2010 Fall - 30 Soura Magazine | Issue AED 35 QR/SR 35 KD/BD/OR 3.5 LBP 15,000 USD 10.00 UK 6.99 EURO 7.99
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CONTENT | ISSUE 30 Photographer of the Month 32 Luís Beltrán Featured Photographers 36 David LaChapelle 46 Aline Smithson 52 Lissy Laricchia 60 Michał Giedrojć Exclusive Feature 64 Ben Heine Pencil Vs Camera 68 The Ambrotype Photographic Process 70 Roman Kravchenko Image in Glass Book Reviews 74 Lost in Learning By Eva Koleva Timothy Art of Jewellery 80 Hermès Haute Bijouterie 84 Dior Joaillerie Talent 86 Mo Rusan The Artist Behind Antar Wu Abla Special Events 90 Borderlines. Deconstructing Exile By Steve Sabella, Larissa Sansour, Taysir Batniji and Bashar Hroub Product Review 94 Canon EOS 60D
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Photographer of the Month | Luís Beltrán
Luís Beltrán
Stories of Daydreams
Luís Beltrán was born in Valencia, Spain on February 28, 1973. He graduated with a Bachelor degree in Business Administration from the University of Wales. In 2010 Beltrán left his job as a financial auditor and set out to begin his career as a professional photographer. Beltrán has exhibited in many galleries and spaces including Mediadvanced Gallery, Gijón, Spain, Primera Impresión Gallery, Valencia, Spain, Agora Gallery, New York, and Downtown Gallery International Art & Culture, California, just to name a few. His work has also been published in several art and photography publications. Beltrán tells the stories of his daydreams through his latest body of digital print photographs. These quietly seductive works hold a deep and moving quality of innocent desire. Figures appear at the ends of alleys, above cityscapes, and up trees; they draw you towards them, making the eye chase its new companion. Beltrán’s photos produce a dreamlike sensation, the product of their deeply saturated, yet muted coloration. While objects around the periphery of the central image maintain a luscious intensity with their dark shadows and full mid-tones, the focus shifts as the eyes find a hazy subconscious perspective. The figures, which are central to this misty state call feelingly to the viewer. Beltrán has created a world that captures a sense of the ‘other’, and speaks to the mind’s natural curiosity. His photos call to a place within us all and echo the inner child’s adventurous and courageous nature. © All images courtesy of Luís Beltrán www.LuísBeltrán.es 32 Soura Issue 30
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Photographer of the Month | Luís Beltrán
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The Eye not the Camera In 1993 I discovered the power of photography to tell stories without words while I was looking at a book titled Sombras en combate by Javier Bauluz about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. I was shocked for several days. Since then I have always admired people who have the ability to create and communicate. I purchased my first camera ten years ago. The darkroom was magical but the digital revolution has brought about new methods to express and develop my work. I don’t own very expensive camera equipment; I always say that the really important thing is the eye, not the camera. Then I process images with Photoshop and some plug-ins. Although I create and express through art that is digitally manipulated, I don’t have a formal education in art. I learn every day by experimenting with digital tools and reading everything I consider central to my artistic development. I am continuously influenced and inspired by the tremendous talent in photography out there.
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I draw my inspiration from everything that surrounds me; life is inspiring! Surrealism is a movement that has always appealed to me. When I was a child, I used to spend my holidays in a small town in the mountains. I often woke up to the light rays beaming through the window in the morning while birds chirped. I always conjure up this moment as one of the most peaceful times of my life. I have never been able to recapture that peace, but I still keep trying everyday through my work. I draw my inspiration from everything that surrounds me; life is inspiring! It depends on the moment and your emotional state. Some days, ideas appear and your work is very productive but other days it doesn’t happen at all. I don’t like rules about concept, everybody must express their ideas and concepts in the best way they see fit. People tell me that I always daydream; it’s probably true. I try to represent my dreams and emotions in every thing I do. I like to talk about the loneliness and mystery that intrinsic is to all our lives. I am only a storyteller. My work usually takes as a starting point the world of dreams and leads us through scenes that lie along the thin line between reality and imagination.
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I like to talk about the loneliness and mystery that intrinsic is to all our lives. I am only a storyteller.
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My work is dedicated to those who daydream, who believe that without illusion there is no hope; who live in fantasy worlds and do not want to wake up. In the last year I made my first two series ‘Apología del Presente’ and ‘Sueña Conmigo’ and participated in several exhibitions and publications. I would like to make a living from telling stories, stories that appear in each work I do. I must admit that it’s one of the most gratifying jobs imaginable. I’m going to develop new works in the next phase and collaborate with other artist on several projects.
