17.10.12
Portfolio of the Week: Hans de Bruijn
Dear Readers,
Every
week we feature an outstanding photographer, but Hans is also a particular one
somehow else-he is entirely dedicated to gum bichromate printing. Hans is from
Gouda, Netherlands. He's also been in the professional photo business for a
while in his youth years, as he finished the Fotovakschool in The Hague in the 60's.
Then, after a long carreer in the IT industry, the ancient photo
techniques raised his interests in collecting vintage cameras and literature,
and gum bichromate printing. After a course in gum printing, he was totally hooked
on it. Being a perfectionist by nature, he really strives to bring the gum
bichromate printing as close as possible to the original photo. Therefore, he
sometimes has to bring up more than six layers of pigment to achieve his goal
as close as possible. The artistic look of the photo is of secondary importance.
But hey, how can we define what is artistic and what's not? Gum printing is
definitely an art in itself. Anyone who has ever tried it will agree. These are
just a few of the many beauties of gum printing-there are no rigid rules, there
is a lot of freedom in choosing the color palette of your choice, the paper
texture etc. And, as Hans states: “The making of gum bichromate prints, aside
from working with beautiful materials, is so time consuming that it forces a
person to de-hurry. And the result will always give satisfaction.”
In recent years (sadly for us), many of Hans' gum
prints are derived from digital photos. But which is also a good proof of how gum
printing can be also a nice linkage between traditional and contemporary photo
techniques. But Hans was very kind to provide us with gum prints derived from
film only. Hans is now happily enjoying his retirement by avidly making gum prints.
He also gives gum printing workshops from time to time. You can find Hans' work
and other info on his website and on Flickr. Enjoy his photos
posted here, but I also openly invite you to visit his websites too!
Silver regards
Mitja
15.10.12
Monday Column: Photographic and Not so Photographic Trips
Have you ever planned a trip and, as all of us, who think
about ourselves as a photographers, take with you a photographic camera of some
sort? Of course you did. But on what kind of trip or voyage did you go. A
family trip, business one, tourist voyage... Did you take with you almost most
of your gear you own (camera, backup, several lenses, tripod, flashes, etc.)
and then didn’t used more than one camera with one lens? Have you been ever
found in a situation, when in company you were always last of the group and always
waited, because the ordinary tourist view and snapshot didn’t meet your
photographic standards?
If your answers are mostly yes on to those questions you
probably have badly planned your trips. The kind of trip that includes all sceneries
in one afternoon, it is not a photographic trip at all! The time is essential for
the photographic trips. This means only one or maximum two different sceneries
of a day. Preferably you visit first scenery in the early morning when the sun
rises and other in the late evening when the sun sets. And around the noon is
the siesta time for photographers. We all know why. Do we?
But when we go to a non photographic trip (and we all do
them) as a responsible photographer we must properly equip. At all we all want
some images from our voyages, no matter if it is business or whatever trip it
is. At least I when I go to a trip that is not strictly photographic I try to
equip properly, this means light. Only one camera and one lens, a rangefinder instead
of a SLR, a smaller lighter, non intrusive option. But then once a year you
must go on the photographic trip and take with you all gear you might need or
think that you do. But this means that this trip is all dedicated to taking
photographs, slow without distraction. This means no time limits, places to be
seen in limited time, no people that are nervously waiting for you, no family
who aspect your presence in the real world.
Last time I was asking about what photographic camera should
I take with me on mountain hike. I knew that it must be light, because it would
be just high pace mountain hike, not a slow (with a lot of time for taking
photo) one. I finally decide to take with me Altissa Altix-n camera. Nice
little “guess the distance” all manual rangefinder from former Eastern Germany.
Maybe it would be better an SLR with wide angle prime, but it was very foggy
and moist, and don’t know how would electronics in SLR I own would works in
those conditions. So I’m pleased with my choice but I didn’t really have time or
strength to really photographically enjoy this trip. But I was there, on the top, that is
all it counts, at least for me.
Matjaž
12.10.12
My Reasons for NOT owning a DSLR
I
have been asked innumerable times by colleagues, friends and even strangers if
and why I do not own a DSLR, in various situations. I even got the same
questions (not many times, of course) during the correspondence with people
when dealing with the activity of this blog. While the whole thing is most of
the times quite irritating to me, sometimes I even get quite a rush of pride
due to that very fact (for not owning it). I actually own a couple of
low-budget digicams (and use them rarely), but I just don't feel the
»chemistry« (pun intended) between them and me. It just doesn't work for me, I
didn't even feel the minimum attraction every time I had the chance to handle a
premium DSLR. So I limit my use of digital gear only for web communication and
the like. But from the (quasi)rational point of view, here are the reasons:
Cost
While
you can buy an entry-level DSLR for little money today, you know it will be
outdated quite soon, and its quality (still) leaves much to be desired. A Canon
user (like me, while already having a range of EF lenses) can get a 1100D for
some 400€. Not expensive, but....considering my 35 mm film shooting rate is
somewhere about 15-20 films/year (and I've been shooting mostly color slides
lately), you end to spend about 200€/year, provided you get a lab with fair
prices for E6 development and you buy your film in bulk (as most of us do these
days). So it takes me about 2 years to break even in comparison with an
entry-level DSLR. If I was shooting mostly BW, that figure would be much more in
favor of my »old« film SLR (or rangefinder, for that matter). Most people,
after a couple of years, are already flirting with the idea about getting a new
DSLR because their »old« DSLR is already outdated. Getting a good quality full-frame DSLR means
you need to spend 2-3k€, that's one decade of film supply and development, and
some scanning, with the same or better quality as with a DSLR.
