Sigma 30/1.4: lovely

I have been further experimenting with the D80. Now that I have the Sigma 30/1.4 lens at my disposal, I am quickly warming to digital technology. ;-) It has been a delight to swap the Nikkor 18-135 kit lens for this fixed focal length. The zoom feels plasticky and simply doesn’t inspire confidence. And I generally don’t like zoom lenses. They are making me nervous. With a fixed lens, you know what mental frame to carry around. With a zoom the visual imagination loses focus and ends up nowhere.

The 30mm is just about right in terms of size and weight for the D80. The camera fits very well in my hand. And with the hood of the Sigma 70mm f2.8 Macro lens it looks like a very sturdy combo. At full opening the Sigma works wonders. The bokeh is very smooth and liquid (look at how the letters in Witold’s book – see picture in the previous posting - just about flow into each other). I am also impressed with the natural, lifelike (I’d almost say “analogue”) rendering of the sharp areas.

With shutter speeds handheld down to 1/8s and ISO values up to at least 800, one can obviously work in very low light. The minimum focusing distance is 40cm, which is great compared to almost any rangefinder normal lens, but 10 or 15cm less would increase the scope for this lens even further.

Anyway, the 30/1.4 will remain glued to the D80 for quite a while. I look forward to further exploring its potential.

I took the picture shown above at Brussels-Midi station when I was heading home from London yesterday. Sigma 30/1.4 full open at 1/30s with a -1.0 exposure compensation, 100 iso.

Nude Notebook review

I have just posted a review of this "Nude Photography Notebook" on Amazon.com (http://tinyurl.com/jz54y). It's a book put together and published by photographer Eddie Ephraums on the work and creative process of another photographer, Allan Jenkins.

An article in Black & White Photography magazine alerted me to the services Ephraums is offering via his own company Self Publishing Solutions (www.selfpublishingsolutions.com). I am obviously interested as I am still struggling with the idea to produce a book around the European Capitals portfolio. As a showcase, Ephraums sent me his "Nude Notebook". It's an expertly produced hardback, presented in a nice, distinctive slipcase. The printing is done here in Belgium, by Die Keure in Brugge. (By the way, I would recommend ordering via amazon.co.uk as it is significantly cheaper than ordering from SPS directly).

I am now talking to Eddie to see whether he can help me developing a suitable concept for a European Capitals book. I am keen to revive the idea as there are new possibilities to have this work exhibited at interesting locations in Brussels. A book would complement the exhibition nicely. Let's see how this evolves ...

Prague visit

Earlier this week I was in Prague for a brief visit. The city was basking under a balmy spell of Indian Summer. On those days one truly wonders how on earth this planet can be so exquisitely inhabitable.

With ringing names such as Sudek, Saudek and Koudelka associated to it, Prague is a photographer’s city. Last time I went there, I was very lucky to see Sudek’s “Sad Landscape” exhibition. This is amongst the best, most exciting things I have seen in photography, ever. It decisively contributed to my interest in large format.

Sadly, I haven’t seen any photos in Prague this time. However, I bought an impressive, 320 page book recently produced by Chech photographer Jan Reich showing a collection of 150 large format (4x5” and 8x10”) contact prints of Bohemian historical sites (http://www.galerienovysvet.cz/kniboh_titl_en.htm). First I left the shop without buying the book as the pictures themselves are, at first sight, not particularly exciting. Expertly produced, they rarely go beyond a rather factual registration of the castles, monasteries, statues, villas and town squares on display. So it seemed to me the book had simply been conceived as a documentary record of an architectural patrimony. However, after returning to the shop and leafing once more through this hefty tome I came under the spell of this bleak vision: most of the pictures have been taken in the winter with buildings bathing in diffuse light or in a wet mist, and the trees stretching their skeletal contours towards bleached skies. Absolutely nowhere in the book there is any sign of human presence. And, of course, the large format contact prints, with their wealth of detail and their rich tonal palette, are a feast to the eye irrespective of what is actually being shown.

I browsed a couple of bookshops for old books by Koudelka or Sudek but couldn’t find any. I did pick up a handsome volume dedicated to the photography of Jaromir Funke, a contemporary of Sudek. The book is a first edition of a 1970 retrospective of his work.

