Photographing the Fence

Summary:

In this film, Fred Picker reminds us that shooting in black & white means making the most of shape and form.

Picker continuously searches out the best angle. During the film he says, “Something behind the summit might even be more exciting that what’s in front”. Picker scouts his locations from a low or high vantage point before deciding what appeals to his well-trained photographic eye. Many graphic subjects work good when they are isolated from their surroundings, but then again Picker shows us that rules are made to be broken.

Sometimes the mixture of the graphical elements, horizon, and trees are the differentiations that make an award winning photo and a keen photographer learn even more. In one scene, Picker uses a yellow filter to bring out the detail of fall foliage. It is these little tricks that stick in our mind and help us when we pack our photo-bags and head out to make that perfect shot of our own. Internationally celebrated photographer, Fred Picker will be long remembered for his photographic work. Picker’s wide, sweeping wilderness landscapes and intimate studies of natural forms have been held up alongside the work of Ansel Adams, Paul Strand and Edward Weston.

Picker was involved in the manufacture of 4 x 5 and 8 x 10 large format field cameras. And his filters, camera designs, tripods and other photographic aids are still considered indispensable tools of the trade by photographers. He taught a highly successful photography class known as "The Zone VI Workshop," and authored a book by the same name that has become recognized as the golden standard of photographic instruction. His uncanny sense of "photographer's intuition” and his passion for the art was a unique combination. Always opinionated and oft times controversial, his dedication to large format photography was unsurpassed. Many called Picker’s straightforward approach to the relationship between the "scene" and the final print, pure genius. But Picker himself had a more grounded approach to encouraging his students and other photographers.

Picker will always be known for saying, "If you want to know what happens with this or that, don't ask me ... test it." That phrase was simple, but it made perfect sense to the many who have followed his wise advice. With a love for the photographic art form, his contributions to photography as an educator, equipment designer/manufacturer, writer and artist, Picker was a true Pioneer that improved the field of photography. Picker once wrote, on the occasion of Ansel Adams’s passing away, to "lift a glass to him, he would appreciate that". That’s Picker: always thoughtful, always caring. Fred Picker, 1927 - 2002 *Special thanks to Calumet Photographic USA for making this film available to FotoTV