Victor by Hasselblad (2010/07) by Hasselblad

online 7.2010

PHoTo: sTEvE MccURRy

welcoming a new generation. the haSSelblad h4d-40.

With the new H4D-40, Hasselblad is bringing ultimate image quality to an entirely new generation of photographers. Featuring a 40 Megapixel Medium Format sensor, our Phocus 2.0 software, and the new True Focus AF, the H4D-40 is as easy to use as any 35mm camera and provides the perfect entry point into the Hasselblad world. Designed to meet the needs of the world’s most demanding high-end photographers, the H4D-40 (starting at 12,995 EUR) gives you full access to the entire Hasselblad range of professional lenses and features – at whatever stage your career is at.

So go ahead – evolve.

the hasselblad h4d-40 with true Focus technology.

editorial

“There’s more than one answer to any given question”. These wise words come from my colleague Chris Russell-Fish, describing his creed as Managing Director of Hasselblad UK. Talking about Hasselblad and its relationship with its customers, he means that differentiated applications require very differentiated solutions. Only those dealing directly with the demands of professional photographers on a daily basis, demands encountered by all Hasselblad country representatives, are in a position to offer the necessary solutions. As his German counterpart, I’m all the more delighted that Chris has been made worldwide Marketing Director for Hasselblad. What exactly does that mean? Quite simply that Hasselblad’s fantastic photo technology will be even more central to the needs of professional photography, so that, with the help of clients and partners, we are able to demonstrate, develop and offer optimal solutions to the most diverse requirements. A concrete example of what this can mean was given to us by our US colleagues and their Three Stage Tour. It created a platform where regional Hasselblad communities are able to interrelate, try out the latest Hasselblad equipment, and communicate directly, and via all types of media channels, with colleagues as well as with Hasselblad experts and partners. In Germany we’re following a similar concept with our Multi Stage Event, but also expanding it to include our Photo Project 2011. Professionals and semi-professionals, as well as photo students and other ambitious photographers, can submit concepts for the best Photo Project 2011. A specialised jury will choose the candidate with the best portfolio, and who proposes the most original photo project. Photo Project 2011 represents the beginning of a series of similar activities, and will become a platform where we’ll especially be helping ambitious, young professionals give form to their Hasselblad-system ideas and concepts. Our support will cover the technical/ creative realization of their projects, the consequent workflow, and also, in collaboration with our partners, the presentation and marketing. This is not only a symbiotic and fruitful process where we and the photographers share and work on concrete projects, but also an inspiring approach for our partners and for those following these activities. As Chris rightly said, there’s more than just one answer to any given question. To this we can add that we aim to develop many new things for a whole range of diverse photographic applications, so that we can offer our demanding clients all types of creative possibilities. I hope you enjoy this latest edition of VICTOR online.

Content

Michael Schmidt spent four weeks photographing with an H4D-40. Among others were these pictures of Tanya (cover) and Brynn (right)

4 >> News Worldwide Marketing Director: Chris Russell-Fish, The Managing Director of Hasselblad UK, is the camera manufacturer’s new worldwide Marketing Director · Photo Project 2011: Hasselblad Germany supports the realization of the most promising new project.

6 >> michael schmidt The Los Angeles-based photographer had four weeks to try out the new H4D-40 within the framework of the “Hasselblad Three Stage Tour”. Twenty portrait, fashion and architecture photo shoots resulted in a collection of captivating and multi-faceted pictures.

24 >> claudio napolitano Registered users of the Hasselblad Owners’ Club site have chosen an image by the US-based photographer as Photo of the Month. At VICTOR online, he introduces some of his most beautiful shots and explains why he is so fascinated by photography.

28 >> hans strand A cloud of ash kept Europe holding its breath for weeks on end, whilst also causing havoc for air travel. Armed with Hasselblad equipment, the Swedish photographer, Hans Strand, captured exciting images of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano.

44 >> preview The Japanese fashion and fine-arts photographer Mitsuaki Koshizuka brings us artistic nude pictures inspired by the trad itional art of “Katagami”. Using an H4D-50, he achieved razor sharp images that capture a sensual play of light and shadow.

