The deep sound of the fog horn hits my ears while I am driving across the Golden Gate Bridge. My mind is filled with excitement and I devoutly enjoy the fascinating view when the bridge appears from the fog that silently lays over the bay. With every mile I drive, I get further away from the bustling city towards the safe haven of the Point Reyes National Seashore at the roaring coastline of Marin County.
Read More
I have not yet decided on the the final title of these series and at the moment the working title seems to be a bit misleading. This is an ongoing series that concentrates on the restaurant, shops and stores at night. Many of these places have a very unique architectural appearance and some - like Chips restaurant and Norms in West Hollywood - fall in a category called Googie architecture. As a side track from the mid century modernism, Googie emphasized the futuristic atmosphere of the 1940s to the 1960s with the jagged lines and modern elements.
Read More
After completing my "Between The Light" book I initially wanted to finish the project and concentrate on other series. But after a while this did feel right for me anymore. I had the desire to continue to work on the project, refine the series and re-work it into a slightly different direction. The new images I planned to create should show more of the unnoticed streets and houses, the well kept secrets, the less beautiful and more exciting places. Light would play a even more important role than before. So after a longer break I brought my Hasselblad on one of my latest visits to San Francisco for some more night time shooting. I concentrated on lower Russian Hill, North Beach, Chinatown and Marina.
Read More
I have written about MeinFilmLab before and I personally have a lot of respect of what the team around Jörg Bergs has achieved over the last two years. The lab was literally established from scratch and what began in his basement has now grown to a already renown photolab that offers a complete workflow for the modern analog photographer. I don´t know the exact numbers but I would not be surprised if the MFL already handles the big amount of analog film development in Germany. But who cares about numbers. As we all know, the photographic workflow needs a final output which is in most cases a print. While we are often happy with displaying photos on our smart phones and tablets, there is a certain fascination of a physical print.
Read MoreChoosing a workshop is not easy. Many photographers and self acclaimed photo experts offer workshops these days and I suggest that most of these workshops are either ineffective, boring or aim at beginners. The most important aspect to look at when choosing a workshop is obviously the photographer who is conducting the workshop. This does not necesseraily mean it should be one of the big names, but it should be a person that has something valueable to tell. I don´t attend workshops often, but when I learned about the workshop conducted by Jesse Struyvelt happening during the Summer Festival of the MeinFilmLab, I was immediately hooked. No doubt I wanted to join.
Read MoreInspired by my daylight encounters along the legendary "Pacific Coast Highway" I came up with a first set of images that could be the start of a series on fast food restaurants, diners and shopping locations along and surrounding PCH at night.
Stay tuned for more...
Read MoreAfter my video tutorial in the last post, I thought a short follow up post with a detailed example would be helpful. So, no video today, but some further explanations on how I scanned the photograph below. But just in case you have missed the video, I highly recommend going back and watch it. It will give you a good overview of all the tasks required during the scanning process.
Read MorePier 24 - Below Bay Bridge, San Francisco
I have not done this for a while, but it felt really good to do some black and white long exposure work again. This image and another one were just about right to be added to my series "Bayside Impressions".
Read More
I am very proud to share this very interesting conversation with you. Joerg Bergs is the owner and founder of the "Mein Film Lab" (MFL) in Germany. My personal enjoyment of film photography elevated to a whole new level after I decided to send my film to a professional labs. The results have always been mind blowing. Having such a lab now in Germany is very convenient. Shipping is more simple and therefore turnaround times are way faster. I also enjoy the conversation on a very personal level. At MFL they seem to take note of every input you give them. During one of the conversations I had with Joerg Bergs, he agreed to answer some questions which I am thrilled to share here with you. If you are interested in the original German version of this interview, I will publish it in a separate blog post.
For now, enjoy the Interview.
Read More
Ich freue mich darüber diese spannende Konversation mit Euch allen zu teilen. Jörg Bergs ist der Inhaber und Gründer des "Mein Film Labs" hier in Deutschland. Meine persönliche Freude an der Filmfotografie wurde durch die Entscheidung meine Filme in ein gutes Filmlabor zu schicken noch deutlich verstärkt. Die Ergebnisse welche ich von allen von mir bisher getesteten Labors erhalten habe, haben mich schlichtweg umgehauen. Das Mein Film Lab steht dieser Erfahrung in nichts nach. Das es jetzt ein Filmlabor in Deutschland gibt, welches auf diesem hohen Niveau arbeitet ist darüber hinaus auch noch sehr angenehm. Die Bearbeitungszeiten verkürzen sich allein schon auf Grund der schnelleren Postlaufzeiten. Darüber hinaus freue ich mich über die unkomplizierte und sehr angenehme Kommunikation mit dem Lab. Es scheint, als würde über jeden kleinen Input Buch geführt und versucht dem Kundenwunsch so exakt wie möglich zu entsprechen. Während einer dieser Gespräche hat sich Jörg Bergs dazu Bereit erklärt, mir ein Interview zu geben und ich freue mich es heute hier vorstellen zu dürfen.
Read More
Shadow detail comparison of an underexposed negative (left) and overexposed negative (right).
The way we expose film has a tremendous amount on the quality and mood of the final photograph. Of course exposure affects image brightness and contrast, but also quality and color.
Carmencita Film Lab and photographer Johnny Patience both did a wonderful exposure series to demonstrate the effect of under and overexposure to film. Please follow this link to check their series and read their recommendations. You can also find a good film guide from "Mein Film Lab" which explains a lot about the different characters of film. Unfortunately it is only available in German so far.
Read MorePhoto essay by Sebastian Schlueter
The glamorous days of Grand Hotels seem forever gone in days where one Hotel looks like the other. This is why I was so fascinated walking through the entry gate of the "Grand Hotel des îles Borromess" in Stresa at the west coast of the "Lake Maggiore" in Northern Italy. It is like traveling back in time, back to those days where individuality was common and Hotel chains have not yet been invented. Elegant mirrors and marvelous chandeliers decorate the lobby of the Grand Hotel. All the small details bag for attention [...]
Read More
I feel very honored that "Mein Film Lab" in Germany decided to feature my new series "Between the Light" on their blog. As the feature was written in German I thought it would be nice to have it in English as well.
Read MoreKodak Portra 400 - Fuji Frontier Scan by Carmencita Film Lab (Spain)
A simple hardware solution that helps avoiding a phenomena called “scanner banding” or staircase effect that often occurs when using a flatbed scanner such as an Epson V700/V750 for negative scanning.
Scanning has always been a love and hate relationship for me. As traditional color darkroom printing was never a good option for me, I soon started to send my rolls of film to a good lab and have them scan my negatives. The results have always been wonderful and exceeded my expectations by far. Unfortunately this set my goals very high and I never achieved similar results using my personal scanner at home. Of course my V700 cannot be compared to a film scanner or a high class Flexlight, Fuji Frontier or Noritsu scanner. Nevertheless, I worked on my scanning workflow to come a little closer to the scans from my lab.
Read More