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The Fellini of Photography | David LaChapelle
© Photograph by Thomas Schweigert www.purephotography.de
David LaChapelle
The Fellini of Photography David LaChapelle’s photography career began in the 1980’s in New York City galleries. After attending the North Carolina School of Arts, he moved to New York where he enrolled at both the Art Students League and the School of Visual Arts. With shows at 303 Gallery, Trabia McAffee and others, his work caught the eye of his hero Andy Warhol and the editors of Interview Magazine, who offered him his first professional photography job. Working at Interview Magazine, LaChapelle quickly began photographing some of the most famous faces of the times. Before long, he was shooting for the top editorial publications of the world, and creating the most memorable advertising campaigns of a generation. His striking images have appeared on and in between the covers of magazines such as Italian Vogue, French Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ, Rolling Stone and i-D. In his twenty-year career in publishing, he has photographed personalities as diverse as Tupac Shakur, Madonna, Amanda Lepore, Eminem, Philip Johnson, Lance Armstrong, Pamela Anderson, L’il’ Kim, Uma Thurman, Elizabeth Taylor, David Beckham, Paris Hilton, Jeff Koons, Leonardo DiCaprio, Hillary Clinton, Muhammad Ali, and Britney Spears, to name just a small selection.
After establishing himself as a fixture amongst contemporary photography, LaChapelle expanded his work to include direction of music videos, live theatrical events, and documentary film. His directing credits include music videos for artists such as Christina Aguilera, Moby, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, The Vines and No Doubt. His stage work includes Elton John’s ‘The Red Piano’, the Caesar’s Palace spectacular he designed and directed in 2004, which just recently ended its five-year run in Las Vegas. His burgeoning interest in film led him to make the short documentary Krumped, an awardwinner at Sundance from which he developed RIZE, the feature film acquired for worldwide distribution by Lion’s Gate Films. The film was released in the US and internationally in the Summer of 2005 to huge critical acclaim, and was chosen to open the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. Recent years have brought LaChapelle back to where he started, with some of the world’s most prestigious galleries and museums exhibiting his works. Galleries such as Tony Shafrazi Gallery in New York; Jablonka Galerie in Berlin; Alex Daniels Gallery in Amsterdam; Maruani & Noirhomme in Belgium; the Palazzo delle Esposizioni and Palazzo Reale in Italy; The Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin; as well as at the Robilant + Voena Gallery and Barbican Museum in London. In 2009 exhibitions in Mexico City at the Museo del Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, in Paris at the Musee de La Monnaie, and in Guadalajara at the Museo de Las Artes all broke attendance records. These shows presented his latest series of works with which LaChapelle has broken out of the frame, presenting three-dimensional sculptural murals. This year, LaChapelle has mounted two large solo shows in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei as well as the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Referred to as ‘the Fellini of photography’, his ability to create scenes of extreme reality using rich and vibrant colors makes his work instantly recognizable and often imitated. He continues to be inspired by everything from art history to street culture, creating both a record and mirror of all facets of popular culture today. He is quite simply the only photographic artist working in the world today whose work has transcended the fashion or celebrity magazine context it was made for, and has been enshrined by the notoriously discerning contemporary art intelligentsia. Madonna Furious Seasons
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The Fellini of Photography | David LaChapelle
Archangel Michael Jackson And no message could have been any clearer
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American Jesus Hold me carry me boldly
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The Fellini of Photography | David LaChapelle
The House of the End of The World
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The Liberated Photograph
Exposure of Luxury
My works were first shown during the 1980’s in New York galleries. At one point, I met Andy Warhol, showed him my portfolio, and began working for Interview Magazine. From that point, I spent 15 years working for magazines. Through this time my objective was to document America’s obsessions and compulsions using publications as a means to reach the broadest possible audience. I was employing “pop” in the broadest sense of the word. I was photographing the most popular people in the world to the marginalized, always attempting to communicate to the public in an explicit and understandable way. The images were always meant to attract, not alienate. Inclusion has always been the goal when making these pictures, and continues on in the newest works that will be exhibited.
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The difference between the works I did as a photographer for hire and the most recent is that I’m freed from the constraints of magazines.
