Did Chim use a Leica? And why Brassai didn't

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The recent thread about top LTM photographers didn't include Magnum co-founder"Chim" -David Seymour- and a Google search turned up nothing about his choice of weapons -anybody know?

Brassai is included, but so far as I can tell never used a Leica. He used a 6.5x9 cm Voigtlander Bergheil on a tripod thoughout his career, from 1930 onwards, adding a Rolleiflex for handheld work in 1935. When you think about it, being very obviously a photographer when working among petty crooks and prostitutes in the "bals musettes" (accordian dancehalls) makes perfect sense: would you want to be caught sneaking shots in a bar full of the mafia?..

-- david kelly (dmkedit@aol.com), October 20, 2001

Answers

"Chim -- Photographs of David Seymour" p. 12, "From the beginning, Chim worked with the then Avant-garde 35mm camera, the Leica." And on p.18 a photograph from 1952 shows him holding two cameras, one clearly a LTM Leica.

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), October 20, 2001.

Brassai, apparently, also used an asssistant, who maybe doubled as his bodyguard.

-- Steve Wiley (wiley@accesshub.net), October 20, 2001.

Consider Chim added. We will refer Brassai to the credentials committee for review :)

-- Tony Oresteen (aoresteen@mindsping.com), October 21, 2001.

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