Issue 5 by Viewfinder Magazine

Creative & Street Photography Issue 05

S o u r ce : f l i ckr.com/nesster

the VF Team

Paul Murphy E ditor

Shoots on 18 film cameras from little plastic lens toys to pro SLR. Also shoots digital on a Canon EOS 450D. flickr.com/analoguepaul

Editorial

Issue 05

Welcome to Issue 5 of Viewfinder Magazine, celebrating creative and street photography from around the world. This time around we’re packed full of very interesting features, including a story about 53 year old undeveloped film u ncovered by chance while on the search for an old camera. Magnum photographer Martin Parr talks to us about the importance of printing in the digital age and we take Fuji’s stylish FinePix X100 out for a test drive, just to see why it’s Creative & Street Photography Issue 05

S ean O’Flaherty C reative Editor

Shoots with a Canon EOS 5D and 450D and a 35mm Pentax SP1000. Is also not a stranger to the world of the Diana F+. flickr.com/seanof

making such a stir. Our featured photographer is the wonderful Agni eszka Bernaka, the Polish street photographer who gets inspired by ugly things. We also have a go at achieving split images, similar to those popular with film phot ography, using a D SLR. Also, inside you’ll find our reg ular gallery of the best photographs submitted to us, here, at View finder, as well as the latest news and a review of a 1950s classic fold out camera.

- the VF Team

A ndy Doyle P odcast Producer

Canon EOS 7D expert but from time to time he swaps his DSLR for his old Praktica and Lubitel cameras. flickr.com/andywithcamera

Contributors Tim Williams (flickr. com/bono66), Agnieszka Bernaka (flickr.com/ redkoala1), Duncan Hill (flickr.com/duncanmhill), Glenn Eugen Ellingsen (flickr.com/eugen89), Chris Gachot (flickr. com/chrisgachot), Shane Connaughton (flickr. com/shaneconnaughton), Jay McIntyre (jmphotographyonline. ca) Tom Welland (flickr.com/64569522@ N07), Francesco Settineri (franty.tumblr. com), Daniel Polidori (flickr.com/56501339@ N06), Ambra Vernuccio (flickr.com/ ambravernuccio), Graham Jackson (wix.com/ grahamjay/photographer)

Inside this issue Feature: Fji FinePix X100 The VF Verdict

Features

Bresson prints fetch €2m

For Immadediate Release 7 septembre Contact:

Christie’s the world’s leading and also his techniques and art art auction house, recently printing. sold a 100 photographic The collection included David Madec +331 40 76 prints 84 08 dmadec@christies.com by Henri Cartier-Bresson, from original vintage prints as well Decroi +331 40 76 85 88 cdecroi@christies.com theCarine famous photographer’s as more recent ones. All of the Foundation. prints in the collection had been

We take the X100 out for a test run just to see what its really about, style or substance?

was the first time that immade under Henri Cartier-BresHCB: 100Itphotographs from the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation ages from his archives, consid- son’s control, since no prints 11 CartiNovember 2011 ered to be good by Henri have been produced for collec-

er-Bresson, have been ofsold at tions since his death in 2004. auction. The seAll of the lection fetched prints were over €2milsigned and lion which was marked on above the is esthe back with timated value of the Founda€1.4 million. tion’s stamp. Henri CartCartierier Bresson Bresson most (1908-2004) iconic immade photoage ‘Derrijournalism an ère la gare art form. In 1947, along with St Lazare, Paris,’ taken in 1932 Robert Capa, David Seymour, sold for amount of prints by Henri Paris – Christie’s France is honoured to be organizing the the sale highest of 100 photographic William Vandivert and Georges the 91 prints sold at a value of Cartier-Bresson from the photographer’s Rodger, hefamous founded the Mag- Foundation. €433,000. This is the first time that images from his num photo ‘Hyères, of the cyarchives, considered to be agency. good by Henri Cartier-Bresson, have France,’ been offered at auction. This selection The whole of Henri-Cartier clist also taken in 1932 was sold is estimated toBresson’s fetch around 1.4 was million euros. career to be found for €18,750. in the 100 photographs – from Other works like ‘Munster, 1929, with an image taken in Irlande,’ taken in 1952, ‘Alberto Henri Cartier-Bresson – "The eye of the century" Rouen to one of the later works Giacometti à la Galerie Maeght, Henri CartierHelmut Bresson Newton, (1908-2004) photo-journalism an art form. ‘Dimanche In 1947, along with Robert Parcmade Monceau Paris,’ taken in 1961, 2000. Of the 100 prints and 91 Georges sur les bords de Marne, France,’ Capa, David in Seymour, William Vandivert Rodger, he founded the Magnum photo were sold at auction. taken in 1938 and ‘Albert Caagency. The photographic works rep- mus, Paris,’ (pictured) taken in resents both the world as seen 1944 €20,000, €75,400, €27,400 by Henri Cartier-Bresson and and €13,750 respectively.

