NOSTALGIA by Grace Chan

ISSUE 01

NOSTALGIA OLD IS THE NEW NEW

ISSUE 01

ALL EYES

THE BEAUTY OF BLACK & WHITE TECHNIGUES

MIRROR GLAZING TRENDS

$10.95 US|$12.95 CA

NOSTALGIA|ISSUE01|SPRING 2020

PINBALL MENACE

NOSTALGIA 1

56. Table of Contents

46.

SPRING 2020 FEATURES 34

THE BEAUTY OF BLACK AND WHITE - The film pro Christian Hicks shares tips and

THE BLUE MOMENT - Each day at the very last moment of dusk, the sky takes on a deep blue tinge which is then reflected onto everything that is below. Let’s dive into a mystical atmosphere here in Hong Kong together. By Carrie Battan

ART IN ISOLATION - Bored in Quarantine? Here’s a New York Scene You Can Color.

tricks when handling black and white photographgy. By Amy Davidson Sorkin

Grab A Loved One And A Crayon To Fill The Page Up! By Kathryn Schulz

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FEATURE SNEAP PEAK

34.

NO HICK IDEAS

Powerhouse photographer/model/ creator Christian Hicks has nothing but bold and revolutionary ideas in store for the creative world. By Amy Davidson Sorkin

ON THE COVER AND THIS PAGE CHRISTIAN HICKS PHOTOGRAPHED BY SHANIQWA JARVIS IN NEW YORK FOR NOSTALGIA. STYLED BY JASON REMBERT; HAIR BY FELICIA LEATHERWOOD. CHRISTIAN IS WEARING A RAG AND BONE SHIRT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

REGULARS

06 EDITOR’S LETTER 08 CONTRIBUTORS 65 BROADCAST THE NEW NEW

BACK TO BASIC -

A little bit of color can’t hurt nobody,especially neons. See why that makes a difference when it comes to por traits. By Carrie Battan

14 POINT BUT DON'T SHOOT - New York at

your twenties, we all can use some advices. By Kathryn Schulzw

PINBALL MENACE -

EXPLORE

UNDER 30 -

TECHNIQUES

The film pro Christian Hicks shares tips and tricks when handling black and white pho tographgy. By Amy Davidson Sorkin

ARTIST AT WORK -

The film pro Christian Hicks shares tips and tricks when handling black and white pho tographgy. By Amy Davidson Sorkin

NEW FACES 30 MIRROR GLAZING -A little bit of color little bit of color can’t hurt nobody,es- can’t hurt nobody,especially neons. See why pecially neons. See why that makes a difference that makes a difference when it comes to por when it comes to por traits. traits. By Carrie Battan By Carrie Battan

New York at your twen ties, we all can use some advices. By Kathryn Schulzw

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32 ALIVE AND CLICK ING - Moving to a new

city can be hard, espe cially being an artist moving to New York at your twenties, By Kathryn Schulzw

EDITOR’S LETTER W

elcome to the first edition of Nostalgia, our new quarterly supplement designed especially for people who might never normally consider picking up a photography magazine. This is for readers who want to learn about film photography; techniques and current trends. While as a nation we might be living longer, we want to help you live better, too. But it’s not always easy to know what you should and shouldn’t be doing. We are bombarded by doctors and scientists giving us contradictory advice — eat this, don’t do that — so it’s difficult to know what to believe and what to ignore. We aim to cut through the confusion and give you clear, sensible and reliable information from writers and experts that you can trust. We want it to be entertaining and informative, at times contrary, but above all useful. Inside you’ll find a mixture of news, features and regular columns on a wide range of health-related topics. Tom Chivers debunks some of those common medical myths, while Theodore Dalrymple gives us his unique take on pressing health issues. Leading nutritionist Ian Marber tells us what to eat, while Maureen Lipman gives her quirky and light-hearted thoughts on health as a layperson and full-time hypochondriac. We also have features on where in the world to get the most common elective procedures done, HRT and foods that have been proven to help prevent diabetes. We believe everyone has a soft spot about nostalgic trends, items and most importantly, films. The sole purpose for us five girls to curate this publication was to spread joy with whoever find themselves enjoy old timey things like us. There are so many of us that are still young, maybe in our mid 20s or 30s, yet feeling like such as old soul. This publication is purposed to bring you joy, send you updates about what vintage things are coming around again. We hope to build a community that shares and supports all the people who have the same interet-nostalgia. I hope you enjoy this first issue and do let us know if there are any other topics you would like to read about. Be sure to stay in touch with us on our social media platforms, and feel free to connect with me on my personal as well! It’s been a great journey for us Nostalgia crew to brainstorm, interview and edit this first issue, it really feels like giving birth. Hope you enjoy this precious baby of ours as much as we do!