The difference between the works I did as a photographer for hire and the most recent is that I’m freed from the constraints of magazines. The work has not only been liberated from the limitations of glossy pages, but has also emerged from the white frame, engaging the viewer with the exploration of three-dimensional tableaux.
Can you help Us?
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My hope is that through the narratives told in my images, I will engage people and connect with them addressing the same ideas or questions that possibly challenge them.
I feel that we are living in a very precarious time, with environmental devastation, economic instability, religious wars waged, and excessive consumption amidst extreme poverty. I have always used photography as a means to try to understand the world and the paradox that is my life. There is the feeling that we are living at a precipice. My hope is that through the narratives told in my images, I will engage people and connect with them addressing the same ideas or questions that possibly challenge them. My latest pictures are a reflection of my earliest pictures. I reintroduce my personal ideas of transfiguration, regaining paradise, and the notion of life after death.
Alexander McQueen & Isabella Blow Burning Down the House
© All images courtesy of David LaChapelle and Courtesy Fred Torres Collaborations www.LaChapelleStudio.com www.FredTorres.com Fall 2010 41
The Fellini of Photography | David LaChapelle
Alicia Keys A Trial by Fire for a Young Artist
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Elton John Never Enough Fall 2010  43
The Fellini of Photography | David LaChapelle
Ewan McGregor Dollhouse Distaster, Love Scorned
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Cameron DIaz Dollhouse Distaster
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Behind the Camera | Aline Smithson
Aline Smithson
Behind the Camera
Born in Los Angeles, California, Aline Smithson enjoyed a career as a New York Fashion Editor, working along side the greats of fashion photography. That was until she discovered the family Rolleiflex, and since then has never looked back. After standing next to the camera for many years as a fashion editor, Smithson discovered that it is behind the camera where she finds her joy and passion. Smithson’s work has been featured in numerous publications including the PDN Photo Annual, Communication Arts Photo Annual, Eyemazing, Artworks, Lenswork Extended, Shots, Pozytyw, and Silvershotz magazines. She has exhibited widely including solo shows at the Griffin Museum of Photography, the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, Galerie Tagomago in Barcelona, and Wallspace Gallery in Seattle. In addition, her work has been included in many group exhibitions and has garnered numerous awards. Smithson continues to shoot film and use cameras that are decades old. Along with creating her own photographs, Smithson works hard to promote the work of other photographers. She has been the Gallery Editor for Light Leaks Magazine; she founded and writes daily for the well-read photography blog, Lenscratch, which has been noted as one of the 10 Best Photography blogs by Source Review. She is also a contributing writer for Diffusion, F Stop, Light Leaks, and Lucida Magazines and writes book reviews for Photoeye. In addition, Smithson curates exhibitions for a number of galleries and on-line magazines, including Fraction and Too Much Chocolate. For the past decade, she has been conducting workshops and hosting lecture series at the Julia Dean Photo Workshops in Los Angeles. Although Smithson was nominated for The Excellence in Photographic Teaching Award in 2008 and 2009 and for The Santa Fe Prize in Photography in 2009 by Center, she considers her children her greatest achievement.
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Behind the Camera | Aline Smithson
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Behind the Camera | Aline Smithson
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Universal Humanity This series had serendipitous beginnings. I found a small print of Whistler’s painting, Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter’s Mother, at a neighborhood garage sale. The same weekend, I found a leopard coat and hat, a 1950’s cat painting, and what looked like the exact chair from Whistler’s painting. That started me thinking about the idea of portraiture, the strong compositional relationships going on within Whistler’s painting, and the evocative nature of unassuming details.
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In my approach to photography, I have been greatly influenced by the Japanese concept of celebrating a singular object. The series incorporates traditional photography techniques, yet becomes richer with the treatment of hand painting. It is my intent to have the viewer see the work in a historical context with the addition of color, and at the same time, experience Whistler’s simple, yet brilliant formula for the composition. My patient 85 year-old mother posed in over 20 ensembles, but unfortunately passed away before seeing the finished series. I am grateful for her sense of humor and the time this series allowed us to be together. The images were taken with a Hasselblad and printed on Ilford warm tone matt paper in two sizes, 11x14 and 16x20. It is an edition of 25 with 4 Artist’s Proofs. In my approach to photography, I have been greatly influenced by the Japanese concept of celebrating a singular object. I tend to isolate subject matter and look for complexity in simple images, providing an opportunity for telling a story in which all is not what it appears to be. The poignancy of childhood, aging, relationships, family, and moments of introspection or contemplation continue to draw my interest. I want to create pictures that evoke a universal memory.
