In the early 1980s I started working as a lawyer for Southern California Edison Company. Sensing that the utility would be the place I would make my career, I dove into work with determination. I was fortunate in having been hired by a senior attorney who became my mentor, and to whom I owe a great deal.
At the same time I acquired my own Leica rangefinder: a Leica M4-P with a 50mm Summicron-M lens. I kept it in my briefcase, so it was always at hand in the office, in the field, and even in hearings. I joined what was then known as the Leica Historical Society of America, and began attending their local meetings. Around 1985, I received an announcement that Magnum photographer Ernst Haas (a well-known Leica user) would be giving a workshop. This was an opportunity I had been looking for: the chance to learn from a professional photographer whose work I admired, and whose vision resonated deeply with me.
I was all set to propel my photography to the next level with a massive dose of Haas-inspiration, when my work mentor intimated that leaving work during those particular days would leave an important case unattended at a potentially critical time. Whether this was an accurate assessment or making a mountain out of a molehill was not important. What was important (at least in my mind, at the time) was showing that there was no question about either my professionalism, loyalty, or dedication.
I stayed in the office, and did not attend the Haas workshop. I told myself that there would be another opportunity, when it would be "more convenient" for me to attend.
Ernst Haas died in 1986. He was gone, and so was the chance to study with him.
I learned a great deal from my work mentor: many things to do, and some things not to do. In this case I learned not to postpone any opportunity to learn from a master whose work moves me. The opportunities are rare, and they are fine, and they are to be treasured.
I was thrilled when I learned that in 2014 Steidl would be publishing Ernst Haas On Set, a compilation of his color and black and white photographs on motion picture sets and locations from 1949's The Third Man to 1981's Quest for Fire. I preordered the book on Amazon (no delay, no postponement, no excuses) and in due course it arrived. Wonderful design and printing, with great scans and separations by Getty Images and Steidl's darkroom enabling me to relish the photographer's sensitive mastery of color, of movement, and of light and shadow. It can be argued that simply by photographing on set, the photographer is likely to produce great pictures: after all, they are shooting made-up and costumed actors, under dramatic lights and in exciting surroundings. The truth is much more prosaic, and it takes sensitivity, timing, and an artist's vision to make of those elements something beyond a mere duplication of a frame from the motion picture, or worse: a pastiche. For a lesson in just how unique and telling and probing on set photography can really be, I cannot do better than to recommend Ernst Haas On Set, Steidl, 2014, hardcover, available on Amazon.
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