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Call

Callie E Watts EDITOR IN CHIEF

INSTAGRAM: @CALLIE_WATTS | TWITTER: @NOSTALGIA_CALLIEW

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E D I T O R ‘ S L E T T E R

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THE

NEW NEW HOP ON THE TREND.

BACK TO BASIC BY JORDAN GARRISON

POINT BUT DON'T SHOOT BY CARRIE BATTAN

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BACK TO BASIC Why photographers are returning to film. -by Jordan Garrisonw

S N E W N E W | B A C K T O B A S I C

hooting with film isn’t that different from digital. Photographers still control their work by manipulating the holy trinity of exposure: shutter speed, aperture and ISO sensitivity — they just do it manually instead of relying on digital tools to optimize these factors automatically. One big disparity? They can’t immediately check and adjust their work on the camera screen. But while film might make the process a little slower, many photographers argue there’s something romantic about that. Abdul Dremali, an astrophotographer based in Boston who mainly shoots views of the night sky and the cosmos, says he actually prefers the slower pace that shooting in film demands. “I choose film 99 percent of the time because of the lack of instant gratification,” he says. “I work in a strenuous field day-to-day and am a naturally very hasty and anxious person. Shooting film gives me no choice but to slow down, compose my shot, meter my light correctly and wait for the right moment.” Because film has limited exposures, photographers are also forced to use every frame judiciously. And that’s a good thing, they say. “It’s not like a memory card,” says Mico Mazza, who shoots with film in Ontario, Canada. “You can’t shoot 2,000 photos and hope that a couple of them turn out. Because you have to think about every shot beforehand, it activates your creativity.”

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POINT BUT DON’T SHOOT Point and shoot cameras are making a comeback and here’s why. -By Kathryn Schulz

N E W N E W

he people who make up today’s thriving photographic community are our eyes to the world. Whether established artists and journalists or passionate emerging voices, they inform us, they inspire us, they amaze us, they put our world in the broader context of history. But that community also faces great challenges — dwindling sales, increased competition and a fragile trust in photographers’ mission to inform. Too often, those factors can make those of us in that community, photographers and photo editors alike, lose sight of what drive us. Photographs are the universal language of our era. Everyone has hundreds, maybe thousands in their pocket. Weightless, they turn the scale when the argument is: What happened here? Images don’t age or warp. A great photographer’s strings never go out of tune. It is for this reason that we need photographers. They are the ones who sort all the chaos of the world into images that bring clarity to the free-for-all of life. They are the witnesses and artists who can distill the mayhem and beauty that surrounds us. They call our attention to the things we miss in our everyday lives and they call our attention to events and people at a great distance from our own patch of the universe. When they direct our eyes and hearts with precision and honesty, we know what we know differently and better. Photographers teach us to look again, look harder. Look through their eyes..

