Cootie Williams by Francine Winham

John Lamb, Cootie Williams, Paul Gonsalves and Cat Anderson (FEVER NO. 3) were all musicians in Duke Ellington’s Band. Each had their turn to star...

John Lamb, Cootie Williams, Paul Gonsalves and Cat Anderson (FEVER NO. 3) were all musicians in Duke Ellington’s Band. Each had their turn to star as each played his solo. As they weren’t individually well-known (at least to me) I tried to think of a way to make their photos more interesting and came up with my FEVER TECHNIQUE.

I decided to do long exposures – although there was plenty of light, so to compensate for this I stopped down the lens to f32.   Now I had to waste a shot to listen to the time a second lasted.   Tschssst.   By holding the shot still for half a second and then moving the camera for the other half, I created a blurred free-form image that mirrored the dynamic of the performer.   I took lots of shots hoping that one would work.   Later in the darkroom I was surprised and pleased to see how well they came out.   (Soon afterwards a photographer asked how I did them, and although a little voice inside me told me not to tell him.   I did, and pretty soon I saw my technique appear on a record cover!)