by Wouter Willemse
In previous posts, I rambled about the combinations of film and developer I like: one for all-round bomb-proof performance, one for plenty light and plenty sharpness and one for plenty light and a more old-fashioned look.
The next recipe is one I use a lot less, frankly very very rare. Yet, it’s a tool I like to have in the shed.
Probably messed up some settings for comments to posts… if you ever tried commenting, sorry! Nothing made it through the overly tight settings… Hopefully it works better now!
A declaration of love for you, my baby. In between all the serious bits and pieces, you’re a fun favourite. Many will say you’re just a toy, but you and I know better. You’re original, different, funny and unashamedly yourself. You’re my Lensbaby, and yes, I do like you an awful lot.
In a way, making photos is a solitary thing – it’s you behind the camera, and the rest of the world on the other side of the lens. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it is a lonely thing.
As an aspiring photographer, there is a lot of value in meeting other photographers. Exchanging ideas, experiences, war stories and all that provides useful input to exploring yourself further.
Last week via a posting on their instagram channel, Magnum Photos shared a series of photos made by Martin Parr. They came from his work on tourism. That post came very timely for me. I’m just back from a holiday, and witnessed the tourist in full action again. After the long period of travel bans, work from home and so on, seeing this animal again in the wild was nice.
In an earlier post, I shortly touched on the importance of ergonomics in a camera. With the increasing complexity of cameras, the topic has only grown more important. A well designed menu helps the user find that setting, no matter how esoteric it may be. A poor designed menu blocks the user from finding even the most important settings.
A good hand-grip avoid the muscles in your hand to go tired or stressed. A poor one will have your hands trembling after a while. Seriously, there is no underestimating the importance.
Hybrid workflow – it sure sounds a lot fancier than it is. What I mean with it is the roundtrip from film to digital to print. And that again sounds a lot less complicated than it is.
There is quite a lot of choices in the process, and multiple ways to skin the cat. In fact, it’s a recurring question on many photography forums. On the better forums you will get multiple answers, all valid. So what is what?
Some weeks ago, a discussion around a literary price here in the Netherlands reminded me of some photos that I find very fascinating.
The discussion, in short, was whether or not the author deserved to win a (very esteemed) prize, as the author supported or didn’t condemn a former Surinam regime that is seen as a pretty bad dictatorship. The literary work, as far as I understood, isn’t under discussion and is generally praised.
The issue hence is the political opinion of the artist versus the merit of the artist’s works.
In previous posts with a very similar title, I described two combinations of film and developer that I like. One my general purpose recipe, one a specialised recipe aiming for specific results.
This post covers another combination I’ve grown to like a lot. Compared to the previous two, I have a bit less experience with this one, so perhaps it’s better to consider it a half-time report. Even so, it’s one I will continue to use as it gets a lot right.
When the first Fuji X100 came out, it sparked quite a lot of reaction and discussion. Probably I am biased, but from what I recall, most people liked it. ‘It looks like a proper camera’ – retro design, modern inside. I’m biased, because I liked it a lot. And I still like the X100 series. That said, I never owned one, and actually never used one.