What cameras were used by these photographers?

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mrk123

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Found this great photo book the other day for 50 whole pence!! I don't normally buy photo books unless I truly know the pictures will inspire me every time I look at them!
I started on film 35mm in 1998, but didn't know jack about photography gear or best practice then. I moved to digital in around 2010.

This book is from 1989, so it's obvious the photogs were using film.

I am keen to know what brands / models they would have been using then? There are around 8 different photographers presented in this book, so obviously they'll all be using different gear and different lenses.

Looking at these images takes me back to some of my most prized photographs I have taken myself on film, there's a certain depth you can't get on digital. This is not something you can see, it's something you feel.
Film is a literal physical imprint of time and light frozen into eternity.

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Images by Tom Owen Edmunds - 1980s - Titled "The Salt Road". The Salt Road is an ancient caravan route that stretches across the Saharan Desert, Africa.
 
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Please correct me if I have missed a trick, but it looks like there's only one photographer, Tom Owen Edmunds

The names at the top are writers like Miles Kington (best known for inventing 'Franglais') and a bunch of more recognisable travel writers (such as Colin Thubron)

That should simplify your quest.
 
Musicman said:
Please correct me if I have missed a trick, but it looks like there's only one photographer, Tom Owen Edmunds

The names at the top are writers like Miles Kington (best known for inventing 'Franglais') and a bunch of more recognisable travel writers (such as Colin Thubron)

That should simplify your quest.
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The book jacket would suggest that, but Philip Jones Griffiths was a photojournalist.
 
Ed Sutton said:
The book jacket would suggest that, but Philip Jones Griffiths was a photojournalist.
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Hmm... possibly, I assumed as the photos of each destination are in their own sections of the book, that each name on the start of every section was that person.
Certainly all of the photos have their own distinct style.
If all of these photos are indeed Tom Owen Edmunds, he was very lucky to have travelled to all 24 corners of the earth to shoot.
 
Ed Sutton said:
The book jacket would suggest that, but Philip Jones Griffiths was a photojournalist.
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I'm taking that at face value, yes. Griffiths may have been engaged for appearing and writing - wondering aloud if there's any detailed credits in the book that would settle it?

It's a tie-in with a BBC TV series: Tom Owen Edmunds did a number of such projects for them as photographer

Great Railway Journeys. With Photographs By Tom Owen Edmunds by Palin, Michael, Clive Anderson, Natalia Makarova, Rian Malon, Lisa St Aubin De Teran, Mark Tully: F Soft Cover (1995) First Edition. | Arapiles Mountain Books - Mount of Alex

Available now at AbeBooks.co.uk - ISBN: 9780140247435 - Soft Cover - Penguin Books / BBC Books, London - 1995 - First Edition. - 8vo. original printed paper wraps (faint crease to front wrap); pp. [vi (last blank)], 214, with illustrations. A fine copy.
www.abebooks.co.uk

Great Journeys of the World: Amazon.co.uk: Toksvig, Sandi, Dingo, Ernie, Robinson, Sir Tony, Stevenson, Juliet, Glennie, Evelyn, Gorman, Damian, Edmunds, Tom Owen: 9780563370505: Books

Buy Great Journeys of the World First Edition by Toksvig, Sandi, Dingo, Ernie, Robinson, Sir Tony, Stevenson, Juliet, Glennie, Evelyn, Gorman, Damian, Edmunds, Tom Owen (ISBN: 9780563370505) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
www.amazon.co.uk

He's had quite an interesting career!

www.wri.org

Tom Owen Edmunds

Tom Owen Edmunds is a Senior Advisor to WRI. Before joining WRI Tom worked for the UK Government for twenty years, his last post being Head of the UK Climate Change Unit (UKCCU) and DFID Indonesia in the British Embassy Jakarta.
www.wri.org www.wri.org
 
Musicman said:
I'm taking that at face value, yes. Griffiths may have been engaged for appearing and writing - wondering aloud if there's any detailed credits in the book that would settle it?
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You would imagine there would be a list of photo credits in such a book. Or at least some indication who contributed what.
 
Maybe it's just me and I'm not seeing it right but the writing at the bottom of the cover, "Photographs by Tom Owen Edmunds," seems to be fairly clear.
 
OK yes just seen, Tom is the main photog, whoops.. I assumed that each section of the book and the name on the title page was the photographer.. The very back sleeve tells you about all of th 'travel writers'. Whoops...

So does anyone know what body and lens kits he may have been using?
 
DemiLion said:
You are asking the wrong question. Camera's in the film days, with very little exception, were just boxes.

The difference is made (physically) by the lens and (artistically) by the film stock.