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I take photographs to allow us to explore a fleeting moment, frozen in time. I try to look for or create moments that are at once familiar, yet unexpected. I take photographs to allow us to explore a fleeting moment, frozen in time. I try to look for or create moments that are at once familiar, yet unexpected. The odd juxtapositions that we find in life are worth exploring, whether it is with humor, compassion, or by simply taking the time to see them. In my opinion, what makes us unique is quite simply the individual experiences that shape and form a person. And by sharing those experiences and telling our stories, we connect with our universal humanity and to the things that are the most important in life, and we learn that perhaps we are more alike than we realize. © All images courtesy of Aline Smithson www.AlineSmithson.com
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Of Fields and Trees | Lissy Laricchia
Lissy Laricchia
Of Fields and Trees Lissy Laricchia lives in a small town in Canada, between a cornfield and a tall forest where she frequently plays pretend games. She documents this journey via her camera so that others may experience (or reexperience) a part of their childhood that they thought they’d lost forever. She does this of course when she is not reading every book she can get her hands on, having extravagant tea parties with her Teddy Bear, named Donkey, or on her swing - tied childishly to a tall willow - with her headphones in her ears, pretending to be some place more exciting. Laricchia’s interest in photography was sparked when she was just 13 years old when a friend told her about a project called “365” in which she was expected to take a photo to represent every day of that year. So she took her first whirl at it, and although she failed spectacularly after about five months, from that failure bloomed a love that would take up most of her time for years to come. Laricchia’s basement was flooded in 2008, and with the insurance money she acquired from that tragedy, she was able to purchase her very first SLR camera. Her previous artistic attempts were captured by an eightyear-old FujiFilm - which fell to its death from a tree she was trying to use as a tripod- as well as a Sony Point and Shoot with a sticky power button. She started her second “365” project in May 2009, and throughout the experience she gained a following on Flickr, and wouldn’t trade the virtual friendships she’s made there for the world. Laricchia has worked as a freelance photographer for fashion magazines, has done album and book covers, and is participating in an exhibition featuring young women photographers in New York City later this year.
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Of Fields and Trees | Lissy Laricchia
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Of Fields and Trees | Lissy Laricchia
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Re-creating Childhood Years ago when I first started taking photographs, I found that I attempted very adult themes, very dark or preachy concepts. Things that would make people take me seriously. You can judge a person’s youthfulness by just how badly they want to grow up. After a few months, I realized I couldn’t go on like that. I couldn’t create what I didn’t know and my photographs became bland and concept-less, and so, I gave up for awhile. When I started up again it was during a time in my teenage life where I realized that my friends seemed to be going in a different direction than me. I witnessed to all their peer pressured pot smoking and fornicating, and deduced how it was all brought on by the feeling that they have nowhere else to go, that this is just the next stage, that this is what it means to be an adult. But really, they were just stereotypical teenage girls.
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I think the allure of fantasy to me in regards to my photos, came with the realization that childhood is a thing wasted on trying to be an adult… The more I felt the pressures by my peers, the more I found I was being hurtled into a life that I was not yet ready for, and the more bizarre and magical and childish my photos became. Retaliation, I called it. I think the allure of fantasy to me in regards to my photos, came with the realization that childhood is a thing wasted on trying to be an adult, and from that my favorite concept became the sheer whimsy and fantasy and curiosity that you felt before everything was a popularity contest; before everything was about sex and who likes who and being thin and Twilight. I use photography as a means of escape, and distraction, nearly as much as anything else.
