The LomoWall rises in London

In honor to the upcoming Olympic Games in London, over 15,000 participants-lomographers (from 32 countries) contributed 30,000 photos, rigorously made only with Lomo cameras. Those photos have been made into a mosaic, a 65-meter long wall. The LomoWall will be on display from 13 July 2012 to 6 January 2013 at the Museum of London.

The LomoWall. Image by twitter user @votredemoiselle.

The LomoWall is a very good example of a joint effort of the analog community. I think it also proves one of the main aims of the analog community-connecting people (sorry Nokia). The link to the original article is here.

Film Matter: The Schizophrenic Ektar

Kodak Ektar might be the most sophisticated color neg film we have ever seen, in my (and also others) view. It was also the latest film emulsion being introduced (in 2008). No surprise then if it incorporates very advanced features, borrowed mostly from the movie film industry (2-electron sensitization from Kodak Vision films, for example). In the 1990's we could only dream about such a (ISO 100) film. While I find Ektar amazing, I never really made up my mind about it. Why? Because in some respects it just »looks too good« to me. Yes, I do really like saturated, contrasty films, but...Ektar's look sometimes almost reminds me of a (high-end) digital photo-it's too "polished" in my eyes. For some people (or circumstances) that might be a good thing, while for some not. Yes, all I have been dealing up to now were scanned negatives (or Frontier-made prints, for that matter). Yes, scanning Ektar is a breeze. I just think I need to make a decent optical print from an Ektar negative to get a fair assessment-hopefully soon...That's the story when your Ektar rolls undergo the standard C-41 processing. But what happens when you push- or cross-process your Ektar rolls? Let's find it out! Here we have 3 remarkable examples of cross- and push-processed Ektar from Hannah, Will and Leo.

Hannah's Ektar processed in E6. Image retrieved from her photostream on Flickr..

 Hannah crossprocessed her Ektar at home in E6 chemistry. The colors are a bit more muted, yet still rich, there's a bit of bluish cast there, but nothing exaggerated. Probably, a light warming filter will compensate the color cast (if you wish so). But most importantly, the film gets an entirely new look. To me, it looks much like the old trichromie photos. It's like we have a brand new slide film to choose from-who did ever say Kodak discontinued all slide films ? -:)

Will's  2-stop push-processed Ektar in C-41. Image retrieved from his photostream on Flickr.

Leo's 3-stop push-processed Ektar in C-41. Image retrieved from his photostream on Flickr

Will and Leo, on the other hand, push-processed Ektar in C-41 for 2 and 3 stops (ISO 400 and 800), respectively. Yes, these negatives inevitably pick up in contrast (corrected after scanning), but their color rendition changes very much as well. In fact, it's like you're dealing with a completely different (uknown?) color-neg film! Another good thing is, graininess remains reasonable. Will's photos remind me of earlier Kodachrome versions, while those of Leo render a more pastel-like color palette. I shall thank all 3 contributors to gave me the opportunity to show a side-by-side comparison of different processing versions of Ektar. It's just amazing how a "vintage" look you can get from the most modern film! Ektar is definitely a film with split-personality and it's worth to try all the processing variants shown (and perhaps some more)!

Silver regards
Mitja

Cottage Tip: Keeping Humidity under Control- Part 2

Keeping your photo bags and cases free from moisture is only part of the story, especially if you keep them in an enclosed environment, a closet or drawer, without circulating air, where moisture can accumulate (especially in the cold spots of the house). Over the years, I have accumulated quite some gear, so I needed to buy a small closet where to keep my toys. Now, you can buy an air dehumidifier and replenish the adsorber (calcium chloride) as time goes by. The trouble is, these dehumidifiers are quite bulky, taking much of your precious closet space, as it was in my case. It's still better to have this place for storage of more lenses, isn't it? I came up with a cheap solution: a dehumidifier made from a soft drink bottle.

This is all you need: a stocking, a bottle and calcium chloride.

Put the adsorber inside the stocking of the assembled "device".

