although I've been back to Paris a few dozen times since then, I'll always treasure the memory of this visit.

CLICK HERE for more on the Paris Couture Collections.

CLICK HERE for the next installment in this thread. It's all about obsolete photo technology of the 1960s, so if that dosen't thrill you give it a pass and go on to the next one.

SO, just what Little Adventure am I up to now in 2012? Why, just the most challenging one of them all! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT.

 RETURN to the Avedon Years Index.

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VISIT my Assisting Avedon website.

Here's a 1957 musical based on Avedon's fashion photography in Paris — his part is played by Fred Astaire, with Audrey Hepburn as his model. This 2-disc 2009 Centennial Edition is a superb transfer to DVD and contains many extras. CHECK IT OUT by clicking on its name in the box below, or on the Buy button to purchase. And check THIS LINK to find out how it all happened.

OUR STUDIO

OUR STUDIO IN NEW YORK

 

From 1965 through 1979 my business partner Jim Houghton and I operated a commercial photography studio in the heart of New York City, specializing in fashion and cosmetic advertising, catalogs, editorial illustrations, and record album covers. Before this, we had both worked as assistants to the famous photographer Richard Avedon. Our story is told in the post links below. Just click and read.

Part I: Our Very Own Photo Studio. How, with little money and a few contacts, Jim and I took the plunge and went out on our own.

Part II: Business Begins in Our Studio. Those first clients and how they got us off the ground.

Part III: We Move to Fifth Avenue. Now profitable, Steinbicker/Houghton Inc. moves to new quarters on New York's Fifth Avenue.

Part IV: On Assignment For Time-Life Books. We travel to Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington D.C. to photograph all sorts of people, including some in the Capitol and the White House.

Part V: Touring the Pacific for Pan Am. A month-long assignment in 1971 that took us to Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and Tahiti.

Part VI: Working on the Railroad. We do assignments for Amtrak, and I get to ride up front with the engineer.

Part VII: Shooting Fashions in Jamaica. We spend a week with a famous designer away from the tourist haunts.

Part VIII: What's a Go-See? How both photographers and their models develop skills and build portfolios.

Part IX: Los Angeles on Pocket Change. An unexpected assignment for Esquire Magazine leaves us in L.A. with hardly any cash.

Part X: Rockin' in the Bahamas. We're off to Nassau to do an album cover for the rock group ELP.

Part XI: To Specialize or not to Specialize? — That is the Question.

Part XII: Highway to Hell. We do the cover photos for rockers AC/DC's first really great album.

Part XIII: Hard Times in the Photo Business — An attempt to unionize New York's commercial photographers fails.

Part XIV: Working on a Movie Set for TWA — We do advertising pictures inside a plane mockup in Los Angeles.

Part XV: Why we HAD to be in New York — and why no other place would do.

Part XVI: Our first photo assignment in Europe. Capturing the spirit of three operas on film.

Part XVII: The Cameras We Used. These were our tools back in the days of film.

Part XVIII: Location Vans. This is how we got around on location assignments.

Part XIX: Photographing Chicago (The Band, not the City).

Part XX: A Chance Meeting With A King. Our encounter with the King of Afghanistan.

Part XXI: Photographic Studio Lighting for Hair and Cosmetics. How we did it.

Part XXII: Cat Scratch Fever. Creating a promotional photo of hard rock icon Ted Nugent was a little adventure in itself.

Part XXIII. Washington Power Brokers. We travel to D.C. to take portraits of the nation's most powerful individuals. 

PHOTOGRAPHER'S ASSISTANTS: An article I wrote back in 1965 for a trade journal about the hiring of assistant photographers, and what to look for.

SO, just what Little Adventure am I up to now in 2012? Why, just the most challenging one of them all! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT.

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Our Own Photo Studio Part III

WE MOVE TO FIFTH AVENUE

Continuing the saga of our very own photo studio...CLICK HERE to read the previous entry.

New York City, late 1967. Since the end of 1965, my partner Jim Houghton and I were renting studio space from an older, well established advertising photographer on East 22nd Street. As our business improved, it became increasingly apparent that all the commotion (steady stream of models, loud rock music, parties at night, and other good things) we created was slightly upsetting to our host/landlord. Bruce never said anything, but you could tell. So we decided that the time had come to get our very own space.

Our first call was to the Helmsley real estate firm, who made several appointments for us. Our needs were specific — 2,500 square feet of floor space, no columns, ceiling about 15 feet high, good location between 23rd Street and 59th Street, no farther west than Sixth Avenue, and (most important) CHEAP RENT. After some false starts, they actually found the perfect place. The entire fifth floor at 253 Fifth Avenue, between 28th and 29th streets. And for less than $500 a month! This then became the new home of Steinbicker/Houghton Inc.

Of course the place was a wreck. Interior walls were all in the wrong places, there was virtually no plumbing, the wiring was prehistoric, and the building dated from the Civil War era. But SPACE galore! 25 feet wide by 100 feet long, very high ceiling, a modern front elevator from the 5th Avenue entrance and an ancient freight elevator from the 28th Street service entrance.

