Something specific that comes to mind here is the intentional, pragmatic and architectural use of space in Japanese photography and Japanese film since the 1920′s. Their use of negative space – mostly composed, controlled and open – is not as intimidating and less filled with expression than their Western counterparts. Emotions such as anger, for example, are mostly expressed through contrast, focus or composition, rather than direct expressive attitude or subjective gestures. To me, quintessential Japanese photography is strong because of its open, compositional distance and its emotional constraint and not because of its Western, in-your-face, “aggressive” spontaneity or directness.
Then he wrote about the importance of space in relation to the object
The great NY architect Richard Gluckman once told me that in his work he is always considering the importance of space in relation to the object: It is both the object that defines the space and the space that defines the object. According to him, a space isn’t finished until it is occupied by an intention. My advice is the same when I’m reviewing young photographer’s portfolios or speaking to my design assistants: Before photographing or designing space try to remove yourself from it and look at it from a distance or from the outside. Gather information about its purpose and its inherent qualities. This will bring it closer to the attributes I admire in great Japanese photographic works.
I have been exposed to Japanese culture from my early age but I still yet to understand what it is that makes me interested in the first place. This article (and other similar articles) will help me and others outside Japan to understand a little bit more about the Japanese art. The last paragraph is spot on.
An image that I like very much is a diptych story by Shingo Wakagi that was shot for my magazine Famous Aspect. The series is titled Tokyo Modern. One image shows a still life of beautiful weathered flowers, the other a girl in a kimono sitting on a bed in an apartment. There is an air of intimacy and distance that I really like and it reflects some of the ambiguities expressed above. Looking at it you have no sense of time. It is a fashion image yet there is no fashion there. It is sad yet beautiful. Close but unreachable.
You see, to be a photographer requires an openness and an ability to look deep into someone’s eyes, to regard them with care and affection, and to ultimately fall madly in love with them.
[...]
There is a connection, an openness, an ability to reveal both of ourselves completely, with all our strengths and vulnerabilities. This is a very difficult thing to do, both for me, and for her. It is what distinguishes greatness from mediocrity. How far you are willing to emotionally travel is as important as your talent.
To succeed, we must fall in love, take the pictures, and then slowly take deep breaths, realizing who we are, and walk slowly away from the edge.
Every morning, I try to walk as much as I can. I remember this particular morning when we walked to one of the most popular street in the city. The light was great and the air was fresh. I walked with my wife and daughter. We sat for a while on a bench. I got my camera out from the bag and took a few frames. We didn’t know that it could be our last walk on that part of the city.
Early this year, we moved to a new house on the northern part of the city, away from this part of the city, away from my childhood memories. Now I have to walk in a new neighbourhood which completely unfamiliar. Just this morning I took my 10-months-old daughter for a short walk. It was only 20 minutes or so but we found new alleys to walk and found some interesting places which I’ve never imagined would be exist in the city. Places which I’d love to spend some time to take some photographs. I can only imagine where I will walk tomorrow.
On another note, somefriends and I just made a Flickr group, We are a happy family. This is not a clone of La Familia Abrazada group although we all love that group. At first we just wanted to see the potential of Indonesian photographers, what we can do, on this subject — family. So, we will see where we are heading to while we go on and try to manage the group along the way.
Here’s a tribute to our family, friends, and lovers…
“…all these places have their moments
with lovers and friends i still can recall
some are dead and some are living
in my life…i’ve loved them all…”
Today I set out from my house and walked. And walked.
I didn’t have a specific destination in mind, but wanted to walk a bit before finding a quiet place to write. So I walked, out of the town where I live and along the tropical, white-sand coastline, to the next town over.
As others drove cocooned in their cars, I walked, and emitted nothing but my breath.
[...]
I walked for an hour, then wrote and read, and then walked for another hour to get back home, tired but happy.
