Still Life, 2021

[andreios]

Paul, this series of your still lifes on the windowsill is very beautiful - I keep returning to those (and wishing I had a similar window to play around...) Also, it reminds me of another expert on windows, a co-patriot of mine, Josef Sudek and his series "The Window of my Studio",

[paulbarden]

Paul, this series of your still lifes on the windowsill is very beautiful - I keep returning to those (and wishing I had a similar window to play around...) Also, it reminds me of another expert on windows, a co-patriot of mine, Josef Sudek and his series "The Window of my Studio",

Thank you Andrej! Comparing my work to master Sudek is very flattering indeed.
I am familiar with Sudek's series (and most of his other work), and I have to say that I don't intend to emulate his work - its more that I feel a kinship with his work and I think we want the same things from a photograph. The fact that I have worked for years in isolation, and strive to find the subtle differences in the light and mood of this one window, creates a link to Sudek. The pandemic has forced me to stay at home more than ever, and so I return again and again to my muse, the west window. Is the work repetitive? Sometimes I fear it is. And yet if I can discover something in each new photograph that excites me, I must be on the right path, yes?

[agustin.gd]

for more, check

https://www.instagram.com/natura.aeterna/

Indoors experiments with light, sharpness, and flowers.
I got this tiny beast from a fellow photographer, very cheap.
The full lens is a very, very sharp and well build 160mm 6.3, which covers 5x7.
The elements alone can easily unscrew, and they turn into a 240mm or around there.


-Camera: Stenopeika 5x7
-Film: unbranded x-ray film “ full blue” -expired-used as iso 50
-LENS: H. Meyer 16cm 6.3
FRONT ELEMENT ONLY-
- 1/2 second exposure-
Developed in hangers under red safe light-
Rodinal 1+100 for around 2-3 minutes.

[andreios]

Thank you Andrej! Comparing my work to master Sudek is very flattering indeed.
I am familiar with Sudek's series (and most of his other work), and I have to say that I don't intend to emulate his work - its more that I feel a kinship with his work and I think we want the same things from a photograph. The fact that I have worked for years in isolation, and strive to find the subtle differences in the light and mood of this one window, creates a link to Sudek. The pandemic has forced me to stay at home more than ever, and so I return again and again to my muse, the west window. Is the work repetitive? Sometimes I fear it is. And yet if I can discover something in each new photograph that excites me, I must be on the right path, yes?

Paul, I did not mean that you are emulating, far from that. We are all trying to hone our vision, our craft, probably each of us has his "obsession" that fills his mind and eye for longer or shorter periods - be it windows, trees, locomotives, old buildings or little creeks... The important thing is precisely this discovery... Indeed, having just taken in hands a book of interviews with master Sudek and the first thing that caught my eye was this quote: "Photography should make the eye, senses and mind aware, that even the smallest things have their value and beauty, that maybe we could call a poetry." (From an interview with Josef Sudek in 1957)

[otto.f]

@ Paul, #70: Very nice, did you lighten up the flower from the left, or is this all pure available light?

[paulbarden]

Paul, I did not mean that you are emulating, far from that. We are all trying to hone our vision, our craft, probably each of us has his "obsession" that fills his mind and eye for longer or shorter periods - be it windows, trees, locomotives, old buildings or little creeks... The important thing is precisely this discovery... Indeed, having just taken in hands a book of interviews with master Sudek and the first thing that caught my eye was this quote: "Photography should make the eye, senses and mind aware, that even the smallest things have their value and beauty, that maybe we could call a poetry." (From an interview with Josef Sudek in 1957)

Hi Andrej. No, I didn't think you were implying I was emulating Sudek! I just said that because I was thinking out loud - contemplating my relationship to Sudek and other photographers whose work I admire.

I especially like the part of that quote that says "even the smallest things have their value and beauty, that maybe we could call a poetry." That's exactly how I think of my work. Thank you!

[paulbarden]

@ Paul, #70: Very nice, did you lighten up the flower from the left, or is this all pure available light?

Thank you, Otto.
No, its not entirely available light: Collodion is not at all sensitive to light reflected into shadow areas, so to avoid blank, black shadows in this instance I used a softbox (compact fluorescent) above/left to fill the shaded side and illuminate the Zinnia faces a bit. Its a careful balancing act, and the results are not entirely "natural", but I like how it looks in the end.

[otto.f]

Thank you, Otto.
No, its not entirely available light: Collodion is not at all sensitive to light reflected into shadow areas, so to avoid blank, black shadows in this instance I used a softbox (compact fluorescent) above/left to fill the shaded side and illuminate the Zinnia faces a bit. Its a careful balancing act, and the results are not entirely "natural", but I like how it looks in the end.

Thnx, I like that effect too, although a bit anachronistic

[paulbarden]

Thnx, I like that effect too, although a bit anachronistic

Film photography is "a bit anachronistic"!

[otto.f]

Film photography is "a bit anachronistic"!

We’ll see about that