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This is what I love about photography. I can spend what I think is half an hour doing something that takes up all day. On the last day of my “365”, I’d gone out to take my very last photo. I started out with just test shots, trying to get the angles and the settings right, and then I took a few “real” ones and a half hour or so later my memory card was full. So I went inside to empty it, not even going to look at the photos because I knew I hadn’t taken enough yet, at that moment my mother asked me if I was done, because “it’s going to be dark soon.” I stared at her inquiringly, and she said that I had been out there for a good eight hours. This is what I love about photography. I can spend what I think is half an hour doing something that takes up all day, from the moment I start creating to the moment I finish post-processing I’m thinking of nothing else but how to make this perfect. And for me, this is a very big deal, because there’s always something horrible crouching in the back of my mind, just waiting for my happiest moment so it can jump out and ruin it. The overall goal I have for myself is to portray things that children love, teenagers are afraid to admit they love, and adults forget that they loved. Maybe I’ll help people to remember without being ashamed. © All images courtesy of Lissy Laricchia www.flickr.com/photos/LissyL
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Of Fields and Trees | Lissy Laricchia
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Filtered World | Michał Giedrojć
Michał Giedrojć
Filtered World
Michał Giedrojć is a 30-year-old photographer who lives and works in Poland. Giedrojć bases most of his work on graphically manipulated images as in his ‘Dream’ series. The world shown in his photographs is a subjective world filtered by his own sensitivity. Giedrojć has worked on various projects and his work was shown in several exhibitions such as ‘Welcome to the Sunflower Country’, ‘Released Pictures’, and ‘Bylo to ongis na poczatku swiata.’ His work has also been published in professional photographic magazines including Digital Camera Magazine and PSD. Of the many photography competitions he participated in, Giedrojć was awarded 1st Prizes at the ‘International Festival of Photografpy by the Young’ in Jaroslaw and 2nd Prize and at the ‘International Digital Biennial Ripolette Image 2009.’ © All images courtesy of Michał Giedrojć www.GiedrojćMichał.com
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Filtered World | Michał Giedrojć
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A Spiritual Feast My adventure with photography began when I was a small child in the form of experiments. I only began to approach photography sensibly 5 years ago. At present, I am still looking for the best photographic topic through which I can fully express myself. Creative photography allows me to have multiphase work so that I am not just limited only to the stage of pressing the trigger of the shutter. There is also the conception stage, and the most beautiful stage of the creation process: the selection stage. Several or more hours spent in photo-manipulation offers a special kind of catharsis for me, it is like journeying into my own imagination, this time gives me the most joy in creating my works, it is a spiritual feast.
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The borderline that I think exists between the dream world and reality gives me the most inspiration for my photos. The borderline that I think exists between the dream world and reality gives me the most inspiration for my photos. Situations that I observe in reality often bore me and I try to present them in such a way, as they would look in my dreams. In the world I create I can often see very prosaic situations, introduced by regular people - they become more credible in unnatural scenery, which is what additionally heightens the grotesqueness of some pictures. The series which I have created such as ‘Dream,’ ‘My Other Side,’ or ‘Colors of Illusions’ overlap to a large degree, and they share a common factor: my dream-like visions. I traverse the dream-inspired paths of my imagination in those works. This subject matter allows me to manipulate the world of reality, and with the help of more and more dream-inspired projects I am able to plunge into the metaphysical meaning of these dream visions even more.
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Several or more hours spent in photomanipulation offers a special kind of catharsis for me, it is like journeying into my own imagination… The ‘Dreams’ series from which everything started was to present an individual in an unfamiliar setting. The subjects of this series are consciously entangled in the struggle between what is real and what was created in the author’s head. The stories introduced in the photos seem to have no clear beginning and end; it gives viewers many possibilities of interpretation. In ‘Colors of Illusions’ I depart from black and white photography, because color has huge meaning in this series. “I dress” human dreams in color. Unlike the subjects of the ‘Dreams’ series; the subjects of this project conceal an additional secret which the viewer is not able to guess due to the fact that the subjects have their eyes closed, and one can usually read a person from their eyes. My artistic road is still developing, I have many ideas for future projects in which I hope to continue the dream-inspired subject matter, which I will break down into constituent parts, giving myself the possibility of further creating the world which I can see when I close my eyes. Fall 2010 63
Pencil Vs Camera | Ben Heine
Ben Heine
Pencil Vs Camera
Ben Heine has been taking photos and drawing since the ripe age of 10. His ‘Pencil Vs. Camera’ series is the fruit of several years of graphic exploration as well as what Heine calls, “A logical consequence of my artistic evolution.” But how was this idea conceived of in the first place? Heine tells us that, “the real idea came while I was watching television and writing a letter at the same time. Reading my letter before putting it in the envelope, I saw in transparency the television behind the paper. I then realize it would be great to make something similar in a single image showing 2 different actions.”
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And so, Heine stepped outside and started working on ‘Pencil Vs Camera 1’, a simple image depicting 2 chairs and a small table. As the project evolved, Heine set out to introduce surreal elements in his sketches such as dinosaurs and UFO’s to contrast with the realism of the photo.
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In my series ‘Pencil Vs Camera’ I try to make it very exciting for the viewer to ignore what’s really behind the paper.