I can’t walk this much every day, but I walk as much as I can, because you need nothing to walk, you spend nothing, you consume nothing, you emit nothing.
When I was a child I was told by my parents not to go wandering outside at night. They said it was dangerous. Probably you have the same situation as mine. And if I knew my parents well enough, they will probably freaked out when they know that I’ve been walking around at night, with a camera on my hand. You see, for most people, mostly are elders, only bad people wander at night.
The truth is, considering my neighbourhood, there is nothing to be afraid of. And for me seeing the city at night is kind of refreshing. It’s like seeing two different cities. My city looks mostly like a dead city past 9PM. But I love the light at night. I like the silence of the night. I like this other personality of the city. Darker, sometimes more bitter, colder, but in a way also more honest.
By walking at night I feel like watching a city going to sleep. I can hear some distant sound of vehicles. I could feel the cold night wind. I was tired, hungry, and sleepy. Yet I see some people still working at night and some homeless people sleeping on street-side.
At that point I realize that I’m on a different world. I’d go home but I will definitely come back to the streets at night again.
I am working on a project called “The Oldest Living Things in the World.” I’m researching, working with biologists, and traveling all over the world to find and photograph continuously living organisms that are 2,000 years old and older. I started the project 5 years ago, and have since photographed nearly 25 different organisms, ranging from the Bristlecone Pine and Giant Sequoias that you’ve surely heard of, to some truly unusual and unique desert shrubs, bacteria, a predatory fungus, and a clonal colony of Aspen trees that’s male and, in theory, immortal.
On a conceptual level, I’m developing this unique index of living organisms with exceptional longevity at a critical juncture in our collective trajectory: how will the natural world fare in the face of climate change? Part art, part science, part philosophy, I hope to tease out themes of longevity, sustainability, the natural sublime and mortality through the work.
The project also comes with a location map and a blog to track her progress. Right now she’s trying to find several more organisms before turning the project into a book. Here’s some on her to-do list:
Searching the Antarctic Peninsula by boat for 5,000-year-old moss
Backpacking in Tasmania and mainland Australia in search of several clonal shrubs in ranging from 10,000 to 43,000 years old
Visiting a sacred site in Sri Lanka for a nearly 2,300-year-old Banyan Fig tree
SCUBA diving in Spain to find the 100,000-year-old clonal sea grass
“One day Eikoh Hosoe, the photographer of this book, was walking on a lonely beach in Japan, now and then taking pictures of the ocean, the beach, and of a small girl sitting on some rocks. He was startled by a Weimaraner dog which appeared unexpectedly from right out of the ground. Mr. Hosoe couldn’t believe what he saw, but before Runcible’s departure from Japan they had a long talk. Runcible told Mr. Hosoe about his adventure. Runcible was very proud to know an outstanding free-lance photographer who had received so many awards for his pictures. Mr. Hosoe gave Runcible copies of his three photo-essay books, Killed By Roses, Ondine and Why, Mother, Why! The two have been firm friends ever after.”
“People, for many years, going all the way back to my deceased parents, have often asked and questioned me why I spent so much time studying theology, if I always had the intention of being a photographer. What is the connection, what is the purpose?”
[...]
“My photographs may be my answers, responses, or questions to these questions. Going just to study photography would not provide the right questions. I needed much more.”
Winogrand’s is the work of a serious artist (though he’d cleanly deny it) dedicated to seeing his project through to completion, even if, in his own case, it wasn’t exactly clear what the project was, or how it might end. Hard work would figure it out. Hard work would leave behind the four foot high piles of prints, the hundreds of thousands of negatives.
Winogrand’s alertness, easily misread as impatience or distraction, was most likely a state of hyper awareness, in which any small flash of visual stimuli might lead to something both wonderful and surprising, and you better be ready to capture it so Let’s Do This. And yet, while Winogrand emerged from the darkroom with photographs that delineate the attentions of a man clearly focused on incongruities writ large; hypocrisies of a nation; the impossibilities of connection; illuminating the surface tension between us all that keeps us apart; it’s easy to imagine him saying, “yeah, but it’s just a picture of a guy on the street.”
Winogrand’s omnivorousness for the image is what drove his greatest successes, like the couple with the chimps. Which is not to say that anyone with eagerness and the right equipment will become a great photographer. But I think Winogrand’s spirit lies less with the academics, and more with the kid who just got his older brother’s hand-me-down Canon Rebel and is about to stumble across a copy of The Animals in the school library during study hall.
This series is special because I’ve been doing this — the waiting and the trip — to see my wife and daughter in Bekasi every week for the past six months. I hate to wait though, especially when there’s no bus schedule and it’s raining.
Looks like somebody forgot about us
Standing on the corner
Waiting for a bus
Say hey mister driver man
Don’t be slow
‘Cause I got somewhere I got to go
As someone who has reviewed so many outstanding portfolios and self-promotional pieces, what distinguishes the very best?
Certainly, the “wow” factor of an unorthodox or expensive portfolio/promotion is always something that catches my attention. However, if that “wow” isn’t met by “wow #2,” ie. excellent photography presented in a cohesive form, then I feel sorry that the photographer spent so much money putting lipstick on a pig.
“The practice of photographing family members is not a new one, but its appreciation as an art form has never been greater.”
Excellent article with some insights and images from Phillip Toledano, Doug DuBois, Elizabeth Flemming, Jack Radcliffe, David Newsom, Timothy Archibald, Tierney Gearon, and Dona Schwartz.
When Magnum photographers give advice to young photographers, it will surely attract a lot of links. What is so interesting is that the agency didn’t write a list but instead get 35 of their members to write their own personal advice. Aside from
“Get a good pair of walking shoes and…fall in love” — Abbas
“Forget about the profession of being a photographer. First be a photographer and maybe the profession will come after. Don’t be in a rush to make pay your rent with your camera. Jimi Hendrix didn’t decide on the career of professional musician before he learned to play guitar. No, he loved music and and created something beautiful and that THEN became a profession. Larry Towell, for instance, was not a “professional” photographer until he was already a “famous” photographer. Make the pictures you feel compelled to make and perhaps that will lead to a career. But if you try to make the career first, you will just make shitty pictures that you don’t care about.
I guess it’s the most relevant advice for my situation right now. I don’t want to make shitty pictures, you know. But you’ll find others’ advices are equally interesting, like the one from Thomas Hoepker
“Avoid all photo schools and courses. Most will give you lofty ideas and twist your mind in one direction. Find your own way to photography, nobody will ask you later if you have a diploma. Visit as many museums as you possibly can. The images you see (painted, drawn, etched or photographed) will stay with you for the rest of your life. They will help you to discover good pictures in real life. Suppress any silly ambitions of becoming a great artist. Being a good photographer is difficult enough.
January 28, 2008—The International Center of Photography announced the discovery of a cache of over 3,500 negatives of the Spanish Civil War by Magnum Photographers and Founders, Robert Capa, David Seymour and Capa’s former partner Gerda Taro, three of the most significant war photographers of the twentieth century.
The negatives, created between 1936 and 1939, portray Spanish Republican soldiers, civilians in daily life and in battle and portraits of artists and writers such as Frederico Garcia Lorca and André Malraux.
The rolls were in small cardboard boxes, as well as some short strips of negatives. Some images are identified by photographer; other attributions are based on comparison to known works by the three photographers.
The negative archive (referred to as the “Mexican Suitcase,”) was left by Robert Capa when he fled Paris in 1939 to come to America, and was presumed lost until it mysteriously appeared in Mexico in 1995. Exactly how the negatives reached Mexico is not definitively known.
As soon as the newly discovered “Mexican Suitcase” work is available for reproduction, it will be added to Magnum Photos on-line archive. An announcement will be made on Magnum’s website (www.magnumphotos.com) when available for viewing and licensing.
When you photograph people in colour you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in B&W, you photograph their souls!
— Ted Grant
Every time someone tells me how sharp my photos are, I assume that it isn’t a very interesting photograph. If it were, they would have more to say.
— Author Unknown
There will be times when you will be in the field without a camera. And, you will see the most glorious sunset or the most beautiful scene that you have ever witnessed. Don’t be bitter because you can’t record it. Sit down, drink it in, and enjoy it for what it is!
— DeGriff
Buying a Nikon doesn’t make you a photographer. It makes you a Nikon owner.
— Author Unknown
If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn’t need to lug around a camera.
— Lewis Hine
Everyone has a photographic memory, but not everyone has film.
— Author Unknown
One photo out of focus is a mistake, ten photo out of focus are an experimentation, one hundred photo out of focus are a style.
— Author Unknown
CNN.com says “Polaroid fans ponder a filmless future“.
Telegraph.co.uk says “Shutter closes on Polaroid’s iconic instant film“.
Just when I thought about buying a Polaroid camera – preferably a Polaroid SX-70 – I have to bury that thought deep.
But keep some dreams alive though because as The New York Times wrote
“Loyal users take heart, though — Polaroid said it would happily license the technology to other manufacturers should they want to go on supplying the niche market with film after 2009.”
And there are also some people trying to save the Polaroid film. Lead by Save Polaroid and Save Polaroid Flickr group.
I believe almost everyone has their own personal story with Polaroid. So do I, back in the 80’s.
Even though I’ve always thought that this kind of event will come sooner or later, I want to save Polaroid.
Why?
Because everytime I remember about Polaroid, I remember the fun of photography and the smile of the people.
Photography is fun indeed. And everyone is happy. I want to save them all.
Japan: The Ukita family of Kodaira City; Food expenditure for one week: 37,699 Yen or $317.25; Favorite foods: sashimi, fruit, cake, potato chips
Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp; Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23; Favorite foods: soup with fresh sheep meat
What can you eat with $300 a week? You will have plenty of options. What can you eat with only $1 a week? In Indonesia, you can always go for the instant noodle or fasting two days in a week every Monday and Thursday.
So what can one do to stand out? What difference can you make (in 5 minutes and with a 35mm only)? Well not much really… Especially because you’re in a pool, so you HAVE to deliver or you will not be selected next time. The photographers outside are waiting to pick their choice in what’s going to be available on the ECCC computer and they’d be more than willing to take your place.
Basically I start by making sure there is at least ONE usable picture. No risk taking… Autofocus, straight flash, no fancy composition, the accused smack in the middle of the frame, 5 or six shots. That’s it… Switch to the M8, ambient light (the last firmware update finally delivers acceptable white balance results), 320 ISO (too much noise higher up), 2.8, 30th/ second and MOVE, change position, go to the back of the pack, slide to the right, push back into the pack again, move back and go to the left where the judges are, go straight back towards the accused, frame, focus and… finished. It’s over. The 5 minutes are gone. We’re politely asked by the security guards to leave the room… Hoping we didn’t screw up and that there is something a little different to show. There are about 60 frames on my cards, 40 of which are really useless.
Only nine days from the beginning of this month, I have purchased two good and inspiring book about photography.
I can tell you that it’s hard and rare to find a good photography book in Bandung unless you buy it somewhere online.
One thing I noticed is the price. Why the bookstores here have to put such a high price tag? Do we also have to pay the shipping cost? One book was on a 50% sale only for me to discover similar price on the book’s website. The other book was on a crazy 85% sale only to match the book’s price on Amazon.
So my tip for buying book in Bandung is to check the price on the online store first. Convert it to IDR and you will have a pretty good idea about the price of a book.
The first book is the Polaroid Book.
