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A Tribute to Mary Colter

J

Jim Galli

Member
Tribute2MaryColter.jpg

tribute to Mary Colter​

I bought these mugs for my wife while I was on a Bruce Barnbaum workshop. On the final evening we feasted at La Posada in Winslow AZ. I think Mary Colter's work for Fred Harvey and the Santa Fe Railroad is some of the classiest design work of the previous century. Suffice to say I am a huge fan.

Concurrent with her designs, a lens maker in Boston, a Mr. Smith of the Pinkham & Smith Co. was hand crafting lenses that are like no others on earth. Indeed since he hand ground each lens, no 2 lenses in any series were truly identical. This image was made with a Pinkham & Smith Series II f6 Semi Achromatic of 15" focal length. The lens is pure magic. Somehow it makes a soft image within a sharp image. There is no absence of detail here, just luscious tonality. This is made with an enormous Century studio 8X10 camera fitted with a 6½ X 8½ back. I used Aerial Recon Kodak Panatomic X film and developed it in PyroCat HD. Film scans were made on my little 2450 Epson and sewed together to make a single image.
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Jim Galli said:
Concurrent with her designs, a lens maker in Boston, a Mr. Smith of the Pinkham & Smith Co. was hand crafting lenses that are like no others on earth. Indeed since he hand ground each lens, no 2 lenses in any series were truly identical. This image was made with a Pinkham & Smith Series II f6 Semi Achromatic of 15" focal length. The lens is pure magic. Somehow it makes a soft image within a sharp image. There is no absence of detail here, just luscious tonality. This is made with an enormous Century studio 8X10 camera fitted with a 6½ X 8½ back. I used Aerial Recon Kodak Panatomic X film and developed it in PyroCat HD. Film scans were made on my little 2450 Epson and sewed together to make a single image.
Click to expand...
Jim,

First, I was not aware of these mugs and the designs by Mary Colter. I'll have to get educated. Needless to say the renderings are like portraits and show a special consideration as if the mugs were the fine lady herself. I would wonder if you also have pictures that are not so tight. It would be nice to have some of the table or the sky. I do have some question about the composition. Probably to see it work best, it needs to be a print on my wall so I can visit with it and enjoy the fine tonalities the form the cups. Still, I wonder at the lack of completeness of even one cup. The technic is of course beautiful.

I'm asking a question about the special property wherein the lens images the subject in perfect focus but with an added glow. This is understood, AFAIK to be due to differences in how the center of the lens renders a sharp focused image whereas the periphery of the lens sends light to the same areas as an overlay which provides the glow. A feature of such a lens, if it's like the Cooke PS 945 or the Visual Quality P&S would be that as the aperture is decreased, only the center of the lens would be used and the image would be no longer soft. So we know that the softness comes from the edges.

In order to get the secondary diffuse glow in the highlighted regions in sharp focus from the light coming from the periphery, is it necessary to have hard light or will this occur with soft diffused light too?

IOW, taking this picture with a small distant light source or an overcast day, would the3 same magical effect occur.

It's always good to learn from you!

Asher
 
J

Jim Galli

Member
Hi Asher, and thanks as always for a fine discussion.

This lens is a single cemented element of 2 glasses behind the aperture and yes, it sharpens up nicely as it is stopped down. Here's a group, the 6 I've done so far, and no. 3 - 6 have both f6 and f11 images to get an idea of how it changes as it stops down.

This was actually window lit but in complete shade. Since these are my first timid attempts to get to know the lens, very soft diffuse light is where I began. I think it would be quite wild with direct light sources on it. We will get there.

This lens is as the name suggests not completely achromatic. That of course means different colors land in different planes. So 'chemical focus' is somewhat different from 'visual focus'. That means what you see is not entirely what you will get! The old masters had to 'get to know' the lens over an extended time to be able to predict and control accurately what the lens was going to do. My plan, likewise, is to burn a lot of film with this lens and try to get competent with it. They were unpopular to an extent for that reason, and it also explains the name of the Series IV. The "Visual Quality" would give you exactly what you saw on the ground glass. Much easier to use.



Asher Kelman said:
Jim,

First, I was not aware of these mugs and the designs by Mary Colter. I'll have to get educated. Needless to say the renderings are like portraits and show a special consideration as if the mugs were the fine lady herself. I would wonder if you also have pictures that are not so tight. It would be nice to have some of the table or the sky. I do have some question about the composition. Probably to see it work best, it needs to be a print on my wall so I can visit with it and enjoy the fine tonalities the form the cups. Still, I wonder at the lack of completeness of even one cup. The technic is of course beautiful.

I'm asking a question about the special property wherein the lens images the subject in perfect focus but with an added glow. This is understood, AFAIK to be due to differences in how the center of the lens renders a sharp focused image whereas the periphery of the lens sends light to the same areas as an overlay which provides the glow. A feature of such a lens, if it's like the Cooke PS 945 or the Visual Quality P&S would be that as the aperture is decreased, only the center of the lens would be used and the image would be no longer soft. So we know that the softness comes from the edges.

In order to get the secondary diffuse glow in the highlighted regions in sharp focus from the light coming from the periphery, is it necessary to have hard light or will this occur with soft diffused light too?

IOW, taking this picture with a small distant light source or an overcast day, would the3 same magical effect occur.

It's always good to learn from you!

Asher
Click to expand...
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Jim Galli said:
Hi Asher, and thanks as always for a fine discussion.

This lens is a single cemented element of 2 glasses behind the aperture and yes, it sharpens up nicely as it is stopped down. Here's a group, the 6 I've done so far, and no. 3 - 6 have both f6 and f11 images to get an idea of how it changes as it stops down.

This was actually window lit but in complete shade. Since these are my first timid attempts to get to know the lens, very soft diffuse light is where I began. I think it would be quite wild with direct light sources on it. We will get there.

This lens is as the name suggests not completely achromatic. That of course means different colors land in different planes. So 'chemical focus' is somewhat different from 'visual focus'. That means what you see is not entirely what you will get! The old masters had to 'get to know' the lens over an extended time to be able to predict and control accurately what the lens was going to do. My plan, likewise, is to burn a lot of film with this lens and try to get competent with it. They were unpopular to an extent for that reason, and it also explains the name of the Series IV. The "Visual Quality" would give you exactly what you saw on the ground glass. Much easier to use.
Click to expand...
Jim,

OMG, this is one dreamy lens. I love it. How different would the subjects look on the Visual Quality Series IV?

Please post your other pictures here. This is gorgeous.

I'm floating 2 ft above the floor!

Asher
 
J

Jim Galli

Member
Asher Kelman said:
Jim,

OMG, this is one dreamy lens. I love it. How different would the subjects look on the Visual Quality Series IV?

Please post your other pictures here. This is gorgeous.

I'm floating 2 ft above the floor!

Asher
Click to expand...

Asher, the Visual Quality is just as luscious and easier to use. Thanks for the comments!

Here are the others.

PinkhamSAseriesII_1s.jpg

5 apples

PinkhamSAseriesII_2s.jpg

bamboo chutes

PinkhamSAseriesII_3s.jpg

Lionel & Ives

PinkhamSAseriesII_6s.jpg

old shoe​

Those curious about the same images but stopped down to f11 which takes much of the dreamy magic away can have a look here.
 
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