[LargeFormat] Introductions

[Curt Miller]

I'm 50 years old, was born and raised in New York City and have been making
photographs since I was about 5.  With an active amateur photographer as a
father (who also happened to work for Agfa-Gevaert for most of his working
life), the bug bit me early.  Five of us lived in a one bedroom flat in
Queens.  On Friday and Saturday nights my dad would pull the enlarger and
trays and stuff out of the closet and set it up in our kitchen.  He'd go to
town until late into the night...usually with me right there, in the way,
watching.

I was usually allowed to develop some of the prints (in Dektol).  Back then,
RC papers were still 15 years in the future, so ALL paper was what they now
call fiber base.  We made our prints on some long-forgotten papers as
Kodabromide, Medalist, Opal and Azo.  Later, when he worked for Gevaert, we
used Gevagam, Portriga and Brovira.  Selenium toning was an in-thing back in
the '50s and '60s, so most of our high quality work got toned.

I grew up with developers like the previously-mentioned Dektol.  For film, I
used D-76, in the early years, switching to Rodinal in about 1965.

My favorite cameras were Rolleis.  My dad din't think much of 35mm at the
time (though he did own a Leica IIIC), so I learned with medium format
equipment.  When I outgrew the image quality of my 620 Brownie, my dad let
me have a Rollei (which I still have - and sometimes use).

In 1967, I build my first serious darkroom in my parents' basement.  It was
pretty elaborate, actually, and I started doing color work with my first
sophisticated enlarger, an Agfa Varioscop 60 with colorhead.  I still have
that machine (in nearly mint condition despite hard use over many years) and
it's still an unbelievable piece of precision machinery with which it's
roomates, a pair of Omegas (D3 and D4), can't compare.  My other enlarger
(the 4th I have set up in my darkroom) is a wonderful (and also mint) Elwood
8x10.  This latter machine was stripped of its lighthouse and fitted with an
Aristo T12 and 300mm Rodenstock Rodagon.  From this machine I get 2003 image
quality from my 5x7 and 8x10 negatives.

To make my large negatives, I have four cameras: a 4x5 Crown Graphic that's
been stripped (not by me) for use in the field, a 5x7 Wisner TF, an 8x10
Wisner TF and a Hobo 8x10 "point and shoot."

I work in two distinct genres of photography: street work with 35mm (I have
a bunch of Leicas) and landscape.  Since my friends know I'm a photographer,
I am frequently enlisted to take wedding and Bar Mitzvah pictures.  For this
work, I use either a Nikon F3 or F5.

I'm not going to get into my Rolleis and Hasselblads here since I rarely
shoot MF anymore for either events or landscape.  It has mostly become my
"forgotten format."

I live in Western Massachusetts and work in Albany, NY for the Education
Department.  My professional training is in public administration and have
an MPA from the Maxwell school in Syracuse.  I am the president of a local
camera club and the vice president of the Adirondack Mountain Club, an
environmental advocacy and outdoor recreation club with 36,000 members,
headquartered in Lake George, NY (and, every weekend when I'm up there, I
look skyward and see "equivalents").  My wife gives anesthesia in the
operating room in a hospital in Knoxville, TN (so I get to go visit the
Smokie Mountains frequently).  I have four kids - mostly grown - and one
granddaughter.

I worked for the late Stefan Lorant for the two years before his death 5
years ago, making copy prints of his original page dummies for his
autobiography.  I learned a lot from him.  What a guy.  He could still
differentiate fine tonal differences between my prints at age 97!

My favorite "classical" photographers are Gene Smith, Ansel Adams, Edward
and Brett Weston, Harry Callahan.  Contemporaries from whom I draw
tremendous inspiration include Ralph Gibson, Joel Meyerowitz, my friends
Shelby Lee Adams and Ralph Lieberman (a world class architectural
photographer), and Michael Smith and Paula Chamlee, whose dedication to
absolute perfection of the craft of photography is unmatched, in my opinion,
by any other photographers alive or dead.

I need to go to bed now.  I'm doing a workshop in the morning on pyro
development with my friend Ralph's students at Williams College (yes, I do
expect to see Walker Evans' ghost in the photo lab there).

I think I'm a candidate for a twelve step program for photographers.

Good night.

Curt Miller
Classic Photography by Miller
B&W Photography (and colorful Bar Mitzvah pictures)

http://www.curt-miller.com