The London Olympics and David Burnett...

We last spoke about David Burnett in May of 2008 and its good to see that he still remains true to the use of anologue cameras and especially when you consider that the London Olympics coverage broke all records with respect to the number of digital cameras used and all the new technology needed to control them remotely and get all those images back to the internet world in mere seconds.

PetaPixel have a nice article on their webpage that you'll enjoy if you a retro sort of guy like me, and if your not, you may realise that digital is the only alternative out there.

Mary Ellen Mark...

Profoto on Set with Iconic Mary Ellen Mark from Profoto USA on Vimeo.

Mary Ellen Mark, another one of my favourite photographers has gained worldwide visibility through her numerous books and exhibitions where she has addressed such difficult social issues as homelessness, loneliness, drug addiction and prostitution.

Working primarily with analogue camera's using black and white film, she has travelled the world extensively taking pictures that clearly demonstrate a high level of commitment and humanism. It is exactly what you will see from the above video, where Mary passes on some sage advice and you really get to appreciate her persona and begin to understand why she achieves such stunning and touching imagery.

It would not be time wasted, investigating further the work of this master photographer.

Chris Burkard...

Chris Burkard - Photographer from LONELYLEAP on Vimeo.

You probably guessed over the years that I have a bit of a weakness for surf photography... well its damn cold outside and here's something to warm you up a bit (your soul that is).

You may recognise Chris Burkard as the winner of the Red Bull Illume Quest competition in 2010 (check out our blog entry), now 25, Chris started his professional career only 6 years ago, he's a staff photographer for Surfer, and as you've seen above he wins awards, and he also released a book not too long ago as well (The California Book Project), not too shabby eh !

Anyway, there's an interview over on FStoppers that's an interesting read and just spending sometime on his web page and blog will bring back those lost summer memories.

Scott Soens...

Scott Soens is a surf/lifestyle photographer with a strong character and a wonderful outlook on life. Having assisted various professional photographers, including Bruce Webber, he set out on his own and has along the way added cinematography to his skills set.

From the video above I see that he is very driven, although maintaining a level of authenticity which is quite rare these days in a world where a big ego normally win hands down.

Take sometime to go through the images on his website and the wonderful video above does give a good look into the world of Scott Soens, it may also leave you feeling a bit envious of his lifestyle (don't say I didn't warn you)  ;-)

Wet Plate Photography...

Also known as the Collodion Process, this technique invented in the mid 1800's was rendered all but obsolete by the dry plate technology that arrived in the early 1880's. However, the process is experiencing somewhat of revival recently with many artists now using this old technique; like Sally Mann and Joni Sternbach just to name a few.

Rather than attempt to explain the process here, I came across this very nice video from [FRAMED], which shows very nicely whats involved and the very distinctive results that can be achieved.

I find it totally fascinating and I am currently tracking down a suitable workshop to attend... Anyone else interested ?

Kickstarter...

Kickstarter is the world's largest funding platform for creative projects. Project creators present their idea to the world and potential supporters decide whether or not to pledge money, when, and only when the funding goal is met is the pledged money passed on to the creator to complete his/her project.

As complete ownership and control of the project always remains in the hands of the creators, they normally offer something in return for the support given dependent upon the amount pledged.

There are many categories such as music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and of course photography.

Which brings me to the project of Tim Mantoani above, even though he has already surpassed his target, you may want to consider to be part of the group of people that are supporting the production of his book that he will explain to you above.

Personally, I consider the 20x24 Polaroid Camera to be one of the great photographic achievements of the last century and his idea of using it to photograph famous photographers with their favourite photo's really got me interested.

Take a look and see what you think.

Martin Schoeller and the TIME 100 list...

TIME Magazine recently released their 'TIME 100' list of the most influential people in the world and I quote "They are artists and activists, reformers and researchers, heads of state and captains of industry. Their ideas spark dialogue and dissent and sometimes even revolution"

Martin Schoeller just happened to be one of the photographers who was chosen to photograph these honoured person's.

Martin has a very distinctive style, especially when it comes to lighting and concept which you will see if you track down his work on 'Close Up' and 'Female Bodybuilders'. You will also note that he uses both digital and film to complete his projects.

Anyway back to the Times 100.... Below you will see a 'Behind the Scenes' video of how he went about the task. I love these sorts of videos as it always gives you an insight into how a photographer works and the techniques they apply to produce the work they do.

Invited Speaker - Carlos Borrego Iglesias (Part II)...

The recent presentation of Carlos Borrego to the club was our first photographer of our 'invited speaker' initiative. The club hopes that this will provide the members with the opportunity to understand and improve their creativity in photography by receiving first hand knowledge from advanced and professional photographers explaining their particular process.

Carlos' presentation was a fantastic mix of presentation of his photographic muse's, the reasoning behind his fascination with abstraction, along with a fun exercise in exhibition preparation and sequencing, topped off with some unusual camera techniques demonstrated with his very own equipment.