| P O I N T B U T D O N ‘ T S H O O T

CANON SURE SHOT ZOOM 105S COMPACT 35MM FILM CAMERA $50 DEPOP | @HLTCAMERAS

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DO YOU WANNA TRADE? 4

1. Miranda ME-X compact 35mm film camera 2. Le Clic 470 compact 35mm film camera 3. Lomography Four Lens Point and Shoot

35mm Film Camera 4. Panorama compact 35mm film camera 5. Chinon XL555 Macro Super 8 video camera 6. Nikon TW Zoom compact 35mm film camera 7. The Canon Sprint (AF35) Autoboy LITE 35mm point and shoot film camera 8. Topico Panorama “TOY” Point and Shoot 35mm Film Camera 9. Canon Sure Shot Zoom 105s compact 35mm film camera

10. Design Go compact 35mm film camera

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PINBALL MENACE It takes a village to raise a child. -by Kirk Baird It takes a village to raise a child. It took a Toledo police chief and a sledgehammer to raze a pinball machine. On Aug. 18, 1960, just as a fretted nation was getting used to Elvis’ pelvis – but decades before its fear of video games as an unduly violent influence – Chief Anthony Bosch, three morals squad detectives, and workmen for a local scrap dealer destroyed 26 pinball machines seized in a June 24 raid of a local business. Pinball with its enticing potential of a “free play” reward for years had been considered an act of gambling, and by the mid-1950s Toledo and Columbus led Ohio in making these machines illegal to play and to possess.

EXPLORE POLAROID ONESTEP + Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2018;TYPE INSTANT CAMERA $139.99 POLAROID US.POLAROID.COM

EXPLORE THE UNKNOWN.

UNDER 30 BY KURT LEVI

NEW FACES BY CAROLIE DIXON

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F R E E S P I R I T S | U N D E R 3 0

UNDER 30 From the Bronx to Whitney - by Kurt Levi

Elle Pérez (born 1989, Bronx, NY) is an American photographer whose work explores gender identity, intimacy, vulnerability, and the relationship between seeing and love. Pérez is a gender non-conforming trans artist. In 2019, Pérez was featured in Cultured Magazine’s 30 Under 35 and in Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30.

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NEW FACES Introducing John Edmond, Brooklyn Native. -By Carolie Dixon

“That became the handshake for our group of friends,” says Pérez. “When we were photographing it and [Jay P. Fury] was like, ‘It’s so funny, now people I’ve never even met do the same thing; they know how to do [the handshake].’ And it’s really interesting to think about how that can travel throughout people, but can also be a kind of traceable history or alternative history that wouldn’t necessarily be recorded otherwise.” The 16 new photographs are displayed at 100 bus stations throughout 13 residential neighborhoods such as Northern Brooklyn, the Bronx, Northern Manhattan, Staten Island, and Sunnyside in Queens. The images, which were taken with an exploration of sequencing in mind, are dispersed in various groupings.

FREE SPIRITS | NEW FACES

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TECHNIQUES WE ALL NEED A TRICK OR TWO.

