03.10.13
John Foster | Accidental Mysteries

Kodachrome Finds New Life

When young Fred Herzog selected Kodachrome slide film in 1953 as his choice for making photographs, he did it for two reasons: the intensity of the color which suited his eye, and affordability. Kodachrome had marvelous aesthetic attributes, but also a major drawback. The only way to make color prints with Kodachrome was to send the slide film to Kodak, an expensive and complicated process for even small prints, much less larger prints suitable for gallery display. But at age 23, Herzog didn't care. What he cared about was “making pictures.” So Herzog kept his images safely stored as slides, and continued to shoot, caring more about the image he created than the fact that slides were a dead-end to the gallery scene.

Now 85 years of age, the elder Herzog has lived long enough for technology to catch up to the Kodachrome dilemma and allow him to share his work. That technology — archival digital ink jet printing — has zoomed past Herzog's once dead-end Kodachrome slides for a new life. And that new life is beginning to explode within the connoisseurs and collectors of photography, thanks to Vancouver art dealer Andy Sylvester who was visionary enough to believe in him and exhibit his ink jet prints.

Read more about Fred Herzog's work here in a comprehensive article by Timothy Taylor and see more of Herzog's images at the Equinox Gallery in Vancouver.

All images © Fred Herzog

Fred Herzog
Man with Bandage
Ink Jet Print
20 x 29.5 in. image size
1968

Fred Herzog
Black Man Pender
Ink Jet Print
19 x 30 in. image size
1958

Fred Herzog
Rene's
Ink Jet Print
20 x 29.25 in. image size
1964

Fred Herzog
Victoria
Ink Jet Print
20 x 30 in. image size
1967

Fred Herzog
Red Stockings
Ink Jet Print
19 x 30 in. image size
1961

Fred Herzog
Bargain Shop
Ink Jet Print
20 x 24 in. image size
1962

Fred Herzog
Martin Luther King
Ink Jet Print
20 x 30 in. image size
1970

Fred Herzog
Curtains
Ink Jet Print
20 x 29.5 in. image size
1972

Fred Herzog
Salvage Ass’n
Ink Jet Print
20 x 29 in. image size
1958

Fred Herzog
Barber
Ink Jet Print
20 x 29.5 in. image size
1967

Fred Herzog
Two White Cars, Quebec City
Ink Jet Print
20 x 29.5 in. image size
1969

Fred Herzog
CN Bridge Main
Ink Jet Print
20 x 28 in. image size
1966

Fred Herzog
Boys on Shed
Ink Jet Print
20 x 28.5 in. image size
1962

Fred Herzog
Mexico City Shoe Shine
Ink Jet Print
20 x 29 in. image size
1963

Fred Herzog
Bogners Grocery
Ink Jet Print
19.5 x 30 in. image size
1960

Fred Herzog
Main Barber
Ink Jet Print
12 x 18 in. image size
1968

Fred Herzog
Isabella & Quilt
Ink Jet Print
20 x 29.5 in. image size
2000

Fred Herzog
Lucy/Georgia
Ink Jet Print
20 x 29.5 in. image size
1968

Fred Herzog
Crossing Powell
Ink Jet Print
30 x 20 in. image size
1984

Fred Herzog
Star Weekly
Ink Jet Print
20 x 29 in. image size
1965

Fred Herzog
Jackpot
Ink Jet Print
20 x 30 in. image size
1961

Fred Herzog
Canada Dry
Ink Jet Print
29.25 x 20 in. image size
1966

Fred Herzog
Diefenbaker
Ink Jet Print
20 x 29 in. image size
1962

Fred Herzog
Eisie and Dick
Ink Jet Print
20 x 29.25 in. image size
1974

Fred Herzog
Wild Animal
Ink Jet Print
20 x 24.5 in. image size
1960


Posted in: Accidental Mysteries, Arts + Culture, Photography



Comments [5]

It's great to see these. Thanks.

I particularly like Curtains, Lucy/Georgia and Wild Animal. The last is a wonderful picture.

And a general DO note and plea: this is so much better as a way to show bodies of photographs than slide shows, allowing much more rapid and effective comparisons to be made.
Rick Poynor
03.10.13
11:34

Given that these images are neither slides or ink jet prints, I assume that they are the scanned slide image, corrected/adjusted and and formatted for ink jet printing?
Can you confirm?
i would vote to support Mr Poynor's plea.
Jonathan
03.10.13
10:51

Yes, they were originally slides, which means they had to be scanned, adjusted and formatted for ink jet by the artist or with oversight by Mr. Herzog. Ink jet printing has long been snubbed by the collecting community, but that is beginning to change.
John Foster
03.11.13
08:41

I like the moment of the shot. He captured his subjects in a way that appeared that they were carrying on in normal context unaware of the camera. This style is why people like his work. He captured nostalgia in his camera. By placing them in slides he preserved an era in history.
GlendaP.Pruitt
03.21.13
11:36

Lovely work.

And I agree with Mr. Poynor: please continue to display images this way. DO's default slide show format is painfully clicky.
Marc Oxborrow
04.01.13
08:25


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