Showing posts with label 35mm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 35mm. Show all posts

24.9.12

Monday Column: Analogue Photography as Escape from Digital World - Part II


Last Monday column I wrote about analogue photography as escape from digital world.  In this column I will tell about things in analogue photography that differentiate analogue photography from modern digital world and which I love.

 
You are already familiar with all sorts of digital and electronic helps and shortcuts found in modern digital and not so modern analogue cameras. A few classical photographic electronic helps found already in cameras made in 70-ties and before. We are all familiar with metering in our cameras, P, A, T (S), and M modes. Aperture and shutter speed is controlled electronically from mid-seventies Canon AE1 camera or maybe even before that. Now days you have face recognition, smile shutter, all kinds of scene modes that help consumers, amateurs (not that I underestimate amateur photography and “casual” photographers) and people who know nothing about photography except phrase “smile” or “cheese” and then they press shutter button in one move, all way down... There are all sorts of these so called scene modes; from helpful like portrait, landscape and action, to downright bizarre ones like candlelight, sunset, food, party, or even pet scene modes. And then are so-called effects, for people who are not familiar with post production, like B&W and sepia, or effects that simulate some legacy film emulsions, or even pin-hole effect, and so on... Better I don’t write about live view and video in modern cameras. Sure I missed plenty of them.
 
Electronics, firmware and hardware are developing in very high pace. So every year we have new “useful” features. Some are turning out useful and most of them really are not. Some of this year’s “new photographic” features are: Wi Fi incorporated in camera, so you can control camera by your phone, and wirelessly transfer images, camera equipped with phone android operating system, so you could benefit with all sorts of application, useful or not, for your camera. And also you can share freshly taken photos on your favourite social network... But feature that stroke me most is that on one of new camera that was presented from giant in consumer electronics at Photokina last week. It is called Auto Portrait framing function. When it’s enabled the camera use face detection to locate your subject, crops the image based on a rule-of-thirds, and resample the picture back up to the same resolution as is the original shot. Effectively camera decides about framing instead of you!!! Where this is going I think don’t need to tell.



So whatever these are useful, helpful and needed photographic tools, I prefer a purist way of taking photographs. With all manual and mechanical way of controlling my camera. So when I’m taking pictures and they didn’t turn out in the way I wanted to, it’s only my fault. I prefer working with my light meter, manually turning knob to specific shutter value, turning the aperture ring on selected f stop, zone focusing and manually rewind the film... And then, when I press the shutter button, it’s a pure mechanical joy!

19.9.12

Portfolio of the Week: Gaston Torres



Dear Readers,
This week we move to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to meet another one-of-a-kind photographer, Gaston Torres.  First, I must state something about his person: as I found out during our correspondence, he is an exceptionally cooperative and kind person (well, all photographers so far have been so, not to be mistaken), in his very own way. He is primarily a 35 mm fashion photographer, using different cameras and mostly color neg film, even for many of his commercial assignments and editorials. His talent is instantly obvious, once you see his work, as he is capable of handling both very complex and also very simple photo setups. By simple I don't think it as a diminutive, on the contrary. And especially in those »simple« (film) photo shoots I think he really excels in. He did a very good job on the  recognizability of his style, although I am having a hard time how to clearly define his style.....since his photos emanate quite some ambiguity. After a long thought, however, I think the best way to describe Gaston's style is a »an elegant mix of Terry Richardson and Nobuyoshi Araki, with a pinch of Helmut Newton«. I openly invite you to visit Gaston's work on his website and on his photostream on Flickr.
Mitja







 All photos copyright: Gaston Torres

17.9.12

Monday Column: Analogue Photography as Escape from Digital World


What’s the reason to practice an analogue photography? It is because it’s better than digital? Or maybe it’s not better quality but better looking? Maybe it’s the reason the thrill of unknown, the so called chocolate box effect; that you never know what you will get until you develop the film? Or maybe it’s all about the feeling of operating the beautifully crafted mechanical photographic box?



We live in a frenzy world. The photographic technologies are developing too fast for my taste. They are excelling and superior at first sight. But like fast food tasteless and fatting (your mind). Photographically I’m a digital child. So I often catch myself just shooting (with my digital camera) at my photographic subject/object without thinking about it. And when I’m not satisfied with the results I just shoot more. But when I’m shooting with a vintage camera loaded with film I just switch the mind. I’m suddenly aware of my subject/object, I think about it, how to capture it without ruing my film. I’d had a success ratio about 25-30 frames of 36. How many do you think I had at same time shooting digital? Ok. I’m improving and I’m trying harder with my digital camera. So I’m improving my digital success ratio. But without analogue photography I would remain without experience that only shooting film gives you. Its calmness, some kind of therapy how to heal of digital frenzy that surrounds us every moment of our lives. And that’s just one reason why a photographer should practice an analogue photography.


 
I think that every photographer it has his own reason. Or reasons?  What’s mine? I’m not really sure. Analogue photography exists officially from 1839 when Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre presented to French Academy of Sciences the first photographic process in the world. So the analogue photography has at least 170 (or more) years of history. How many photographic processes, techniques, cameras and films were developed and worth to try out in that time? I’m interested in many of processes, techniques, cameras and films and in some not so much. In contrast digital photography exists only a decade or so (at least when majority of photographic professionals migrated to digital). Maybe in the future our grandchildren will find technology of today relaxing and interesting? Who knows?


