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Cazneaux Tree

Posted: 01 Feb 2019, 10:49
by Maris
Image
Cazneaux Tree
Gelatin-silver photograph on Agfa Classic MCC III VC FB photographic paper, image size 24.4cm X 19.4cm, from a 4x5 Tmax 100 negative exposed in a Tachihara 45GF field view camera fitted with a Voigtlander Anastigmat Skopar 1:4.5 F = 13.5cm lens.

This tree was originally photographed by Harold Cazneaux in May 1937 as the subject for his famous picture "Spirit of Endurance" which received international acclaim. My Voigtlander lens dates from 1928 but it is not nearly as old as the tree which still prospers today.

Re: Cazneaux Tree

Posted: 01 Feb 2019, 13:58
by RoganJosh
I like your composition slightly better than the original though I cant help but wonder what it would've looked like with some sun on it. It looks like a very overcast day and it's hard to tell on my tiny screen if those are low clouds over the ranges or if its just an area of pure white. Needless to say, it's a very good photo.

Re: Cazneaux Tree

Posted: 02 Feb 2019, 09:04
by Bazz8
I have several shots of the famous tree,good vantage selection is confined by the fence around the tree,
not to mention car loads of tourists.
Does look like low cloud in the background.
Nicely done Maris

Re: Cazneaux Tree

Posted: 02 Feb 2019, 13:15
by Mick Fagan
I like that look with the low clouds in the background, probably about the best photograph of that tree I have seen. I really like that you have not included the whole tree, which makes it all the more interesting, to me.

I would suppose that Harold Cazneaux probably never thought that particular photograph would become so well known world wide. If I remember correctly, he was Dick Smith's grandfather.

Does that Voigtländer lens fully cover 4x5", or is it a case of stop down and no movements? :mrgreen:

Mick.

Re: Cazneaux Tree

Posted: 02 Feb 2019, 14:42
by Maris
Thanks RoganJosh and Bazz8 and Mick Fagan. There are heavy winter clouds on the background mountains. Sun would have been nicer but a tight schedule photographic road trip has to eat the weather as served. And you won't get me going anywhere near the Flinders Ranges in summer. The heat is too cruel.
Voigtlander's Anastigmat Skopar 13.5cm (a Tessar design) covers 4x5 nicely and actually illuminates 5x7 but with bad corners. Look at the top corners of the Cazneaux Tree. The image quality is a rather grim with lots of front rise stretching the lens' capabilities.

Re: Cazneaux Tree

Posted: 05 Feb 2019, 06:30
by Walter Glover
Hi Maris,

Is that the same print that I'd have seen exhibited at Point Light some years ago?

Re: Cazneaux Tree

Posted: 06 Feb 2019, 07:25
by Maris
Greetings Walter Glover. The Cazneaux Tree was made in a number of states one of which went to Point Light Gallery. The gallery closed at the end of 2014 (gosh, time flies) and I have all the big black Solander boxes of my pictures that remained unsold. The Tree is not in there so it must have gone to an unknown buyer. Some art collectors are rather secretive about what is in their holdings. I'll never know more unless the picture turns up on the secondary market.

Re: Cazneaux Tree

Posted: 08 Feb 2019, 02:41
by Walter Glover
Do you ever hear of, or from, the Undies these days?

Last I heard, Gordon was delighting in having gone digital.

Re: Cazneaux Tree

Posted: 08 Feb 2019, 11:31
by Maris
Gordon Undy, retired gallery director and photographer (par excellence) is a close friend of mine. He's pushing 80 with physical limits and can't do photography any more but he insists on being a "picture maker" to the end. His camera of choice is the Leica Monochrom (using his second one - wore out the first) and the final product is premium black and white inkjets that collectors continue to buy.
By outrageous coincidence, directly up on the wall in front of the computer where I'm typing, in glorious black and white is Gordon Undy's The Cazneaux Tree - 70 Years On, Flinders Ranges, 2 May 2015.

Re: Cazneaux Tree

Posted: 09 Feb 2019, 01:06
by Walter Glover
Thanks for the update, Maris. Please pass on my best wishes when next you are in contact with Gordon.