Fuji FinePix X100 the

Verdict

In the early 1930s, HCB returned from his travels with surrealist snapshots which would forge his

legend. He invented a style – the "decisive moment" – a combination of exuberant life and carefully 6

controlled geometry. He thereby brought credibility to photo-journalism and made "imagination based

on nature" an ethic and an aesthetic. In 1952, he exhibited his definition of photography in a book

with the revealing title “Images à la sauvette” (“images on the fly”, published in English as “The Decisive Moment”). He was one of the legendary figures of photography in the 20th-century, through which he passed with an eye on the great historical landmarks that was consistently off-beat and revealing. "This sale is an unprecedented opportunity for collectors and, I’m sure, for museums around the world.” Peter Galassi, former Curator of Photography, the Museum of Modern Art, New York

Feature: Magnum’s Parr on printing

Martin

The need to print in the digital age Magnum photographer Martin Parr tells us why it is important to print our photos. Words: Paul Murphy In a digital age where most of our photographs find homes online, (flickr, facebook, lo mography, etc.), there are those who worry that our jpeg culture won’t leave any lasting memo ries for future generations to explore. In an article in the Guard ian newspaper in August 2010 Magnum photographer Martin Parr urged people to print their holiday photographs as our on line presence dies with us and hard drives tend to die before us, so we stand to lose everything we’ve shot. In a follow up to the article we discussed with Martin the necessity to print and about his own photographic process. ‘The danger is that we could delete every file we’ve made with two clicks.’ He begins to explain. ‘It’s just so easy that everything could get lost.’ ‘Hard drives can get full and sometimes you have to delete stuff off them to make room for new stuff.’ Martin Parr has often attributed his interest in photography coming from his grand father and going through his art prints and the family al bums and the urge for the average camera user to print their holiday snaps is so that future

One of the world’s most famous photographers discusses the importance of printing in the digital age.

generations have family albums to leaf through rather than passing on hard drives that will hopefully still work. Also, family albums are much easier to keep organised than hard drives full of RAW, JPEG and TIFF files. Having completely moved to shooting digital, Martin hasn’t looked back. ‘I don’t shoot film anymore. You know all those best shots you missed when you were changing your film, that doesn’t happen anymore.’ So having moved completely along with the digital times and not urging people to print on the back of using a darkroom and being in the habit of mak ing prints from his negatives Martin talked about his own workflow. ‘I shoot, then I edit. Then I print the ones I edit. Then I make a new selection by editing what I print.’ ‘It’s easier to read the photographs, you can move them and shuffle them around. I physi cally make piles I like to edit using prints’ Being able to see his fi nal image in print form help Martin select his final images in edit. This is an argument that many photographers put

forward when trying to edit d o w n a s h o o t w he r e t h e y e n d up with too many images. Even when there are more than one frame of a similar image it’s often said that if you p r i n t t h e m i t b e co m e m u ch e a si e r t o u n d e r s t a n d w h i ch f r a m e i s t he b e s t o n e . T h e i m p o r t a n ce o f p r i n t i n g is that it is a more permanent i m a g e . U n l i k e f i l m , d i g i t a l i ma g e s a r e s t o r e d o n d e v i ce s a n d i n cl o u d s . T h e y a r e m o r e f r a g i l e a n d e a s y t o l o s e . A t l e a st i f t h e y a r e p r i n t e d t he y m a y l a s t m u ch l o n g e r . P r i n t e d p i ct u r e s , s t o r e d i n a t t i cs , ca n b e co m e i m p o r t a n t a r t i f a ct s f o r f u t u r e g e n e r a t i o n s. M a r t i n a l so o f f e r e d t h i s t o co n s i d e r a s a s u g g e s t i o n o n what to shoot, drawing on his own vast experience: ‘What people don’t realise is how interesting things are, o r w i l l b e i n y e a r s t o co m e , o r d i n a r y t h i n g s . We t e n d t o h a v e t h i s h a b i t o f p h o t o g r a p hi n g t hi n g s t ha t a r e t i m e l e s s , ch u r ch e s , s ce n e r i e s , p r e t t y t h i n g s , p o s t ca r d i m a g e s . A l o n g w i t h p i ct u r e s o f o u r f a m i l i e s , o t h e r i n t e r e s t i n g t hi n g s a r e a b o u t cha n g e , W h e n y o u d e co rate your room I suggest you photograph it before and after b e ca u s e o n ce i t ’ s g o n e y o u h a v e l o s t t ha t p i ct u r e f o r e v e r .’

Mommy, Mommy, Look What I Found The search for a 110 camera that led to a discovery of undeveloped film exposed 53 years earlier. Words: Tim Williams

W h a t st a r t e d o u t a s a s e a r ch f o r a n o l d K o d a k 1 1 0 c a m e r a , t ha t m y M o m s a i d s h e h a d d o w ns t a i r s , e n d e d u p w i t h a d i s co v ery of a small box of old photos and negatives. In the box of family treasures were two rolls of exposed, undeveloped rolls of Kodak V e r i ch r o m e P a n 6 2 0 f i l m . M y Mom pulled them out from a b a g t h a t he l d h e r b a b y b o o k . To me these two rolls were like f i n d i n g a l o st t r e a su r e ! We b e g a n t o s p e cu l a t e w h a t co u l d b e o n t h e m . We r e t h e y b a b y p h o t o s ? C o u l d t h e y b e p ho t o s o f my grandfather as a young man or my Grandmother as a young w o m a n ? We d i d n o t k n o w w ha t was on the two rolls but we k n e w s o m e t h i n g a m a z i n g ha d t h e p o t e n t i a l t o b e o n t he m . We n e v e r f o u n d t h e 1 1 0 ca m e r a , b u t w h a t w e d i d f i n d w a s m u ch m o r e e x ci t i n g . We f o u n d a h i d den family mystery. O n ce w e p u t e v e r y t h i n g away, my Mom asked me if t h e s e co u l d s t i l l b e d e v e l o p e d ? I s a i d y e s t h e y co u l d b u t w a s u nsure how or who would develop these two rolls. I really wanted t o t r e a t t h e m w i t h a l o t o f ca r e a s t h e y ha d t r a v e l e d a g r e a t d i s t a n ce t o g e t i n t o m y h a n d s . I w a n t e d t o m a k e s u r e t h a t t he development of the rolls would b e ha n d l e d p r o p e r l y . T h e s t o r y o f ho w t h e s e t w o rolls survived many moves and t h a t t h e y w e r e n e v e r st o r e d i n i d e a l co n d i t i o n s i s a m i r a cl e i n i t s e l f . T h e y w e r e k e p t i n a t t i cs a n d b a se m e n t s f o r w e l l o v e r 4 0 years. I p u t a d d e d p r e s s u r e o n m yself as I knew these were fami l y p ho t o s a n d w a n t e d t o t a k e

