1x magazine 2 (1)

#2 January 2015

FEATUREDINTERVIEW

HARRY LIEBER PORTFOLIO GOVERT DE

ROOS

CRISTINA OTERO PHOTOSTORY KAH KIT YOONG

1x In pursuit of the sublime

BOOKS MONO

PASSION

NO WORDS

BEYOND

IN PURSUIT OF THE SUBLIME 210 PHOTOGRAPHERS

THE BEGINNING

PHOTOGRAPHIC VISIONS

PHOTO INSPIRATIONS

Copies available at 1x shop: View | Order

PUBLISHER 1x Innovations AB FOUNDER / DIRECTOR Ralf Stelander | Sweden GRAPHIC DESIGN / DTP Lara Kantardjian | London HEAD EDITORIAL TEAM / INTERVIEWS Yvette Depaepe | Belgium EDITORIAL TEAM Proofreader / Editing GR Hodges | USA Interviews / Articles Christian Argueta | USA Ian Munro (aka Deviant Mind) | United Kingdom Marc van Kempen | Netherlands Interviews / Articles / Proofreading Peter Nigos | Canada Interviews French photographers Christian Roustan (alias Kikroune) | France Photo Reviews / Discussions Susanne Stoop | Netherlands Analogue Photography / Reviews Raul Pires Coelho | Portugal Articles / Reviews Robert Coppa | Australia Travel Photography / Workshops Yan Zhang | Australia Jeff Sink | USA

CONTACT e-magazine enquiries | support@1x.com ADDRESS 1x Innovations AB Salagatan 18A S-753 23 Uppsala Sweden

About 1x Founded in 2007 by Jacob Jovelou and Ralf Stelander in Uppsala, Sweden. 1x is a vibrant and exclusive photo community. All photos in the gallery are curated, selected by a team of 11 professional curators. 1x is probably the most elegant and clutter-free website for viewing photos in HD-quality on the internet, like a real photo gallery experience.

In our groups and forums you can discuss photography with members from more than 160 different countries and inspire each other.

With our unique partnership with Eurographics, the biggest prints provider in Europe, with hundreds of stores in more than 60 countries, art directors, advertising agencies, book editors, magazines and big software companies contact us everyday with requests to buy images. Many of our photographers are now represented in art galleries, having been discovered on 1x.

COVER PHOTO Lady with Hat by Harry Lieber

1x Crew Members

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All images and text published in this edition by 1x are copyright protected under international copyright laws and the sole property and ownership of the photographers and editors. No part of this publication may be copied, edited, printed, manipulated, distributed or used in any form without prior written permission from the publisher and copyright owners. All rights reserved.

1x assumes no liability for the work of its contributors.

Introduction The 1X founders and crew truly hope that the 2nd issue of the bimonthly 1X e-magazine will be as captivating and interesting as the 1st issue.

This time, we chose to focus particularly on “Architectural/Abstract photography” as the theme for our regular rubrics.

FEATURE An extensive interview with a talented 1X photographer.

In this issue HARRY LIEBER shares a glimpse into his life and fabulous architectural work.

PLATFORM EMERGING TALENT A selection of outstanding images from excellent 1X photographers THE MAKING OF Inspiring tutorials PHOTO REVIEW An analysis of several excellent images Furthermore, we have varied, interesting and wonderful columns not theme related ARTICLE “Meet the Curators” by Creative Manager Thomas Brindt PORTFOLIO & INTERVIEWS with famous photographers from all over the world.

Discover CRISTINA OTERO, a young Spanish talent and her amazing creative fruit portraits.

Enjoy the live interview with GOVERT DE ROOS who's work includes numerous photographs of celebrities from all over the world and shares his interesting life story.

PHOTOSTORIES Take a journey with the Australian travel and landscape photographer KAH KIT YOONG FILM Article “From Photolab to Photoshop” 1X MEMBER AWARDS Exhibition Shanghai Winners of the weekly theme contest 1X RECOMMENDS MONO Yearbook Books: inspiration Book review

Architectural photographers enable us : they have saved us the countless hours of traveling, searching and waiting for ideal weather and perfect light. The work of these keen eyes abstracts, animates, and valorizes everyday structures – grandeur and benign alike. Some of the photographers imbue their images with the massive weight of the concrete and industrial metal of their subjects. Others capture a delicate play of light and shadow or the caustic relationship between man, nature, and the building. They privilege us by pointing to beauty in banality, addity, reality, and sometimes the imaginary, and remind us to meditate on a good building next time we see one.