MINOLTA RIVA ZOOM 70 35MM FILM CAMERA $250 DEPOP | @HLTCAMERAS

BACK TO BASIC BY JORDAN GARRISON

POP OF COLOR BY CARRIE BATTAN

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ARTIST AT WORK

Research,Experiment,Create And Repeat -By Calvin Yeung

Pérez, who grew up in the Bronx and currently resides in Brooklyn, started the project by walking around familiar neighborhoods and retracing steps in the city. “Really looking in places that I was so familiar with, that maybe I wouldn’t have a sustained engagement of looking,” Pérez says. Many of the resulting photos offer a new way to see familiar places and objects — a configuration of bikes jumbled on the sidewalk, the weathered exterior of a door — and others are intimate portraits of people and gestures that Pérez has known for many years. One sequence of five photographs, “Flight,” documents the various steps of a handshake that was created by their friend Jay P. Fury in the Bronx punk scene. “That became the handshake for our group of friends,” says Pérez. “When we were photographing it and [Jay P. Fury] was like, ‘It’s so funny, now people I’ve never even met do the same thing; they know how to do [the handshake].’ And it’s really interesting to think about how that can travel throughout people, but can also be a kind of traceable history or alternative history that wouldn’t necessarily be recorded otherwise.” The 16 new photographs are displayed at 100 bus stations throughout 13 residential neighborhoods such as Northern Brooklyn, the Bronx, Northern Manhattan, Staten Island, and Sunnyside in Queens. The images, which were taken with an exploration of sequencing in mind, are dispersed in various groupings; in the case of the handshakes, some are placed so that the entire “Flight” is visible over the course of a short bus ride or walk, while some locations exhibit the images solo. Each image repeats six to seven times throughout the city. The majority of the photos are black and white, underscoring the graphic nature of the imagery, and the large-scale nature of the work presents an opportunity to pick out and focus on details — the glitter polish on a male hand reaching a fork into a dish, or the word “pray” etched into a subway seat of the B train.

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Who’s The Most Creative Of Them All? -by Charlotte Woods

he reflection of light can be characterized in one of two ways. Put simply, when light hits a rough or heterogeneous surface, the light scatters back in many directions as a diffused reflection. When, on the other hand, light strikes a smooth, homogenous surface, it is reflected back in TRY SOMETHING a single direction as an image; this is called a specular NEW TODAY: reflection, and it’s the mirroring effect we see against 1. glass, water, metal, and other highly polished or Use Artificial light to glossy surfaces. Early mirrors, in fact, were manuenhance your model’s factured from polished obsidian, copper, bronze, features copper, and tin. 2. With today’s technology, it’s easier than ever for Use manual focus for the sharpest results photographers to create images that are not only breathtaking but also ignite our sense of wonder. Often, this is through photo manipulation in programs like Photoshop. But photographer Mathias Fast has recently introduced a fantastic photography hack that will give your images a fantastical, ethereal feel without you having to know your way around a computer. (Although it helps.) He simply uses his phone screen to add a reflective element to an image that makes an otherwise grounded composition feel like it’s floating.

There are a number of benefits to this clever photography trick, which requires nothing more than a smartphone and DSLR camera. “By using a phone screen as a reflective surface,” Fast explains, “it is possible to cover up unsightly elements, add intrigue, and make an image that much more interesting.” You can easily perform this photography hack. Start by holding your phone horizontally at the bottom of your camera lens. At that point, look through the DSLR viewfinder. You’ll see part of your composition reflected onto the lower half of the image. Based on what you see, adjust your phone slightly—but still hold it close to the lens—to get the reflection you want. Then, snap your picture and you’re done! Fast has several tips for making the most of the technique. One is to remove a bulky phone case; doing so will “create a more seamless reflection.” Another tip is to apply a gradient in post-production, which will add balance to the image and even out the tone of the reflection. (Often, a reflection will appear lighter or darker than the rest of your picture.) Fast suggests using architectural elements in this hack. Windows and arches tend to reflect well. And while the results can be really dramatic, they don’t have to be—sometimes adding a hint of a mirroring is all you need.

TECHNIQUES | MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL

TECHNIQUES | ALIVE & CLICKING

ALIVE & CLICKING 35mm Making Its Comeback in 21st Century -By Courtney Dunn

There are now over 200 different film choices available for film photographers! This has been driven by a fantastic twelve months of innovation and is a critical milestone for an industry that was on its knees a short decade ago. It is also a great opportunity for the community to celebrate! Here at Analogue Wonderland we have been thoroughly enjoying the celebrations. But we have also taken the moment to reflect on our sales data, breaking down the 200+ films available to understand exactly what is driving the film explosion and expanding on what we can hope for in the coming years.

When is a Film not a Film?

DID YOU KNOW: Silberra have been creating analogue products from scratch since 2009 from their Russian base in SaintPetersburg.