So we got to work. With our own bare hands we demolished all of the interior walls and paid a carting company to take the trash away. Then we decided on a new layout that made good use of the space (diagram, left). All of this took place in the evenings as we still had business in the old studio.

Luckily, my partner's father was a skilled carpenter who drove in every night from Hempstead to direct us. In about a month all of the new walls were up. The only professional help we had was an electrician, who installed a heavy line for our lights and air conditioning, and a plumber who put in a water heater, rest room, two darkrooms, and the sprinkler system. And they both gave us a good price.

After painting the walls and ceiling pure white, inspections by the fire and labor departments, and some final finishing touches (like furniture) we were ready to roll.

A TOUR: What was a bit unusual was the Conference/Living Room, which was really a place to hang out with clients, models, and friends. It was a virtual 15' cube, with a large plate glass window overlooking Fifth Avenue. The walls and ceiling were white, and the floor white vinyl tiles. A white globe with a ceiling fan provided illumination. In the center was a large glass-topped table surrounded by natural color director's chairs. The modern Italian cabinets were also all white. People could spend hours here, just chatting, eating, drinking, whatever.

The photo on the right is of the building, as it looked on July 19 2006. The front windows have been replaced with sectional ones, and what had been an importer of decorative antiques is now a Quiznos Sub shop. And the rent is no longer under $500/month. Pity.

The Office was again all white, with white laminate surfaces. Here, and in reception, for the floor we rented a sander and ground down the century-old wood, stained it, and used a poly finish. Departing from the white theme, in the Reception Room we had the upper half of the walls plus the ceiling painted by our artist friend James Visconti to form a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. There was a very old and rather elegant wooden bench along one wall.

Opening from the studio was the Dressing Room with a huge illuminated mirror, makeup table and clothes racks. Models would spend hours in here getting their hair done and makeup put on.

The rear of the studio area, marked Client Area on the diagram, was all black — ceiling, walls and floor. There was a pool table, director's chairs, and a powerful stereo system with massive speakers and dozens of the latest rock records, along with my beloved classics.

The rest of the studio area, marked Shooting Area, was again pure white, with a neutral grey floor for color balance. Here sets were built, shot, and taken down. Modular wall units could be assembled many different ways. There was a huge Mole-Richardson wind machine on wheels, the type used in Hollywood studios. And overhead scaffolding for those high-level shots. Cameras and lenses were kept in a safe, and film in a refrigerator.  Finally, a large electric service panel allowed us to plug in a dozen or more heavy studio strobe lights, which drew thousands of watts of juice.

The photo below shows Jim at work in the studio. Courtesy of Hardy Baeumler, who worked for us circa 1979.

So far, If I were doing it today, I'd do it the same. The Darkrooms, however, would have to go. Nearly everything is digital today and film can always be sent out for processing. This area would now house computers running Adobe Photoshop.

For the historical record, the now-obsolete Print Darkroom had two Omega D-II enlargers plus a Pako contact printer along one wall, and a 15' sink along the other. The Film Darkroom had an 8' stainless steel deep sink holding five 3½ gallon deep processing tanks, all automatically temperature controlled. With this we could process a dozen rolls of 120 film at the same time.

Just outside the darkroom was an a finishing area, with both film and print dryers, a dry mounting press and a print trimmer.

Below is the business card of our sales representative at the Fifth Avenue studio.

If anyone is interested, I'd be glad to discuss more of the technical details. I sold my interest in the firm at the end of 1979, and by the early 80s it was out of business — a victim of savage cost-cutting by corporate accountants. CLICK HERE to read about the abortive attempt by nearly all of New York's commercial photographers to form a guild that would regulate prices.

NEXT, some nice assignments for Time-Life Books.

 

SO, just what Little Adventure am I up to now in 2012? Why, just the most challenging one of them all! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT.

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The Avedon Years, Part IV

ASSISTING RICHARD AVEDON, 1952-56

Continuing from the last post on this thread (click here to read), from my leaving High School in 1952 until my military service beginning in January 1957, I worked as an assistant to the famous photographer Richard Avedon. I learned a lot during those years: techniques, ideas, and attitudes that served me well later on.

At first, of course, I was in effect an apprentice and did not really earn much, but my meager pay was often supplemented by posing in advertising photos (that's me on the right, being fed fake cherries while laying in fake snow). My parents also subsidized me until my salary caught up with the cost of living in Manhattan.

Another of my enjoyable duties (we won't mention mopping the floor) was to support lovely models as they got "put together" by the fashion stylists. Like the one in the photo on the left. She had a warm back.

Avedon's fame did not come from advertising photography, however. It was his celebrity portraits that made him one of the most celebrated photographers of all time. Now, I wish that I could use some of these here, but they are all copyrighted so I will stay out of trouble and just mention names.

During that time I got to meet film directors John Huston and Alfred Hitchcock, and opera stars Richard Tucker, Jerome Hines, Roberta Peters as well as opera director Rudolph Bing and the fabulous singer Marian Anderson. Also in the music field were the composer/conductor Leornard Bernstein (who commented on my Germanic name), and Louis Armstrong (who let me hold his trumpet).

