December 25, 2009

  • Happy Holidays from Dan Wagner Photography

    Happy Holidays! I'd like to thank all the brides and grooms who've allowed me to photograph their weddings this past year. The wedding day goes by so fast, that I wish I could relive it, or at least rephotograph it.

    A new decade is a week away. I plan on dedicating the 2010's to one of my all time favorite photographers, Richard Avedon. I just discovered an amazing blog: http://lifeslittleadventures.typepad.com/lifes_little_adventures/avedon_years written by one of Avedon's former assistants, Earl Steinbicker. He's writing a book about his experiences (due out in 2010), that I can't wait to read. As a former NYC photographer's assistant, I find Steinbricker's anecdotes especially poignant, and illuminating. So much so in fact, that I spent $30 and bought myself the same exposure meter Richard Avedon used -- a Norwood Director B.

    To learn more about the Norwood Director B, and other vintage light meters check out James Ollinger's phenomenal web site: http://www.jollinger.com/photo/meters/meters/norwood_directorB.html. Be sure to download the Norwood Director B's instruction manual; it has an incredible section on how to use a light meter to measure contrast ratios, and to meter accurately for a variety of lighting situations. If you've never read photographic technical literature from the 1940's, you're in for a real treat -- clear, concise, and educational.


    The Norwood Director B Lightmeter. Photos courtesy © James Ollinger 2009

    My next recommendation is to buy/rent a copy of the 1957 movie Funny Face starring Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire. The movie is a dramatization with music and dance of Avedon's exploits as a fashion photographer. In fact, Avedon served as a technical consultant, and shot the opening title photographs. Unfortuantely, he must have been absent the day the Greenwich Village bookstore scenes were filmed, because during exposures with the 8x10 view camera, the dark slides were left half-inserted in the film holders, instead of removed, and would have resulted in a half exposed image. Be sure to check out the scenes with Fred Astaire holding a Norwood Director B. By the way, back in my photographer's assistant days in Los Angeles, I used to hang out with Fred Astaire's grandson, Kevin McKenzie. Small world, n'est-ce pas?

    Check out my new "Avedon" camera, a 1961 Rolleiflex 3f
    To the photographers who follow my blog, please seriously consider getting a copy of Richard Avedon's book Evidence. It can change the way you shoot. Here's a link to an eBay auction where you can get a new fist edition for only $34: CLICK HERE.