I came away from the presentation highly motivated and ever more appreciative of the amount of dedication and passion photographers proportion to their art.

Carlos promised to pass on his list of muse's which you will find below:

• Rania Matar - (A girl and her room)
• Maite Caramés - (Ausencias)
• Israel Ariño - (Estudio sobre el arte de enmascarar) 
• Aline Smithson
• Tanyth Berkeley - (The Special Ones)
• Georges Rousse
• Jose Ramón Bas - (Ícaro)
• Antoine d'Agata
• William Klein - (Life is Good...New York!)
• Juan Manuel Castro Prieto - (Viaje al Sol)
• Masao Yamamoto
• David Nebreda
• Isabel Flores
• Robert ParkeHarrison
• Joan Fontcuberta
• Ansel Adams
• Harry Callahan
• Eugene Smith - (Deleitosa)
• Otto Steinert
• Diane Arbus
• Stanley Kubrick
• Sally Mann
• Isa Marcelli
• Francesca Woodman
• Henri Cartier-Bresson
• Richard Gibson
• Jim Goldberg
• Atelieretaguardia
• Paco Elvira - (Manifestación)
• Albert Gusi

That's a lot of homework to get through !

Thanks Carlos, hope to see you again next year !

Susan Burnstine...

During Carlos' presentation last Friday I was very much reminded of the work of Susan Burnstine, that I have enjoyed ever since I started to investigate the world of plastic camera's a number of years ago.

Susan's superbly ethereal images are produced entirely in-camera, well really, in any one of her 21 home made camera's, she has even gone as far as moulding her own lenses.

She has her own column in the UK magazine Black+White Photography and has exhibited extensively, she will also shortly release her first monograph 'Within Shadows' at the The Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition next month.

In the video below, Susan explains a bit about her technique and why she produces the images she does.

Stephen Dupont...

Stephen Dupont an Australian born Photojournalist and portrait photographer has received many international awards for his amazing work over the years.

Not only is he a great photographer he also produces hand made books of his images and exhibits extensively.

His passion for Afganistan, a country he has visited for over fifteen years almost cost him his life with a suicide bomber attack outside a police station he was visiting at that moment.

He also appears to have an amazing ability to connect with his subjects and project a level of trust and compassion which allows him to get close to people often in the most dangerous and marginalized regions of the world.

In the video below you will see him taking polaroids of people in the middle of Kabul with a Polaroid Land camera, his approach with respect to his book making and some of his portraits of members of the notoriously dangerous and violent 'Red Devils' gang from Papua New Guinea, an image of which you can see above.

Stephen Dupont Profile - ABC Sunday Arts from Stephen Dupont on Vimeo.

Ryan Muirhead...

I've just discovered a rather nice web page called [FRAMED] who provide a free weekly broadcast hosting different photographic talents who share a piece of their wisdom, work, processes and art.

Whilst looking through the content I came across the video on Ryan Muirhead a young photographer from Utah in the States. As he is a film addict and you all know that I have a bit of a soft spot for that sort of stuff as well, I'd thought you might appreciate the heads up.

You will see that he is a lover of natural light portrait photography and he doesn't tend to venture too far from his home to make his pictures and just to round things off he's also a bit of nutter.

Seeing with Sound...

| Artists Wanted | In Focus : Pete Eckert from Artists Wanted on Vimeo.

Watch this video, I'm not going to say much here, I think Pete Eckert deserves to tell his story all by himself.

Holga and the New York Times...

Came across this nice article in the New York Times 'Lens' section about the Holga, a 120 film, medium format plastic toy camera made in China.

The camera has a cult following due to its ability to give you results that you weren't quite expecting, say goodbye to digital perfection and hello to light leaks, soft edges and a complete lack of control..... all very liberating don't you think ?

Randy Smith of Holgamods fame gets a mention for his inventiveness when it comes down to modifying these cheap plastic cameras. I bought mine with a waist level finder from him a number of years back. Real nice guy to deal with, honest and open, does it because he loves it not because he is on some sort of get rich scheme.

There are mentions of a number of photographers who actively use this camera and I have to admit I liked a lot the work of Richard Sintchak whose image you see above.

The Holga world is a big one and there is a lot to explore, if you are tempted to buy one, get it from Randy who will make sure you get something just to your liking.

Invited Speaker - Carlos Borrego Iglesias

The club is very pleased and honoured to announce that Carlos Borrego Iglesias, will be visiting us on the 13th May to give us a talk on his photography and creative vision.

Carlos from Barcelona, already has a number of exhibitions under is belt and is a passionate and creative artist and advocate of analogue photography.

A very big thank you to Miguel for organising everything and I think that this is an amazing opportunity for all of us to experience close up, the work of a fellow photographer.

You can see more of Carlos' fantastically creative work on his web site and Flickr page.

Mark Tucker and his latest project...

We've seen Mark's work in the past and I recently dropped by his web pages, just to take a look at what he's been getting up to.

He images still continues to amaze and inspire me and its great to see he still maintains his passion for homemade camera's. In this case, not made by himself but by John Minnicks, whom I'm trying to find out more about, but if like me, you don't have a Facebook account your going to be out of luck.

You can see the camera in action above and its a custom design using as its base, the Graflex RB Camera from the early 1950's. You may also notice that the lens attached is the famous Kodak Aero Ektar often used by David Burnett.

I have to admit that I really want one of these camera's as the thought of having a 4x5 reflex camera (meaning that you don't lose the viewfinder image of your subject when you load the film into the back) is really appealing, and it looks like a quite compact package as well.

Anyway Mark has set up a new blog to show the results of his new project to photograph special people in the Nashville area.

If you don't remember Mark from our past blog entry his web page is here and his 'normal' blog here.

THIAPS produces book...

produced and edited by Frans Peter Verheyen

THIAPS, the International Analogue Film Society who are strong advocates of Analogue Photography, have recently released a book which is comprised of many images that have been shown on the Society's web page "Film is not dead it just smells funny" over the past three years.

It took them 6 months to create a short list of photographers who they wanted to participate in the UNLIMITED GRAIN project. They also had so many images that they decided that one book would probably not be enough, so hence a series of books will be released of which Portrait Photography is the topic covered by the first one. Following books may cover landscape, urban, street and nocturnal photography.

Based on the 'preview' you can see above, this looks to be a worthwhile series of books to collect and will be a motivation to any analogue photographer and maybe even encourage the digital users out there to give film a go as well.

Blurb's Storytelling Video Series...

Storytelling Series: Daniel Milnor from Blurb Books on Vimeo.

Blurb have been running these short video stories for a while now on authors that they consider to have an inspirational story to tell.

They really are quite a nice insight in to the motivation and thought process behind the creation of a book. The series covers authors of many different styles of books, but the video you see above, of course, is about a photographer (in this case its Daniel Minor who also has a very interesting blog you might want to take a look at as well).

You can check out the whole series so far over at Vimeo.

Newly released film camera !?!...

Just to show you all that film is not dead quite yet, Cosina/Fujifilm have brought out a new film camera based on a design from the 1930's.

A folder no less !!!! that means you can fold it up and put it in your pocket (well almost ;-))

It will go on sale under the Voigtlander Bessa III brand and of course the design has been brought right up to date with a mechanism for switching between two different film formats (6x7cm and 6x6cm) and auto focus.

It is fitted with an 80mm f/3.5 fixed focal length Heliar lens and weighs 1kg and measures 178x109x 138mm when opened. The body is cast in magnesium alloy with aluminium parts, and the camera can be fitted with a hotshoe flash.

Its quite pricey at around 1700GBP, but hats off to Cosina/Fujifilm for making such a bold move no the less, I'll be interested in how well it sells...

Film is not dead, it just smells funny...

Just recently I seem to be more inspired by the images produced by photographers using film, than the output from digital cameras.

Is it because I know how difficult it is to produce a good image on film, that I know the amount of time and dedication it takes to learn and develop this skill and therefore I have an inherent admiration of photographers that can take such good photo's with what the clueless may call an obsolete format... I don't know....

Anyway, I had been a follower of a website called 'Film is not Dead it just smell funny' for some time now... which unfortunately has shutdown recently... not due to lack of interest as you might think... quite the opposite in fact.... read the following statement from one of the founders Frans Verter Verheyen :

" After a year of “Film is not dead it just smells funny” web site we made the following decision. If you look at the web site it's nice, cool and with a great number of visitors. But it is just a blog. And besides the fact that we show high quality of pictures to the world, it is just that. We would like to do more and more structured. With the summer holidays on the way we have decided to shut down the web site. And to come back in September with a new concept. A bigger and more international staff and a more organized structure. (also in technical way, the structure of this web site is too focused on a blog) More in-depth article's and interviews, an online magazine and a print magazine. We are planning of starting “The International Analogue Photographic Society” And no it will not be another APUG. The web site "Film is not dead it just smells funny" will come back and so will the Featured Artists. This will take some time, although we are already working on it. This group will stay unchanged So we wish you a good summer and hope to surprise you all with a new concept in September"

In the meantime, you can visit their flickr site here, if you would like to get a small taste of what its all about... I recommend going to the discussion section first.

And while you at it, go out and buy a secondhand film camera (they are really rather cheap at the moment), then use it like mad and after you have gone through a number of films you will begin to slow down, think about what your doing, learn to understand the quality of light and how different films react to it... You not going to get instant satisfaction from a screen on the back of the camera... but your not going to take 50 photo's (because you can and just in case) when more often than not, one or two is more than sufficient... and the wait for you photo's to be developed is really quite exciting and actually quite gratifying....

Go on..... I dare you.... ;-)