I love Polaroid. And if you like it as I do, you will also love this book. Even if you can find plenty resources on the internet, seeing it on print is an enjoyable experience. I also like the story of the creation of Polaroid. How Edwin H. Land met Ansel Adams and how both of them further improving the design of this camera. And after reading (I’m not sure if it can be categorized as reading since most of the 400 pages are images – good Polaroid images) the book, I can only say, “I want one just like that” even if here – in Bandung – Polaroid is losing its popularity rapidly.
Today I went to a local photo supply store looking for a Polaroid camera. The answer came quite shocking to me as the owner firmly stated that they don’t sell Polaroid cameras anymore since there is no Polaroid films available. And I can only guessed that the films becoming rare due to the lack of demand. Here in Bandung, Polaroid is considered only as the camera used by “tukang foto keliling” – people who usually hang around some tourist destination area selling their photographic services of taking tourists’ photos for a quite cheap price. From now on, I might have to start looking for Polaroid cameras and films on eBay.
Second book is the Paris Vertical by Horst Hamann.
I have seen New York Vertical before and I love it and I bought Paris Vertical believing that I will also love it. And yes, I love seeing every single black and white photo finely printed on quite a big book (12.9 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches). And if some of you curious about the camera he used, it’s a Hasselblad XPan. What is it with Hasselblad that stuns us? Anyway, I knew about XPan through Gladiarama and now this book and put it on my cameras wish list. Just like what Hasselblad put on the first page of its brochure, this is the perfect camera “for a world less square”.
On the end of this book, Horst Hamann wrote a page titled “Paris Is Not Vertical”. He told us what people said to him. That Paris is not a vertical city. Perhaps those people thought that there are not enough vertical building in Paris to make it into a book, perhaps compared to New York. And how the photographer also evolved in his journey on how to see things.
“In short: my vertical photography was transformed into a kind of vertical view of taking photos, with the entire spectrum of perception and experience that goes along with it. I am now guided to a much greater extent by vertical composition than by vertical objects. Seen in this way, I can confirm what others have told me all along: Paris is not a vertical city. The bustling people, however, the long shadows, the narrow alleyways, the slender statues, the steep stairways, the pointed towers of churches, and yes, even the baguettes and the high heels of French women – all of them raise an alarm on my vertical radar screen.
If you pay attention, you can see that the world we live in is indeed vertical in many different ways.
In the end of today, after reading these two books, I just can’t wait to get my camera and start taking pictures. I believe this kind of books intended to get your inspired more and more, over and over again. The most naive idea of all is to make a Bandung Vertical project.
I also ended up wanting to have the two unique cameras, a Polaroid SX-70 and a Hasselblad XPan!
Selama lebih dari 2 tahun saya menjelajahi dunia fotografi, ada 2 pertanyaan yang sering diajukan dan saya merasa geli di perut ketika mendengarnya.
Apa kameranya? Apa lensanya?
Ya, saya pernah berada di posisi itu ketika saya memulai fotografi dua tahun lalu hanya menggunakan kamera yang sudah terintegrasi dalam telepon genggam saya. Dengan kualitas alat yang tidak diperhitungkan, saya pernah merasakan rendah diri melihat hasil foto orang lain yang saya kagumi dan pertanyaan itu selalu hinggap di ujung lidah saya. “Apa kameranya? Apa lensanya?” Lalu kemudian saya berpikir. Apakah ada gunanya saya mengetahui informasi itu? Ketika saya mengetahui bahwa sang fotografer mengambil gambar tersebut dengan Hasselblad atau Leica atau Rolleiflex, apakah kemudian saya akan menganggukkan kepala dengan antusias dan menjadikan itu sebagai dasar pembenaran bahwa foto tersebut sudah sepantasnya bagus karena diambil oleh kamera-kamera legendaris?
