Alessandro's Bio

My name is Alessandro Bocchi and I am from Italy. I was born in 1970 in Mirandola near Modena in the center of Italy. Now I live in Padua, near Venice with my wife, 6 rabbits, 2 Guinea pigs, 2 cats and 1 dog. I work as a computer technician all days and for this reason I started to hate the latest technological equipments.

I started taking pictures during one summer at the sea in the south of Italy. I was a 14 years boy and I was with other friends in the swimming pool of the camping. There was a very beautiful girl of my same age and I started taking pictures of her (you can see the pictures I am talking about on my flickr page). I immediately discovered the pleasure of taking pictures. Portrait of person. The camera I used was my fathers camera, a wonderful Rollei 35 TE. I still have that camera and I still use it once in a while because its still really compact.

After my fathers camera I had the Fujica STX2, the Nikon F 301 and many many others like the Nikon FM2, F3, F100 and also the F4s. When I moved to the digital with a Nikon D300 I sold everything for a very cheap price. But very soon I felt that the digital photography was missing something.

One day in a little old shop I came across a Mamiya RB67. It was love at first sight. I could never take that camera out of my head. I finally got that camera and then a series of lenses from the 50 mm to the 180 mm and other accessories. I discovered again the pleasure of taking pictures. Taking pictures with a camera that doesn't have any batteries. A camera that is completely mechanical and that will not take any kind of decision by herself. The only little problem of this camera is that its a huge camera to take with you around the city. For this reason I came across to a Mamiya C330. This is my definitive camera. I really love this camera. I can have interchangeable lenses, there is no mirror that slaps and makes vibration and noise, and finally it works with the square format that is the one I like most.

Taking pictures with this two cameras gives me lot of satisfaction and lot of attentions too. Everyone is looking at me when I walk with one of this cameras hanging from my neck. Everyone wants to see, to know and to look trough the finder. But the most eye popping thing is the instant film back. I love to take pictures of people on instant film and than give than the picture. They are always very happy and usually they let me take more pictures. I also keep the instant film negative that i bleach and than put in the scanner to get back the picture that I gave to the subject. I really love that reclaimed negatives. It's really amazing to see how many details you can take out from that thing that usually I throw away.

Recently I found myself to use more and more black and white film. I like very much the Ilford HP5 and I began to use the Kodak TRI-X just from few months. I just finished a dark room course and I loved the developing and the printing so much. I am just a beginner and I describe myself an apprentice photographer.

The more I go on, the more I discover that I don't know anything and there is much much more to learn. I still make a lot of mistakes and I waste film most of the time, but when you took a nice picture and you develop it and then print it, and it will magically appear on the paper in the dark room, it is an amazing satisfaction.

Here you can see some of my pictures that I like  most.

As you can see one of my preferred subjects are portraits. I always ask my wife, my daughter and also my friends to pose for me. My wife has been a model since she was 6 months old, starting with advertising baby nappies. Now she is no longer a model, by the other side, she became a much better photographer than me. I use every occasion to take portrait pictures. Recently, there was a rabbit fair and i shot a portrait to everyone holding his own bunny.

Alessandro Bocchi

Monday Column: Your Bathroom Can Be Also Your Darkroom

This is not a column dedicated for seasoned analogue photographers. I will describe my own experience, how I developed my first roll of film. This column is for those photographers who think that analogue photography is something very difficult and complicated and that you need a special equipped room for it. In fact it is not.

In the last column I described that I was attracted into the analogue photography by finding my grandfathers camera. It uses 120 format films. I bought some. I think it was Fuji Across. I enjoyed photographing with that camera. And then, when film was exposed I was before dilemma. Where the hack I could develop this film? In local quick labs they don’t develop B&W films any more. So I informed myself how I could develop B&W films, what do I need for doing that and then I made a decision that I will do it myself. In the bathroom!  I bought a developing thank and borrowed chemicals needed for developing film (thanks to Vlado). You only need two of them, developer and fixer.

The only thing the bathroom must not have is a window. Primary requirement for developing film is that you have a place with total lack of light. It’s needed when you open your camera and transferring film into the developing tank. So I prepared a place for all the action (transferring film from the camera in the developing thank) in the bathroom on washing machine. I prepared chemicals, for developing agent you need some accuracy on dosage and temperature, take a big breath and turn off the light. The most challenging thing in developing a film is when you are putting film into the reel of developing tank. Into complete darkness! You could do it into changing bag, but you don’t see a thing also. You can rely only on your preparation, memory, touch and skill. Practice is also helpful. I complicated for myself with couple of 120 format film taped one after another. My first try to wound the film into the reel was complete disaster. You could not turn on the light and see what went wrong and then correct it. So, after two or three tryouts I succeed and then put the reel into the developing tank. The lid was on and then I could open the light. At last! Afterwards was easy. You simply put developer first, then you wash out then you fix, and then wash again, open the developing tank and dry the film... Ok. Now I’m on slippery territory. If you want (and you want it) to have film developed OK, it’s not so easy after all. You need right dosage of chemicals at right temperature at right time. You need to agitate properly... and so on. But I succeeded.

