i AM A COLLEGE STUDENT AND NEED ANY INFO YOU CAN GIVE ME ON WELL KNOWN LARGE FORMAT PHOTOGRAPHERS.PLAESE

-- ALEX DEANE (DEANEALEX@HOTMAIL.COM), December 01, 2000

Answers

Hmmm. This is suspicious.

1. We've got someone claiming to be "A COLLEGE STUDENT" and yet he/she types the query in all capital letters; I can't believe anyone could make it three months into the school year and not know how rude this is.

2. They mysteriously "NEED" information. For what? Personal photographic growth? A paper due on Friday? Discussion fodder for a weekend kegger?

3. "Any info on well-known large-format photographers" is a much-too-vague request. By definition, if a photographer is well-known, entire books have been written about him or her. Are we supposed to cut-and-paste the text from these books into the "Answer" box here? And doesn't this person's college have a library?

4. What happened to the "ALBOT WATSON" request on the Question line? It's quite a non-sequitur to jump from "Albot Watson" to "well-known photographers." I didn't want to spend more than twice as much time researching the subject as Alex did, so I spent about 20 seconds looking in the index of Rosenblum's history of photography (694 pages) and Frizot's (775 pages). No mention of Watson.

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Alex, if you press the third key up on the left (just above the Shift key) before typing, and give us more specific information, we'll try to help.

Good l

-- Simon (simonfairfax@aol.com), December 01, 2000.

The plot thickens....

Just a hunch, but the "Watson" got me thinking about British photographers (it's elementary!). "Albot" sounds like saying "Albert" with a full nose, but could Alex be seeking the famous photographic pioneer T. Albot "Henry Fox" Watson?

Although there weren't a lot of camera formats like APS and 35mm to choose from in January, 1839 (when William Henry Fox Talbot presented to the Royal Society in London a paper on "the art of photogenic drawing, or the process whereby natural objects can trace themselves, without the help of the artist's pencil"), I suppose that "T. Albot" could be considered a "well-known large-format photographer."

Alex, if he's the one you're looking for, these books might be useful:

HJP Arnold's "William Henry Fox Talbot: Pioneer of Photography"

Gail Buckland's "Fox Talbot and the Invention of Photography"

HP Kraus, Jr.'s, "W.H. Fox Talbot: The Pencil of Nature"

Mike Weaver's "Henry Fox Talbot: Selected Texts and Bibliography"

and, depending on how serious you are about this, Hubertus von Amelunxen's "Die aufgehobene Zeit: die Erfindung der Photographie durch William Henry Fox Talbot" (have a German-English dictionary handy).

Of course, every comprehensive photographic history book (including Rosenblum's and Frizot's) has numerous references to Talbot (hint: start at the beginning).

Again, good luck.

.,.,.,.

-- Simon (simonfairfax@aol.com), December 01, 2000.

Of course, it could be Carleton Watkins, too . . . but I've spent far too much time on this already.

(Hmmm. If W.H. Fox Talbot's grand-daughter married Carleton Watkins' son, they COULD have named the boy "Talbot Watkins," which sounds a little like "Albot Watson." Or maybe not.)

.,.,.,

-- Simon (simonfairfax@aol.com), December 01, 2000.

or could it be ALBERT Watson?

-- William Levitt (light-zone@operamail.com), December 01, 2000.

Is he looking for Cyclops?

-- Wayne DeWitt (wdewitt@snip.net), December 01, 2000.

After finding this site by accident one day searching the web, quick enough I fall in love with it. I am glad to find so much valuable information as well as many knowledgable photographers. I am impressed.

-- Alex Wong (bing-wong@home.com), December 01, 2000.

Maroc, methinks.

-- Erik X (xx@xx.com), December 02, 2000.

Could be Alfred Watkins; photographer, and inventor of the famous Watkins 'Bee' meter. (seriously) It was the first successful commercial exposure meter.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), December 04, 2000.

your all sad having a debate about a question asked by someone!!!

-- bill bob (lovelybeer@budweiser.com), January 16, 2002.