Heine takes his own photos, never relying on the work of others for the ‘Pencil Vs Camera’ series or any other project he has developed; he also does all his own sketching. Armed with his pencil and his camera, Heine considers the surface of the image as the battleground where drawing and photography meet. And in order to make the outcome as explosive as possible, he always chooses photos with a striking subject matter and a very specific action.
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“It can also be nice to use a background scenery with a very simple or low semantic effect,” says Heine, “and make everything happen inside the small piece of paper.” Relying on two very different forms of artistic self-expression is a joy for Heine, he finds that the marriage between the two only seems logical, and that they both fulfill the same purpose: to share with people an idea, an emotion,a concept, or a message. Pencil vs Camera 7
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Pencil vs Camera 36 will be presented in an auction fair in Antwerp, Belgium, with proceeds from the auction going to African children who have lost their parents to aids.
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Pencil Vs Camera | Ben Heine
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When it comes to creating images for his ‘Pencil Vs Camera’ series, Heine abides by no rules, as he thinks in order to create, there shouldn’t be any in the first place. This freedom enabled him to take this series beyond the limits, whether through drawing amusing and eccentric sketches and pairing them with odd photographs, or by drawing realistic sketches and pairing them with unlikely real situations in photos, “you can choose to draw something in a realistic way or rather to go crazy,” declares Heine. Heine’s preference however leans more towards the absurd and the unreal, he feels
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Armed with his pencil and his camera, Heine considers the surface of the image as the battleground where drawing and photography meet.
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that a photo is a reflection or depiction of a real-life setting or situation, and so, making the sketch unreal or eccentric adds depth and context to the final outcome. To illustrate this, Heine points out, “I noticed that representing a strong perspective on the paper (for instance in Pencil Vs Camera 4 or 8) gives a good illusion and generates a nice visual impact when it matches the main lines of the background scenery.”
The Sketcher Behind the Lens Ben Heine is a Belgian painter, illustrator, portraitist, caricaturist and photographer. He was born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and currently lives and works in Brussels. Heine studied graphic arts and sculpture and he also has a degree in journalism. Heine has 8 years of professional experience as a graphic creator under his belt, and speaks fluent French, English, Dutch as well as a little Polish, Spanish and Russian.
A New Form of Expression In my series ‘Pencil Vs Camera’ I try to make it very exciting for the viewer to ignore what’s really behind the paper. It is clear for me that it really is the battle between drawing and photography that is the whole message and purpose of the series. While I don’t particularly have any favorites in this series, I like to let the viewer decide what he/she prefers. In the meantime, I like to contemplate what my next project will be. This series, ‘Pencil Vs Camera’ has had a very positive outcome as well as great and unexpectedly overwhelming feedback from viewers and members of the art community as well. I really didn’t expect that. I’m very happy with the good feedback I’ve received from all over the world. I think and I hope this technique will become a new form of expression for everybody. © All images courtesy of Ben Heine 2010 www.BenHeine.com
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Pencil vs Camera 3
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Pencil vs Camera 1
Pencil vs Camera 4
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Pieces from this series are available for sale as art collectibles and are exhibited in some galleries in Belgium and in Florida.�
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Archer was the son of a butcher who began his professional career as an apprentice silversmith in London. Later he changed careers to make portrait sculptures. Archer invented the first practical photographic process by which more than one copy of a picture could be made. To assist him in his photographic work, Archer began experimenting with the Calotype photographic process of William Henry Fox Talbot. This led him to develop the wet Collodion process.
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Ambrotypes are achieved by placing a very thin under-exposed negative on glass placed on a dark background, the image appears like a positive. The Ambrotype process slightly resembled Daguerreotypes. However the method of production itself was very different, and Ambrotypes were much cheaper, it was yet another method of reducing the cost of photography. Ambrotypes became popular for a number of reasons: less exposure time was needed, production was cheaper and quicker as no printing was required, and because the negative could be mounted the other way by placing the collodion side on top of the backing material, there was no lateral reversal, as there was in most Daguerreotypes. Also unlike Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes could be viewed from any angle. However, the finished result lacked the detail and tonal range of the Daguerreotype.
The Ambrotype
Photographic Process English inventor Frederick Scott Archer (1813-1857) is known as the inventor of Ambrotype photography, in collaboration with his colleague Peter Fry. Ambrotypes are achieved by placing a very thin under-exposed negative on glass placed on a dark background, (usually black velvet, sometimes varnish was used instead), the image appears like a positive. This is because the silver reflects some light and so the areas with no silver at all appear black. The pictures that result are more correctly known as Collodion positives. It was in 1851 that Archer described his wet Collodion process from which paper positives could be printed. Ambrotypes were made from the 1850s and up to the late eighties.