Uwe Möbus, Managing Director of Hasselblad Germany

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victornEWS Action most exciting Photo Project 2011

Chris Russell-Fish has been made worldwide Marketing Director of Hasselblad, while also continuing to act as Managing Director of Hasselblad UK. His promotion to Marketing Director is part of the camera manufacturer’s forward-looking strategy. As Dr. Larry Hansen, Hasselblad Chairman and CEO, explained when talking about Russell-Fish’s nomination, “Hasselblad and the whole field of imaging is in a period of transformation. Through his work in the United Kingdom, Chris Russell-Fish has proven that he recognizes and makes use of the opportunities offered by that transformation.” During more than a year as Managing Director in the UK, the 45 year-old Russell-Fish initiated a whole series of new cus-

Hasselblad Germany is organizing an exciting competition for professionals, semi-professionals, ambitious hobby photographers, and photo students. The most original Photo Project 2011 will then be carried out using Hasselblad equipment and benefiting from practical advice. The venture will become a platform where young photographers will also get a chance to give shape to their ideas and projects using a Hasselblad system. An expert jury, including editorial staff from Kulturspiegel and the seen.by online gallery, as well as the VICTOR by Hasselblad project leader and the Marketing Manager of Hasselblad Germany, will choose the contender whose (online) portfolio most impresses them and whose project most excites them. For three months, the winner will be loaned Hasselblad equipment with which to carry out the project, as well as receive professional marketing, PR and distribution advice. The dead-line for registered candidates to submit a short application is July 3, 2010. Material can also be handed in personally that same day at the Briese Studios in Hamburg, where Hasselblad is organizing a Multistage hands-on event from 11am to 18pm.

In addition to his current job as Managing Director of Hasselblad UK, Chris Russell-Fish (45) was recently promoted to worldwide Marketing Director for Hasselblad

tomer services and training initiatives, which, among other things, were aimed at introducing already photo students to the Hasselblad brand. His new areas of responsibility include corporate marketing, branding, PR, Hasselblad’s relationship to photographers all around the world, and the coordination of marketing in all countries. He will report directly to Hasselblad CEO, Dr. Larry Hansen. When speaking about his new position, Russell-Fish said, “I’m delighted by this new promotion and the additional challenges.” Because of his work as Managing Director of Hasselblad UK, Russell-Fish is well aware of the needs of professional photographers, and aims to continue having an open ear for all Hasselblad users. “With the H4D series, we’re offering great products that ensure a good outlook for the future, as long as we continue to pay attention to our customers and develop the necessary solutions,” he reiterates. Russell-Fish is a sales and marketing expert. Before he joined Hasselblad, he was a successful Senior Manager at Kodak. Concerning his early days with the camera manufacturer, he remembers, “When I became Managing Director of Hasselblad UK, I wanted to look at our customers and our business from a new perspective. I think every photographer should aim to own a Hasselblad. We should create conditions so that photographers at all levels can hold one of our cameras in their hands.” ■

ONLINE 7/2010

HOC

Hasselblad Owners’ Club 7/2010

Hasselblad users all over the world exchange news on the Hasselblad Owners’ Club (HOC) site. At the end of June, registered users chose a new Photo of the Month, taken by Peter Golznig. With this picture, the Austrian architecture photographer prevailed over the strong competition. We will fully introduce him in the August issue of VICTOR online. ■

Photo: Hans Strand

hasselblad NEW WORLDWIDE MARKETING DIRECTOR

During the event visitors will have a chance to explore the new Phocus 2.5 update for Mac, experience live photo shoots and hear engaging presentations. The winner of the competition will be announced on September 30, 2010. The completed photos will then appear on VICTOR online and at the seen.by online gallery, where the pictures will also be up for sale. Photo Project 2011 is just the start of a series of such initiatives, so we can look forward to much more to come. ■

Hasselblad Germany will support the photographer who suggests the most exciting Photo Project 2011, by supplying him or her with Hasselblad equipment and advice

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–Mark Duhaime, VP Marketing, Hasselblad USA

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www.sandisk.com *up to 90 MB/sec read/write speed for Extreme Pro; up to 60 MB/sec for Extreme. Speeds based on SanDisk internal testing performance may be lower depending upon host device. 1 megabyte (MB) = 1 million bytes x=150 KB/sec. 1 gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes. Some capacity not available for data storage. 10 year warranty in Germany and regions not recognizing Lifetime limited warranty. © 2010 SanDisk Corporation . All rights reserved. SanDisk, the SanDisk logo, CompactFlash and SanDisk Extreme are trademarks of SanDisk Corporation. Registered in the U.S. and other countries. SanDisk Extreme Pro and Power Core are trademarks of SanDisk Corporation

ONLINE 7/2010

michael Schmidt This April, L.A.-based photographer Schmidt received a surprise offer from Hasselblad, to spend four weeks trying out the new H4D-40, as part of the “Hasselblad Three Stage Tour”. He had an incredibly productive time, managing 20 photo shoots, and covering everything from portraits and fashion to architecture.

