Pictures from the Twin Cities Bass Camp, including Francois Rabbath:  

 

 

 

I love it !

From what I see in these pics French rather then German Arco technique is being taught.  Is this correct ?  
 
Wolf

I hadn't noticed. I believe both kinds of bows are in play.  
These are pictures of the Bass Orchestra and Rabbath master class.  
 
The age range for the camp is about 8 to over 70.  
 
I'm volunteering (helping herd students, tech support for the concerts, and writing a new registration database system).  
 
It's all double basses, so I brought in my Stagg EUB (popular with the campers), my Ashbory (especially popular with the younger students) and my Series I (popular with the teachers).

Being a complete ignoramous to double bass I thought you just dragged the bow thing across the strings and it made a sound. French or German ?? I wouldn't know one from the other !!!

French and German are two different ways of holding the bow.
 
Here is a 'bassic' explanation:  
The German bow has a large frog (holding place) and essentially you hold it with your palm pointing towards the tip of the bow.  The French bow has a smaller frog and is held in away that your palm is pointed towards the instrument.
 
That looks like an awesome camp!

I'm with you on that Terry, and Pauldo's explanation doesn't make anything clear to me. I just thought one you held the bow with your palm facing the floor and the other was something else. :-)
I checked on you tube.  

I will post pics later, but 70 basses playing at once is AWESOME.

I will post pics later, but 70 basses playing at once is AWESOME.

Does holding the bow make such a difference..looks a bit of 'classical snobbishness' if you see what I mean.
I don't think Jimmy Page cared when he dragged it across his Les Paul on 'Whole Lotta Love' from Led Zep II !!

The physical construction of the bows are different.
My upright came with a French bow, that is what I use, the German style seems to be a more ergonomically correct position.  Some day I will buy a German bow.  
 
Now is not the time . . .  just bought a 33 acre farm.

Terry ,LOL ! A Bass player might have to bow for hours at a time!
   
Paul ,I have had the same experience as you did and learned with a French Bow . Later I was approached by a teacher who mentioned that I would do better with a German bow because he observed my struggles with fatigue with my French Bow. He actually said that for me it would be a good idea from an ergonomic aspect for me to give the German Bow a try.I was never very happy with my Arco sound , I needed to do lots of work on that. To make Arco/Bowing sound good takes lots and lots of work. I love that sound when I hear someone do it who has put in the work .  
 
     Paul , congratulations regarding that Farm !  
 
Wolf

In my experience, bowing an upright bass is one of the most physically demanding musical endeavors yet. If I don't practice with a bow at least a couple hours a week, I quickly lose the muscle memory and stamina required to make anything other than whale songs. After trying both French and German, I landed on French style, but with what was described as an odd grasp. Kinda' matches the rest of my poor technique... =)

Very  Physically demanding  indeed ; like carrying buckets of cementitious mortar while having to sound wonderful . My arco technique was indeed poor !  Some day I will get another Double Bass and try it again, I sold mine about 6 or so years ago after owning it for about 20 years. Mine was a Bass that I acquired broken in pieces . I had to repair and reattach the neck and repair a large hole on its side. It actually ended up all playing and looking good. I have some 35 mm pictures of that project that I still need to scan to .jpg

Some more pics: Bass Orchestra:

 

  One of the Campers with my Alembic: