The Challenge
With an early digital background I almost exclusively took analog night images over the last couple of years. I was really embracing the lovely look of Kodak Portra that could reveal the details in the shadow of almost any scene and still convey the beauty of a night scene. The natural and aesthetically pleasing look of the final image never drew me back to my clumsy trials getting something similar from digital. But over the years not only the capabilities of digital cameras improved but also my approach to post processing changed. Time to revisit digital night photography.
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I am very happy to announce that the prestigious German PhotoKlassik magazine featured my "Between The Light" and Tiger "Striped Skies" series in their recent issue under the category "Talent".
The magazine is solely dedicated to analog photography and I can highly recommend it to every German speaking reader who is interested in high quality journalistic information on many topics that are related to the world of analog picture taking.
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I am a brazen maiden lying here
Upon the tomb of Midas. And as long
As water flows, as trees are green with leaves,
As the sun shines and eke the silver moon,
As long as rivers flow, and billows roar,
So long will I upon this much wept tomb,
Tell passers by, "Midas" lies buried here.
[from the inscription of the thumb of Midas]
*according to Diogenes Laertius written by the Greek poet Cleobulus of Lindos, one of the Seven Sages of Greece
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Zines are a fantastic way of promoting a photographic series by easily wrapping images and text together into a small magazine or event simple book. It connects images to give them a broader and more cohesive background. The tool of storytellers and creative minds.
Just recently [Paul Joyce][1], an English photographer living in Germany, sent me a very beautifully made zine called MUC. I was immediately hooked by the beautiful layout the smart yet simple idea and the compelling images. Paul agreed to answer some questions regarding the zine and his creative journey as a photographer and aspiring publisher.
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On Saturday April 14th 2018 we proudly opened the BETWEEN THE LIGHT exhibition at Dentprevent Privatzahnärzte in the Tower of the Freiburg train station. Despite the weather we were happy to welcome so many friends, family members and photography enthusiasts at the reception.
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Matting
Framing is an art form and not only because it requires some skills to frame a photography in order to look good without dust or lint on the picture, extensive knowledge about material and the process is required to do it 100% correctly. Conservatory framing requires material of archival quality. But all this is only true if you plan to present the artwork in the frame for a long time period. Exhibitions often dońt require this amount of effort and investment. Nevertheless I want my photographs to be presented in the best possible manner, therefore some care was required to do the matting and framing correctly.
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The Concept for The Between The Light Exhibition in Freiburg
I was super thrilled and excited when I learned that I will have the opportunity to exhibit my work in Freiburg in the the Bahnhofsturm. This excitement lasted for almost and hour until I realized how many challenges this will bring along. Of course we all want to go out and show the world how good we are, what fine images we take, but then again, do we really make photographs that matter? Who wants to see them? With the excitement the doubts came simultaneously.
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A not really objective verdict
On March 18th the article What’s With All the Poor Negative Film Reviews? by Brad Nichol´s was published on petaxpixel.com and I not only fully support his point of view, I would also like to use it as a starting point for an very personal tribute to a single piece of hardware that makes the hard task of scanning easier and let´s you learn how color negative film can look like.
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I am extremely proud to announce that I have won the 2nd prize in the "International Photographer of the Year 2017" award in the category Architecture - Cityscapes (amateur). Awarded was a selection of my images from the series "Between The Light".
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I have some exciting news to share today. A large selection of images from my BETWEEN THE LIGHT and my TIGER STRIPED SKIES series will be exhibited in the facilities of DENTPREVENT in the Tower of the MAIN TRAIN STATION in Freiburg Germany.
From beginning of April 2018 until end of October 2018 approximately 35 images will be exhibited in the super nice and modern rooms of Dentprevent. This location offers a stunning and breathtaking view over the city of Freiburg and the Black Forrest.
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The search for serenity at the pacific coast of the Marin Headlands
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.
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A BASIC TUTORIAL ON HOW TO SCAN KODAK PORTRA 400 FILM WITH SILVERFAST 8 AND PHOTOSHOP
"NORMS - West Hollywood" is a night photograph I took a couple of weeks ago with my Hasselblad 500 and a Carl Zeiss 50mm Distagon f/4 lens of the famous NORMS restaurant. This will be part of a series of images focusing on the architecture of restaurants and shops in greater Los Angeles. In this short tutorial I will show you how to make a good looking scan in just a few simple steps in SilverFast 8 and Photoshop.
The aesthetics I try to achieve are similar to scans that my lab is doing with a Fuji Frontier mini-lab scanner. While the Epson V700 uses a significantly different technique, I am still able to re-scan some frames, especially if I need them at a higher resolution, that look similar or close to the rendition of the aforementioned scanner.
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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.
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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.
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A selection of images from my "Visions of Desolation Mountain" series has received n Honorable Mention in the ND Awards 2017 in the category FineArt: Landscape.
I am proud and honored...
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Today I learned that my "Between The Light" series has received an Honorable Mention in the PX3 Awards 2017 in the category non-professionals "Architecture".
I am very proud and honored.
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Morning haze;
as in a painting of a dream,
men go their ways.
~ Yosa Buson
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Ok guys, this is just a very short post with some sample images I just recently shot in Newport Beach Southern Clifornia. The Lensbaby Edge 50 optics together with the Composer Pro II has been the latest addition the my Fuji X-series lens lineup. I every wanted to own one of those lenses to add a certain mysterious effect to my photographs. Then after Lensbaby announced a massive sale on this baby, I could not resist any longer. I will do a more detailed review on this lens in an upcoming post, but as it was very hard for me to find sample images taken with this lens and any kind of Fuji X-Series camera I thought I share them really fresh for everyone who is interested in this lens as well.
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Why authenticity matters
The power of a photograph compared to a painting comes from its ability to replicate a scene in a believable manner. A simple click and a scene has been captured. The nature of photography relies on the illusion of reality. When people look at photographs they believe what they see and feel it shows a true moment of time. Photography collects light and the technical process is similar to how our brain receives information from our eyes. The success of photography is closely connected to the ability to provide the viewer an illusion of reality. This visual quality could be called authenticity [from Wikipedia: Authenticity concerns the truthfulness of origins, attributes, commitments, sincerity, devotion, and intentions.] in regards to the original quality of photographic material to replicate an illusion of reality.
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#fujifilmacros #filmsimulation - Alcatraz, Bay of San Francisco
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