I shot a few rolls myself on this trip. As I am slowly building up a little portfolio in the square format from these “mixed travels”, I took the Rolleiflex with me. As I largely spent my free hours in the historical district between the Powder Tower and the Castle, I didn’t find it particularly easy to come up with some interesting shots. The city is magnificent, but it has such an overpowering presence that it is difficult to escape the cliché.

Anyway, several people – amongst whom there were Czechs, Chinese and Britons – approached me during my stroll, pointing to the Rolleiflex and exclaiming things like “Aha, a real camera! Good, very good!” and “Wow, how old is it? It must be very expensive.” Whilst focusing the Rollei, I was photographed myself at least twice. Isn’t it amazing? From these reactions we can sense that with the advent of digital technology and polycarbonate bodies something has been lost …

Oh yes, I also picked up a very nice, second hand Yashica Electro 35 GT rangefinder at a bargain price. The camera dates from about the same time as the Funke book – 1970 – and looks great. It’s a black paint version, with a luminous Yashinon 45mm f1.7 lens and a clear viewfinder. To be on the safe side, I shot a roll outside the shop to check rangefinder alignment before buying it. The camera works flawlessly. Let’s see how it performs with a roll of black & white film in it …

D80

Finally I have entered in the digital realm. I just bought a Nikon D80 with a collection of four lenses: the kit lens - a Nikkor 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 - an aspherical Tokina 12-24mm f4, a fixed Sigma 30mm f 1.4 and fixed Sigma 70mm F2.8 Macro. I have long resented buying a digital camera, for a variety of reasons. For a start, I am still very fond of film and I think there is nothing wrong with this medium. To the contrary, I appreciate its permanence, archivability, ease of use and its inimitable character. So film remains my technology of predilection. My main focus for the time being is on mastering large format and I want to get into contact printing as soon as I can. So, buying a D80 won't compromise by commitment to analogue photography.

I can think of a few contexts in which digital is useful. Very pragmatically, I am planning on putting together courses and seminars and this is going to help me to collect teaching material a little bit quicker. I will also have to learn a thing or two about stitching digital panoramas, using lensbabies etc and then it's great having a digital camera to experiment with. Further, I think digital is great for taking snaps on the go. It just helps to know that you have a couple of hundred of exposures available without having to worry about having enough film (and developing and contact printing costs). At this point I don't see a serious project where I would use the D80 for but that may change of course as I grow accustomed to the technology.

Why a D80? I am certainly not a diehard Nikonian. Never had a Nikon. Did have a Canon once, but I don't feel partisan to any of these brands in any way. I like the full frame sensor Canon 5D but thought it was too expensive for what I would use it for. I also was tempted for a moment by the Sony Alpha DSLR, particularly the range of Zeiss lenses that comes with it. But I had trouble buying into the idea of having a camera with a Minolta bayonet. And I figured the range of Zeiss primes would take a long time to build up. I am not interested in zooms at all. So along came the Nikon. The specs of the D80 immediately looked attractive. Reviews mentioned a very good viewfinder. Important also is that Johan Doumont is using Nikon. I figured that he would be able to help me with whatever Nikon question I would have. That's a big bonus. Also, I liked what he had shown me from the Tokina wide-angle zoom (not available for the Sony). So, that's more or less why I jumped for the D80.

I'll elaborate on my first experiences with this camera in a forthcoming posting. The picture above was taken with the D80 and the Sigma 30mm f 1.4 (great lens, I can tell you know already) at 800 ASA.

Kingsley

At a Brussels event earlier this week (not particularly related to photography) I was lucky to meet Olivier Jobard, a young French photo journalist, working for the SIPA press agency. By all means have a look at his impressive portfolio at www.sipa.com. This is Olivier's short resumé on the SIPA website:

"Born in 1970, Olivier Jobard graduated from the Ecole Nationale Superieur Louis Lumière photo school in 1991. In 2004, he was the first photographer to cover the Darfur conflict and was the only Western journalist to enter Fallujah. A veteran of international and civil conflict, Olivier Jobard has documented the human consequences of war across the globe: Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Chechnya and the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia. In his 14 years with Sipa Press, he has earned numerous grants and awards: including the Scoop d' Angers (1996 and 1997), the Fuji Professional award (1996 and 1998) and the Picture of the Year award (2000). In 2004, he was honored with the Visa d'Or at Visa pour l'Image in Perpignan, for his humanitarian reportage on the Darfur conflict. That same year he also received the Grand Prix Paris-Match for his photographs of illegal African immigrants fleeing their continent for Europe."

