Bastian, you have been doing street photography in Switzerland for a while. Can you tell me what it is like? What has your experience been? It has been great so far. Honestly. But I haven’t been doing it for long and I wouldn’t call myself experienced or even very good at it. But the negative experiences were very little and … Read More
Photoshoots, podcast, album cover art and other creative updates
Here are some updates of what has been going on creatively in the past several weeks.
Film photography with a classic Kodak black and white film
Kodak TriX: A classic black and white film Film cameras, and film are ultimately tools for artistic expression of the photographer. Within film photography, the choice of film stock is a major determinant of the final “look” of the image. Previously, I discussed my thoughts on film photography in great length in a two-part post (part 1, part 2). In … Read More
Let’s break the rule of thirds and other photography rules
Do you like to break rules? I do. Especially the ones that don’t make a lot of sense like the “rule of thirds”. This rule and others are some aesthetic rules in photography that are commonly encountered and taught. And the myths continue to live on and perpetuate (also by mindless copying) as online content ranging from youtube to forums … Read More
Composition in photography: negative space
About fog Let’s start with a brief science dispatch about fog. Fog is basically a cloud that touches the ground. In clouds, water vapor (=water in gas form) condenses. And tiny water droplets then hang in the air, and this is what becomes visible as fog. Interestingly, in order for fog to form, dust needs to be in the air. … Read More
Composition in photography: approaching the subject
Composition in photography: definition In photography composition is the way in which something (a photograph) is put together or arranged. It is the combination of parts or elements that make up something. It is what we put in the frame and where we put it. In other words, it is the design, arrangement, layout of (compositional) elements in a photography … Read More
The intersection of creative art forms: music and photography
Many art forms appear to intersect at times. For me personally, the intersection of music and photography is particularly interesting. As an active musician and photographer, I am always surrounded by my tools: cameras and musical instruments. Naturally, I have been taking many pictures of my instruments. How can such connections / intersections help with creativity, beyond the obvious? For … Read More
The camera, the negative, the print – thoughts on film photography in 2020 (part 2)
Sharing my thoughts why I love film / analog photography. And why the what of photography is more important than the how. (Part 2 of 2).
The camera, the negative, the print – thoughts on film photography in 2020 (part 1)
Film photography in 2020 My journey back into film started in 2019. I thought it would be fun to discuss why I like film photography as my main medium. This is part 1 of a two part series. To read part two, click here. Nikon 35mm film camera with 35mm color film The renaissance of film photography Film photography has … Read More
Shooting 20 year expired Agfa Optima film
I was lucky enough to recently get my hands on some rare, medium format Agfa film which was well beyond its expiry date of 1999. It was handed down to me by my friend Paul, who was also a colleague at a previous camera-related job of ours for a couple of years. After decades of religiously shooting film, Paul made … Read More
Why I Choose Film for Street Photography
I’ve been questioned numerous times about my predilection for film photography. The interrogator’s rationale goes something like, “But digital is so convenient and you can do so many things with digital that you can’t do with film.” I don’t disagree. But none of that has anything to do with why I shoot film. As generic as the arguments for digital … Read More
Pull over pictures (and a partial return to color)
On road trips, one of the things I love to do, is to move to the side of the road in order to stop (= pull over) and take a picture. Sometimes or probably more often than not pulling over is not possible or easy. But our recent 3800 road mile trip provided some opportunities to stop. When pulling over, … Read More
Pushing film: what is it and some examples from a recent road trip
Pushing Film: what is it? Pushing process of film involves shooting and developing film at a different ISO (light sensitivity) then what the film is rated for. It is a technique that has been used for a very long time. It can be used for black and white films, and also color film. Why push film? The most common reason … Read More
7 Reasons to get into black and white photography – by John Bennet
Numerous photographers are looking to get into this type of photography, and in this article, I will provide you with seven reasons why you might want to do the same. Feature Photo by Jake Davies #1 – Colors are no Longer a Distraction Photo by Alberto Bigoni One of the most important reasons that you might want to consider switching … Read More
Guest Post on 35mmc Photography Blog: Architectural photography with a 50mm lens (and some thoughts on minimalism)
I wrote another guest blog for Hamish Gill’s 35mmc Blog Site, you can find it here. Some thoughts on Minimalism I have long been fascinated and influenced minimalism as an art form, minimalist design and minimalist architecture. When I was younger, I studied the works of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and other architects, and still own some “minimalist” furniture … Read More
Black and white architecture film photography
Black and white architectural film photography As mentioned previously, I have been enjoying architectural photography recently. I was fortunate enough to be able to continue this through the lockdown (in Minnesota: stay at home order). Below are some of my favorite images over the last two months. I indicated film stock and camera / lens. M3 is Leica M3 35mm … Read More
Guest post on 35mmc: 40 Year Old Black and White Film: Experiments with Three German Film Stocks (and a 1955 Leica M3)
I wrote another guest post on Hamish Gill’s 35mmc blog. This post, and the particular experiments leading to the post were not necessarily planned. Wendell Cheek, also a reader of the 35mmc blog, contacted me after reading one of my recent blogs on 35mmc on Rollei films via Instagram. Wendell asked me if I would be interested in comparing some of his … Read More
More architectural photography
More architectural photography I have been enjoying architectural photography recently, both film and digital. Here I am sharing some most recent film photography architectural photographs captured with a Hasselblad 500cm with a 80mm Zeiss Planar 2.8 lens. I also want to give a quick shoutout to Gerald Greenwood, a UK based photographer. I used his development technique (Rodinal semi-stand development) … Read More
Why black and white?
Ultimately it comes down to artistic choice on why to pursue black and white photography. I have been making that choice a priori in my image creation process for the majority of my personal work these days. Below are some of the reasons why I currently focus on B&W photography.
Street and architecture photography in Basel
Architecture In continuation of my architecture series, I wanted to share some more architecture photographs. I just returned from a trip to my hometown Basel, and loved some of the architecture I saw. It helped that the weather was cooperating, not necessarily always the case in February! It was unusually warm, but also a nice change to the typically freezing … Read More
Architecture
Architecture Architecture is fascinating. And I love to work in series. In particular in mini-series. And I love film photography. After working on a winter flower and mini-winter landscape series, I spend most of my time in the cities. Going out and photographing some architectural detail was a lot of fun, and inspired me to do more. I have been … Read More
Mini winter landscapes
Mini winter landscapes As mentioned in my previous post, I absolutely love the winter landscapes of the Lake Superior North Shore. As a sort of continuation of this previous series, here a series of close(r) up landscapes (landscape details) of the snowy Lake Superior forrest. Some of these images have been posted on Instagram. While there are many stocks I … Read More
Flowers in the winter – a mini series
Flowers (and grasses) in the winter (a mini-series) I absolutely love the winter landscapes of the Lake Superior North Shore. The flowers and grasses that seem to survive the cold (- 20 Celsius) weather are fascinating to me. Quite a few of them, over the course of just a few days, ended up in this series. Mini-series are fun as … Read More
2020
“The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long.”― Lao Tzu, Te Tao Ching Sometimes less is more, so that’s my first post in 2020 and the new decade. Pictures taken with Nikon FE, 28mm lens with macro tube and Ilford Pan F 50 B&W film.
Guest Post: Some thoughts on bulk loading (35mmc.com blog)
Here is another guest blog that just got published on Hamish Gill’s 35mmc blog: https://www.35mmc.com/27/12/2019/worried-about-the-price-of-film-some-thoughts-on-bulk-loading-and-my-process-by-daniel-sigg/ It’s about the pros and cons of purchasing film in bulk (which requires photographers to load the film into cassettes). Here some of the images from the blog.
Guest Post on 35mm Blog: Returning to Film with a fun, compact, affordable and easy to use Nikon FE
I have been writing some guest posts for the 35mm blog by Hamish Gill. It is a very active blog with daily contributions. Here is the link to one I recently published. Hope you like it 🙂 I am inserting some of the pictures I shared on the blog below.
Black and White Travel Photography
Black and white film photography: travel I decided to only take my film cameras on my trip to Basel, Switzerland and Hamburg, Germany. The purpose of my trip was primarily personal, but I had a few opportunities to take pictures on the streets of Basel and Hamburg. Traveling with film cameras and film In preparing for my trip, I knew … Read More
Film photography: keep calm and shoot film
Keep calm and shoot film: all about film photography This is from a sticker I received when I purchased some film equipment from the film photography project, a company focused on providing equipment for film photographers. I love the sticker as it reminds me of one of the reasons why I love shooting film. It does slow me down, not … Read More
Emotion and Creativity
Emotion and creativity: do you “feel” creative? What does emotion have to do with creativity. Well, probably a whole lot. “Experiencing sadness and anger can make you feel more creative, and by being creative you can get beyond your pain or negativity.”– Yoko Ono Yoko Ono is right. I have been going through a lot of sadness … Read More
Bokeh and creativity
Bokeh and creativity What the hell is bokeh? The term Bokeh /bōˈkā/ describes how lenses render out of focus areas of images (stills or video/cinema). The aesthetic quality of the out of focus (blurred) areas in the images shared below can be called “Bokeh”. Wikipedia defines Bokeh as the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of … Read More
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