Avedon, always the gentleman, almost invariably took the trouble of introducing me to his subjects, so that I felt myself to be part of the action.

Marilyn Monroe was exceptionally nice to to this drooling teenager, and autographed a large mounting board with the words "To Earl, Love and Kisses, Marilyn Monroe." To this I affixed a 9"x12" print from the session. I'm still trying to find where I put this* — when it is uncovered I will post it here. A news picture taken during the sitting showed her with me right behind — this was later used in a cheap paperback book that unfortunately has long since disappeared.

NEW INFORMATION (4/5/09): The book has surfaced (used) on Amazon for a mere $225.00 Its original price was 35¢! The title is: Marilyn Monroe as The Girl — The Candid Picture Story of the Making of "The Seven Year Itch". Ballantine Books Mass Market #108, printed in 1955. If anyone wants to buy it for me I'll be eternally grateful.

The man with her in the above picture is director Billy Wilder.

WELL, here's that picture — sent in on 9/17/09 by Jean-Luc Bercot, a very kind person surfing my blog! The photo is by Sam Shaw. Thank you.

*FLASH — December 2006 — The signed print has resurfaced at last! CLICK HERE to see it.

Other stars that I can still recall included Mae West, Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, and Jimmy Durante. But perhaps the most memorable celeb was the oceanographer and environmentalist Captain Jacques Cousteau, who used me to demonstrate his newly-invented SCUBA gear.

Unlike other photographers of stars, Avedon's portraits were not always flattering, and sometimes downright brutal. He always tried to capture the true soul of his subjects, and strip away the veneer. So why did they subject themselves to his penetrating lens? Masochism perhaps? Or just the notion that bad publicity is better than no publicity? I don't pretend to know. Of course, if he liked them they got to look ravishing, or at least interesting.

Sometime in 1954 the studio moved from 640 Madison Avenue to the corner of Third Avenue and 49th Street, in a huge loft right above Manny Wolf's Restaurant. That's me on its roof. This had enough space for two studios and everything that went with them.

In 1955 I was the only assistant to be sent on a wonderful trip to California that began with a week in San Francisco, then a drive down the coastal road to San Simeon to negotiate a movie deal, and finally a bit of a rest in Beverly Hills. This was so special that I have devoted an separate post to it: CLICK HERE to download.

Photos above: Avedon with 8x10 camera in Jamaica; Round Hill estate; me in my cottage, my cottage. Photo below: Avedon directing the model.

The only other adventure before my military service was a week in Jamaica, during which time we did exactly one photo, an ad for Helena Rubinstein cosmetics. We stayed at Round Hill, a private community of stars and shakers in the entertainment world, and we each had our own cottages overlooking Montego Bay. The "cottage" that we used for photography belonged to William Paley, the founder and CEO of CBS. He was a friend of the boss. When we finished, Avedon stayed on vacation and I was to go to New York with the film. On the last night, we had dinner with the British Governor of Jamaica (still a colony at that time), who offered to pick me up in the morning for the drive to the airport, as he was also flying. So I flew with His Excellency, first to Cuba (pre-Castro) and then to Miami, from which I got a flight to NYC.

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SO, just what Little Adventure am I up to now in 2012? Why, just the most challenging one of them all! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT.

The Avedon Years, Part III

FIRST MONTHS ON THE JOB

Continuing from the previous post on this thread:

Fall 1952, New York City. Having just started my job as an assistant to the famous photographer Richard Avedon, I soon realized how unsophisticated this boy from Allentown, Pennsylvania really was. My appearance was all wrong, I knew nothing about art, and my knowledge of photography was nowhere near their level. So I had to learn. The first problem was soon fixed with a visit to Brooks Brothers (the Ivy League look was all the rage at the time), but the second was more difficult. The boss suggested that I take evening courses in art history so I would know a Picasso from a Rembrandt. Thus began a series of non-credit courses at New York University, covering both art and philosophy.

My experiences in photography had been limited to 35mm cameras, plus the 4 x 5 Speed Graphic that belonged to the high school. Avedon did nearly all of his fashion and commercial work with an 8 x 10 Deardorff, and his personality portraits with a Rolleiflex TLR. He had no use for 35mm.

The Rollei I could cope with, and soon acquired one myself. But that massive wooden Deardorff was intimidating. That's me with the monster on the left. I had to learn how to put those large sheets of film in the holders, how to whip these in and out of the camera as fast as he could shoot, and how to then unload the films into special processing tanks — in total darkness, of course. And then dry and number the negatives, and make contact prints. Enlargements were left to the senior staff, as no one on Earth was fussier about his finish prints.

But we had a lot of fun, too. Location shots were a joy, especially outdoors where I didn't have to lug lights along. And these were usually done with the much smaller Rollei TLR cameras. Here I watch as he works on a puzzle while the model, some kid, and the stylist wait. This is at a horse farm in Westchester County.

 

SO, just what Little Adventure am I up to now in 2012? WHY, just the most challenging one of them all! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT.

 CLICK HERE to continue the story.

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