One of Olivier’s key interest is worldwide migration from low opportunity areas on our globe to the rich industrialised world. Every year, more then 500.000 people flee the poverty of their home country in a desparate attempt to secure some sort of future. Success is not at all guaranteed and the journey is full of risks. Some of them perish on the way. Others, mobbed by gangs or unable to cope with the hardships on the way, get stuck. They are lucky if they get back to their point of departure. Those who eventually get to the shores of the promised land risk being sent back to their home country. Those who are allowed to stay on have to start building up a new life from scratch.

In Brussels he presented a personal project – “The hard way, the only way”, completed over a 6 month period in 2005 - whereby he followed the tracks of a 22-year old Cameroonian, Kingsley, in his attempt to immigrate illegally to France. The journey started in West-Africa and went through Nigeria, Niger, Algeria and Morocco to the Canary Island and so onward to Spain and France. Marval recently published this work in a sober volume: "Kingsley". The colour pictures (Leica work) are woven around the story of Kingsley's journey as told from a first person point of view. I'm not trying to be politically correct by saying it is a gripping story. It simply is: "La route abîme les hommes". The images complement the words very well: they are penetrating and unassuming at the same time.

Further musings on Imagerie

Some further thoughts on Imagerie.

Isn't it surprising how all of this comes into being? It all started a couple of years ago by me picking up a conversation on a photography forum. I was intrigued by the sensible and knowledgeable contributions from one of the forum members, which happened to be Johan Doumont. His website reinforced the impression of solid expertise and a sober, modest outlook on the world. I contacted him and we embarked quickly on an online conversation that comprises up to now more that 4500 messages. Of course, it took many conversations with Pol and Frans later on too to bring us op to this point.

Chaos theory tells us that a slight change in initial conditions in a system may have huge repercussions further down. This insight does not only apply to physical systems, but also when we navigate our own socially constructed opportunity space. It's only a message in a forum, but you jump on it and, hey, there is a bifurcation that over time leads you to somewhere you'd never imagine you would come. I believe there each and every day is littered with these kinds of opportunities. We just have to be sensitive to them.

I'm quite willng to make assumptions about the success of Imagerie. We've got a good team, solid expertise and plenty of ideas. It will be a success, but it will take time. We will need to convince people that we are offering a genuine extra compared to the countless subsidised, mom-and-pop initiatives around here in Flanders. It's something novel here, and Belgians are notoriously slow to warm to new ideas.

I'm looking forward to make the balance after our first year. Depending upon our progress, we can widen our scope and move beyond Flemish borders. Frans is putting infrastructure to this end in place. It can only get better ... ;-)

A final word on the image on the cover of our brochure (see previous posting). It's a quintessential Johan Doumont photo: understated, minimalist, uncompromising but respectful, and with a tinge of humour and mystery. I think it is an irresistible image.

Champagne! Imagerie is born ;-)

Imagerie is born. It's a new venture that is focused on providing high quality and high creativity photographic workshops and I am honoured and happy to be part of it.

Imagerie has emerged from the interactions and conversations amongst Frans Roex (owner of the Axis professional photo lab and communications bureau), Pol Leemans (a professional photographer, www.fotostudioleemans.be), Johan Doumont (a professional photographer and trainer, www.johandoumont.be) and myself.

We see the need for an additional, novel offering in the area of photograpic workshops from two sides. First there is of course the inevitable transition from analogue to digital photography. In addition to the existing pool of amateur and pro photographers, tens of millions of people have discovered (or are discovering) the excitement of working creatively with images. As a result, many of them will want to sharpen their technical skills. That is the first audience Imagerie wants to cater for: amateur photographers who want to come to grips with the new digital medium and professionals who would like to streamline and optimise their workflow.