We hope that this issue and its educational content together with the recently released 1X LEARNING feature will help you to Take your photography to the next level...

Architectural photography is the art of observation. It is about finding something interesting in an ordinary place … It has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them. Remember : simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication. Give it a chance and Find your inner photographer…

Enjoy, get inspired and don't miss our next issue which will be dedicated to creative edit photography.

Yvette Depaepe Head Editorial Team

JANUARY 2015No.2 HARRY LIEBER | FEATURED INTERVIEW 13 PLATFORM 25 | EMERGING TALENT

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INTRODUCTION | THE MAKING OF INTRUDUCTION

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ANDREAS PAEHGE | THE MAKING OF DARK #02

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DR. AKIRA TAKAUE | THE MAKING OF INTERRUPTION

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GILBERT CLAES| THE MAKING OF SI

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JÜRGEN SCHREPFER | THE MAKING OF SKYLINE

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GOVERT DE ROOS | PORTFOLIO

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RAUL PIRES COELHO | PS TOOLS: ANALOGUE

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KAH KIT YOONG

| PHOTO STORY

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13 SHOTS | PHOTO REVIEW

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CRISTINA OTERO | PORTFOLIO

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JEF VAN DEN HOUTE | MEET THE CURATORS

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MONO YEARBOOK 2014

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| 1X RECOMMENDS

WEEKLY THEME WINNERS

| 1X MEMBERS

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| 1X RECOMMENDS

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SHANGHAI EXHIBITION | 1X MEMBERS

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BOOKS

HARRY LIEBER INTERVIEW PORTFOLIO P HOTO STOR Y E M E R G I N G TA L E N T THE MAKING OF P HOTO REVI EW ARTICLE 1X MEMBERS 1X RECOMMENDS

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FEATURED INTERVIEW _______________________________________ HARRY LIEBER

by Yvette Depaepe

Harry Lieber is a person always in search of structures, shapes and lines to make his photographs more aesthetic than in reality. Let us hear more from Harry about his life, his work, his thoughts.

Your work excels and is most inspiring on 1X, Harry. Tell us about the man behind the images, about your childhood, youth and your early experience with photography.

First of all I would like to congratulate 1X and E-Magazines team to the great magazine. I really enjoyed the first edition and it made me super happy to hear that I may appear with an interview and photos in the second edition. This is a great honor for me.

Now to me: I was born in the southwest of Germany and live there today, along with my wife, my son and our cat. In general, in this region we are a native folk and so it is not surprising that I still live since more than 50 years in the town where I was born.

My professional career: I have completed an apprenticeship as a technical designer

and later a further education as a mechanical engineer. I work now for over twenty years in a company that designs and manufactures process equipment for the pharmaceutical industry. I am head of an engineering department and I like this job very much.

For photography, I came across a great "detour": At 12 years old I learned to play the clarinet in the local music club, I could play the instrument pretty well and I have always practiced very hard. In my early twenties I discovered the saxophone for me.

His sound has inspired me and I found it more versatile than the clarinet. For many years I played in various formations tenor saxophone. From classical quintet to big band, dance band to funk / rock band, I have ever made music anywhere. Eventually my last band has disbanded and I have lost a bit of the fun of playing music. In 2008 it was Lady with hat II

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for me, concerning my hobbies, a little boring. Spontaneously I conceived the idea of “Buy yourself a camera and make photos!". I have informed myself on the Internet and finally bought myself a basic DSLR.

graphically, they exist of many geometric objects such as lines, planes and circles elements you can find in many architectural photos.

Since then, I am working in my free time a lot with photography and all that goes with it. My wife brought me here a lot of patience and empathy and I would like to thank her very much at this point.