a l l t h e ca r e a n d p r o p e r s t e p s i n making these images come out. S o m y r e s e a r ch b e g a n , ho w d o y o u d e v e l o p 6 2 0 f i l m ? W ha t developer? How long do you d e v e l o p f o r ? A l l t h e s e q u e st i o n s I ha d f o r t h e s e t w o r o l l s . I knew how to develop, from taki n g P h o t o g r a p h y i n co l l a g e , b u t that was over 15 years ago. A n d d i d I t r u st m y se l f f o r this job? At first, no, but I made u p m y m i n d t ha t y e s , I w a s g oing to be the one to develop my M o m ’ s f a m i l y p h o t o s . N o w I ha d t o g e t a co u p l e o f p r a ct i ce r o l l s u n d e r m y b e l t t o g e t b a ck i n t o t h e f l o w . S o I qu i ck l y s t a r t e d t o d e v e l o p a t h o m e a s I s t i l l ha d e v e r y t h i n g f r o m s ch o o l . A f t e r 4 o r 5 r o l l s I w a n t e d t o g i v e t he V e r i ch r o m e a t r y . I w a n t e d t o finally see what was on them. I t u r n e d t o a p ho t o g r a p h e r friend of mine that I met on T w i t t e r , C h r i s F e ci o , f o r h e l p . If not for him these rolls would n e v e r h a v e s e e n t he l i g h t o f d a y a g a i n . I t w a s C h r i s t h a t he l p e d me find the proper developer a n d h e g a v e m e v a l u a b l e i n s i g ht i n t o d e v e l o p i n g V e r i ch r o m e film, including what fixer to use and to make sure it had a hardening agent. H e a l so he l p e d w i t h t i m e s and when to agitate the film. So n o w I ha d a l l t h e i n f o I n e e d e . A f t e r I b o u g h t t h e p r o p e r ch e mi ca l s a n d m i x e d m y d i l u t i o n s I s e t o u t t o u n l o ck t h e m y s t e r y . I n t o t h e b l a ck b a g I g o ! I b e gan to unroll the film and feed i t o n t o m y r e e l . Ro l l o n e t o o k 4 t r i e s a n d a n o v e r n i g ht s i t i n my light sealed Paterson tank b e f o r e I co u l d p r o p e r l y f e e d i t i n t o t h e r e e l . O n ce i n t h e t a n k I s e t m y ch e m i ca l s u p ; Ro d i n a l

Feature: Found Film

a t 1 : 1 0 0 a t 2 0 d e g r e e s , m e as u r e d o u t m y s t o ck s o l u t i o n o f fixer at 500ml and began with a 2 m i n p r e so a k a t 2 0 d e g r e e s. Develop time was 60mins with l i g h t a g i t a t i o n f o r 1 0 se c o n t h e 20th and 40th minute. Wash was one minute with water and I f i x e d f o r 5 m i n . I t he n w a s h e d f o r 1 2 .5 m i n . A f t e r t h e w a s h I ca l l e d m y M o m o n t h e p h o n e s o s h e co u l d b e t h e r e a s I u n r o l l e d t h e f i r st V e r i ch r o m e r o l l . I w a s s o e x ci t e d w he n I s t a r t e d t o see images. All but two images from that first roll developed. I cl i p p e d t h e f i l m a n d h u n g i t t o d r y i n m y s ho w e r . The first roll was a HUGE s u cce s s a n d a t e s t a m e n t t o K odak and to film. After 53 years of improper storage and laying a r o u n d , t hi s f i l m r e n d e r e d i ma g e s ! P ho t o s o f m y M o m a n d Aunt as 2 year olds, that were n e v e r b e f o r e s e e n , a r e n o w he r e for my family to enjoy. The seco n d r o l l w a s m u ch m o r e f o g g y a n d ha r d e r t o p r o d u ce cl e a r i m a g e s . I t m a y h a v e s o m e t hi n g t o d o w i t h t he f l a s h a n d t h e f a ct the outdoor photos were taken in snow. People keep telling me that digital is the way to go. They a s k m e a l l t he t i m e w hy d o y o u s h o o t s o m u ch f i l m ? T hi s i s w h y I s ho o t s o m u ch f i l m , i t ca n l a s t s o l o n g . T h e r e i s s o m ething about working with film a n d t h e w a i t f o r t he i m a g e t h a t makes it so great. 53 years passed before these images, of a time forgotten, w e r e b r o u g h t b a ck f o r t h e n e w g e n e r a t i o n t o e n j o y a n d t r e asure. Film is far from dead and K o d a k V e r i ch r o m e P a n 6 2 0 i s a testament to that.

On the search for his Mom’s 110 camera Tim Williams uncovers some 53 year old undeveloped film. 17

Featured Photographer Thi s issue’s most inspiring photographer is Polish street photographer with a thing for old ladies.

Agnieszka Bernacka http://www.flickr.com/redkoala1/

Gallery

An exhibition of the best photographs submitted to Viewfinder Magazine.

Picture: Late for Takeoff P h o t o g r a p h e r : D u n ca n H i l l Flickr: duncanmhill

Picture: Solitude Photographer: Glenn Eugen Ellingsen Flickr: eugen89

Technique

Technique: Digital Splits

DigitalSpliter-StylePhotos

Inspired by out last featured photographer we take a go at split images, with a DSLR.