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Ambrotypes became very popular, particularly in America. In Europe Ambrotypes were referred to as Melainotype, another variant of this was the Tintype process.
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Ambrotypes became popular for a number of reasons: less exposure time was needed, production was cheaper and quicker as no printing was required… Since his publishing of the wet Collodion process in 1851, Archer allowed its use free of copyright. The photos made through this process were sometimes known in Britain as Collodion Positives, but are now known by the name by which they were patented in the USA in 1854: Ambrotypes. Ambrotypes were often produced using one-eighth of a whole-plate (6.25 inches x 8.5 inches) sheet of glass. This resulted in images about 3.125 x 2.125 inches.
There are two stages to producing an Ambrotype: first you would have to create a wet Collodion negative, and secondly you would place the negative against a dark background. In this stage it is sometimes necessary to selectively bleach the negative. You can achieve a dark background by either painting the back of the glass with shellac or mounting the glass on top of black velvet. Finally, you could mount the image in a case, as was the custom with Ambrotypes. To make your own Ambrotypes, please visit http://photocritic.org/ambrotype-photography for a 20-step process of how to make Collodion positives. Š All images courtesy of Roman Kravchenko www.Kravchenko.at.ua
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Image in Glass | Roman Kravchenko
Roman Kravchenko Image in Glass
Roman Kravchenko is a professional historian and photographer who was born in 1957. He specializes in the ethnographic portrait; historical photography processes, and the Crimean War of 1854-1855. Kravchenko is the leading cameraman ambrotypist in the Ukraine. He is the first one to renew the method of the wet plate collodion processes, primarily invented and published in 1851 by English scientist Frederic Scott Archer (1813–1857). In addition, Kravchenko resurrected photographing and archiving emulsion collodion layer on a glass plate method called Ambrotype, invented in 1854 by James Ambrose Cutting. Currently, only about 100 photographers in the world practice this approach due to its uniqueness and complexity in use. Photographs by Kravchenko were recently published in The Wet Plate Collodion Day Book, 2009. The book represents works by 51 photographers from 13 countries and 3 continents, (http://www.blurb.com/books/891063). His works were also displayed in his first personal exhibition called ‘Ambrotypes - Natural Magic,’ held in Kyiv in October, 2009. Kravchenko’s works were also part of an exhibition called ‘The Art of Manual Photocopying’, which took place in Chernihiv, Ukraine. Ambrotypes (from Greek – unchangeable or immortal) or colloid positives are negative images on glass plates with a bottom layer of velvet, paper or dye, mostly used for making portraits. Ambrotypy holds invaluable advantages, including longevity and uniqueness. For example, there are 300 glass plates shot by Roger Fenton during the Crimean War in 1855 that still exist in the Library of Congress. Each image is fixed on glass right after being made, and becomes a unique and collectable item.
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Image in Glass | Roman Kravchenko
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Escaping the Ordinary I am a photographer who was born, works and lives in Crimea, Ukraine. For many years I have worked on marrying traditional photography processes with a contemporary perspective and touch. In recent years, I started to engage in the Wet-Plate Collodion Processing technique for my photographic creations. At the turn of century, digital and electronic photo software and printers have become popular and widespread. Confronted with the variety of photographic techniques and images forced me to slow down and take a breather. I have found a new direction that suits my creativity. Between the years 2008 and 2009, I began to study and research WetPlate Collodion Processing; it is an ancient yet graceful style. It is also completely opposite to the trend of modern photographic technique. Yet it has now become the principal medium for my work of art in the last years…
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Today I work with glass, which has an even more marvelous structure. It is so fragile and insecure that special conditions must be created to keep it safe and to preserve the images it can carry. As a child I remember being mesmerized by the intricate beauty of an old piece of a pine tree bark, brown with black veins. Today I work with glass, which has an even more marvelous structure. It is so fragile and insecure that special conditions must be created to keep it safe and to preserve the images it can carry. Memories are fragile and even in this high tech world overwhelmed by media, we continue to pay more and more attention to single copy pieces-of-art. A picture formed by silver crystals and covered with special lacquer based on a rosin of African plants, can be stored for an unlimited time. Unlike a regular photograph or a print, an ambrotype will not lose its color and will keep all its original features, which is proven by the first ambrotypes made in the mid 19th century, which we continue to cherish. Whether displaying a historical ambrotype, or creating history by making new images, I help the viewer escape the world of the ordinary. © All images courtesy of Roman Kravchenko www.Kravchenko.at.ua
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Book Review | Lost in Learning
Eva Koleva Timothy
Learning to Look Beyond
Learning may well be the most profound power on earth. Its force shapes entire civilizations and transforms the world, one individual at a time. Yet, the moment learning is reduced to a mundane succession of texts, tests, and tedium, is the moment we lose that vital connection to the wonders of human creativity and discovery which infuse our work, our learning and our very lives with purpose.