The thing that impresses me most about your architectural photography is your ability to imbue inanimate subjects – buildings and other man made structures – with a life and soul of their own. Is it divine inspiration due to your sense of aesthetic ?

As you can see, regarding photography I am a quite late entrant.

Please tell us how you got started in photography, why you decided to go into architectural photography in particular and how strongly your work is related to your profession as a Mechanical Engineer?

After I understood the SLR camera technology, I photographed everything in my local area, what could be worth to be photographed. ☺Mostly I moved around somewhere out in my region. Just a few miles from my home is the city of Basel in Switzerland. More and more it drew me there because I found the urban subjects interesting. I walked almost every weekend through the city and photographed many different subjects. Soon I realized how I always liked better photographing the Basel modern architecture. Even my pictures I found always more successful. The exchange in various Internet forums for Photography was important to me from the beginning. I got in different forums valuable criticism and advice, how I could improve my photos. It was not always only praise, but it inspired me and motivated me.

It is hard to say how much impact my job as a mechanical engineer has on my photography. Mainly I am involved with the planning and design of process equipment. It requires a lot of precision and care, but also creativity and improvisation. I think these are skills that are also important in the photography of architecture. In addition, I have a lot to do with technical drawings. Seen

Yes, aesthetics plays a large role in my architectural images. I think “aesthetics” is for me what you express with "life and soul". My main goal regarding aesthetics of architecture is to show their beautiful and interesting sides – if possible in conjunction with things that do not directly belong to the shooting architecture. For example, the man in the picture "Busy boss" or "UFO landing", an animal as in "Bird inspection" , an airplane in "Escape" or the sky in "CLOUDS".

Aesthetics can be created by the interplay of shapes and colors as in my image "5".

Sometimes it is also the shapes and the light which could create aesthetic in an image; see "Helical stair" or "The beauty of white I" Architectural photography can go so far, that the architecture cannot be necessarily identifiable as architecture or at least very difficult. So some of my architectural photographs are therefore semi-abstract "Church of San Giovanni Battista II" or fully abstract, such as "V II" or "The beauty of white V".

To emphasize forms it is often a good choice to convert an image to black and white “The beauty of white III”. Sometimes I take on site a photo already in black and white (as JPG) to give me an idea of how the subject works without colors.

To make an interesting architectural photograph, I often try to find a point of view or a framing that could not be seen or not be perceived by an "ordinary" observer of the architecture. To take the photo “Building

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lines” I searched for a position at the building, which normal visitors would not take.

Depending on the image, the image post processing comes to some importance. In general I'm trying to use the image post processing to emphasize existing things, to remove unwanted things or to correct converging lines. Image processing is an important step to the final image, but it is not in front. Example: In my photo “5” I only emphasized the colors, they are not added via post processing.

What would your basic advice be to anyone thinking about taking up architectural photography ?

For sure it takes a lot of perseverance to get access to architectural photography. On one hand, because a good architecture image is much more difficult to make than it sometimes seems. And secondly because the architecture photography compared for example with the landscape or portrait photography is more of a niche and sometimes with less attention and feedback.

You should probably start with rather “simple” architecture images. Than try to get advice and criticism of experienced architectural photographers. Try to get gradually improved and incorporate into the genre.

There are many online opportunities. Of particular note, and to recommend, in my opinion is 1x.com. Architecture Photography plays there a much larger role than in many other photography sites of this size and awareness. You can orient yourself to many first class pictures shown there, seek criticism to your image in the critique forum and there are several very good tutorials about architectural photography at 1x learning.

What skills and equipment would you consider essential when photographing architecture ?

Skills: Aside from the previously mentioned perseverance, you need a good eye for perspective and framing. To select both optim-

ally it is also a question of experience. At first I took a lot of pictures of the same subject, from different perspectives and with different framing. At home I looked at all versions and thought about the visual impact. When I was undecided, I asked online for advice and criticism. Over time, now I take much less pictures from the same subject because in many cases I already know when looking through the viewfinder, what the best POV and framing will be.