Many
film cameras, many tastes
My
shooting rate, as said, is really low. And the shooting rate of films/camera/year is even lower. At home, we
own quite an arsenal of 35 mm gear: 2 manual SLRs, 2 autofocus SLRs, yet
another SLR for macro only, 3 rangefinders, some Lomo-like cameras, and maybe
even something I forgot....each camera has its own personality, and I really
try to use each one for at least 2-3 rolls of film per year, to render them justice. Even if I compare the two Canons
AE-1's (the old version and the newer Program), they differ: it's not that one
is better than the other, but the handling is a bit different, although they
have more or less the same construction. Can you find such a variety of tastes
in the digital realm? I don't think so.
Film
cameras are considered less intruding to most people
Doing
street or event photography with a »vintage« camera doesn't seem to bother
people much. They are often even more apt to cooperate, and many times, very
curious about the camera. Film cameras are really connecting people!
I
just don't want functions I never asked for
If
I want to take photos, I just want to set the few determining parameters,
without all the distracting functions being there just to tempt me to use them.
This is also the reason I rarely use an EOS camera and more often an AE-1...
Anti-consumerism
The
consumerism, being pushed to its limits, is producing products lasting only for
a couple of years. Digital camera models just come and go, the real
technological improvement between generations of cameras has become marginal.
The manufacturers-corporations just want to trick us that you simply need a
newer camera. In contrast, 30+ year-old cameras (with minimum maintenance) are
just fine and work almost as new (OK, it's not a heavy duty use). And you can
load them with the latest film type(like Ektar). This is simply amazing, isn't it? I
have a much better feeling when I buy some film, especially from a small film
company, knowing that I contribute this way to keep that small company
running!
I
just love to project slides!
There's
nothing better to me as a nice sharp, color-rich slide being projected! Much
better than a wall-sized print. It's really the ultimate enjoyment in
photo-terms. It's like listening to a quality sound of a vinyl record with a
vacuum-tube amplifier! No, this not the everyday routine, you need to take your
time, but when you take that time, it's special!
These
are by no means all the reasons, but probably the most important ones, and I am
sure these are more or less the same
reasons you to stick with film. And I would really like to know your very reasons.
Mitja
11.10.12
10.10.12
Portfolio of the Week: Jochen Abitz
Dear Readers,
there's no
completeness without the other half, right? So it's my pleasure to introduce 4Spo's
»partner in crime«, Jochen Abitz, from Germany as well. Jochen started his
photographic journey about a decade ago, with digital gear. Then, as it often
happens, he got »infected« with film photography and with medium format (also
thanks to 4Spo), and stuck with it (oh, how I like to tell such stories!). Similarly, he also likes fine cameras, many different films, mostly BW, developed by
himself. Besides sharing a common website, Jochen also performs some photo
projects, editorials etc., together with 4Spo. As he states, they have quite a
similar taste when it comes to photography. And obviously, they are quite a
tandem! You just cannot find every day photos with such a masterful lighting as
in their work (besides other aspects)! I urge to reinvite you to visit their site, there are many analog
goodies to be found there! Jochen's work can also be found on Flickr. Enjoy the photos!
Mitja
All photos copyright: Jochen Abitz
8.10.12
Monday Column: What is an Analogue Photography?
Simply, it is not a digital one. Right? But at its core a ccd or a cmos is an analogue device, transforming photons into electrical
charge and only afterwards its converted in digital file. But we all agree that
this kind of photography is so called “digital photography” and not analogue
(or analog in American English)
photography. But large amount of analogue photographs after all is converted
into digital files by scanning negatives. At least for on line presentation. It’s a little bit complicated.
But leave philosophical matter about analogue vs. digital
for another column in the future. Analogue photography it’s whole universe of
diversity at itself. But what it is real analogue photography? Some would say
that real analogue photography is when it is taken on some light sensitized
material and that aperture and time this material is exposed to light is manually
controlled. Other would say give me some film and any camera it would take it. Then
it will take film to develop and printing to the local Quick lab. This is also
an analogue photography. But what would you say about alternative processes?
There it’s not already prepared film in advance, but you must prepare your own
light sensitive material, you must do developing and also printing (if it’s
needed) at your own. Are those processes more analogue than previous one? What do
you think about? What’s your way to be analogue?
Matjaž
p.s.: About last column and which camera I took to the hike.
I chose Altix. More about this matter in the next column.
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