Before we dive into the data it’s important to specify how we’ve defined a distinct film. The critical point in this analysis is whether a film offers a new sustainable choice or excitement for the community. We consider a film to be new if it has: an unique brand, visual result, format, backing or emulsion. For example, this means that Portra 400 35mm counts as a different film to Portra 400 medium format; not only because it gives a different final look, but also because having a broad offering in 35mm is useless choice to the photographer who exclusively shoots 120! It also means films that have significant rebranding from a base emulsion (for example Kosmo Foto Mono) will count as separate. We realise that this is controversial for some photographers who are familiar with every film that has been in the market. However we know that the beautiful branding and Soviet marketing of Kosmo Foto has driven new sales and interest from young photographers who wouldn’t have picked up the original film. It is creating a choice and excitement for certain people in the community, more film is being shot and appreciated as a result, and that is good news for everyone involved. Conversely, we are not counting expired films. While there are several sources of expired film in the world, and they provide an invaluable resource for creative shooters, they are obviously not financing the film suppliers that will provide all of us a steady future.

The King of Formats

Unsurprisingly the most popular format for photographers is 35mm. Fully 58% of films available on our site are 35mm format and that is broadly reflected in the sales volumes as well. The ease of use, the lower cost per photo, the size and availability of high quality cameras – all of these helps make 35mm the most accessible and popular format for film photographers.(making Polaroid cheaper by removing the battery from each pack) and the new peel-apart that will continue to realise the potential of high-quality Instant photography.

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NOSTALGIA|ISSUE01|SPRING 2020|P.34 photographer: grace chan interviews by: tyler woods

A L L E Y E S | T H E B E A U T Y O F B L A C K & W H I T E

BL -W

LACKHITE

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Black and white photography sounds ancient in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world where taking a picture on your phone has never been easier. However, there has been a new wave of black and white photography getiing popular again for the past year or so - in this monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s special feature we will dive deep and discuss the reason why black and white photography is in trend again and its history.

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A L L E Y E S | T H E B E A U T Y O F B L A C K & W H I T E

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LO NG TI M E CO

The Push Tod Swank 80s Skateboard

ack in 1986, when I got my first SLR, I only shot black-and-white film. I forget why. Perhaps the color was too difficult to process. But growing up, I was lucky enough to have a darkroom at home, it wasn’t equipped for anything complicated. When I started, I photographed a lot of trees and landscapes with only the odd portrait here and there. I noticed that sometimes the fantastic photo I would see in front of me as I clicked the shutter, would actually emerge as a rather disappointing black-and-white print in the developing tank. Other times, some pretty mundane shots actually looked far more interesting in black and white. This was the first signpost to me — that some photos shout “look at me” in B&W while others shrivel into a dull wash of faded grays. The limitations of using film mean you can’t “spray and pray” (shoot a hundred shots in the hope that one of them will turn out to be great). With only 36 photos on each roll of film, every photo is at a cost. So you need to quickly find out what will work and what won’t. If you’re shooting on black-and-white film, that’s about developing a vision of the black-andwhite version of the scene in front of you. This was a little frustrating at the time. But when I was thinking about black-and-white recently, I realized it taught me a lesson I’m still using now. With the luxury of digital, photos are far cheaper. Theoretically, it doesn’t matter if I know what will make a good black-and-white photo. But of course, converting every single image takes time, as does evaluating every frame, comparing B&W and color versions. So that instinct about what makes a good black-and-white is still a valuable skill. Most of the time I look at a scene to photograph and I have a pretty good idea already. Shooting the image of my children at a playground below, I knew instantly that I would convert it to B&W. I saw the rather messy green ground was dominant in color, and the lines of all the playground structures and shadow would be simpler in black and white. So, for me, there has to be a benefit to converting to black & white. Something that’s missing in the color version, or something that’s ruining the color version. Some factor that means the image is improved or strengthened in B&W. That’s a controversial opinion by the way. I’ve found that a few photographers think that black-and-white is the purer form of photography. But for me, life is in color and sometimes that is the important part of the story of an image. Equally sometimes it’s not.

