Projects of Note

Edward Weston Daybooks: A Digitization Project (2014)

In early 1915, photographer and CCP Archive Artist Edward Weston began keeping detailed journals, and for the next 20 years or so he recorded his thoughts regarding his life, work, photography, and interactions with friends, et cetera. In this text, collectively known as the Daybooks, Edward Weston describes his photographs, his treatment of the nude figure, and the development of his understanding of his medium.

The Imaging Unit worked, on average, one or two days a week digitizing the Daybook pages using the Phase One P40+, utilizing Capture One and a tethered instant capture system. We collaborated with CCP’s former Arthur J. Bell Senior Photograph Conservator, Jae Gutierrez, to ensure proper handling of the materials and we realized a very efficient workflow. We also collaborated with CCP’s former Director of the Volkerding Study Center, Leslie Squyres, and CCP’s former Assistant Director of the Volkerding Study Center, David Benjamin in order to fully understand the materials and the scope of the project. We captured thousands of pages independently at 600ppi. Ultimately, the Center for Creative Photography plans on delivering and presenting the digitized Daybooks via the Internet as an online resource.

The Flame of Recognition, Photographs by Edward Weston (published by Aperture, 2015)

Via Aperture Foundation: "This classic monograph, first issued as a hardcover volume in 1965, began its life in 1958 as a monographic issue of Aperture magazine published in celebration of Weston’s life. Drawing on a decades-long collaboration between the photographer and Nancy Newhall, Aperture co-founder and early MoMA curator, this volume brings together a sequence of images and excerpts from Weston’s writing in an effort to channel the photographer’s spirit of creativity and, in his own words, 'present clearly my feeling for life with photographic beauty . . . with-out subterfuge or evasion in spirit or technique.' Now, fifty years later, Aperture is pleased to present a reissue of this volume, which covers the range of Weston’s greatest works, from the portraits and nudes to the landscapes and still-lifes.”

For this project, the Digital Imaging Unit was charged with digitizing and preparing for delivery all photographs found within the original publication of The Flame of Recognition that are held in the Edward Weston Archive at CCP for this reissue.

The Center for Creative Photography Exhibition Archive Digitization Initiative (2014-present)

The CCP has been photographically documenting its exhibitions since opening in 1975; the Digital Imaging Unit has been digitizing thousands and thousands of analog photographic materials and other supporting documentation that constitutes the CCP's Exhibition Archive, including 35mm transparencies and black and white and color negatives, medium format black and white, and 4x5 black and white negatives, using the complete Digital Transitions Film Scanning Kit and 35mm Film Holder. These digital assets will eventually become a searchable database for research purposes.

The Jazz Loft According to W. Eugene Smith: Digitization for Lumiere Productions (2014-15)

Via Lumiere Productions: “For New York Public Radio, Lumiere Productions is producing ‘Gene Smith and the Jazz Loft,’ a feature documentary depicting a magic moment in American cultural history. 

In 1957 the great American photographer W. Eugene Smith rented a run-down loft in New York City's flower district, set up his studio there, installed mics and tape recorders everywhere, and opened the place to jazz musicians to jam all night long. Zoot Sims, Bill Evans, Thelonius Monk, and Paul Bley are a few of the dozens of jazz artists who came through the loft. From 1957 to 1965, when the loft began to close down, Smith made roughly 40,000 photos there and recorded roughly 4,000 hours of stereo and mono audiotapes.”

In collaboration with the CCP Image Resources & Copyright Management Department and CCP Archivists, the Digital Imaging Unit worked to digitize hundreds of largely unpublished materials from the W. Eugene Smith Archive at CCP for this purpose.

Aaron Siskind, Pleasures & Terrors of Levitation: A Digitization Project (2014)

This digitization project consisted of digitizing all 329 original 6x6cm medium format black & white negatives that constitute the complete Aaron Siskind Pleasures & Terrors of Levitation archive at the Center for Creative Photography. This project was initiated by a request from the Aaron Siskind Foundation.

Aaron Siskind: Another Photographic Reality (published by University of Texas Press, 2014)

Via UT Press: “The first true retrospective of a towering figure in American photography and the only book on Aaron Siskind currently in print, this volume features important, rarely published work and an authoritative text by noted photo historian Gilles Mora.”

To facilitate the publication of Aaron Siskind: Another Photographic Reality, the Imaging Unit provided digital reproductions of works from the Siskind Fine Print Collection at the Center, working closely with Gilles Mora and the Aaron Siskind Foundation to provide accurate printed facsimiles to be referenced during printing. CCP Associate Director Denise Gosé aided on site at press in Italy to ensure faithful reproduction of this important body of work.

For Licensing inquiries, please contact the CCP Image Resources & Copyright Management Department

Miles Scott

Technical Manager, Digital Imaging Unit
scottm@ccp.arizona.edu
520-621-0465