By Will Dunniway and Robert Szabo

http://www.luminous-lint.com/app/vexhibit/_PHOTOGRAPHER_Carleton_Eugene__Watkins_Spring_Valley_Water_Works_01/2/0/0/

Hi Will and Robert,

Terrific study! Thanks,

Mark

Thanks Mark.

Im a big fan of Watkins. I still hope one day his name will be as well known as Ansel Adams. I truly think he deserves it.

The thing about this image that is the most amazing to me is I really think it is a picture of the man himself. That makes only the 3rd know image of him. One posed as miner, one as an old man being taken from his studio on the verge of burning to the ground to forever destroy his lifes work, all his negatives. And this one. People have been looking at this image for a long time and no one saw it. Im not sure why. As soon as I saw it on the carletonwatkins.org site I thought it was him. No way I can say for sure that it is, but I think it is.

Hi Robert,

I agree, Watkins is a forgotten hero of American Photography and a pioneer, not only of photography but also the American West.

That is very interesting and I thank you, Bob, for posting it.

A theoretical digression: In regards to the two references to the pictures/portraits of Watkins, while the image "data" here reflects that the pictures are attributable to Watkins, it raises for me an interesting issue of authorship and copyright. More specifically, why is the authorship of these two photos of Watkins as a subject attributed to Watkins himself?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2011 11:22AM by life_in_sepia.

We concentrated on Carleton Watkins quite a bit in an Art History class I took a few years ago. He was an amazing artist.

If Watkins set the shot up and did all the other work it would be hard to attribute it to the person who only pulled the lens cap off and put it on. Whose shot is it when we use the auto timer on a modern camera ?