It's the latter that will have most influence on the final images.
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I agree on that and I have always said there's only 3 things any photographer should master, shutter speed, aperture and iso (triangle) and thankfully you can't improve those things and they have been available in peak form since perhaps the late 1800s!
Good point.
 
DemiLion said:
You are asking the wrong question. Camera's in the film days, with very little exception, were just boxes.

The difference is made (physically) by the lens and (artistically) by the film stock.

It's the latter that will have most influence on the final images.
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What was the stock of choice? :)
 
mrk123 said:
What was the stock of choice? :)
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Many and various depending on the requirements of the job and tastes of the togger. They may have used transparency film, in which case the images are likely to be fairly high contrast with limited detail in shadows, or C41 colour neg for greater dynamic range and lower cost. Mono - you should probably research a bit. You should probably do that anyway. ;)

In the mid-late 80s I usually used Fuji (Provia or Velvia IIRC roll film) for weddings, but there were pro equivalents fom Kodak, Agfa. For travel shots I liked Konica because it was bright, colourful & contrasty.

It was very different as Demilion suggested.
 
mrk123 said:
What was the stock of choice? :)
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In the 80's? For 35mm, it was mostly transparency, with Fuji being favourite, and Ektachrome being the main contender. IIRC Fuji's greens were more vibrant, and if I were to guess, Id say Fuji - but it's irrelevant cos even the later versions of the same film will look different to the stock at the time.
 
In a vain attempt to answer the question, the following camera types were (apparently) popular with travel photographers at that time. This is based on material published in magazines, so subject to the vagaries of editors and my memory...

Nikon F, F2, F3 and F4
Canon F1, FT and Eos 1
Leica M3, M2, M4 and M6
Hasselblad 500 series (for people who enjoyed weight lifting while travelling)
Rolleiflex TLR for those who didn't see the point of letting dust or water spray in while changing lenses.

In fact, I only knew 2 serious travel photographers at the time. One used a pair of Nikon Fs and the other a pair of Rolleiflex F3.5s. Travel photography was not a business for those wishing to get rich quick, so far as I could tell, so reliability was all important when it came to equipment.
 
Popular camera choices then Nikon F series, Canon Ft ,Olympus OM1, probably most common cameras, for films Ektachrome or Kodachrome 25 were popular for books like nat geo, but pretty much anything might have been used, as many switched back and fro.
 
Most of the people who shot on 35mm used Velvia film and Nikon cameras - but why do the tools matter to you?
 
mrk123 said:
OK yes just seen, Tom is the main photog, whoops.. I assumed that each section of the book and the name on the title page was the photographer.. The very back sleeve tells you about all of th 'travel writers'. Whoops...

So does anyone know what body and lens kits he may have been using?
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In at least one shot taken by his wife showing him showing images he had taken of two native girls. he was using some sort of compact.
Other shots of him show him with only very small waist bags that would have been too small for a DSLR kit.
I have the impression kit is pretty unimportant to him,. or his wife Libby, who is also an outstanding photographer.
Clearly they have transcended into the digital world.

While images are clearly important to both of them. the paraphernalia of the trade is not. they are far more interested in people and their lives and the environment. That they record it so well is a bonus.

www.ajourneybespoke.com

Through the Lens of Libby Owen-Edmunds — A Journey Bespoke

Today we are privileged to gaze through the camera lens of Libby Owen-Edmunds. We discovered Libby's photographic talents through a friend who, aware of our love of photography, recommended we follow Libby's instagram feed. For quite some time we traced Libby's global adventures
www.ajourneybespoke.com www.ajourneybespoke.com
 
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DemiLion said:
You are asking the wrong question. Cameras in the film days, with very little exception, were just boxes.

The difference is made (physically) by the lens and (artistically) by the film stock.

It's the latter that will have most influence on the final images.
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And whether shot on slide or negative stock.....

If shot on negative, then the influence of the method of printing i.e. machine processed and/or hand processing & printing.

More questions than answers when it comes to such books without the backstory :thinking:
 
Garry Edwards said:
Most of the people who shot on 35mm used Velvia film and Nikon cameras - but why do the tools matter to you?
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Just curious from a historical point of view, when someone shows me an old image, I always ask what year it was taken, a way for me to understand deeper into it.
I started 'properly' on a Minolta x300 in 1998 and I love that camera! Thinking of getting a new 50mm for it and starting to use it again. I currently use a Canon 5dmk3 and have no desire to run out and get the latest marketing toy.
I am just a curious soul :)
 
If the TV series referred to on the cover is available anywhere, there may be some clues in it as to what kit and films he used.
 
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