But Imagerie does not want to focus exclusively on building technical skills. As our life world gets increasingly flooded by a never ending stream of images, people will search for new sense, for new meaning in dealing with this visual deluge. Photographers will want to make more personal statements, thereby trying to mine deeper layers of their creative potential. That is why Imagerie will also offer courses to help people develop and refine their photographic vision and language. In these seminars, we’d like to explore the photographic landscape from many angles: analogue and digital, colour and black-and-white, sharpness and flou, toycameras and large format.

For our first season, we have lined up an fairly impressive series of seminars. For absolute beginners in digital photography there is a 1-day introduction course. For slightly more advanced photographers we have developed a 3-day course “Photoshop for Photographers” that gives an overview of all the key phases in a digital workflow. Finally, for serious amateurs and professionals there is a series of 1-day InFocus seminars, zooming in on advanced topics in digital workflow, including RAW, batch processing, inkjet printing and scanning. Johan Doumont has developed all these courses, drawing on his long experiences in teaching photographic subjects.

There are four non-technically oriented courses: panorama photography, working with unsharpness, “small” photography and an introduction to large format. For the latter we are happy to co-operate with Dutch large format specialist Hans Bol. The other three courses will be developed by myself (in collaboration with Johan).

In my photographic development, I have benefited from the generous input of inspiring teachers. I am looking forward to this opportunity to share some of my knowledge too.

For more information (in Dutch): www.imagerie.eu.com

Brenta Expedition (close)

Jos looking a bit despondent at the very end of our trip ... It was the first time we had been in the mountains together and I though it went very well. Certainly a good opportunity for team building! Soon afterwards the bus would bring us to Trento. Whilst Werner drove his Porsche to Piemont, Jos and I made our way to Munich. The day after, Jos flew out and I took the train to Brussels. However, somewhere in between the machine broke down and I didn't get any further than Frankfurt where I had to stay another night. The way home was almost as tiring as the whole mountain expedition ...

I'll be posting some 4x5" work from this trip very soon.

Brenta Expedition (2)

This is another image that shows the forbidding ambiente of the Bocchette Alte. Imagine schlepping your large format gear through this kind of terrain for 10 hours ... Again: Bessa + 15mm on Neopan 400.

Brenta Expedition

Further to my previous posting: an action shot from my Brenta trip that gives a good idea what these ferrata are about.

Again taken with this marvelous little Bessa and the 15mm superwide on Fuji 400.

4x5" in the mountains

End of August, early September I trekked a few days through the Brenta Dolomites, a wild calcareous mountain range in the north of Italy, just west of Trento. I had been in the Brenta a long time ago and came away very impressed with the stunning, even savage character of the landscape. This time I was accompanied by my friend Werner Everaerts, my friend and colleague Jos Mertens and our mountain guide Martin Kopfsgüter (from Globo Alpin in Toblach). Our plan was to do a north-south traverse of the Brenta range following a circuit of vertiginous "via ferrata". These are mountain trails equipped with cables and ladders, leading the trekker over a series of exposed ledges and walls. This is not really climbing but requires stamina and the ability to keep the head cool in very "airy" conditions.

When I was in the Brenta ten years ago, I wasn't really into photography. But I do remember having my trusted Olympus OM-10 with a fixed 35mm lens in my backpack. Remarkably it was loaded with black & white film - a very rare occasion. I also remember being very disappointed with the pictures, particularly with respect to the strange, cardboard-like texture of the mountains. The Dolomites are unique sofar as they combine pure minerality with a very outspoken vertical dimension. It is very hard to give a faithful rendering of the chaotic, unstable, epic dimensions of this landscape.

That is why this time I decided to take my large format gear with me. Of course, taking a 4x5" camera on a strenuous mountain hike brings its own logistic problems. You have to take everything, including daily stuff, storm gear, water, food, climbing apparel and camera on your shoulders. First i took my Lowe Orion 3 photo bag and put the Canham, a Quickload cassette, the black cloth (an old t-shirt) and the 150mm lens in it. Then I took an old 70 liter 2-compartment backpack and put the Orion in the bottom compartment. It fitted nicely. On top went all the other stuff, including 40 sheets of Quickload Acros and the 300 mm lens. Initially I thought off taking also the 450mm and the 90mm with me, but I decided against because of weight and volume reasons. This proved to be a good decision as I exposed 75% of 35 sheets with the normal lens and the rest with the 300mm. I certainly felt no need for the wide angle and also the 450mm is a nice to have rather than a must.