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A L L

n the summer of 2007, I was temporarily living in Santa Barbara, California, feeling far away from my real life back in New York. This was around the time when I was first starting to think about photography as a medium and profession, and learn its history. I had just “discovered” Irving Penn, whose work I had seen for years in magazines and advertisements without really thinking about how they got there or who had made them. On a whim, I picked up the latest issue of Vogue, July 2007, and stopped on a full-page photo of a rainbow lamp. It had been taken by none other than Mr. Penn, who, unbeknownst to me at the time, was a regular contributor to the magazine. What first struck me was how magical he had made this everyday object look. This was a visual love letter from a master of lighting to his favorite source of illumination. On the facing page were Penn’s thoughts about this bronze metal lamp, his favorite of many years, which he had discovered “for a few cents” around 1942 in a junk shop in New York near the old Vogue photo studio. The lamp, in all its dented glory, had moved with him from apartment to apartment, and was always stationed next to his bed, on the left side. It was never polished; he loved it as is. This image is a lesson for all of us, in these stay-at-home times to appreciate the things around us, the objects that make up the fabric of our daily lives, and to find the magic in them. “The Mighty Penn,” by Kennedy Fraser, with photographs by Irving Penn, was first published in the July 2007 issue of Vogue.

E Y E S | T H E B E A U T Y O F B L A C K & W H I T E

OVER THE RAINBOW: Purchased at a New York City junk shop for a few cents, Penn’s bedside lamp. He reflects on his companion of 65 years: “It’s a warm light, and somewhat warm in giving off heat. It’s a wonderful thing.”

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1. Black and White photography is a step away from reality adding authenticity and beauty. I’ve always advocated that I like to move away from reality as many steps as possible. My argumentation was that the more steps you move away from reality, the closer you will get to the essence of the artist and the more the expression will be an authentic representation of the subjective experience of the artist only. This should be done either in-camera or in the post-processing phase, but preferably both. But there was another, deeper and Intuitively felt reason for moving away from reality: every step away from reality adds something substantial to the aesthetics in a work of art. Simply put: it becomes more beautiful. I was always under the impression that this was something personal and intuitive, and it sufficed for me to pursue my black and white photography along those feelings, but research in neuro-aesthetics by neuroscientists V.S. Ramachandran and William Hirstein in ‘The science of art’ on how the brain responds to art and aesthetics, have shown that objects or scenes that are distorted, exaggerated or more abstracted or which have the emphasis on very specific qualities of objects or scenes, are considered to be more aesthetic. In other words, a hyperrealistic and more abstracted depiction of objective reality is universally appreciated as more aesthetic. Even though Ramachandran’s and Hirstein’s work has received some criticism from other neuroscientists, to me, the conclusion and the way they came to that, was a confirmation of something I always felt intuitively and subconsciously. The Sacré-Cœur in Montmartre, Paris (c) Joel Tjintjelaar. This is an example of moving away from reality by using Black and White, long exposure techniques and other techniques as listed in this article.

“

2. Black and white photography has more visual depth. Black and white photography is an interpretation of the world around us in differences of luminance values. In other words in differences of lights, also known as light contrast. This means that through the use of one color, the color gray, the differences between luminance values become clearly visible in a way that is almost impossible in color. The visual distractions of different hues and saturation in color make it very difficult to see differences in luminance. This is important because it’s through differences of luminance that we can perceive depth and create depth in an image by adjusting the luminance values or light contrasts. Colors only (hue and saturation) can’t create depth, it’s the luminance element of color that creates depth, along with the depth created by using perspective lines. The reason of this, if I can call it a reason, maybe it is the cause, is that perception of depth, together with spatial organisation, motion perception, are generated in the color blind part of the brain. The part of the brain that only detects differences in luminance also called the Where system. The part of the brain that detects objects, faces and color are in a different part of the brain, called the What system. Livingstone describes these systems in detail in Vision and Art – the biology of seeing. It’s for this reason that black and white photography offers more depth, if the photographer/artist is aware of the effect of differences in luminance. Black and white photography is the art of creating images through differences in luminance. Color mostly has a symbolic and aesthetic function in art, to add mood for example. I could add to that: by moving away from objective reality, by removing colors, you will at some point end up in a reality that is more real and closer to what we essentially experience.