Pertanyaan-pertanyaan itu mulai perlahan sirna ketika foto-foto hasil jepretan saya menggunakan kamera telepon genggam saya terpilih dan dimuat di beberapa media internet dan diapresiasi positif oleh banyak orang. Ketika saya kemudian beralih ke kamera yang lebih mentereng, sebuah digital single lens reflex dari sebuah pabrikan Jepang, saya justru merasa kehilangan sesuatu. Ada sesuatu rasa yang hilang dari diri saya. Semua kemudahan yang ditawarkan oleh kamera canggih terbaru justru saya rasakan menjadikan semua proses fotografi ini menjadi terlalu mudah dan terlalu instant. Ketika slogan saya dan Anda dalam fotografi adalah “jepret dulu hasil belakangan” seharusnya kita sama-sama menyadari bahwa ada sesuatu yang salah. Lalu ketika beberapa bulan yang lalu saya menelusuri hasil foto-foto lama saya, semua pertanyaan tadi sepenuhnya sirna dan menjadi tidak penting lagi.
Sebagai ganti pertanyaan-pertanyaan teknis, banyak pertanyaan baru yang lebih menarik bermunculan di benak saya. Salah satu yang akhir-akhir ini menggelitik saya adalah bagaimana untuk bisa menuturkan cerita dengan baik melalui foto. Bukan – bukan sekolah fotografi atau jurnalistik yang saya cari. Saya yakin jawaban yang saya cari ada di tempat lain. Di antara kumpulan artikel dan foto Tay Kay Chin. Di antara tulisan Dewi Lestari. Di antara lagu-lagu Manhattan Transfer. Di antara halaman-halaman National Geographic. Di antara tumpukan komik. Di antara hiruk pikuk jalanan kota Bandung. Di keheningan malam.
Saya yakin lebih banyak pertanyaan akan muncul kemudian dan saya sama yakinnya bahwa jawabannya tidak akan pernah benar-benar muncul. Lalu bukankah akah lebih mudah apabila kita semua lebih cepat menyadari bahwa fotografi adalah proses dan bukan sebuah akhir. Banyak-banyaklah bertanya dan mencari – bukan untuk menemukan sebuah jawaban pamungkas – tapi untuk membuat sebuah pertanyaan baru dan memulai pencarian baru karena, disadari atau tidak, yang dicari bukanlah titik ujung tujuan tapi setiap langkah yang sudah, sedang dan akan kita lalui. Mungkin ketika kita semua bisa menyadari itu semua, barulah kita semua bisa lebih menikmati fotografi tanpa perlu mengerutkan dahi.
Lain kali ketika ada orang yang bertanya “apa kameranya?” “apa lensanya?” saya bisa saja menjawab sebuah tipe kamera tua buatan Jerman yang umurnya jauh lebih tua dari saya dan berharap itu akan menjadi pembenaran akan baik buruknya foto saya. Tapi saya mungkin akan lebih memilih jawaban…
“sudah. percaya saja sama matamu.”
… dan berharap mereka semua akan kembali lagi kepada saya dengan banyak pertanyaan lain yang lebih menarik.
I am trying to figure out what happened to the lightmeter on the Rolleiflex SL35. It’s not dead but it reads all wrong – the meter seems to be overexposed. So for a while I will use my Canon 350D as a lightmeter. Not a handy one, I know, but it will do for now. I might have to look for a handheld lightmeter in the future.
So the journey begins by searching my first film roll and keep the Kodak Tri-X that Budi gave me safely on the refrigerator. Since this is only a test, any films will do for me. I’ve been expecting to find Fuji Superia 200 or Kodak TMax 100 but found Kodak Colorplus 200 and Fuji Superia Extra 400 instead.
I chose Kodak for no particular reason.
I took some shots inside my house. Around the neighbourhood. On the street. I take pictures of my girlfriend, my family, objects I found interesting, cats, people, flowers. Practically anything I find along my walk.
And I also try the f/1.4. Couldn’t resist the bokeh!
Now I am only a couple of shots away from developing the roll. Can’t wait to see the result. Can’t wait for the second roll too.
And contrary to what most people believe, shooting in film is not that hard. You just need to know yourself and your camera better and it will work perfectly.
After I purchased my first digital camera, a Canon EOS 350D, I told my friends that my next camera won’t be a digital. I know it’s not a popular decision – most people seem to upgrade their 350D to 400D, 40D or even 5D – but I also didn’t realize at that time that it will happen sooner than I expected.
I have always on the look out for the right camera. Not too expensive but one I believe will help me produce a good – if not great – results. I was considering a Canon AE-1 and a Nikon FM3. I’m glad I didn’t take them because a couple of days ago Budi offered me not one but two Rolleis.
The first one is his Rollei 35S. A sweet little camera with a fixed but awesome Carl Zeiss 40mm/2.8 Sonnar lens, made in Singapore to decrease the pricing tag. I believe it’s one of the smallest 35mm cameras. And it will make you learn again to use it. I believe the analogy from one of the reviewer was perfect.
“Imagine you get behind the wheel of a new car, and suddenly discover that the pedals have been changed around. The accelerator is now on the left, the clutch is in the middle, and the brake on the right! You hunt around for the gear lever, only to find it behind your seat in a position that you can reach if you don’t mind dislocating your shoulder! Happy? I doubt it! Carefully, very carefully, talking yourself through every action like a pilot on his first solo, you manage to drive it out onto the road. After a couple of miles, you realize that in spite of all the quirks, you’ve bought a very high performance car with superb handling, even if it means learning to drive again!
Welcome to the world of the Rollei 35! Introduced in time for Photokina in 1966, I can’t help thinking that the designers must have either been collectively insane, or just too brilliant for us mere mortals to understand. Probably the latter. Well, a pull-out lens wasn’t new – Leica thought of that trick decades before. A left-hand film winder wasn’t exactly a novelty, either, the ill-fated Alpa SLRs and various Exacta-Ihagee models had this, too. But shutter and aperture controls on the FRONT! Flash shoe on the BOTTOM!! Insanity! Or maybe just a successful attempt to blow away some paradigms, to nail the “We’ve-Always-Done-It-Like-That” brigade firmly into their coffins and teach them a lesson in precision engineering at the same time? Read on!
The other Rollei was a Rolleiflex SL35 SLR. Carl Zeiss 50mm/1.4 Planar. Made in Germany. Excellent condition. And even though this camera was his friend’s which is actually also my friend (yes, the world is that complicated and small) Budi promised to give me a roll of Kodak Tri-X 400 as a bonus.
Surely an irresistable offer. Both were in a reasonable price. Both were in good condition. Each has its own uniqueness. But I need to choose one for now.
And so I choose the Rolleiflex SL35.
I know most people today start straight from digital and upgrade it when possible to the latest and better gear available. Some start from film/analog, converted to digital and never come back. Welcome to the world of gadget. Some stay in the film/analog world. And I believe I am among the one who start in digital and later converted to analog.
Just a trend? I hope not. Just want to be different? Certainly not.
I’m happy with my choice. And for now I will just be a man with two cameras on the street. Results will come out soon.
“A real master can use his camera to show you how he feels about a scene, not merely to show you what he happened to see… Photography (and all “art”) is nothing more than a different form of nonverbal communication. The trick is to have something brilliant to say with it.”
Recently I have found 2 interesting events. Angkor Photography Festival in Cambodia and Hello Video project in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Both was happening in Southeast Asia. Both involving children. And yeah, both are inspiring me a lot.<
I knew about Angkor Photography Festival from Flickr thanks to Stuart Isett who’ve been supplying the photos into Flickr for us to enjoy. Furthermore, I checked their website and immediately love the ideas of helping street kids. Looking at the long list of participants I found names that came from some famous photo agency like Magnum Photos and VII Photo. Amazing how these people gathered for this festival. There were so many activities during the festival you can read them at the website. But what I found most interesting was when they made a project of giving a pocket digital camera for the children to use on their daily life. The result was fantastic. We can get a chance to see their life from the first person point of view. Right now, I am eagerly waiting for the next Angkor Photo Festival, sometime at the end of this year.
While just a couple of minutes ago, Ive just found out about similar event here in Indonesia. The idea came from Miles Production. A name that was already familiar in the Indonesian cinema. I love their movies. For this project, director Riri Reza collaborating with UNICEF encouraging groups of children in Banda Aceh to make a video diary of themselves. Now from the news I read, the project was still ongoing but it is really hard to find news about it on the internet. I am kind of hoping that Riri Reza or one of his staff would be so kind as to provide us with some info about their progress.
I am really hoping that another events, similar to these or at least inspired by these or got nothing to do with these but have the same purposes, will be happening around the world. Starting from your own city. Which in my case is Bandung. You can find many street kids here. That’s the fact. Bandung once have the late Harry Roesli who were really trying to help these kids by teaching them how to play music.
Nitsa wrote a nice article over on Photoblogs Magazine May 2006 issue titled “Alternative in Street Photography“. Love her prologue by the way. A good reminder for myself.
“If you’re stuck in a rut and there’s nothing to shoot. If you feel like you’ve been there done that and there’s nothing new under the sun. If your city looks a bit too familiar and the streets are dull. If you already know it’s not about doing it right but doing it your way. If you like trying new ideas and are not afraid of experimenting; you are probably ready to rest your sophisticated digital camera on the shelf and go for something new.”
If you love street photography, you should love the works of Matt Stuart. His photos somehow remind me of Elliott Erwitt. The ability to tell stories without text show the power of the images. The funny pictures, the timing, the framing, the decisive moment are amazing. My favourite is his b/w work.
As written on the description of the site, WarShooter is a portal for photojournalists covering conflict, crisis, and disaster. Now, I don’t say that I want to be a war photographer, I’m not even sure if I want to be a photojournalist, but I am surely a big fan of photojournalism.
April 30, 2006 will be the Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day. Start making your own pinhole camera, shoot at that day, develop it, scan it, and you may post it on their site.
Seeing all the good photos, the winners of the 63rd Pictures of the Year International, can bring inspiration and encouragement to photographer wannabe and enthusiast like me.
Learning the art of photography, the Canon way. The camera used as examples are Canon, but the basic knowledge should also be useful for every photographers.
I’m aware that I’ve started to submit some of my photos to some challenges out there, including this one, because, as Budi said to me, I seems to have special talent to photographing kids. You gotta be kidding me, Bud!
I’ve never believed that I got selected at all. Now here’s some reason to all the why.
I’ve just started to take photography a bit seriously only a couple of months ago
I’ve only started photoblogging from January, still a newly born
I use *only* a cameraphone
But with this, I can say some things too. If I can achieve this kind of public acceptance, I’m hoping that enthusiast photographers out there can enjoy taking photos more. Forget about your tool. Any tools that can take photo will do enough. Forget about the techniques for a while (it is needed, but you have to feel it, not memorizing it). Just snap and enjoy!
Today, perhaps Lomo has evolved more than just a camera, it’s a lifestyle of the photographer. Here’s the 10 golden rules of lomography. I love rule #10:
“Don’t worry about any rules. Forget the 10 golden rules – discover your very own lomography. Immerse yourself in what’s going on, do it and do what you want but do it now.”
Like its name, we will focus ourselves to publish photos about Bandung, a mountain city on West Java, Indonesia. Right now this photoblog is still small, but we’re working on it. Feel free to visit it and I hope you all can enjoy it as much as I do.
Tempo Photostock. It is believed to contain 2 millions (I didn’t count it myself) of photos about Indonesia starting from 1971. That’s huge and that’s old. But surely interesting. Link from JalanSutera.