Now what could I do with developed film? I went to local quick lab to scan it. The result was disappointing. That’s another story.
Matjaž

Bad News: Fuji is phasing out Velvia!

Fujifilm is going to discontinue Velvia 100F in all formats, and Velvia 50 sheet films; this is the sad news arrived yesterday. The reasons are known-decreased sales, see the link. The good news (so to say) is that it won't happen until the end of this year, so we still have time to stock up. I just hope they'll keep both Provia films in production. For Velvia 50, I think, we don't need to worry too much about (for roll films)-it's just too popular, given also the fact that Kodak Ektachrome is gone...To me, this is not the worst news, since I was already hit when they discontinued Astia. To me, Astia was the most gorgeous slide film ever made. Ever! Even for landscape! Fortunately, I did stock it up in my freezer, and it should last for some years. Maybe the future production of color film will be based on pre-orders and once the quota will be fullfilled, the production run will be made, who knows. Certainly this is not nice, in our view, but it will change dramatically our approach in buying and consuming "silver goods". Nonetheless, vinyl LPs are also produced in a similar way today, yet they thrive.

Mitja

Random Quote

"36 satisfactory exposures on a roll means a photographer is not trying anything new." Freeman Patterson

Resurrecting Polywarmtone

Production of photo emulsions is a tricky business; you may have the formula, but the hardware used (mixers, heaters, glasware etc.) also plays a major role in the final outcome. So it is a huge endeavour to reproduce (more or less) exactly the same product-emulsion from the known formula only. The former Hungarian Forte Polywarmtone paper is thus no exception. Polywarmtone paper used to be a big favorite among many photographers worldwide; not only due to its pleasant warm image tone (hence, its name!), but also because it was a wonderful material to tone and even for lith printing.Sadly, as many other photo manufacturers, Forte company closed its doors as well. Its rapid decline began in the early 2000's, the company faced bankruptcy and the production line was dismantled. (I could rant about this for hours, but I'll spare this for another occasion). Anyway, the hardware for making  photo emulsions for the new facility owners proved to have little or no value. Fortunately, this sad story comes to a happy end. The German company Adox decided to acquire the hardware used for »cooking« the Polywarmtone emulsion, to repair it, and to move the whole production line to their facility in Bad Saarow (near Berlin). This effort took some time and costs, due to unexpected problems, but at last, the »resurrectors« of Polywarmtone finally made it happen! The most interesting part, to me, is that they made the whole production line about 4 times more compact (in terms of space required) as it used to be.

The "compacted" Polywarmtone emulsion production line. Image retrieved from www.polywarmton.com

Thus, the production line was quite easily moved from Hungary to Germany by truck. Adox started in 2010 to take preproduction orders for the first batch of paper and they are still open. Now, they are at the last stages before the real production. A pilot batch has been made. Although it didn't come as it should be, they know why it didn't! So, keep our fingers crossed, for the first batch of Polywarmtone to be made soon! Their ongoing activity can be found on this link, where a related blog can be found as well. Hopefully, we'll see soon the Polywarmtone paper reborn, much like the Phoenix is reborn from its own ashes!

p.s. this is by no means an advertising post, I just wanted to express my sympathy to Adox' endeavors!

Mitja

Random Quote

" The soul can not think without a picture." Aristotle

Portfolio of the Week: Rolland A. Flinta

Dear Readers,

This week we feature another photographer from Germany, Rolland A. Flinta. Rolland is a Hungarian-born photographer and director currently based in Bonn, Germany. He has been keen about photography since the adolescence and it was about three years ago that he made a serious decision to dive deeper into it. His re-entrance into analog photography is relatively late, but nevertheless, he shows good mastering of the medium. He mostly shoots in medium format. Below the portfolio, there is Rolland's bio, describing his own points of view and photo-lifestyle.  All I can say is: it's never too late to (re)enter in the magic analog world, and Rolland's work is an exquisite example! Enjoy his work! Rolland's work can be accessed through Flickr and his website.

Silver regards

Mitja

 All photos copyright: Rolland A. Flinta