Instead of addressing each one of them, I present you my thoughts that have been presented earlier, in a slightly different context and form, in a recent article of mine on Advanced Split Toning Techniques for Black and White Photography and other writings.

“

A L L E Y E S | T H E B E A U T Y O F B L A C K & W H I T E

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Colors only (hue and saturation) can’t create depth, it’s the luminance element of color that creates depth, along with the depth created by using perspective lines. The reason of this, if I can call it a reason, maybe it is the cause, is that perception of depth, together with spatial organisation, motion perception, are generated in the color blind part of the brain. The part of the brain that only detects differences in luminance also called the Where system. The part of the brain that detects objects, faces and color are in a different part of the brain, called the what system. Livingstone describes these systems in detail in Vision and Art – the biology of seeing. It’s for this reason that black and white photography offers more depth, if the photographer/artist is aware of the effect of differences in luminance. Black and white photography is the art of creating images through differences in luminance. Color mostly has a symbolic and aesthetic function in art, to add mood for example. I could add to that: by moving away from objective reality, by removing colors, you will at some point end up in a reality that is more real and closer to what we experience.

Concrete Stories Photographer: Romain Jacquet Lagreze Interviews by: Sheelah Kolhatkar

ach day at the very last moment of dusk, the sky takes on a deep blue tinge which is then reflected onto everything that is below. During this very brief moment that only lasts a minute or two a blue veil envelops Hong Kong and releases a mystical atmosphere. Photography is a way to cast fleeting moments in still images. Moments don’t last; places and people disappear in time. One particular day I was shooting the city at sunset, bright light washed out most of the colors, you could feel the heat through the images. I decided to stay a little longer to watch the sun going down and the city lighting up. I witnessed how just for few minutes the city was enveloped in a deep blue haze. The blueness projected itself ferociously onto the buildings that looked colorless just a little while before. I was deeply impressed. The only way to eternalize this ephemeral moment was with my camera. The surreal character of this blue-laced imagery is enhanced by the composition: structures and nature are framed as they were cut up and put together. The density of the city is mirrored by nature that’s as intense. Jacquet-Lagrèze set himself the task of documenting visually striking street signs and took them home where his wife would help to translate, slowly enabling him to decipher the characters that adorn this city’s streets. As his archive grew so did his knowledge, forming sentences with photographs of individual characters results in poems that sound poetic both lyrically and visually. Hong Kong is one of the last places in Asia where traditional characters are still in daily use, we are literally surrounded by ancient texts.

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Each day at the very last moment of dusk, the sky takes on a deep blue tinge which is then reflected onto everything that is below. During this very brief moment that only lasts a minute or two a blue veil envelops Hong Kong and releases a mystical atmosphere.

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THE NINE DRAGONS: Hong Kong, 2019. Photography by Romain Jacquet Lagreze