Agfa Billy i

The Agfa Billy I is a folding camera that was produced by Agfa, in Munich, Germany, in 1950 and 1952. The medium format camera is compact with a high end quality preceission German design. Agfa first began manufactur ing this style of camera in the 1920s and rather unfortunately for shutter bugs, these cameras have become ornaments for an tique collectors. The Agfa Billy I is so light and compact that it is an essential part of any photographic excusion or studio work. It shoots a 6x9 frame on 120 film. With only 8 shots per roll.

Here’s how to quickly get spliterstyle images from your DSLR with out using photoshop. Words and Photos: Paul M ur phy Inspired by our last featured photographer Christos Christou (www.flickr.com/photos/25t hc ) we decided to have a little fun and experiment with quick split images using a digital camera. Of course, we are aware that split images are relatively easy to create with digital imagery using something like photoshop by copy and pasting and all that jazz. But we wondered if there was a quick and easy way to achieve the much loved split image effect, that is so easy to produce on film, with a regular DSLR. For this we used a Canon EOS 450D, pictured, and opened up the shutter for a two second exposure, shot at f4 and 100ISO. Cover the lower half of the lens with your non shooting hand. Click the shutter button and count to 3/4 second. Cover the lens with your hand and flip the camera around 180 degrees and again lower your hand to cover what is now the bottom half of the lens. You should have about 3/4 of a second here before the shutter closes. You must also try to keep

the camera in the same position and move your hand when cov ering the lens and not move the camera. Also when turning the camera 180 degrees try to keep the lens centred on the same part of your hand throughout. It is very important that when you are turning the camera around that the second half of your exposure will line up correctly with the first half. A slight error in judgement here and you may end up with

a black slice in your image and not covering the lens will lead to cicular lines in the image. The resulting pictures are, depending on the steadiness of your hands, soft images with a bottom half that looks like a re flection in water. Trial and error is a big part of the one-shot digital split, so change it up to suit you, you can open up the shutter more for more time to turn the cam era around when getting the second half of your image.

Review: Agfa Billy I

Review

‘‘ Trial & error is a big part of the one-shot digital split’’

The format makes it an incred ible portrait camera for studio work and with a PC cable attachment it will work with an off camera flash. The glass viewfinder sits on top of the camera unline it’s predecessors where it was above the lens or just a pop up piece of metal on top of the camera. The camera will also take a standard cable shutter release. The Agfa Billy I is a great camera for shooting lanscapes. The 6x9 format is much preferred among landscape pho tographers than the somewhat standard square format usually associated with shooting on 120

film. Although not 6x12 which some medium format panoramic cameras shoot, the Agfa’s wide frame allows for greater scope when shooting out in the wild. The Agfa Agnar 105mm f/6.3-f22 lens can help create sharp and stunning images. The shutter speeds are B, 1/25s, 1/50s and 1/100s with focussing range of 3feet 50feet, infinity. The film door has a locking mecahism and the camera also has double exposure protection. The shutter must be cocked before hitting the shutter release. The open and close lock for

A look at the classic 1950s fold out camera.

the door and fold out mecha nism also doubles up as a handy stand which can help keep the camera steady during long exposures. All mechanisms on the cam era, other than the film winder and door, are all built into the lens. The bellows on this camera were also manufactured in different colours but the most popular was black. If you manage to come across one of these cameras on ebay or in used camera or antique shot make sure that there are no holes in the bellows as this will cause light leaks.

With no unnecessary modes or dials, the has an intuitive glass touchscreen that lets hile the Lytro camera houses complex News ative opportunities for anyone interested in

Lytro consumer light field camera

of every light ray flowing t into the cameatures era, capturing um a scene in four ces, dimensions. Concepts amera. related to the ly light field and ative computational photography a (or 11 have been re ething searched in ace then ademic circles for more than a Lytro, Inc. (www.lytro.com) HD quality. century. have unveiled the first Lytro Lytro CEO and Founder Dr. consumer field camera, at people never misslight a moment. It turns on Ren Ng ’s Ph.D. said ‘Light field introducing new way to take delays. auto-focus, the Lytroa has no shutter photography was once only posand experience pictures. ght in a scene, the Lytro performs well in lowsible with 100 cameras tethered Lytro light field camera capto a supercomputer, in a lab, tures all the rays of light in a today i t’s accessible to everyscene, models, providing storing new capabili 8GB and 16GB 350 -and 750 one in a camera that’s small and ties never before possible, such wners will enjoy free storage for the light field powerful, but incredibly easy as the ability to focus a picture to use. Our goal is to forever after it’s taken. The cameras a light field, all pictures taken feature with the Lytro change are the way people take and experiences pictures, and today eld sensor that collects the cole in 2012, fior, will be applied to the light field marks our first major step.’ intensity, and the direction

enable viewers to shift the perspective of the

The Lytro light field camera is accompanied by Lytro’s desk top application, a free software download that easily imports pictures from camera to com puter. Currently availabl e for Mac OS X, the desktop application lets people view, interact with, organize and share their light field pictures. Lytro pictures can then be uploaded to Lytro.com to be share d via Facebook, Twitter, blogs, or as links in email messages. Once shared, Lytro’s liv ing pictures allow viewers to live the moment with the photographer and explore a scene like never before. Viewers can continually interact with Lytro pictures – focusing them over and over – expanding the cre ative possibilities of each and every shot. The Lytro camera has an 8x optical zoom and f/2 lens. Prices start at $399.