Just get a wide-neck bottle and put inside a short nylon stocking. Fix everything with one or two elastic bands. This stocking will serve to contain the adsorber (calcium chloride),  suspended above bottle's bottom, while the wide bottleneck ensures more moisture adsorbing capacity. Fill the stocking with calcium chloride (it is much cheaper to buy it bulk). With time, the liquid (saturated calcium chloride solution) will accumulate on the bottom. Dispose the liquid down the drain (it is safe) and replenish the stocking with fresh calcium chloride as needed. That's it! 

The dehumidifier in its place, along with a thermo/hygrometer.

The same thing can be made from a jar, of course (provided you have enough room). Oh, and a good measure is also to have a small, cheap thermometer/hygrometer located in this place (you can get one for a few bucks). You will be amazed how much humidity changes, depending on the weather. Our goal is to keep relative humidity under 60 %, which is thought to be (mostly) safe in terms of fungal growth. However, r.h. under 35 % is also bad, since lens and camera mechanisms are more likely to get too dry (less lubrication). Fortunately, the latter condition is less likely to occur, in most places.

Portfolio of the Week: Margus Sootla

Dear Readers,

This week we feature an Estonian photographer, Margus Sootla. Margus is a photographer-world traveler who works primarily with medium format. He began with digital, but soon converted himself to film photography. Regarding films, he works with a great variety of them. He defines himself as an amateur, but based on his portfolio, I can only say this is an understatement. Personally, I am particularly impressed by his work done with IR films. However, I was equally impressed by his biography, as I was by his photographic work. Therefore, I made no excerpts of his bio. His full, uncut biography is posted just below the portfolio-just scroll down please. Margus' work can be accessed via Flickr and this link. Enjoy his photos (along with very descriptive captions)!

Silver regards

Mitja

Nightlife under Khaju bridge, Esfahan, Iran. This is where the local muslim young come to meet their future partners. (Kiev 60, 80mm f2.8 / Maco TP64c)

Persepolis guardian - the symbol of Iran. (Kiev 60, 80mm f2.8 / Maco IR820c IR)

An abandoned ship in Magellan Strait, Argentina. (Pentax 67, 35mm f4.5 fisheye / Fomapan 200 Creative)

Motorcycling Dream, Estonia. (Pentax 67, 75mm f4.5 / Kodak Aerochrome colour IR)

Portrait of Raúl, the friendliest person we've ever met, Argentinian Patagonia. (Pentax 67, 200mm f4 / ADOX CHM400)

Calm before the thunderstorm in my backyard, Estonia. (Linhof Technika 69, 90mm / Maco IR820c IR)

Shades of Time, Estonia. (Pentax 67, 75mm f4.5 / Rollei Infrared shot in -28C )

The Ride, UK. (Arax 60, 30mm f3.5 fisheye / Kodak T-MAX 100 )

Sublime. (Pentax 67, 35mm f4.5 fisheye / Rollei Retro 400)

Hamer tribe is having fun with my small Sigma PS camera, Ethiopia. (Pentax 67, 35mm f4.5 fisheye / Kodak T-MAX 400)

All photos copyright: Margus Sootla

Margus' Biography

I am a hobbyist, a wandering nomad who's passion is travelling. Be it physical or mental. The latter form is where the film cameras (and also analog-audio) comes into play for me.
 
I shot digital in my baby steps stage till I saw wall sized enlarged b&w photos taken with a 8x10" large format camera by one Estonian photographer who's name unfortunately I can't rember. I was stunned by how much character the photos had down to the grain level without having seen any Photoshop - it was fully analog bred stuff. My other hobby has been motorcycling, being unable to afford carrying a bulky LF camera (although I do have a 5x7" LF camera I shoot with time-to-time), there are too few 35mm film shots I've seen that inspired me, so the only way to go was medium format - to have that raw sensor size yet to be able to pack it with me on my motorcycle and travel the distance.
 