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Back in 1986, when I got my first SLR, I only shot black-and-white film. I forget why. Perhaps the color was too difficult to process. But growing up, I was lucky enough to have a darkroom at home, it wasn’t equipped for anything complicated. When I started, I photographed a lot of trees and landscapes with only the odd portrait here and there. I noticed that sometimes the fantastic photo I would see in front of me as I clicked the shutter, would actually emerge as a rather disappointing black-and-white print in the developing tank. Other times, some pretty mundane shots actually looked far more interesting in black and white. This was the first signpost to me — that some photos shout “look at me” in B&W while others shrivel into a dull wash of faded grays. The limitations of using film mean you can’t “spray and pray” (shoot a hundred shots in the hope that one of them will turn out to be great). With only 36 photos on each roll of film, every photo is at a cost. So you need to quickly find out what will work and what won’t. If you’re shooting on black-and-white film, that’s about developing a vision of the black-and-white version of the scene in front of you. This was a little frustrating at the time. But when I was thinking about black-andwhite recently, I realized it taught me a lesson I’m still using now. With the luxury of digital, photos are far cheaper. Theoretically, it doesn’t matter if I know what will make a good black-and-white photo. But of course, converting every single image takes time, as does evaluating every frame, comparing B&W and color versions. So that instinct about what makes a good black-and-white is still a valuable skill. Most of the time I look at a scene to photograph and I have a pretty good idea already. Shooting the image of my children at a playground below, I knew instantly that I would convert it to B&W. I saw the rather messy green ground was dominant in color, and the lines of all the playground structures and shadow would be simpler in black and white. So, for me, there has to be a benefit to converting to black & white. Something that’s missing in the color version, or something that’s ruining the color version. Some factor that means the image is improved or strengthened in B&W. That’s a controversial opinion by the way. I’ve found that a few photographers think that black-andwhite is the purer form of photography. But for me, life is in color and sometimes that is the important part of the story of an image. Equally sometimes it’s not.

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ART ISOLATION ISLATIN ISLTIN ISLIN ISI IN

A L L E Y E S | A R T I N I S O L A T I O N

I Bored in Quarantine? Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a New York Scene You Can Color. Grab A Loved One And A Crayon To Fill The Page Up!

ILLUSTRATIONS BY TOMI UM

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s the novel coronavirus spreads, the cultural sector has slowed to a halt: Museums and galleries are shuttered

in many countries, and fairs and festivals have been canceled. At the advice of experts, people are hunkering down to self-quarantine and practice social distancing. The situation is evolving quickly, a new reality is being forced upon us, and fields like architecture and painting can seem trivial. And yet, at moments of such isolation and crisis, art, design, and performance can offer powerful means

A L L

ent. With exhibitions and concerts

E Y E S

called off, our editors survey

of connectionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and a welcome escape from the disorienting pres-

eight low-risk ways to experience

A R T I N I S O L A T I O N

SUBMIT YOUR ART!!! Don't Let Your talent hide away from us, upload your work to nostalgia.com or email it to artsum@nostalgia.com We will post the selected work on the website as well as publish them on the next issue's recap session! Don't be shy, lets's all get thru this quarantine picasso style!

ARE

THIS

TOGETHER

BYE BYE!! NOSTALGIA|ISSUE01|SPRING 2020|P.63

BROADCAST IN CASE YOU NEED TO SWITCH IT UP.

TOP STAFF PICKS BY JORDAN GARRISON

SNAP OF THE MONTH BY CARRIE BATTAN

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TOP STAFF PICK Every month our staff picks two top camera deals that are worth-it! -By Calvin Yeung

CALVIN'S FIND: Ultronic Panoramic 35mm point and shoot film camera.

Passed inspections for basic mechanical functions. This is one of the popular plastic “toy” film cameras from back in the day. -No battery required -Includes roll of film found inside.”

PRICE: $34 DEPOP: @ZombieCamera

PRICE: $34 DEPOP: @ZombieCamera LIL HACKS: USE CODE "NOS20" FOR 20% OFF ON DEPOP!

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SNAP OF THE MONTH You submit, we repost!

@DamonBaker

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NOSTALGIA TO-GO!

BUY TOP A D , I IGI PAD TAL , I @NO S PHO UBSC STAL GIAS NE, RIP OCIA OR TION L ANY TO AND NOS ROI TAL D D GIA EVI A CE. ND R EAD

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