Lomography - not just for photos Lomography have come out with a very unexpected new product. After making a very successful bu siness centered around the old Lomo LC-A as well as bringing the Diana back to life and creating new cam eras like the La Sardina and ac tion samplers, this global phenomenon has now moved into motion picture. The LomoKino is a 35mm motion picture camera. Tak ing a standard roll of 35mm film the LomoKino shoots 144 frames on a roll of film at a rate

of 3-5 frames per second. Like the early video cam eras powered by a hand crank the frame rate of the video on

a LomoKino depends on how much force is applied to the crank. The camera has two focus options 1m - infinity or a close up option of up to 0.6m. Ap erture options are f5.6, f8 and f11. The movie camera also has a pop up viewfinder as well as a hot shoe mount for lighting up movies with a flash with good recycling power. Lomography suggest using the Fritz the Blitz flash which they released with the La Sardina range.

Bresson prints fetch €2m

For Immadediate Release 7 septembre

Christie’s the world’s lead- his techniques and printing. ing art auction house, recently The collection included put 100 photographic prints by original vintage prints as well Contact: David Madec +331 40 76 84 08 dmadec@christies.com Henri Cartier-Bresson, from the as more recent ones. All of the Carinephotographer’s Decroi +331 40Founda76 85 88 cdecroi@christies.com famous prints in the collection had been tion, up for sale. made under Henri Cartier-BresIt was the first time that imson’s control, since no prints HCB: 100 photographs from the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation ages from his archives, consid- have been produced for collec11 November 2011his death in 2004. ered to be good by Henri Cart- tions since ier-Bresson, have been sold at All of the prints were signed auction. The seand marked lection fetched on the back over €2milwith the lion which was Foundation’s above the estistamp. mated value of Cartier€1.4 million. Bresson most Henri Carticonic image ier Bresson ‘Derrière la (1908-2004) gare St Lazmade photoare, Paris,’ journalism an taken in 1932 art form. In 1947, along with sold for the highest amount of Robert Capa, David Seymour, the 91the prints a value of prints by H Paris – Christie’s France is honoured to be organizing sale ofsold 100atphotographic William Vandivert and Georges €433,000. Cartier-Bresson from the photographer’s is the first that images from Rodger, hefamous founded the Mag- Foundation. ‘Hyères,This France,’ of time the cynum photo agency. clist also taken in 1932 was sold archives, considered to be good by Henri Cartier-Bresson, have been offered at auction. This selec The whole of Henri-Cartier for €18,750. is estimated toBresson’s fetch around 1.4 was million euros. career to be found Other works like ‘Munster, in the photographs – from 1929, Irlande,’ taken in 1952, ‘Alberwith an image taken in Rouen to to Giacometti à la Galerie MaeHenri Cartier-Bresson – "The eye of the century" one of the later works Helmut ght, Paris,’ taken in 1961, ‘DiHenri CartierNewton, Bresson (1908-2004) made photo-journalism an les art bords form. In along with Ro Parc Monceau in 2000. manche sur de 1947, Marne, Of the 100 prints 91 were sold France,’ taken in 1938 and ‘AlCapa, David Seymour, William Vandivert and Georges Rodger, he founded the Magnum ph at auction. bert Camus, Paris,’ (pictured) agency. The photographic works rep- taken in 1944 sold for €20,000, resented both the world as seen €75,400, €27,400 and €13,750 by Henri Cartier-Bresson and respectively.

In the early 1930s, HCB returned from his travels with surrealist snapshots which would forge

legend. He invented a style – the "decisive moment" – a combination of exuberant life and care 6

controlled geometry. He thereby brought credibility to photo-journalism and made "imagination b

on nature" an ethic and an aesthetic. In 1952, he exhibited his definition of photography in a b

Features

Fuji FinePix X100 The

Verdict

Sean The first thing you notice about the X100, when you open the box, is its slick appearance. It looks like a vintage film camera, and the people I have shown it to, or even photographed, have commented on how it looked and wondered was it actually a film camera. Fujifilms new ad dition is a beautifully made and aesthetically pleasing piece of machinery. The second thing you notice is how light the camera is. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not so sure if this is a good or a bad thing as I personally like a bit of weight behind the cameras I use, especially a film camera, which this is trying to emulate. Having said that, you get over that fact pretty quickly once you start using it. The X100 is a mirrorless camera, which, unlike tradi tional film and digital SLRâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, there is no mirror housed inside the body. This allows the 8

X100 to be extremely silent and one of the most stealthy cam eras I have used to date. It does have one drawback though, the viewfinder is either the glass window on the left of the body, or a digital represen tation, in the same window, of what you see through the lens. It has a histogram and grid overlay, which you will find very useful for exposure and composition. Also contained in the over lay are the usual shutter, aper ture and ISO speed indicators. When you use the LCD viewfinder option the display is quite jerky and slow to respond or f ind focus. The overall set-up of the camera is very intuitive, with the shutter and aperture dials perfectly placed for ease of use, the shutter speed is just beside your right thumb, and the ap erture is controlled via the lens

which is a joy to use. The menu system is vast and includes a nice collection of presets that emulate some of Fujifilmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most popular 35mm film, Velvia and Provia to mention a few. The auto focus is a little slow and I found it a bit of a nui sance, resulting in some missed shots. The manual focus is a no go too, as there is no indication as to how far away your sub ject is, and when used with the normal viewfinder you have no idea what you are focusing on. The lens used is a 23 mm fixed lens and the X100 does not have interchangeable lenses. The X100 is a beautifully made, well thought out camera that is ideal for consumers who are looking to get away from the usual point and shoot. There are a few drawbacks with the camera, but none which put me off the fact I want to have one in my collection.

