A STRUCTURED L IFE A STRUCTURED L IFE A STRUCTURED L IFE A STRUCTURED L IFE A STRUCTURED L IFE by Kirk Gittings Note: Kirk Gittings has been photographing the prehistor- coast, but m aking a real living as an “art” photographer ic, historic and contemporary architecture of the Southwest had eluded m e. Meanwhile I supported m yself with jobs since the summer of 1973, where as a Vista volunteer in as diverse as a Vista volunteer, sawm ill worker, construc- Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, his interests in structures as tion worker, plum ber, union organizer, welder, photo icons of the cultural landscape began to evolve. Since then his lab grunt and even a Volkswagen m echanic. The starving architectural photography has regularly appeared in publica- artist m yth was wearing thin. In desperation (and despite tions around the world and widely collected and shown by m y art school prejudices against com m ercial work), in museums. This year, New Mexico Magazine and The Albu- 1978 I took a good hard look at m y Tachihara 4x5 with a querque Museum will present a 32 year retrospective book (in 90m m and 210m m Fujinon lenses and asked m yself what June) and exhibit (in September) of his photography entitled I could do with this equipm ent to actually m ake a living. “Shelter from the Storm: the Photographs of Kirk Gittings”. As I had long been a fan of the architectural photographs a visiting artist and instructor at the Art Institute of Chicago of Ch arles Sh eeler, Walker Evan s an d especially Paul and many other institutions and workshops he has shared his Strand who’s “Tim e in New England” still stands today as knowledge and experience with countless students. This arti- a m asterpiece of the genre. I was aware of Ansel Adam ’s cle summerizes his personal evolution in the genre of architec- and Morley Baer’s com m ercial photography but had dis- tural photography from the 1970’s to the present day. m issed it as “m ere” com m ission work. I had even had a My entrance into the world of com m ercial architec- Above - The “Bosque House” in Albuquerque by Jon Ander- tural photography was m ore an act of econom ic desper- son, 1992. Kodak daylight transparency film w ith 4 halogen accent lights, 90 second exposure at f22 w ith no filter. ation than career planning. For years after graduation in Right - “Emanations of Cabezon”, at Cabezon Peak in New 1972 from the University of New Mexico, m y black and M exico from the Anasazi Guadalupe ruin, 1993. Kodak T-M ax white landscape and architectural im ages had shown in 100 film w ith No. 23a red filter, developed in T-M ax RS sm all photo galleries around New Mexico and the west developer. 6 M AY/ JU N E 2 0 0 5
V I EW C AM ERA 7
show with Laura Gilpin and talked with her about every- thing but the architectural photography she had done for John Gaw Meem . Now with the clarity of necessity I took a fresh look at that work and began reading every- thing I could find on the subject, which turned out to be very little. There was an Am photo book (that I no longer can rem em ber the title of) and Julius Schulm an’s 1977 book “Th e Ph otograph y of Arch itecture an d Design ” which was full of excellent but (by the tim e of its publica- tion ) already tech n ically dated m aterial. For in stan ce Shulm an described in detail how he lit interiors with flashbulbs which by 1978 were already h ard to fin d an d basically obsolete. In New Mexico in the 1970’s there were no technically oriented workshops or knowledge- able people who were willing to share inform ation. The three existing architectural photographers were poten- tial com petitors and not willing to help a novice. My path to m astering the technical and aesthetic challenges of architectural photography becam e the school of m is- takes, m isadventures and experim entation. Except for a three year detour to Canada to work on an MFA degree, the subsequent years were defined by an ever growing and dem anding client list dom inated by high profile architectural firm s and m agazines. The ca- reer defining m om ent was the m id-1980’s when I began doing assignm ent work for Architecture (Washington DC) and Architectural Digest (New York) m agazines. In the face of the seem ingly overwhelm ing dem ands of a national caliber com m ercial clientele, the biggest strug- gle over the years has been to find the tim e and energy to m aintain the personal black and white photography and after a few years I turned m y attention m ore to the local m arket for the sake of m y personal work and m y blood pressure. Surprisingly the Tachihara 4x5 proved an adequate cam era for architecture. Once broken in, the bellows al- lowed for extrem