10.9.12

Monday column; the another story... The learning process about digitalizing the first roll of developed film



Hello! I’m back again. It was busy for me lately, but here I’m. The last time I was talking about how I developed my first roll of b&w film. This story is about how a newbie digitalized his first roll of film.
I was describing in previous columns about how was my first contact with analogue photography. I quickly learned how to develop film on my own, but then I was left with developed roll of film with no clue what to do whit it. The enlarger and darkroom printing was for me still in clouds of, at that time, unknown future. At that time I have had no means of my own to view or scan the film, so the first move was that I went to the local quick lab, to scan my roll of film. Because unfortunately it was the nonstandard 120 format film, it could not be scanned on the fuji machine. But I was reassured that they could scan the film on the flatbed scanner. The result was disappointed for me. Not that I wanted or even that I could expect extreme quality from my first roll of film taken with Agfa Isola 1 and developed in the bathroom. 

 

I was not happy but I didn’t know any better. The next time I asked if they can scan the film in the best possible quality. I got this. 

 
Then I realized that the person who is scanning my film has no clue how to scan a film on a flatbed scanner. And for the results I was getting it was very expensive. I quickly made a calculation that a scanner will pay off in scanning only 20 of 120 format films.
After my first encounter with analogue photography I was beginning to shoot with cameras with more “standard” film format. This was scanned on the Fuji frontier scanner, and the workflow for doing that seemed that was more straightforward at that minilab. The results were better. 

 

But none the less, I made the decision to buy a flatbed scanner. I scanned again the disappointingly scanned film. The result speaks from themselves.


Matjaž

7.9.12

Cameras of Yesteryear: Yashica Dental Eye



What a funny name for a camera? Well, not really. In fact, its name says it all: the camera was primarily targeted to dentists but also to pathologists, forensics etc. who needed to do photo documentation of their work, patients and so on. More specifically, macro photographic documentation. A very peculiar, niche camera.  Being a specialistic camera, so it was its price-comparable or higher than a Contax SLR. There were three generations of this camera; the first one with a 55 mm lens, the other two with a 100 mm lens. The camera features a fixed macro lens with a built-in ring flash and capable of reproduction ratios between 1/10 and 1/1 (2/1 with additional diopter lens). The focusing ring doesn't tell you the distance, only the reproduction ratio. Almost everything is automatic, which is not necessarily a bad thing, as it turned out from my first tests: you can only select whether you activate the flash or use ambient light only (you can also set flash under/overexposure by 1 stop). But there is no flash TTL metering. Instead, it has a simple yet brilliant solution-the flash output remains constant while the aperture gets smaller as the reproduction ratio gets higher. Two problems are solved this way (may be even three, considering the high reflectance of teeth): the photos are always correctly exposed, regardless of shooting distance, and the compensation of the diminishing depth of field. Genial, isn't it?
Yashica Dental Eye II
I acquired this camera from Ebay for a very low sum (compared to the very cheapest pocket digicams), hoping to get it to use for macro work-not for me, but for a very special person, very fond of macro photography.  I must admit, I had no expectations at all regarding optical quality, but considering  the sell price...well, I could live with it. Nonetheless, this camera became very fashionable among lomographers, due to its ring flash (but lomographers cannot be defined as picky regarding lens quality...). Oh, how happy I was to be proven wrong: the lens' performance is simply outstanding-comparable to a Zeiss glass in terms of sharpness; however, the lens yields quite a  »hard« image, typical of most macro lenses. One of the amazing features of this camera is certainly its focusing screen-even though the lens is »only« f/4, I have never seen such a bright screen, not even in a Rollei. Even a half-blind person would be ableto focus, I am pretty sure. Simply put, you can get (almost) all you need for macro work in one piece on equipment, with no extra gear. And fortunately, the camera comes also with a synchro socket, for those who need and additional flash (e.g. for background illumination). For those (like me) who don't mind (or even prefer) to shoot on film, I can only say: go for it. It will cost you only a fraction of a macro lens (new or even used one) and it will deliver outstanding results and amaze you with ots ease of use and simplicity. Provided you find one.
 
Not only for macro, the camera is useful also for other closeup shots.
This shot probably best shows lens' clinical sharpness (pun intended).

A macro handheld shot. A tripod would help in having sharpness in the right spot. All shots made on Kodak Ektar.





29.8.12

Portfolio of the Week: Anna Gawlak


Dear Readers,
It's a pleasure to be back after a hiatus! This week we feature a young self-taught Polish photographer, Anna Gawlak, from Krakow. Her analog photographic journey is relatively short, time-wise, but nevertheless, her talent is so obvious. She works in both 35 mm and medium format using her Canons T70, T90, AE1, and a Kiev 60.
By her own words: »I really don't know why I take a pictures. I suppose that is for me like a spinning a tale: spooling a film, snapping photographs, composing them... The narrative about calmness and naturalness. Calmness is more than lack of movement - I cannot stop searching it everywhere I am. Searching the naturalness means trying to pick out what is true and simple in the world - I cannot stop doing it.
But, first and foremost, my own story is about big, big love. I love the world: light, colour, contrast, symmetry, trees, tasty food, buildings, doors, feet, ankles, eyes. I love the human being. Everywhere I am - I cannot stop searching.
And all that makes the simple pleasures of life.
I like a film because I like learning new things. And learning to be patient belongs to them. 36 photos... it is very much!:) Besides, when I have to do 36 images I must be and I want to be more sensitive.«
It's just so good to hear over and over again how people get sentimental when using film, and Anna's position is also very philosophical, I think. I think also that her photos are very much zen-like, a celebration of simplicity in the best sense. Anna's work can be found on Flickr and Thumblr.









All photos copyright: Anna Gawlak

4.7.12

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