Andy A s an almost exclusively digital photographer, I’ve had little experience with the film cameras that inspired the Fujifilm FinePix X100. My inexperience is doubtlessly the reason why I found this camera difficult to use. However, I’m not alone in being a predo minantly digital photographer and my experi ence with the camera would be typical of that of any DSLR user. When I first picked up the X100 it felt like an extra-terrestrial street photographer had lent me some strange alien image capture device to play with. When I tried to use manual focus, things got even strang er. The X100 has a dual mode viewfinder. One mode works by overlaying information onto an optical viewfinder in the eye piece. The other mode offers an electronic ‘through the lens’

view in the same eyepiece. As the X100 has no range markings on the lens, manual focus can only be achieved through the use of either the electronic eye piece or the LCD screen. There is a digital range marker, but it’s slow to update as you turn the focus ring. Havi ng gotten over most of my issues coming from a DSLR, this one remains a problem for me and I found myself miss ing shots while waiting for the screen to catch up while I ad justed focus. Once I got used to its oldschool form and resigned my self to shooting on autofocus, I began to enjoy using the X100. Inside its 20th century styled body lies cutting edge 21st century digital technology. The APS-C size sensor is big for a camera of its size, offering bet ter low light capability and a nicer bokeh than most cameras

you can fit in your pocket. But for me, the biggest selling point is the X100’s ability to capture a dynamic range comparable to film. Dynamic range defines a sensor or film’s ability to correctly expose bright and dark objects in the same scene. Most digital cameras are somewhat lacking here compared to film. At ISO 400 and above, the X100 outperforms a lot of the com petition, and this is no surprise as Fuji have always been ahead of the competition in capturing more film-like, higher dynamic range images. For the film photographers it’s aimed at, the X100 combines a film like shooting experience with the convenience of a digital workflow. For me, as a digital photographer, it felt like a step backwards at first, but anything that makes you shoot differently is worth a try. 9

Paul Coming from a largely film background the Fuji X100 ap pears to be a natural choice for someone like me to make a per manent move to digital. At first impression the camera fits perfectly. Each dial, but ton and knob is exactly where I would expect it to be and while looking through the viewfinder I could change settings without a thought. It must be said that this camera did change, temporarily, my approach to street photgraphy. Recently I have found myself shooting more and more from the hip in order to remain out of sight and out of mind of my subjects. The X100 afforded me new opportunities while on the streets. I was practically able to go up to people’s faces and stand for a second and shoot them. Opposite to what the usual 10

suspicious reaction that an SLR, in the face, would warrant the X100 was almost greeted. The public appeared to be indiffer ent to it. The 35mm equivalent lens is excellent for its depth of field functionality and the viewfinder when in normal mode is a dream to work with. However, The autofocus seems a little slow. Where I require speed for shooting street photography, the X100 did let me down, at times, and manual focus is a waste ot time on it. Each image also required far too much post processing, for my liking. Being a film shooter, I am used to my images being almost 100% finished when shot, despite some dodging and burning and dust deleting when I scan the negatives. The X100 produced pictures that just had little or no contrast on most of its settings.

Colour reproduction on the camera’s different film emula tion settings was better than what I had expected. The X100 worked best for me in full daylight and superbly in low light but if conditions were in between, as they mostly are in Ireland, the camera did struggle to perform. The macro function on the camera, for up close images, took ages for the focus to find the subject. All in all though a step in the right direction. I look forward to seeing what the follow up cameras will be like to see if Fuji can crack the digital cam era for the film fanatic. And despite the failings, when compared to the film experience, the X100 is a great digital camera. It’s small and light and very natural to use. I can certainly see the benefits of having one.

The need to print in the digital age Magnum photographer Martin Parr tells us why it is important to print our photos. Words: Paul Murphy In a digital ag e where most of our photographs find homes online, (flickr, facebook, lo mography, etc.), there are those who worry that our jpeg culture won’t leave any lasting memo ries for future generations to explore. In an article in the Guard ian newspaper in August 2010 Magnum photographer Martin Parr urged people to print their holiday photographs as our on line presence dies with us and hard drives tend to die before us, so we stand to lose every thing we’ve shot. In a follow up to the article we discussed with Martin the necessity to print and about his own photographic process. ‘The danger is that we could delete every file we’ve made with two clicks.’ He begins to explain. ‘It’s just so easy that everything could get lost.’ ‘Hard drives can get full and sometimes you have to delete stuff off them to make room for new stuff.’ Martin Parr has often attributed his interest in photography coming from his grand father and going through his art prints and the family al bums and the urge for the average camera user to print their holiday snaps is so that future

generations have family albums to leaf through rather than passing on hard drives that will hopefully still work. Also , family albums are much easier to keep organised than hard drives full of RAW, JPEG and TIFF files. Havi ng completely moved to shooting digital, Martin hasn’t looked back. ‘I don’t shoot film anymore. You know all those best shots you missed when you were changing your film, that doesn’t happen anymore.’ So having moved completely along with the digital times and not urging people to print on the back of using a darkroom and bei ng in the habit of mak ing prints from his negatives Martin talked about his own workflow. ‘I shoot, then I edit. Then I print the ones I edit. Then I make a new selection by editing what I print.’ ‘It’s easier to read the photographs, you can move them and shuffle them around. I physically make piles I like to edit using p rints’ Being able to see his fi nal image in print form help Martin select his final images in edit. This is an argument that many photographers put

forward when trying to edit down a shoot where they end up with too many images. Even when there are more than one frame of a similar im age it’s often said that if you print them it become much easier to understand which frame is the best one. The importance of printing is that it is a more permanent image. Unlike film, digital images are stored on devices and in clouds. They are more fragile and easy to lose. At least if they are printed they may last much longer. Printed pictures, stored in attics, can become important artifacts for future generations. Martin also offered this to consider as a suggestion on what to shoot, drawing o n his own vast experience: ‘What people don’t realise is how interesting things are, or will be in years to come, ordinary things. We tend to have this habit of photographing things that are timeless, churches, sceneries, pretty things, postcard images. Along with pictures of our families, other interesting things are about change, When you deco rate your room I suggest you photograph it before and after because once it’s gone you have lost that picture forever.’

