Pentaprism magazine #7

PENTAPRISM N째7 December 2014

reportage

Baffin Island the faraway land of Norse Gods

BY ARTUR STANISZ

m a g a z i n e

INTERVIEW

Philippe

ordioni

N째7 December 2014

EDITORS: PENTAPRISM STAFF

GRAPHIC DESIGN: ELENA BOVO

www.pentaprismcommunity.org

pentaprismphcommunity@gmail.com Pentaprism-showcase

COVER PHOTO/ABOUT US PAGE PHOTO: PHILIPPE ORDIONI

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index

6 INTERVIEW WITH PHILIPPE ORDIONI 26 LANDSCAPE 36 FASHION&GLAMOUR 46 ARCHITECTURE 56 FINE ART NUDE 66 THE ART OF PORTRAIT 76 STREET 86 CONCEPTUAL&ABSTRACT 96 REPORTAGE 106 CREATIVE EDIT 116 MACROWORLD 126 WILDLIFE&NATURE 136 REPORTAGE: BAFFIN ISLAND BY ARTUR STANISZ

INTERVIEW

Philippe

ordioni

PHILIPPE ORDIONI

Philippe Ordioni’s expression stands on the thin edge between reality and a dreamlike world, right where the reason is teetering, where visions of another world are rushing, coming from our collective unconscious.

He ventures into the pure root of madness, into our certainties’ cloudy waters, all for his portraits of strange characters which are overwhelming when recognising them at first sight.

Photographic approach, studio staging and digital processing contribute to reveal their uniqueness of inappropriate delicacy.

Then questions burst out, including the one about their obvious complicity during the photo shoot and the message they mean to send us : the one about a reconciliation with these other sides of ourselves we are avoiding ?

Rodia Bayginot

PENTAPRISM 7

PHILIPPE ORDIONI

Icònes baroques

PHILIPPE ORDIONI

Icònes baroques

PHILIPPE ORDIONI

Why did you choose photography to express your art?

I’ve always been looking for a genuine way to express myself artistically speaking, through sculpture, music, photography… And for some years now, I’ve decided to focus on photography only as this happens to be what suits me better eventually.

Describe your photographic style? How did you develop your style? Explain your work flow A few years ago, I was requested for an artistic collaboration with Rodia Bayginot, a visual artist, which led me to realize more than 2000 portraits. This is throughout this work that I started to work on various projects, including the Baroque portraits with my daughter Claire Ordioni All your images are evident result of a complex scenic contruction, do you collaborate with costume designers, make-up artists and designers?

Can you tell us something about the relashionship with them? How do you interact?

It’s all about a pretence of the world surrounding us, a way of talking about the diffictulties to discover your inner self, to accept and assert yourself. Those various sensibilities are tackled throughout the « Baroque Portraits » series, « Barrocco ! », « Baroxism », « Baroque Icons », « Barock’ stars » and « Baroque ancestors ».

Claire and I work together on that project. We are used to consulting each other before each session in order to imagine the characters we want to stage, then Claire applies the make-up on the model the day of the shooting Your characters looks to be part of an ironic and grotesque world, evocative and full of symbolism. How did you create a so charismatic and incisive personalities?

The « Baroque Portraits » were the result of a search of characters for a science-fiction scenario. As a consequence, it’s not by chance if the pictures evoke a cinematographic universe. Claire and I have imagined a future where people would be deprived of their humanity, where they would have no other choice but to sink into a sheer madness, trying to regain a dignity somehow. We want to deal with our relation with the strange and our differences through a production of poetry and coexisting violences, of psychiatry in a world obviously sick, with delirious and tormented characters in an unknown space-time. Since then, this « Baroques » universe extends over several series.

Barocco !

Barocco !

Barocco !

PHILIPPE ORDIONI

How do you get the person that is in front of the camera in just the way you want? How do you choose your subject?

Concerning the choice of the models, there is no age or physical criteria, and they are not professionals.

Most of the time, they come from an artistic field and express the desire to be part of this universe. As the session takes a whole day, a time of preparation is dedicated to the elaboration of the character, which enables the model to understand and then to get involved fully.

What are the next projects on the way?

