Frankencamera

102 year old lens on 5D mkII - Video Footage by Timur Civan from Timur Civan on Vimeo.

Take a 1908 Wollensak Cine-Velostigmat f5 lens, stick it on a Canon 5D mkII and what do you get? Well a slightly soft, dreamy view of the world if the video footage is anything to go by. A great idea though, to combine two different eras of photographic technology.

Maggie the Indestructible

Margaret Bourke-White photographed on top of the Chrysler Building, New York, 1931

While browsing through the images on Tumblr, I came across this portrait of Margaret Bourke-White. I think it's a fabulous image. A vaguely glamorous photo of the youthful and talented photographer, and yet it seems to also perfectly capture the persona of a jobbing photographer, hard at work high up above New York.

Of all the posts i have placed on the blog over the years, Margaret Bourke-White's remains the most popular by far. I even received comments thanking me for profiling the photographer's work, such was the admiration for this woman and her work. Forty years after her death, she still inspires new generations of photographers.

The skill and diversity of talent she had as a photographer is obvious to anyone who sees her work. How many people could photograph Joseph Stalin's great aunt and capture the beautiful architectural lines of a dam? Commercial, industrial, documentary, portraiture, war - Margaret could shoot it all. 

Life produced a great page to commemorate Margaret Bourke-White's birthday last week, featuring some of her best images including a number I'd never seen before. It also explains why she was called Maggie the Indestructible :) The excellent Margaret Bourke-White LIFE article and gallery can be found HERE

Eleven Year Career

Taking a quick look at the image above you may think that it's a great contempary portrait of a beautiful woman. It may come as a surprise to find out that the photograph was taken in 1864 and is of the actress Ellen Terry who was just 16 when the photograph was taken.

This image was taken by Julia Margaret Cameron who was a celebrated photographer during the Victorian era. As well as shooting her own work based on Arthurian and other legendary themes, Julia Margaret Cameron was also a celebrity photographer photographing such people as Charles Darwin and others. Incredibly Cameron's career only lasted 11 years, with the photographer only picking up a camera when she was 48.

I just love the timeless quality of the images - especially that of Ellen Terry. A great post by the Photography News website has further images by Julia Margaret Cameron. The Victoria and Albert Museum website also have a very informative page about the photographer worth checking out.