Mommy, Mommy, Look What I Found The search for a 110 camera that led to a discovery of undeveloped film exposed 53 years earlier. Words: Tim Williams

What started out as a search for an old Kodak 110 camera, that my Mom said she had down stairs, ended up with a discov ery of a small box of old photos and negatives. In the box of family trea sures were two rolls of exposed, undeveloped rolls of Ko dak Verichrome Pan 620 film. My Mom pulled them out from a bag that held her baby book. To me these two rolls were like fi nding a lost treasure! We be gan to speculate what could be on them. Were they baby photos? Could they be photos of my grandfather as a young man or my Grandmother as a young woman? We did not know what was on the two rolls but we knew something amazing had the potential to be on them. We never found the 110 camera, but what we did find was much more exciting. We found a hid den family mystery. Once we put everything away, my Mom asked me if these could still be developed? I said yes they could but was unsure how or who would develop these two rolls. I really wanted to treat them with a lot of care as they had traveled a great dis tance to get into my hands. I wanted to make sure that the development of the rolls would be handled properly. The story of how these two rolls survived many moves and that they were never stored in ideal conditions is a miracle in itself. They were kept in attics and basements for well over 40 years. I put added pressure on myself as I knew these were fam ily photos and wanted to take

all the care and proper steps in making these images come out. So my research began, how do you develop 620 film? What developer? How long do you develop for? All these questions I had for these two rolls. I knew how to develop, from tak ing Photography in collage, but that wa s over 15 years ago. And did I trust myself for this job? At first, no, but I made up my mind that yes, I was going to be the one to develop my Momâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family photos. Now I had to get a couple of practice rolls under my belt to get back into the flow. So I quickly started to develop at home as I still had everything from school. After 4 or 5 rolls I wanted to give the Verichrome a try. I wanted to finally see what was on them. I turned to a photographer friend of mine that I met on Twitter, Chris Fecio, for help. If not for him these rolls would never have seen the light of day again. It was Chris that helped me find the proper developer and he gave me valuable insight into developing Verichrome film, including what fixer to use and to make sure it had a hardening agent. He also helped with times and when to agitate the film. So now I had all the info I needed. After I bought the proper chemicals and mixed my dilutions I set out to unlock the mystery. Into the black bag I go! I be gan to unroll the film and feed it onto my reel. Roll one took 4 tries and an overnight sit in my light sealed Paterson tank before I could properly feed it into the reel. Once in the tank I set m y chemicals up; Rodinal

at 1:100 at 20 degrees, measured out my stock solution of fixer at 500ml and began with a 2 min presoak at 20 degrees. Develop time was 60mins with light agitation for 10 sec on the 20th and 40th minute. Wash was one minute with water and I fixed for 5 min. I then washed for 12.5 min. After the wash I called my Mom on the phone so she could be there as I unrolled the first Verichrome roll. I was so excited when I started to see images. All but two images from that first roll developed. I clipped the film and hung it to dry in my shower. The first roll was a HUGE success and a testament to Kodak and to film. After 53 years of improper storage and l aying around, this film rendered im ages! Photos of my Mom and Aunt as 2 year olds, that were never before seen, are now here for my family to enjoy. The sec ond roll was much more foggy and harder to produce clear im ages. It may have something to do with the flash and the fact the outdoor photos were taken in snow. People keep telling me that digital is the way to go. They ask me all the time why do you shoot so much film? This is why I shoot so much film, it can last so long. There is some thing about working with film and the wait for the image that makes it so great. 53 years passed before these images, of a time forgotten, were brought back for the new generation to enjoy and treasure. Film is far from dead and Kodak Verichrome Pan 62 0 is a testament to that.

Agnieszka Bernacka h t t p : //www.flickr.com/redkoala1/

Self-Por trait

fact box : N a m e : A g n i e sz k a B e r n a ck a N a t i o n a l i t y : Po l i s h L o c a t i o n : K a t o w i ce , P o l a n d W e b s i t e : h t t p : / / w w w .f l i ck r . co m / redkoala1/ Favourite Camera: I don’t have o n e i n p a r t i cu l a r , I h a v e n ’ t g o n e t h r o u g h t ha t m a n y ca m e r a s . I u s e d t o h a v e D i a n a + a n d i t w a s qu i t e co o l , e v e n t h o u g h i t b r o k e a f t e r a few months, now I’m shooting with a Nikon D60 Favourite thing to Photograph: Street photography. Graffiti and all kinds of street art. Person you would most like to Photograph: Should I be all pol i t i ca l co r r e ct a n d s a y t h e P o p e o r G h a n d i ? . .. ... n a w , I ’ d r a t h e r g o f o r s o m e o n e r e a l l y t a ck y a n d t r a sh y a n d ch e e s y l i k e J o r d a n o r s o m e one from the Jersey Shore. Inspiration: Ugly cities, old people, unaware people and ugly people, they’re always far more i n t e r e st i n g t o p h o t o g r a p h t h a n a d o l l e d u p p e r s o n . A n y t hi n g t h a t i s not usual and boring. Interests outside photography: g r a p h i c d e s i g n , st r e e t a r t .

