Ernst Haas's Work on gettyimages.com

I was just looking at the book "Ernst Haas - Color Photography" yesterday, and I echo your sentiments. His work is amazing. The energy of color and motion in his work boggles my mind.

Thanks for the link.

This picture by Haas might not be nearly as iconic as Eisenstaedt's "VJ Day in Times Square" and other war-time images, but I've always thought it was more powerful. Heartbreaking, that.

I forgot to mention, before Haas became a pioneering color photographer, he was a superb black-and-white photographer in the great documentary/street/humanistic tradition. Which is why the above photo that I linked to has little or nothing to do with the color work that Tom started off the discourse with. But then again, you all probably knew that already (it's like I'm preaching to the choir here or something).

Andrew - I was having a discussion with a friend today, re: how Haas' style migrated/evolved/changed when he began his color work. The images that always stand out the most in my mind are his motion photographs (bullfighting, rodeo, sports, etc) where everything dissolves into this impressionist whirl of color and flow. He talks about moving not only his camera, but his body in keeping with the subject's motion. Do you think this "signature" of sorts evolved from the fact that color emulsions were so slow at the time? Do you think this work would've happened if he had high speed color film, or was he forced to work around the technological limits of the day? This discussion came up as part of an interesting Haas quote that I'm paraphrasing..."Camera technology keeps improving, but why aren't the images getting any better?" (or something like that). I'm admittedly not a Haas expert by any stretch, and I think it's an interesting question. I'd like to hear others' perspectives.

Try http://www.ernst-haas.com rel="nofollow"> http://www.ernst-haas.com

I believe some of Haas' last work is in his book "The Creation". It, despite advances in technology, remains as fresh as his early pioneering color work. His early color was done with Kodachrome (ASA 10-12) which is still available as a higher speed film. I believe Haas would use what ever new cameras and film would continue his work. As with many great photographers, Haas remained true to his vision which is just exactly what all of us should do.

does anyone know why his work is not on the magnum photos site? just curious as he was a member for so many years and started his colour work will being a member with them.

moiz

Moiz,

It isn't available through Magnum anymore because he had resigned from Magnum before he died and his estate later signed a licensing agreement with Getty Images, whom they felt would do a better job of marketing his work.

Tom: Where/how did you obtain the 04 calendar? No need to apologize for praising Haas, to me he is just the best. When I first saw The Creation I couldn't afford to buy a copy. I'd go into as many bookstores as possible and look at it over and over. He's still the only photographer/artist I go out of my way looking for images I've not seen before. Thanks in advance for any info on the calendar.

thanks ellis

Gary: I got mine from amazon.com.

While he is famous for his pioneering motion studies, highlighted in a then unprecedented two issues of LIFE magazine, he did plenty of straight work too back then, even with the then glacially slow Kodachrome I. LIFE published within a few years of the motion studies, portfolios on New York, Paris, and Venice. He also had work on UK and several other topics in several issues of LOOK.

His film was always Kodachrome with only very occasional use of High Speed Ektachrome. Were he alive today, I'd lay money his film would be PKR. Looking over the Getty images, I can't help marvelling at the color palette. He got every bit of color that Kodachrome could give. I doubt that he would have taken up Velvia. He liked color more similar to what the eye sees and did not go out of his way to hype colors, which Velvia certainly does. When he wanted deep, oil paint-like color, he would underexpose.

(I find myself starting to react negatively to too much Velvia, especially too much Velvia plus warming filters. Natural greens tend to have some black in them, except in new growth. Kodachrome catches that. Velvia makes them all look somewhat yellow.)

The Haas website has not been updated in several years now. The estate does not have the funds or the manhours to promote the material and finance new publications. I certainly wish that a philanthropist or visionary publisher such as Phaidon would put out a thick set of his work that hasn't been published elsewhere. Phaidon was due out a book, probably a small one, on his Austrian war prisoner photos, but I have seen no info of that happening.

Haas's importance to photography, especially 35mm, Leica, and color is lost among the generation younger than 40 or so. I wish I had the means to do something concrete about that. Haas is my single most favorite photographer. Opening The Creation and having my jaw drop to the table hadn't happened before and hasn't to the same degree since. One of those moments I remember very clearly, but this was a nice moment.

Take care.

Tom,

I couldn't agree with you more about Haas' work. His images are one of the reasons I got into photography and then Leicas in the first place. On the Haas website, there is a quote of his that sums up my feelings about Kodachrome and color-- "Color is joy."