e rises with a 90m m lens, which are the m ost com m on lens and m ovem ent required for architec- ture. It also was great for travel as it was so com pact when folded. While not the m ost rigid of cam eras, one had to be very careful that extrem e m ovem ents did not force the cam era out of alignm ent, but never-the-less I used it for years even during the tim e I traveled for the national m agazines. Stolen in 1992, I replaced it with an even older and m ore unlikely cam era, a 1940’s vintage Calu- m et Wide Field which I have used ever since. The Wide Field was actually designed to shoot architecture and with a few m odifications functions perfectly fine. Its advan- tages are the very flexible bellows and stepped back stan- dards which allows one to use even a 47 XL Schneider without a recessed lens board or bag bellows. Powder coating the parts black and along with som e m odifica- tions to the knobs and a longer bale m ake it a perfectly adequate looking and functioning cam era today. Many well m eaning clients look at it and ask if it is a Hassle- blad? I of course say yes. In the spirit of keeping it sim ple, for years I used four len ses for 4x5 m ostly Fujin on s in cludin g a 65m m , a 90m m , a 120(Nikkor) and a 210. When I needed a “long- er” lens I used a 6x7 Calum et roll film back so I could give clients a “full fram e” longer view. When the Tachihara 8 M AY/ JU N E 2 0 0 5
“Aztec in Fall”, at the Aztec ruins w hile teaching a View Camera M agazine w orkshop, 2002. Ilford FP4 film w ith No. 16 yellow / orange filter in T-M ax RS developer. V I EW C AM ERA 9
was stolen, I purchased a whole new array of prim arily rently Jim Hunter. We don’t always need that m uch pow- Schneider lenses, 47XL, 65, 90, 120(Nikkor), 150, 210 er but it provides back up in case of equipm ent failure. and 305. To ease the burden of travel photography, I Som etim es though, we need that m uch power and m ore. switched to roll film over the years for com m ercial work Because of depth-of-field issues we try never to use an with Calum et C2N 6x9 roll film backs. Loadin g 4x5 film aperture larger than F/22. By using self-cocking press shut- holders in m otel bathroom s after a long days shooting ters on all your lenses, one can m ultiply that m uch flash got very very old! power exponentially by breaking an exposure down into Lighting interiors is perhaps the m ost difficult thing to m ultiples. For instance an exposure that looks pretty good learn in architectural photography. I wasted the better at ½ second at F/22 but still needs m ore shadow fill from part of a year chasing Shulm an’s outdated flashbulb tech- the strobe can be exposed twice at ¼ second at F/22 for nique, before I gave into the m ethod practiced by m y double the flash power but with the sam e am bient light local com petitors who were lighting interiors with strobe exposure or four tim es at 1/8 second at f/22 for quadruple and checking their setup with Polaroid. After trying to the flash power. Eight exposures on one fram e are very do flash lighting on the cheap a very knowledgeable Cal- com m on. We use self-cocking Prontor press shutters be- um et salesm an told m e that I needed at least two 2000 cause we find them the m ost durable but unfortunately watt power packs with three flash heads and som e halo- they are no longer m ade and are m ore difficult to get gens. Over the last 25 years that has grown into four repaired than the m ore com m on Copal press shutters. 2000 watt and three 800 watt Norm an power packs with Above - John Gaw M eem’s “Hollenback House” (1932) in ten flash heads and nine halogen lights. Assistants to Santa Fe w ith architectural w oodw ork salvaged from 17 th help carry everything becam e a necessity and I have been century missions photographed 1989. Kodak daylight blessed with som e great ones over the years notably An- transparency film w ith 3 strobe accent lights, 1 second thony Richardson, Jam es Burbank, Alan Labb and cur- exposure at f22 w ith no filter. 1 0 M AY/ JU N E 2 0 0 5
“Overview , Santa Fe Rail Road Yards”, in Albuquerque, 2002. Ilford FP4 film w ith No. 16 yellow /orange filter in T-M ax RS developer. BR BR BR BR UCE’S FIELD CAMERA ST UCE’S FIELD CAMERA ST UCE’S FIELD CAMERA ST UCE’S FIELD CAMERA ST ORE ORE ORE ORE BRUCE’S FIELD CAMERA ST BR BRUCE’S FIELD CAMERA ST BR BR BR UCE’S FIELD CAMERA ST UCE’S FIELD CAMERA STORE UCE’S FIELD CAMERA STORE UCE’S FIELD CAMERA ST ORE ORE ORE ORE “La Purisma Conception”, at Quarai (1633), Salinas Pueblo M issions , New M exico photographed 2002. Ilford FP4 film w ith No. 16 yellow /orange filter in T-M ax RS developer. V I EW C AM ERA 1 1
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