Eva Timothy has been fascinated by history for as long as she can remember. Growing up in Europe she was continually surrounded by the stories of the great explorers, artists and inventors. She still remembers as a teenager, receiving a gift of a leather notebook which reminded her of Da Vinci’s journal and in which she would scribble her most inspirational thoughts.
For those seeking to link learning to their life’s aspirations, this book offers the invitation to embark upon the journey of a lifetime. Eva Koleva Timothy’s Lost in learning: The Art of Discovery breathes new life into an age when learning was life’s grand adventure.
Timothy’s own learning journey has taken her from the University of Utah where she received a B.A. in Communications with emphasis on film and photography to a certification program at The Oxford School of Photography and a Licentiateship Certification from the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is included in the collections of The U.S. Library of Congress (Permanent Collection), The Fox Talbot Museum (UK), The British Library, Green Templeton College (Oxford University), The Smithsonian, The George Eastman House Library, and The Victoria Albert Museum (National Art Library).
So come set sail with Columbus, soar among the heavens with Galileo, dive into drawings of DaVinci and discover the passion which moved the masters of an age as they lose themselves in the rapture of great learning.
Timothy believes that art’s purpose is to empower us to looking beyond the dulling distractions and to focus on our noblest aspirations in life. In her debut monograph, Lost in Learning: The Art of Discovery, Timothy has woven this worldview of learning, history and art into a creation, which urges us each to pursue our life’s dreams with greater passion. © All images courtesy of Eva Koleva Timothy www.LostinLearning.com & www.Illumea.com
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In search of New Worlds II
Prism Light
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Book Review | Lost in Learning
The Man Behind The Mona Lisa
The Annunciation
The Admiral of the Ocean Sea
The Astronomer
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The Willful Wanderer The aim of the Lost in Learning project has been to inspire our inner explorer, creator and dreamer through an enigmatic depiction of an age when exploration and learning were life’s supreme adventures. Too much of education has become distilled to bit-size, memorizable chunks. We’ve built great walls between art and science and then condensed them to a series of facts and principles. In so doing we’ve made learning more “manageable”, but we’ve eliminated much of what made it appetizing in the first place.
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For those seeking to link learning to their life’s aspirations, this book offers the invitation to embark upon the journey of a lifetime. As a photographer the optical innovations, which spurred historic breakthroughs, are especially fascinating. The Age of Discovery was an era when people first took a lens and pointed it across the sea in search of new worlds. Or turned it heavenward exploring worlds beyond our own. Or focused on something as simple as a blade of grass, revealing the worlds within worlds. Turning my own lens on the relics of centuries past, I have sought to recapture that spirit of the explorers and the wanderers, the creators, scientists and the seekers and who left us with a legacy of what it means to lose ourselves in the grand voyage of learning.
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Introducing new angles to iconic images from centuries ago, history comes unfrozen for a moment, becoming part of the present. Introducing new angles to iconic images from centuries ago, history comes unfrozen for a moment, becoming part of the present. Gazing through the varied lenses of learning and enshrouded in photography, these images entice us to look deeper into the passions that inspired these figures in their journeys. Half a millennium later, we revere them immensely. We laud them in our histories and honor their accomplishments in our greatest museums. But have we learned what they truly had to teach us? Not merely the names, dates, formulae and theories. Not just the scientific breakthroughs or cultural masterpieces, but something much more profound. A spirit of searching and seeking which they radiated. An insatiable curiosity and desire to know which neither persecution nor the peril of their very lives could suppress. Perhaps looking deeper we will discover for ourselves the souls of these great ones and in their lives find a reflection of ourselves. Learners, not simply of fiscal necessity, but willful wanderers into the great unknown.
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Book Review | Lost in Learning
Creator and Creation
Meridians
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From Boy to Bard
Hallelujah
Sailing
Visceral Visions
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