I’m twelve and it’s my birthday. My mum gave me my first ever camera. It was a really crappy cheap plastic camera. I know it was made here, in Poland, but that’s about it. It was an automatic film camera, and, yea it was quite crap. It had two settings - sun and cloud, the viewfinder didn’t work properly and you would never know what would be cropped in a picture. My mum used to warn me not to shoot too many photos though, because developing

film was quite expensive..... even though it wasn’t really. But on that day I was the happiest person in the world, and I was totally into photogra phy from then on. Four years later - another birthday - my sister gave me a second-hand Zenit. It was absolutely brilliant. I still didn’t know what aperture was, but I just went with the flow and kept on shooting. It worked for me and I learned how to get the feel for a photo before I’d com mitted it to film.

Now I shoot with a Nikon D60. I love shooting people on the street, especially when they don’t realize that I’m doing it. I’ve got a pretty good long lens so I get away with it.... most of the time. I like when they don’t look so polished - they make faces, stand in a funny pose, show ing all and any kinds of emo tion. I especially like shooting old women. I don’t know why, there is just something about them. 29

Gallery

Picture: Late for Takeoff Photographer: Duncan Hill F l i c k r : d u n c a n m hi l l

Picture: Solitude Photographer: Glenn Eugen Ellingsen Flickr: eugen89

P i c t u r e : U nt i t l e d P h o t o g r a p h e r : C h r i s G a ch o t F l i c k r : ch r i s g a ch o t

Picture: Down in the park Photographer: Shane Connaughton Flickr: shaneconnau ghton

Picture: Jesse Double P h o t o g r a p h e r : J a y M cI n t y re W e b : j m p h o t o g r a p h y o n l i n e.ca

Picture: Photo12_12 Photographer: Tom Welland Flickr: Welland

Picture: Lovers P h o t o g r a p h e r : F r a n c e s co S e t t i n e r i Tumblr: franty

Picture: Ring of Fire Photographer: Daniel Polidori Flickr: Daniel Polidori

P i c t u r e : T he M y s t e r i o u s G i r l P h o t o g r a p h e r : A m b r a V e r n u cci o F l i c k r : a m b r a v e r n u cci o

Picture: Untitle Photographer: Graham Jackson Web: wix.com/grahamjay/photographer

Technique

DigitalSpliter-StylePhotos He reâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how to quickly get spliters ty l e i m ages from your DSLR with o u t u s i ng photoshop. Wo rds and P h o to s : Paul M ur phy Inspired by our last featured photographer Christos Christouâ&#x20AC;¨ (www.flickr.com/photos/25t hc) we decided to have a little fun and experiment with quick split images using a digital camera. Of course, we are aware that split images are relatively easy to create with digital imagery using something like photoshop by copy and pasting and all that jazz. But we wondered if there was a quick and easy way to achieve the much loved split image effect, that is so easy to produce on film, with a regular DSLR. For this we used a Canon EOS 450D, pictured, and opened up the shutter for a two second exposure, shot at f4 and 100ISO. Cover the lower half of the lens with your non shooting hand. Click the shutter button and count to 3/4 second. Cover the lens with your hand and flip the camera around 180 degrees and again lower your hand to cover what is now the bottom half of the lens. You should have about 3/4 of a second here before the shutter closes. You mu st also try to keep 40

the camera in the same position and move your hand when cov ering the lens and not move the camera. Also when turning the camera 180 degrees try to keep the lens centered on the same part of your hand throughout. It is very important that when you are turning the camera around that the second half of your exposure will line up correctly with the first half. A slight error in judgement here and you may end up with

a black slice in your image and not covering the lens will lead to circular lines in the image. The resulting pictures are, depending on the steadiness of your hands, soft images with a bottom half that looks like a re flection in water. Trial and error is a big part of the one-shot digital split, so change it up to suit you, you can open up the shutter more for more time to turn the cam era around when getting the second half of your image.

‘‘ Trial & error is a big part of the one-shot digital split’’

Review

Agfa Billy I

The Agfa Billy I is a folding camera that was produced by Agfa, in Munich, Germany, in 1950 and 1952. The medium format camera is compact with a high end quality precision German design. Agfa first began manufactur ing this style of camera in the 1920s and rather unfortunately for shutter bugs, these cameras hav e become ornaments for an tique collectors. The Agfa Billy I is so light and compact that it is an essential part of any photographic excursion or studio work. I t shoots a 6x9 frame on 120 film. With only 8 shots per roll. 44

The format makes it an incred ible portrait camera for studio work and with a PC cable attachment it will work with an off camera flash. The glass viewfinder sits on top of the camera unline itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s predecessors where it was above the lens or just a pop up piece of metal on top of the camera. The camera will also take a standard cable shutter release. The Agfa Billy I is a great camera for shooting landscapes. The 6x9 format is much preferred among landscape pho tographers than the s omewhat standard square format usually associated with 120 film.

Although not 6x12 which some medium f ormat panoramic cameras shoot, the Agfaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wide frame still allows for greater scope when shooting out in the wild. Its Agfa Agnar 105mm f/6.3f22 lens can help create sharp and stunning images. The shutter speeds are B, 1/25s, 1/50s and 1/100s with a focus range of 3feet - 50feet, infinity. The film door has a locking mechanism and the camera also has double exposure protection. The shutter must be cocked before hitting the shutter release. The open and close lock for

the door and fold out mechanism al so doubles up as a handy stand which can help keep the camera steady during long exposures. All mechanisms on the cam era, other than the film winder and door, are all built into the lens. The bellows on this camera were also manufactured in different colours but the most popular was black. If you come across one of these cameras on ebay or in used camera or antique shot make sure that there are no holes in the bellows as this will cause light leaks.

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Source: flickr.com/nesster