A series, that time co-signed with Claire, is in preparation…

Thank you so much again Philippe Thank you, you’re welcome.

Awards and Honors : What technology/software/camera gear do you use to keep focused on what you do best, as you photograph?

I use a digital device Canon 5D Mark 2, according to me it’s important to use a full frame because it makes me feel the same sensations as Argentic. About light, I used some deported flashes for a long time but I recently purchased some flashes from Bowens studio.

I then realize the post-treatment on Aperture and Photoshop.

What are the most important factors to have a good image?

About the portraits, as well as the choice of the subject, the composition and the technical aspect, I consider that a good alchemy between the model and the photographer is more than requiered.

Then, a part of unexpectation is still to be considered, but can even more subliminate the result.

Diane Arbus once said : «I’ve never managed to realize the picture I wanted to take, it’s always either worse or better ». I find this statement very true, even about composed and studied direction and staging.

What is the most challenging part about being a photographer for you?

The world of Photography is wide, and one does not simply find a place there.

Tell us something about your project “Baroxisme”.

In the continuity of the « Baroque Portraits », « Baroxism » talks about madness in a rather crude way, the characters appear as naked facing the world surrounding them. The subjects are treated in a frontal way. For that series being inspired by German Expressionism, we called for some performers.

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2014 First prize in the « Salon photographique d’Allauch » Theme: Free « Rétine argentique » prize (Best author of department) 2013 Gold medal at the « Salon international de Riedisheim » Theme: Black & white.

Great prize of the city of Chabeuil « Rencontres de la photo » Theme: « Portraits baroques » Exhibition.

Baroxisme

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PHILIPPE ORDIONI

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Portrait baroque

Portrait baroque

Portrait baroque

22 PENTAPRISM Portrait baroque

PHILIPPE ORDIONI

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Portrait baroque

l a n d s c a p e

Time waits for no man | Les Forrester

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When darkness comes | Guillermo GarcĂ­a

Whisper of Darkness | John Fan

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Surfer | Vlad Sokolovsky

Facing North | Jeff Mercader

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fashion&glamour

White shot water | Frederic Charpentier

Kseniyaarx | Yuri Ilhuin

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The frog Princess | Serge Strelnikoff

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Blue Dana | Agnieszka Jopkiewicz

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Mon amour | Dasha and Mari

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ARCHITECTURE

The lightbox | Markus Studtmann

PENTAPRISM 47

Light Defined | Tony DeSantis

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PENTAPRISM 49

Ethereal Land Mar | Akira Takaue

Spiral City | Mohammad Rafiee

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The Lamp | Holger Glaab

fine art

nude

Fossil | Artofdan

Untitled | Vlasov Aleksey

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Silver | Vincenzo Recchia

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Sz. | Albert Finch

Lulu Lockhart at Pavilion Photographic Studio | Barrie Spence

PENTAPRISM 65

THE ART OF PORTRAIT

La fumeuse | Maria Frodl PENTAPRISM 67

Sara | Tomek Dyczewski

Untitled | Szymon Malecki

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Untitled | Ian Ross Pettigrew

Snowwhite | Tina Signesdottir Hult

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street

Lines | Luis Guzmàn Rubio

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Untitled | Juha Forsberg

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Who’s next | Gianni Giatilis

Caught in the act | Chris Dixon

The Lost Beatle | Paulo Abrantes

Conceptual & abstract

PENTAPRISM 87

Safe Haven | Anja Matko

Après la scène | Menu Florence

Stop War | Jay Satriani

Call me | Alejandra Baci

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Home for X-Mas | Ganjar Rahaju

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reportage

Best friends | Hilde Van Hove

China | Cyril Bezzina

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Campo Rom, bambino, donna | Phil Riitt