Fortunately I was able to get some of his books when they were still in print and I used to get the calendar every year in local bookstores. Glad to know it's available again through Amazon.

Many others seem to try to copy his style, but he had an intensity of seeing color images that is hard to duplicate.

I agree with you about Velvia, too. It's one of the reasons I have a freezer stock of Kodachrome 25 which I am using till they stop processing it or I run out!

Can you imagine what it would be like to have some of Haas' talent for color? That is my photographic fantasy--to be able to produce work that is even a little bit as good as his.

Thanks for pointing us to the Getty site. I didn't know it had his work. Like you, I wish someone would fund the estate's website and publications. If I had the money I would love to buy some of the prints offered on the Haas Studio site. In bookstores I always check to see if his books are back on the shelves.

Maureen

Maureen: I'm interested in your comment about getting a Haas calendar every year. The only other calendars I have are the 1982 "America America" and the 1998 and 1999 "Flowers," which I found at Borders in Deerfield, IL before we moved. The companies that published the above ones didn't have plans necessarily to do Haas calendars every year. This 2004 calendar is the first I've seen show up on amazon.com.

I'd be keen to know which other calendars you have or are aware of and any info that I might use to try to find them (like who are the publishers).

If you are looking for Haas books, I'd recommend abebooks.com, where there are several hundred listings of all his books from used book collections all over the world. Interestingly, the only one to achieve "collector" status and the requisite high price is his B&W book. So his color books are available for not much different than the original prices in many cases.

Take care, and I appreciate your comments. It seems that Haas's work can still elicit impassioned interest, as several respondents make clear.

Hi Tom,

The calendars seemed to come out every year in the mid to late 80's.It might just be a faulty memory on my part. I had one of them out recently, but think I put it back in my "archival room" i.e., it will take some searching to find it. With any luck, I can find it today and get back to you with the publisher.

Thanks very much for the reference to the Getty site. There were quite a few of his images there that I had not seen before. I still got some Wow reactions to them, even though the thumbnails and enlargements are tiny. If you download the comps, you get a better view. What an eye he had.

You are so right about the jaw-dropping nature of some of his images. Just looking at the thumbnails on the Getty site made me want to get out with my camera right now. He was able to see color the way no one else has, in my opinion.

One of the things he wrote in The Creation, I think, was that he often tried to photograph specific emotions or feelings. I seem to remember that in some of the pictures he took for The Creation he was trying to portray "power."

There is so much life in his pictures--he could have taken them all just yesterday. At least the color ones have that effect on me.

Thanks again for bringing the Getty site to our attention.

Maureen

I'm curious now...do you folks have a favorite Haas image? Mine is the monochromatic blue snow scene [a double exp] from the 'Seasons' section of The Creation where the tree is leaning a bit toward center of frame. I would [almost] give up some Leica equipment for a dye-transfer of that image!

For favorite images, it is hard to pick. The flowers are my first choice, especially the red rose and the two red tulips touching, and the one of the petals on the ground. The abstractions and the shiny puddles are also amazing to me.

On the Getty site there is a picture of the side of a car that looks golden--it is hard to tell if the car is gold or if it is just reflections. The picture of the seal mother and child is touching but not saccharine or maudlin.

There is a great deal of tenderness in his photos, to my eye. For example, the brown and white horses grazing by the water seem to be gentle creatures. The pictures of the wild horses also seem gentle and elegant.

For many of the ones I was just looking at on the Getty site, my first response was "how did he see that in that?" Ordinary traffic, puddles, rainy streets... are transformed by subtle or bold color.

I guess my favorite is still the red rose. The first photo workshop I went to I had taken a closeup of a red rose (not nearly as good), and my instructor said "oh, you must be trying to recreate the Ernst Haas photo". It was the first time I heard of him.

To me his work is all about really seeing what's out there. And seeing the beauty or elegance in it. Sorry for all the gushing, but he is my all time favorite photogrpaher. I wish I'd had a chance to meet him.

Maureen

Holy Cow! There's loads of images on the Getty site that I've never seen before ! Surely some day some of the unpublished ones can be asssembled in another book!

Amen to that Gary! I am so glad Tom pointed us to the site. Maureen

Probably mine would be the abalone shell in The Creation. But so many are archetypes burned into my brain that I too have many favorites.