Portfolio of the Week: Martina Woll

Dear Readers,

This week we feature a German photographer, Martina Woll. Martina is an autodidact photographer from Saarbrücken. She works in 35 mm (Canon EOS 3, Minolta SR-T 101, Yashica Electro 35GTN and others) and 6x6 (Mamiya C330S), as well as with Fuji Instax and Holga cameras, with available light as her primary lighting source. Her preferred films are Kodak Tri-X 400 and Agfa APX 100. She develops BW films by herself, usually with Caffenol-C. Her photographic work and interests range widely, very widely; from portraits to still life, to a variety of vehicles, vessels (aircrafts), and other subjects. She also loves the imperfections film has to offer: lightleaks, fluff, blur etc. Most of her inspiration comes from the web, since there is a great deal of talented photographers' work to be seen online, as she states. And she's right! Thus, she has no rigid or exemplar rules about. She has already been featured in a number of publications, including Playboy USA. Besides her portfolio, I personally like very much her Smoking series of photos.

Untitled 13. Copyright: Martina Woll

Untitled 18. Copyright: Martina Woll

Untitled 7. Copyright: Martina Woll

Untitled 64. Copyright: Martina Woll

Untitled 33. Copyright: Martina Woll

Untitled 6. Copyright: Martina Woll

Untitled 31. Copyright: Martina Woll

Untitled 99. Copyright: Martina Woll

Untitled 100. Copyright: Martina Woll

Kell. Copyright: Martina Woll

 

Martina's work can be seen on her website, her photostream on Flickr and Facebook. Enjoy the photos!

silver regards

Mitja

The "RolleiHolga"

No, it's not the newest Lomo camera or a hybrid camera I made by myself (I would never profanate a Rollei and even don't own a Holga)! But it happens even to best ones (cameras, to be clear) to be sometimes a bit off. So it happened even to my beloved Rollei SLR, actually to its film back. The film leading/retaining spring clips (which are supposed to hold the film flat, very flat) were not doing their job properly, as it turned out later. On the contrary, the film was so unflat, out of focal plane, the image sharpness was on a par with a Holga. Hence, the name RolleiHolga! It happened on a Sunday trip. And to make things even worse, I forgot to take the right lens hood for the wide 50 mm lens. Being a nice, but also a naive and technocolic guy I am, I was sure shooting at f/8-11 would not produce noticeable vignetting. Wrong! The wrong lens hood added another »Holga-feature« to the shots! 

Two shots made with the "RolleiHolga" from Motovun

Under normal circumstances, I would not show these shots to anybody, but I thought it would be nice to share this happy accident in this case. And luckily, the problem was solved in a breeze by my trusty camera mechanic. By the way, these are panorama shots of the river Mirna valley, taken from the tiny little town of Motovun, located in central Istria. If you have a chance, go for a visit there. It is a picturesque town, with galleries and local taverns serving good Istrian cuisine. But the town is most famous for its film festival, which is going to be soon! And don't forget to take your camera with you!

silver regards

Mitja

Portfolio of the Week: Daryan Dornelles

For the very first featured portfolio on T.A.P., it is my great pleasure and honor to host a very talented Brazilian professional photographer, Daryan Dornelles! Daryan lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He graduated in Cinema and Journalism by UFF, Rio de Janeiro. He is an associate partner at the Fotonauta photo studio and has gained a lot of experience in commercial work as well, with more than 700 portraits published, CD and magazines covers. His preference is, portrait photography. He shoots with medium format, 6x6 (Hasselblad 500CM) and 6x7 (Mamiya RZ67), usually with standard lenses and BW film (Fuji Acros and Kodak Tri-X). Depending on the situation, he uses both natural and studio lighting. He is an open mind, therefore he finds his inspiration in many different circumstances, but he also admires how Richard Avedon was able to visualize his photos. Daryan's work can also be seen on Flickr. Enjoy the portfolio and let his photos speak for themselves!

silver regards

Mitja 

Adriana Calcanhoto. Copyright: Daryan Dornelles

Bruno Cosentino. Copyright: Daryan Dornelles

Cecilia Meireles. Copyright: Daryan Dornelles

Dom Salvador. Copyright: Daryan Dornelles

Dominguinhos. Copyright: Daryan Dornelles

Grazi. Copyright: Daryan Dornelles

Ma. Copyright: Daryan Dornelles

Maria Bethania. Copyright: Daryan Dornelles

Thlama de Freitas. Copyright: Daryan Dornelles

Tie. Copyright: Daryan Dornelles

Plustek OpticFilm 120: the anxiety is still high....

Many of us have been delighted by the news some half a year ago that Plustek is going to release a brand new-and affordable!-medium format scanner. The scanner is also listed on their official website, but so far, there's no clue when it will be put on shop shelves.....For the price it has been speculated to be around a grand-quite nice, if you compare to some refurbished or "like-new-condition" Nikons or Minoltas. Otherwise, the Plustek is a fixed-focus device, while the other two have an adjustable focus. Probably not an issue, provided their "patent-pending adjustable pitch 120/220mm film holder" will do the job well.

Plustek OpticFilm 120. The market release date is still a mistery. Source: plustek.com

Also, a nice feature of the scanner will be the Auto IT8 Calibration®. In the meantime, we can only guess when the D-day will come...Hopefully, as our anxiety about this scanner rises, the (anticipated) price won't!

silver regards

Mitja