Snippets of Brussels

I am still working on an assignment for the Flemish Tourist Board: pictures of Brussels in all its facets. As I have very little time these days, I have to weave the work into other activities. Tonight I had a short meeting in the centre of town. When I returned to my car I noticed the sky was clearing after a dull, very hazy day. I grabbed the D80 and drove to various scenic spots in town to capture the unexpectedly appealing light. I had several hits. This is one of them. Nice "postal card" of the Brussels "Manhattan" near the North station.

Better Scanning

Finally I received Doug Fisher's film holders and anti-newtonring glasses for my Epson V700 scanner (www.betterscanning.com). I ordered them long ago but a hickup at the Belgian postal services made that they were sent back to Doug. They crossed the ocean three times to get on my desk. The holders and glasses are a huge improvement. This is not difficult as the holders that come with the scanner are plain rubbish. It's remarkable that Epson persists in this annoying malpractice of shipping very good scanners with useless holders. Doug's products are very well made and the ANR glasses are very easy to use. In fact, they work so well that I'm tempted to use them all the time to keep my film flat (as opposed to the fairly small and delicate t-locks that come with the holder). Some may object to having an additional glass surface in between the lens and the neg, but I honestly can't see any detrimental effects. The scans are very clean and crisp. I have rescanned some negatives that gave me trouble and some are much easier to scan, some aren't. In the latter case I think it is just a particular kind of microdetail in the picture (ripples on waves, for example) that the scanner is not able to resolve. I have no other explanation for the phenomenon. Above is an example of a negative that was easy to scan as opposed to earlier trials. It was taken in 2005 during a few days in the Wildstrubel area, Bernese Oberland, Switzerland (Voigtlander Bessa L, Heliar 15mm). The pebbles in the foreground are well rendered. There is plenty of crisp detail that I didn't have before. I am happy to be finally up to speed with my scanner. It is absolutely key if one wants to hold on to film and develop a solid hybrid workflow.

Imagerie LF workshop with Hans Bol

This weekend we had Imagerie's first large format workshop, led by Dutch LF specialist Hans Bol (www.hansbol.com). We were lucky to have an excellent location at Rosario in the small village of Bever in the Pajottenland (www.rosario.be).

It is a renovated monastery with atmospheric workshop rooms, a library, a chapel, a meditation room, a dining room and kitchen. The atmosphere is tranquil and reflective throughout, very conducive to creative work.

Hans led an intense workshop, sharing a lot of his practical skills and artistic outlook. We started with a more practically oriented part dedicated to setting up and manipulating a (U)LF camera (Hans' 8x10" Lotus View Camera, with an expansion frame for 8x20"), followed by discussion of processing and printing LF negatives. The latter part was complemented with the study of lots of Hans' own 8x20" contact and 4x10" enlarger prints.

After lunch, Hans reviewed a series of books (by Michael Smith, Aaron Siskind, Minor White, Josef Koudelka and Art Sinsabaugh) that have been important in his own artistic development. The late afternoon was spent on a fairly probing discussion on how the choice for technical options, particular subjects and motives have to be coherent with one's fundamental creative impetus as a photographer. After dinner, we were treated on a concert in the Rosario chapel featuring a 10-head strong male choir singing russian-orthodox sacred hymns (www.molitva.net). The concert was followed by a projection of two of Hans' portfolios: "Stop and say hello", showing 4x5" pictures (colour and B&W) taken during several trips across the US in the 1990s, and his most recent work in India ("Life is precious", featuring a mix of smaller formats).

After a refreshing night, we started again with a review and discussion of participants' portfolios. Lunch was quickly there and the workshop finished with a discussion of two emerging book projects by Hans ("Altissimo", dedicated to his expansive work in the Carrarra marble quarries (8x20" and 6x17) and the India book). Thus the workshop closed the whole cycle, starting with selecting and setting up a LF camera to the consolidation of a project in a book project.

It was a great workshop at a an inspiring location and we hope to be back at Rosario next year with another LF session.

Picture above shows Hans' Lotus camera with a 4x10" reduction frame, taken with my Wista F 4x5" on Polaroid 54.