BBC1 Tonight 10.40pm Harry Cory Wright

Jonathan Perkins · Post by **Jonathan Perkins** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 12:03 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Tonight BBC1's "Made In England" features large format landscape photographer Harry Cory Wright out and about with his 10x8, making images in Norfolk and Bristol. More info here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/content/ar ... ture.shtml

The programs regional though - its a generic program title with different content for various regions. Harry is in the Eastern and Western versions as far as I can tell.

Jonathan

Keith Tapscott · Post by **Keith Tapscott** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 12:21 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

I will watch that, I think he uses an 8x10 View Camera with a 240mm lens only and Fuji ISO 160 colour negative film-sheets.

Thanks for the heads up.

Jonathan Perkins · Post by **Jonathan Perkins** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:40 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00

The program's now available on BBC iPlayer for those in different regions:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b00b318m.shtml

Jonathan

Keith Tapscott · Post by **Keith Tapscott** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 1:03 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Quite an interesting program. The contact prints of the Norfolk landscape and the city night scene didn't look too promising when he showed the contact prints, but the big enlargements made a remarkable difference.

Nigels · Post by **Nigels** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 4:08 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

I enjoyed the program. It was good to see someone in the field using a big camera. Though he seemed to take a very basic approach to the process of capturing of the image - one lens, no movements, etc. In the end I wasn't that impressed with his pictures. It seems to me he relies on the detail and size of the image for the impact. Would liked to know more about the finished prints. He doesn't say much on his website except that he prints at 2000mm wide.
Did make me want to step up to 10x8 though which is a bit of a dangerous thought.

Post by **Joanna Carter** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 6:19 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Jonathan Perkins wrote:The program's now available on BBC iPlayer for those in different regions:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b00b318m.shtml

Jonathan

Slight problem for those who have Mac computers; the content is not available

Fortunately, I have Parallels and Windows XP installed so was able to watch it, albeit in the small window provided.

BTW, for those of you who choose to download the program for viewing later, take note that the BBC Download Manager is a "peer to peer" client that not only downloads to your computer but also uploads the files on your computer to fulfil requests from other users for files you have downloaded.

alangolding · Post by **alangolding** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 6:20 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Hi Joanna
Just viewed the program on my new Mac!

Alan

Post by **Joanna Carter** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 6:38 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

OK Alan,

Spill the beans; unless you have Windows installed, how??

Hmmm, I had a sudden thought; it works in Safari but not Firefox.... at least not on my machine, but you might know different

Post by **masch** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 7:39 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Jo,

The Flash streaming version of iPlayer has been out for ages.

You need flash installed on firefox. There's a little problem with the rendering engine on FF2, whee is occasionally does not render the video window properly, unless it sits on the edge of the browser window (upper or lower. A bit wired. I'm waiting for FF3

Marc

Tom Perkins · Post by **Tom Perkins** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 7:51 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Well, i have no problems viewing on my macbook pro in osx in firefox 3.0b5.

Post by **Charles Twist** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:23 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

I got to see the programme. He certainly isn't shy of blowing his own trumpet... I did feel he was trying a bit hard to impress upon us mere mortals that he was a Great Artist (eg when he says that a city is political, it felt like mere regurgitation of etymology - it might be an interesting point but it felt like unoriginal brow-beating, leading to nothing). "Get off your pedestal!", I felt like screaming for most of the programme.
Aside from that, I think his Bristol pic the more interesting of the two - the other suffering from his unconditional love of (i) detail made large which he equates with greatness (not a sufficient condition in my view) and (ii) the horizon half-way up the pic (does his camera have another setting?). Apart from that, nice to hear an LF'er talk about his approach and nice to see the art get some recognition in the media. And I am impressed by the detail held by negative film.
Thanks for the link.
Charles

alangolding · Post by **alangolding** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:06 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00

I only have Safari on my Mac but the OS is the new X.5.1. While it ran OK it was not at full screen but good enough to watch. I agree the chap came over a bit pompus, but I suspect that he was asked to make it all sound a but special for the film. I aso agree that the Bristol shot was the better of the two.

Alan

Matt_Bigwood · Post by **Matt_Bigwood** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:59 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00

I thought it was interesting that he kept saying he wanted to capture an image that defined Bristol, yet the night picture, as good as I thought it was, could have been taken in any major city in Britain.

john shiell · Post by **john shiell** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:06 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00

He certainly isn't shy of blowing his own trumpet...
Come on. Who's blowing who's trumpet!! Given the time scale he was given I think he did rather well. At least it gave an insight into large format photography, wether you like the photos or not.
John

Nigels · Post by **Nigels** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 1:19 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Had a look at his website and none of the images really grab me. Not in the same way as Joe Cornish images do. It seems to be his way of seeing that the horizon often appears to be central in the image. This one is probably my favourite - http://www.harrycorywright.com/index.php?pId=3. Of course they probably look totally different as 2000mm wide prints.
Anyone know where I can get a cheap 10x8 field camera?