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Michael Schmidt photographed model Jena in an idyllic landscape close to Malibu beyond Los Angeles. “I wanted to shoot against the sun.” From midday till late in the afternoon he took pictures where, in some case, he used a filter on the lens

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“I guess Peter Lindbergh and Paolo Roversi where some of the first influences for my fashion work,“ Austria born photographer Michael Schmidt remembers. “In terms of the very first influences, it was my grandmother. And her son, my father,

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was her favorite model. I stored some of these little gems on my blog.“ In recent years, the world of fashion has developed in a very particular direction. “Nudity is norm in fashion. You have to keep up with the trends,” Micha el Schmidt explains

Michael Schmidt Portfolio

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Making films is one of Schmidt’s passions. Stage setting and movement are important in a fashion shoot. “I discovered photography and film making in graduate school. I bought a Bolex 16mm movie camera at a flea market and used it to animate my architectural project with stop motion photography.”

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Schmidt worked with Brynn, a model from Elite Agency, at a photographer friend’s house. The only other person involved was a make-up artist. “I wanted to keep the shoot very simple. Sometimes you can’t really focus if there are too many people.”

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Fashion shoots in particular have to be seen as complete works of art. On the whole, it should convey a feeling more than just show clothes. The interplay between the model, the clothes and the setting must work. “I love color and black-and-white. Color plays

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a large role in establishing the mood and feel of the shoot. Choosing the right color palette is as important as choosing the right clothes, casting the right model, location … etc. It all adds up to the whole,” photographer Michael Schmidt explains

Michael Schmidt Portfolio

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Portfolio Michael Schmidt

To satisfy photographer Michael Schmidt’s curiosity, model Brynn confided that the text “Oh gads Jimmy” she had tattooed under her left breast is a family saying. However, Brynn never explained the meaning – which remains her secret

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It rained all day during this photo shoot with Jena and Scarlett (right). In a so-called prop shop where you can buy film props, photographer Michael Schmidt got hold of a few guns and rifles. “I suggested they do something with them.”

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Portfolio Michael Schmidt

“I got the phone call on a Tuesday and had to start right away,” Viennaborn fashion and architecture photographer Michael Schmidt (1968) says with a smile, describing the beginning of the four week test period with the H4D-40. To promote Hasselblad’s latest masterpiece, photographers from Chicago, New York and Los Angeles were given a chance to experiment with one of the cameras. In addition to photographing, they agreed to communicate about the experience using internet blogs, Twitter, FlickR and Facebook. “Some of that was pretty new for me, like Twitter. But I began to enjoy it, and I’ll continue tweeting even now.” The new media presence brought profitable advantages as well: No sooner had Schmidt put one of the fashion shoot videos on the “Hassy LA” blog, than a commission came along. The photographer had no difficulty in coming up with ideas for 20 different shoots. “I wanted to put the camera through its paces and see how well it would perform in different situations and genres. I knew what I wanted to cover: Fashion, architecture, landscapes and other more candid stuff.” Schmidt did his Masters in architecture at Arizona State University, working first in that field in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. “But I decided I wanted to work more creatively,” he explains. In a sense, the work he does today germinated whilst he was studying, when the University commissioned him to photograph the students’ architectural models. He considers fashion counterbalances the architectural work. “Both genres require very different approaches and provide a nice balance. At the same time, I love shooting fashion because of the creative freedom – you can break the rules.” On the outskirts of Phoenix, AZ, Schmidt photographed the work

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Above: this image is part of a series for “Architectural Digest”. Right page: this photograph was taken for the Lookbook of a designer whose collection is made up of delicate cashmere clothes

Picture of an old timer in front of the owner’s stylized and remote desert mansion. On the way there, Schmidt filmed a video with the H4D-40. You can see it on www.mesfoto.com

of an architect couple, friends of his. “I shot every 30 seconds over a four day period,” he says. “I appreciate the natural light, but I also shoot with strobes and hot lights, which are wonderful for shaping light.” For optimal effects, eight identical motifs are captured in different lighting and later mounted on top of each other. For exteriors each moment counts, as certain evening light is only there for about ten minutes. The H4D-40 is not only ideal for static photography as in the case of architecture. In his fashion shoots Schmidt manages a super sharpness that still appears natural. “I love playing around with filters, holding them partly in front of the lens,” he confesses. He even took incredibly sharp pictures “through” a blade of grass, blown “by chance” across the lens. In addition to fashion and architecture, Schmidt had a go at portraits – an area he normally never touches; but the H4D-40’s performance in all disciplines fascinated him. “I love the versatility of the system. I was able to replace all my cameras with the H4D-40. When I shoot fashion, I usually use the 503CW. For more candid stuff a smaller camera, like the Nikon F3. This is because I can set it to aperture priority and don’t have to meter every scene. For architecture I use a Horseman camera, which allows me to make important shifts. The H4D can do it all! For architecture I used the 28mm with tilt/ shift adaptor. For candid street shots I just set it to aperture priority, and for studio or fashion stuff I used the manual mode. And True Focus was the absolute greatest!” Summarising his time with the H4D-40, Schmidt closed his blog saying, “It was a brutal month and I LOVED IT!” He is not sure if he can keep up the same pace in the future, but one thing he does know, “The camera’s just gone and I miss it already!” carla susanne erdmann