PENTAPRISM 101

Before fighting | Dmytro Sobokar

Market man | John Moulds

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CREATIVE

EDIT

Andromeda | Hengki Lee

Feeling Light-headed | Petri Damstén

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XXX | Steffen Reichardt

Tolko piriod, vsegda gatov | Gonzalo Villar

Saint Nicholas | Jeannette Oerlemans

PENTAPRISM 115

m acrow orld

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Mating | I made Adi Parmana

Macaon | Jimmy Hoffman

A walk in dreamland | Fabien Bravin

Simphon | Andi Jasman Daulay

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Robberfly with prey | Shikei Goh

wildlife nature

Ready to go!! | Gianluca Mariani

Lift off | Pedro Jarque Krebs

Questione di...territorio | Andrea Fiora

Blues | Pablo Rudaeff

Short-eared owl, Gufo di palude | Antino Cervigni

r e p o r t a g e

Baffin Island the faraway land of Norse Gods

BY ARTUR STANISZ

Baffin Island located in the Canadian Arctic is the fifth largest island in the world. Its remoteness and climatic hostility prohibits massive tourism turning it into a bucket list location for mountain lovers and adventure seekers.

My journey to Baffin Island took place in September/October 2014.

I spent two weeks hiking alone in the Auyuittuq National Park carrying on my back over 80 pounds of food and photographic gear. My 200 km route enabled me to see one of the world’s most impressive landscapes with its gigantic valleys, endless glaciers and iconic peaks: Mt. Thor and Mt. Asgard.

My experiences from this solo journey prove that the enigmatic and inspiring aura of this extreme terrain is able to unleash human’s connection with nature. The pictures that I took on Baffin Island and present in this reportage aim to show my personal photographic and spiritual interactions with this impressive landscape that never melts.

I hope that the land of Norse Gods as seen via my lenses effectively demonstrates the unforgettable splendor of the Canadian Arctic.

Into the White

Arctic Gateway

This is the place where my Baffin Island adventure started. The boat transported me together with my gear from Pangnirtung to the end of the fjord, near the Overlord Mountain. This spot that is located just steps away from the Arctic Circle marks the beginning of my solo journey. I got there late in the afternoon and was forced to spend a night in this area.

After I set up my camp for the night, I decided to take the opportunity of the upcoming sunset and took first Arctic shots. The light coming from the fjord created the impression of a welcoming invitation to the unknown.

Baffling Mt. Thor

The Auyuittuq National Park on Baffin Island is endowed with many natural wonders. The Mount Thor is one of them. It is the largest vertical drop on Earth. Its 1250 meters of a 105 degrees cliff is on the bucket list of almost every serious climber.

The Mt. Thor was teasing me for a long time.

I wanted to check if it was as mysterious as its name and reputation.

As I hiked through this gigantic valley, I had an impression that Mt. Thor behaved as a guard watching my every step. Each time when I made a turn, I saw Thor’s different angle. This particular photo was taken in the early morning. The soft, Arctic light added a mysterious feeling to the landscape.

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Faraway Passage

Before my trip to Baffin Island I researched for hours possible locations for the best viewpoints. On the map they all looked pretty close and not that hard to access. The reality proved to be different. The hike itself was not that difficult because there was not much of a difference in the elevation, but there were other problems. The main issue was with natural forces: glaciers& rivers. They constantly destroy the bottom of the valley making it unstable, with trail being frequently washed off and invisible.

Fortunately, after two days of hiking I have finally reached one of the points near Mt. Thor that I envisioned as a plausible photo shooting area. A low water level in the Weasel River made it possible to cross it and shoot this composition. This was one of the most colorful sunsets during the entire trip. The warm shades on the sky that afternoon made a welcoming invitation to continue this faraway journey.

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Virtual Tranquility

This photo brings memories of one particular morning when the thick, opaque Arctic air was hanging above the valley. The view captured on this photo was incredibly welcoming as if it was inviting spectator for an adventure.

I hiked towards the steep ridge located above my campsite. My goal was to take a better look on the surrounding glaciered landscape. I sat on the ridge and was watching the rising sun coming up on the sky. The aura was very peaceful and silent without a single sound of wind. Even though at the moment this place was very calm, I knew it was just a matter of time and the change of weather was imminent. I could almost smell the incoming snow.

Secret Vista

This photo that I called “Secret Vista� is somewhat special to me because it marks a half way of my trek. I took it at the edge of the Turner Glacier, which I explored for 5 days plowing my way through 30 centimeters of snow. As soon as I stepped off the glacier, I turned around and noticed a few caves. I decided to explore one of them. The moment I entered it, I noticed that the icy cold interior of the cave itself perfectly complemented the warm, soft evening light of the view outside. To execute this photo idea, I set up my tripod, got the gear ready, started to look through the viewfinder and all I could see was a blurred view. I realized that coming from the warmer exterior into the freezing cold and humid ice cave created the layer of fog on my lens that froze instantly. So I had to wait about 20 minutes to make it operational, again.

