What kind of materials does Bruce Gilden use

Gast · 2006-03-06T14:15:00+00:00

Hi, ich weiß nicht, ob jemand Bruce Gilden und seine Fotos kennt. Ihr könnt mehr von seinen Fotos bei der Magnumagentur sehen. Ich bin sehr interessiert, wa...

Gast

Hi, I don’t know if anyone’s familiar with Bruce Gilden and his photos. You can see more of his work on the Magnum website. I’m really interested in what he uses to achieve those contrasts. I think he uses Trix film, but I’ve no idea what he uses as a developer for the film and print the photos. I love the grain that appears in his shots. Does anyone know what he uses, or rather, what his printer uses (I don’t think he develops the film himself)? Kind regards, David

Renate

The only thing I know about Bruce Gilden so far is that he works with a Leica M6 fitted with a 28mm lens. He also uses a flash, apparently even during the day. I think the flash is responsible for the contrast. I’ve achieved a similar effect by using a dodger. In street photography, it’s hard to get good results without using a dodger. Sometimes Gilden’s pictures also feature a particularly clear sky. Weather like that is rather rare where we live. Best regards Renate

Wolfgg

Even in the interview in *Photographie* 11/2003, p. 84, there is no mention of the chemical aspects, even though the interviewer must surely have asked about them. Nor is there a word about it on the web. This could mean two things: either he experimented a great deal in the darkroom to find his style and achieve the desired effect, and does not want any imitators, or his darkroom work is so mundane and run-of-the-mill that he is embarrassed to talk about it. One thing is clear, however: with flash and the frequent use of depth gradation, there is a lot of dodging and burning involved. And the light modulation reminds me, in terms of film and developer, of Tri-X and HC110, and in some shots even of Pyro. It may well be that he works with different materials. Regards, Wolfgang

Macbeth

Hi, I don’t know if anyone’s heard of Bruce Gilden and his photos. You can see more of his work on the Magnum website. I’m really interested in what he uses to achieve those contrasts. I think he uses Tri-X film, but I’ve no idea what he uses as a developer for film and paper. I love the grain that appears in his shots. Does anyone know what he uses, or rather what his printer uses (I don’t think he develops the film himself)? Best regards, David

I can definitely say that he loads his Leica exclusively with Tri-X and uses Tmax developer for its development.