ORIGINAL PRINT AVAILABLE
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SPECIAL DISCOUNT PRICE ONLINE In the early 1980s, while working as Ansel's photographic assistant, I gave a tour of his darkroom to the legendary photographer André Kertész. On the wall in the workroom, André noticed an exhibition poster of my Two Chairs image. This was the first photography poster I had ever had done, and Ansel had requested that I hang a copy in his studio. André told me he liked the image "very much," which needless to say made my day… actually made my week! I am pleased to offer this print of Two Chairs at a special discount price to my eNewsletter readers. I have not had this negative in the enlarger for over two decades. It is definitely one of my most challenging negatives to print. I have always preferred the Two Chairs print in a smaller, more intimate, size – perhaps because it began its life as a 4x5-inch Polaroid. My favorite print size for this image is 8x10" and that is the size of this special print offering. The retail price for an 8x10" print of this image is $1,000. From now until June 30, 2015, I am offering this 8x10" print for $800 - a 20% discount from the retail price. Once I have fulfilled all of the orders for this special print offer the negative will be retired, and will never be printed in any size as a silver gelatin print in the future. On July 1, 2015 the retail price for any remaining prints will increase to $2,000. To place a secure online order for this print, follow this link: Ventana Editions web store
Two Chairs, Bodie, California This print is approximately 7-1/2 x 9-3/8", personally printed by me (as are all my prints), processed to current archival standards, signed, mounted, and matted to 14x17" on 100 percent rag museum board. When I complete the prints I need to make at this time, the negative will be retired for traditional silver printing, and will never again be printed tin any size as a silver gelatin print. Prints will begin shipping on June 15. All of the prints ordered will be shipped no later than July 31, 2015. All prints are carefully prepared and packaged in specially designed protective shipping boxes, and shipped fully insured via UPS ground. I often say on workshops that nearly all good photographs require that good fortune or luck is on your side. Over the years many of my favorite images seem to involve some type of unexpected occurrence or unanticipated result. Such is the case with my image of Two Chairs which I made nearly thirty-eight years ago in the ghost town of Bodie, while teaching a workshop with my friends Bruce Barnbaum and Ray McSavaney. When we taught together we would separate the participants into three smaller groups for the portfolio review sessions. By the conclusion of the workshop each participant would have received three separate commentaries, one from each of the instructors. We felt this was a unique strength in the workshops we taught together, and on many of those workshops we carried this into the field as well. On this particular October day, each of us took the group we had been with for the portfolio review sessions on the prior day, and spent some time with those participants in the field. I took my group into one of the buildings that was open in Bodie. We sat around the table you see in the photograph and discussed the idea of trying to reveal your feelings in your photographs. In those days, thanks to the generosity of Polaroid Corporation we had a generous supply of Polaroid film for our own photography, as well as for use by workshop participants. I gave the assignment to my group that each of the participants should make a photograph within the confines of this small building using Polaroid 4x5 film. During my years studying photography in college there were a few times when I was given assignments that I suspected the instructors had never completed themselves. My feeling was, if they had done the assignment themselves, they never would have given it in the first place! So I decided that I should participate in the assignment as well. One of the workshop participants, who was seated at the table was interesting to me, so I asked if I could make his portrait. He kindly agreed, but as I was organizing and studying the image on the ground glass I was less convinced that the photograph was going to work as an effective portrait. The resulting Polaroid Type 52 print proved this to me. I delicately asked the workshop participant if he could help improve my photograph by removing himself from it! I made another exposure on Polaroid of just the two chairs and table – no person. I was much happier with this image. To me it had a universal quality without a person seated in one of the chairs. In 1977 I had discontinued the practice of making notes while photographing. In my youthful exuberance I thought such notes were a time-consuming "burden." I had made notes for about a year and a half after attending Ansel's Yosemite workshop in 1973, where he encouraged us to make careful records while exposing our negatives. I guess I had the feeling that I "knew it all," as I had been doing photography seriously for over three years! If I had been making notes, I would be able to determine with much greater certainty what caused both of my Kodak Tri-X negatives to be underexposed. I THINK it's because I did not reset my spotmeter from the ISO of 640, which I used for Polaroid Type 52 film, to and ISO of 200, which was my speed for normally developed Kodak Tri-X Professional film. In any event I ended up with a thin negative. As much as the technical aspects of the negative disappointed me, I was very pleased with the organization of the image and the feelings it generated within me. I immediately started printing the negative using a high contrast paper (Grade 4), and it was included in the 1978 Owens Valley Photography Workshops flyer a few months later. I am very pleased with the new prints I am currently making, but I am reminded of the difficulty of working with such a challenging negative. Working on a high contrast paper exaggerates not only the contrast, which is needed with this negative, but also exaggerates any slight variations in the execution of the print. So consistency and concentration are of great importance. The Two Chairs image was featured in the July/August 1982 issue of Camera Arts magazine. The making of the negative and the steps necessary in printmaking – at that time – are in the article The Genesis of a Fine Print, which I co-wrote with Steve Pollock for the magazine. Though the black and white reproductions are rather dull and "washed out," I'm still pleased with the way the article turned out. It accompanied another article, Isolations, by the late Robert Baker, who served as the editor on The New Ansel Adams Photography Series. Bob and I worked closely together on that book project with Ansel, and his article included was a good compliment to the article about Two Chairs. This was the first time that I had received such extensive coverage in a highly regarded photography magazine. I guess in a way my image Two Chairs helped launch my career – at least in terms of name and image recognition. If you'd like to read both articles, they're available for download, as a single PDF file, at my web site here.
John Sexton Photographer Email: info@johnsexton.com
©2015 John Sexton. All rights reserved Site last updated May 20, 2015
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