Fine Ice

Baffin Island is beautiful not only on the outside, but also on the inside. Here is one such example. I found these unique ice formations inside one of the tunnels on Turner Glacier. The tunnel was mostly covered with snow having only a tiny opening to the outside. Naturally this made me curious and almost immediately I decided to explore it. When I crawled into the tunnel I was surprised by this what I saw. It was a system of ice caves connected with crevasses. I was able to explore it for about 1 km up to the point when I wasn’t able to squeeze through it anymore.

To give a better perspective of scale I’d like to point out that the longest needles on the icicles were about 3 inches long.

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Cosmic Burst

On the second day of my stay on the Turner Glacier, the weather started to put on a show. The combination of slowly moving clouds, mild snowstorm and the low hanging sun, peaking through the clouds once in a while, created surreal effects. All this gave me an opportunity to capture few rather unique photos. This is one of them.

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Plasmatic Explosion

The Turner Glacier and Mt. Asgard showcased in the background of this photo are located about 40 km above the Arctic Circle. They were immediate perfect candidates for my aurora-shooting plan. The first night that I spent in this area was completely overcast with snow. I was afraid that I might not get a chance to shoot Northern Lights near Mt. Asgard. Luckily the next night was almost cloudless and the light show started before it got dark. This spectacle kept going on and off until 3 am. I have seen aurora borealis before, but I didn’t expect such intensity that can only PENTAPRISM 153 be compared to some sort of plasmatic explosion.

Mt. Asgard, the Northern Delight

Taking photos in the Arctic, far up north or down there in the South corner of the Planet Earth brings a lot of pleasure. I have visited both extreme locations: Baffin Island up North, in the Canadian Arctic and Patagonia at the southern most end of South America. The light created by sun that travels very low above the horizon can’t be compared with any other location.

As long as you have some clouds on the sky, even mid day feels like a morning or evening. It was exactly the case with this photo. I took it about 4 hours before the sunset. There wasn’t too much of a color on the sky, yet. Nevertheless, the thin layer of clouds diffused the light creating this pleasing golden glow. This added a little bit of a warm feeling to this land that never melts.

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Dazzling Apex

I took this photo one night near my campsite. The mountain visible on the photo remains unnamed.

Unfortunately, until today I wasn’t able to find maps detailed enough to disclose how it was called. From the moment that I stepped on the Turner Glacier, this mountain caught my attention. At first I only saw its apex. Then, as I was hiking through the glacier, it was slowly growing. It took many hours before I could see its entire face. Even though on this photo it might seem small, in reality it was a granite pyramid, about 1000m high. I am not exactly sure why, but during these few days that I spent near it, a lot of good light was happening around this mountain. The night I took this photo was no exception. The aurora was dancing above the peak as if it had some sort of a magnetic power.

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Arctic Flicker This photo was taken on the second day of my stay at the base of the Mt.Asgard. That day I had a chance to capture quite unusual weather conditions. It was a mixture of intense, golden glow backlighting a sluggishly moving snowstorm. I was sitting near my tent preparing my evening portion of dehydrated meal, watching millions of snowflakes flickering in the air. When the sun started enlightening the clouds, I grabbed my camera and forgot about the food.

This is a panoramic shot of a massive mountain range that rises from the Turner Glacier.

This photo showcases the famous north face of the double cylindrical towers of the Mount Asgard. It stands 1600 meters from the glacier and features 1200 meters of vertical wall.

The picture was taken a few hundred meters away from my base camp.

I was enjoying this view for 3 days that I stayed there.

The weather changing from snowstorm to clear sky created a spectacular light show. I could sit and goggle at Mt. Asgard forever. Unfortunately the cold weather prohibited me from sitting still. I had to be on a constant move to avoid frostbites.

Goggling at Mt. Asgard

IN THE NEXT ISSUE INTERVIEW WITH

PAUL APAL’KIN