ONLINE 7/2010

HOC

Hasselblad Owners’ Club 6/2010

claudio napolitano Members of the Hasselblad Owners’ Club have chosen a picture by Claudio Napolitano as Photo of the Month. Introducing the US-based commercial and portrait photographer and his aesthetic world.

Born in Venezuela, Claudio Napolitano traveled to Italy when he was ten years old – he had his mother’s photo camera and Super 8 camera in his bag. “It was back then that I discovered the infinite possibilities of still photography, and that I could tell more complex stories with still images than with motion pictures. That was when I decided to become a photographer,” Napolitano remembers. Seven years later the dream came true. He started out with a portrait photographer in Madrid, specialising later in commercial photography. Nowadays he lives and works in the US, taking pictures for the most important agencies and already receiving many awards for his work. Napolitano has used Hasselblad cameras since the very beginning of his career – first the 503CW, and more recently the H4D-40. In addition to his commercial shoots, he does a lot of personal work, focusing on social issues. The picture chosen as the Hasselblad Owners’ Club Photo of the Month (page 25) is part of a longterm project titled “Smoke Signals”, and clearly confirms Napolitano’s talent for taking pictures that tell complete stories. He has come a long way, but still wants to evolve and develop. “When you think you’ve arrived somewhere, that’s the starting point for the next step.” Vita: Born in Caracas/Venezuela in 1968; freelance photographer since 1992, living and working in the US since 2003; his most important clients include J. Walter Thompson, Leo Burnett, Ogilvy & Mather and Publicis. www.claudionapolitano.com www.hasselblad.com

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HOC

Hasselblad Owners’ Club 6/2010

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Hasselblad Master portfolio

Landscape

Hans StRand It took seven tries before Hans Strand managed to avoid the Eyjafjallajökull ash cloud and fly to Iceland, but his perseverance paid off: The natural phenomenon that caused European aviation havoc provided the Swedish landscape photographer with spectacular motifs. Using an H4D-40 and an H3DII-50, he captured stunning aerial shots of the violent eruption, flying to within 600 meters of the volcano in a Cessna 172. “I felt safe in the pilot’s hands, though the sound from the volcano was dramatic. There were constant explosions and cascades of lava thrown into the air,” Strand remembers. “I worked with a 210mm lens to achieve a more abstract and personal interpretation. I took a chance, because in a shaking plane it’s difficult to avoid motion blur with such a long lens.” Even on the ground he chose not to use a tripod to take pictures of the volcano spewing ash over straw bales, streets and ice floes. Strand considers both his Hasselblad cameras as outdoor cameras. “Especially the H4D-40 is as adapted for the task as any 35mm camera. I even used it for hand held ground shots of Icelandic horses near the ash cloud. I also tried the True Focus feature and it worked perfectly on my close ups of the horses.” Strand is delighted with the latest Phocus 2.5 update, which he used to process the pictures. “It’s a fantastic software. After processing the images there was little left for me to do.” Even though the colors in his pictures look extremely saturated, Strand did not tweak them. “To avoid discussions about artificial colors, I never do anything other than balance them,” he explains. “The intense blue of the background of the ash cloud is absolutely authentic. The colors of Iceland have to be seen to be believed.” www.hansstrand.com www.hasselblad.com/masters

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Hasselblad Master portfolio

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Next victor online: 1 August 2010 Be surprised by inspiring portfolios, keep up-to-date with the most significant photographic trends and read leading news for the photography community. On August 1st, 2010, check your monitor for the next issue of VICTOR online.

mitsuaki koshizuka >> artistic nude photographs, inspired by traditional Japanese “Katagami” patterns

Louie Palu >> his no-frills black & white images draw a portrait of homelessness

>> discover the aesthetic world of the photographer who took the Hasselblad Owners’ Club photo of the month: Peter Golznig

HOC

Hasselblad Owners’ Club 7/2010

Items and topics in the next issue of VICTOR online may be changed or post-poned due to editorial or other reasons.

ONLINE 7/2010

Imprint VICTOR online | 7/2010 www.victorbyhasselblad.com info@victorbyhasselblad.com

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Publisher: Stephan Bittner, Center of Service GmbH