I started with Kiev 60 - a relatively unreliable soviet 6x6 medium format camera that had many mechanical problems. But through pain it taught me many valuable lessons about photography and the artistic side of it - it's often the defect that becomes an effect in analog photography. The main thing is that this camera has superbly artistic Zeiss Jena lenses that I still can't find equals for in 6x7 format I currently shoot with - the 180mm f2.8 Jena is the best portrait lens ever made in my book. With constant mechanical hassles and hoping I can keep my lenses I upgraded the body to Arax 60, which is an improved version of the Kiev 60 body, but although slightly better, it also gave me problems till I switched to Pentax 67 format which I have been shooting with many years till today. As of now, Pentax 67 is a proven battle tank, it's has endured over 200 000 kilometers of different journeys on a motorcycle - rain, dust, sand, heat, cold and vibrations and I'm amazed it still keeps going, even works at down to -30C degrees. I use 400mm f4, 200mm f4, 105mm f2.4 and 35mm f4.5 fisheye for the P67 system. Time-to-time I also shoot with my friend's Linhof Technica 6x9 with superb Schneider lenses.
 
In choice of a film I've been a complete multitasker. I do not have any favourite film I can name since I find the analog photography word so fascinating in all levels. I think I've tried almost every film currently sold, even the very little known film brands which I love to test. It's not just about b&w, infrared, colour slide or negative world, but also the alternative enlargement processes to get it on the paper - I've given up scanning the enlarged work since unlike film scanning no digital representation can bring forth the feel of seeing a photo done by an actual enlarger or a contact print onto a photographic paper. From its depth, texture to varying surface reflection, you just can't smell it from the computer monitor :). I became a big fan of the Lith-process that worked especially well with my infrared negatives. Pity I sold my decent darkroom to finance my long dream: to circumnavigate our planet on a motorcycle. This recent undertaking made me homeless, I sold everything I've had except my vinyl collection, turntable, tube amplifier, speakers and my analog camera gear. It has made me more horny about analog photography (and audio) than ever before since I couldn't really practice it to full being more than 3 years on the road.  I did shoot over 150 rolls of film that still wait for digitalizing or enlarging. This will have to wait since I'm currently in a process of building myself up from zero again and I'm glad I've kept all my analog gear, hopefully some day I can acquire some proper analog darkroom again too!
 
As said before, I'm by no means a proffessional photographer, thus like me also my work has no home in the real world nor on the internet. Flickr never had any serious attention, but some stuff is found there. For more straightforward viewing of my recent doings in English language, you can explore the following link:
 
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=480532
 

Margus Sootla

Random Quote

"Fear is a darkroom where negatives develop." Usman B. Asif

Monday Column: Why a Vampire Can Not Be an Analog Photographer

As an analogue photographer you have all experienced how is to be hours and hours in the darkroom. I don’t know about you, but I had, after several hours in the darkroom in the middle of the night at local elementary school, a strange feeling of presence. I knew that I was alone in the school, but... Hopefully I’m not paranoiac, but as part of consumer of modern popular culture, we are all bombarded with stories about supernatural creatures. And one of those creatures fit perfectly in the dark lonely corridors of the empty local school in the middle of the night.

Could be a vampire? A lonely sorrow creature craving for the blood. And a lonely sorrow analogue photograph in the darkroom seems to be a perfect target. Not! As commonly known, vampires have some deficiencies. Among allergy for garlic and UV light is also allergy to silver. Be thankful to that, that analogue photography is all about silver those days. In the modern films, the vampire killers uses bullets filled with silver nitrate for killing vampires. So, if you are afraid of the vampires, just keep some of used developer. After you develop a film or photographic paper, it has a lot of washed away silver from not exposed parts of film in it. So in the case of need, just pour it over the creature. Guarantee success.  So you don’t need the garlic wreath on the door of the darkroom. You could be sure that no vampire will come and bother you, when you are printing your precious photos.

But hey! Maybe they are not so bad after all. And after all you could find a brother soul in analogue photography? Oh, there is a problem. Photography is all about light and vampires are allergic to the sunlight. But they could be nightlight photographers and they could produce masterpieces like the Edward Steichen’s Pond – Moonlight?

                                       Edvard Steichen: Pond - Moonlight                                                                                  
    Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/ThePondMoonlight.jpg

And others could develop and print the photographs for them, as they did for the Henry Cartier Bresson (and many others photographers too). But why they would bother? At present days, for night time photographers, you have are more appropriately suited tools. A blasfemy for analogue photographers, but nevertheless, vampires goes digital. We already stated that when we are talking about soul in photography, it is analogue. Vampires have no soul. So that’s the ultimate reason, why a vampire could not (wont) be an analogue photographer. They don’t even bother about, they have ISO 204,000.