I didn't weigh my backpack, but it was very heavy. Remember the Gitzo G1325 carbon tripod with a Manfrotto geared head was fixed on the outside of the pack. And, oh yes, I also took the Voigtländer Bessa-L with the 15mm Heliar for some action snaps. I estimate the pack's total weight between 23 and 25 kilograms.

The first day we went from the Rifugio Graffer at the Passo del Groste to the Alimonta hut. That proved to be a very tough circuit over the Sentiero Benini and the Sentiero delle Bocchette Alte. The latter is constantly hovering around 3000m leading you over what seems an endless succession of terraces, ledges, towers and passes. It took us 11 hours to get to our destination and I must admit of being completely knocked off my socks by the end of the day (I took about 8 pictures on that day). We had some snow on the way down to the hut and the next morning we woke up to a beautiful, raw landscape covered with a thin layer of powder.

The approach to the next leg, the Sentiero delle Bocchette Centrale, was very atmospheric with strong gusts of wind sending clouds of powder snow in the air. The part of the sentiero that was exposed to these cold northern winds was covered with a thin layer of ice and this required our utmost attention. Luckily, our guide Martin had volunteered to carry the tripod and that made a difference. It was a fairly short but very impressive trek to the Pedrotti hut that day. I had plenty of time after our arrival to expose some more snaps in the area around the hut. In the evening we enjoyed the excellent hospitality of these Italian huts and I was quickly recuperating after the marathon the day before.

Day 3 brought us from the Pedrotti hut to the base of the Cima Tosa, the highest mountain of the Brenta range (at 3173m). We left the packs at the base of the "black chimney" and Martin guided a few pitches up the southeast face of the mountain. Our summit pause was very brief because of the fierce and very cold winds. By now the weather had evolved into to a glorious late summer high, with warm colours and superbly clear skies, allowing for richly detailed and wide vistas. After our descent, we followed the Sentiero Brentari to the Agostini hut. The final part was fantastic. I will never forget coming around the corner of a ledge and standing eye to eye with the magnificent south wall of the Cima d'Ambiez. Sadly the location didn't offer itself for setting up a 4x5" outfit.

We spent the night in the Agostini hut and prepared for a long trek on the fourth and last day. We started early out on the Via Castiglioni, a ferrata that leads to a small col via a series of long and exposed ladders. Then we descended tot the XII Apostoli hut where we had an excellent minestrone. Then up to the Bocca dei Camosci and then into the wild valley skirting the west face of the Crozzon di Brenta. Descent (and ascent) to the Brentei hut, from which the long descent into Madonna di Campiglio starts.

It took quite some effort to do this whole circuit with large format gear. It's heavy (I still have "stigmata" on both my shoulders of the backpack straps that were rubbing in my flesh). And it takes a different kind of effort to set up your 4x5" to take a picture. Whilst you setting up, composing, exposing and loading everything back in your pack, your team mates may have a rest, but you aren't. You remain physically and mentally very involved. Rushing to take the pictures as quickly as you can, you don't often take the time to eat or drink. This will cause problems later on. So it takes commitment and stamina, no doubt. On the other hand, I have now proof that it is eminently doable to take a 4x5" camera and 40-50 sheets of film on a week-long trek even on extreme terrain (for photographers) such as these via ferrata. That opens a lot of future opportunities.

Best of all: I have the results now back from the lab and I am satisfied with them. More on what I really would like to do with this project later on ...

The picture above was taken by Jos Mertens shortly after our ascent of Cima Tosa, with the Voigtländer Bessa L and the Heliar 15mm on Fuji Neopan 400.

Book Review: Jodice's "Light"

I'm trying to keep up with everything that is published by the Neapolitanian photographer Mimmo Jodice. His latest book - "Light" - for the very first time in his long career brings together his colour images. Impressive. My Amazon review: http://tinyurl.com/fuqkw

Book Review: "Window Seat", by Julieanne Kost

After I read George DeWolfe's glowing review of "Window Seat - The Art of Digital Photography and Creative Thinking" in Camera Arts Magazine (I believe it was), I proceeded to order and read the book. I'm afraid I disagree with George. Here's my review on Amazon.com: http://tinyurl.com/pxmft.