>From a Getty Museum press release: " ... In a dramatic gesture on his 80th birthday, Brett Weston burned all but a dozen of his own negatives, to confirm his belief that a negative should be printed only by the person who created it."
That seems a little over the top, but it's not unusual for a photog to destroy or deface negatives. It seems a shame. However, I can somewhat understand Weston's reported reason. Having been fortunate enough to see a number of original WES prints, and some that were printed from the negs kept at his archive, there is a substantial difference between what WES printed and often what was printed by others. Still, I think that destroying the history is nothing more than hubris. The works are gone forever, now, and future generations will have little opportunity to see his work, and to better understand it and some aspects of photography. Shel > [Original Message] > From: Bob W < > > Brett Weston, considered a great photographer by many, burned > > all of his negatives. Some others have punched holes in the > > negs with paper punches. A few have put X marks on them with > > permanent markers. > > > > That's a terrible, terrible thing to do. Like burning an author's first > drafts or notebooks, or Rembrandt's preparatory sketches. And all for the > sake of money. > > Bob > >