Equipment: Initially, any reasonably current DSLR or mirrorless camera is suitable. With a standard lens such as 24-70mm focal length (full frame) it is possible to shoot in wide-angle (e.g. for stairs) or with a slight telephoto (e.g. for details). If you notice that architectural photography would suit what you like, I would recommend an ultra wide angle lens with at least 16mm focal length (full frame). With such a lens, you can catch more of your subject in the frame (e.g. stairs) and also you can use the wide-angleeffect, where objects close to the camera appear much larger than in reality. My Pictures "6", "5", "The beauty of white IV", "Curve", "Lady with hat" and “Bricks" would not have been possible without a lens with extremely short focal length. The lamp in “5” and the windows in “Bricks” profit from the wide-angle-effect.

A telephoto lens with about 70-200mm focal length (full frame) is an advantage to choose a smaller section of the subject, e.g. for detail photos. This can save a later cropping of the photo on the computer with eventual loss of quality. It may also be that you need a longer focal length because you simply cannot get closer to the subject. My photos "The break", "Balconies", "For the love of shapes and gray tones" and "Veneer” were taken with a telephoto lens.

If the camera does not have a swiveling screen, I recommend purchasing an angleviewfinder. With this you take photos from extreme positions. In my picture "Bricks" an angle-viewfinder was used. For this image you can find a detailed tutorial on 1x.com.

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For long exposures a good tripod is essential. For non long exposure photos I do not use a tripod and I had never any issues regarding image equality / image sharpness.

None of my images shown here were made with a tripod.

Very expensive special lenses for architectural photography correct converging lines during the recording. I do not use them, because this can be corrected easily by software nowadays and this solution is therefore much cheaper.

Building lines

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(Previous page) Shadow play For the love of shapes and greytones

Chiesa San Giovanni Battista II

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Can you explain how you go about approaching and photographing your subjects. How do you prepare the shooting of a specific location?

Generally, I see my own photography in four phases: 1. Preparation 2. Taking photos on site 3. Selecting the best images and performing the image processing 4. Sharing my photo with others I forego the preparation only rarely. Although it makes sometimes fun to go out and search for subjects without any preparation. The yield of good pictures is then fairly random. Nevertheless, I do it from time to time because you get the possibility to find subjects that others have not yet photographed. Also you can find subjects which you would not have found by preparation via internet. The staircase of "Helical stair" I found by accident in Basel after I'd gone rather aimlessly through the city for hours and didn’t found any exciting subject - good thing I did not give up prematurely.

If I want to photograph the architecture of a city, I investigate mainly via the Internet. I look in various forums to photography or architecture. Additionally I just search for keywords via Google. If I find an interesting subject, I add it to a list. If the list is complete, I look via Google Maps for the exact location in the city. Then I create one or more tours. Depending on the season, I keep in mind the expected lighting conditions. For example, during a tour in the summer I take pictures of stairs inside the house rather around noon. Because during noon taking photos of outside architecture usually is rather inappropriate since the light would be too harsh.

For the preparation for the photography of some subjects it would be necessary to check the photography permission in advance. So it cannot come to nasty surprises on site, because photography is not allowed or only with advance reservation. In any case, I consider a good preparation as very

important; it saves time for the essentials.

What gear and software do you use ?

The composition is essential to architectural photography. Tell us how you manage a perfect composition once you're on the chosen location ?

I use Nikon full-frame cameras and Nikon full-frame lenses since many years. Until recently, I have photographed with the NIKON D800, previously with the Nikon D700. As recently the Nikon D750 was launched, I switched to this model. Because this is the first Nikon full-frame camera with a swiveling screen. And this was what I had been missing on the Nikon D700 and D800 quite often. This is also an advantage to me, because the mounting of an angleviewfinder was very laborious at the D700 and the D800. And a swiveling screen can often be more practical used than an angleviewfinder.

Even for many subjects I know what photos I can expect, I check out the object without taking pictures or at least I'm just taking a few test photos. So I get an impression of the object and do not oversee anything. I check the motif with a "wide angle view" and a "tele photo view" and I can see several pictures already in mind, before I look through the viewfinder.

Finding the best perspective and framing are essential.

If I have found a good place for a desired photo, first I mount the lens on the camera and then I adjust the camera settings. Usually I take pictures in the mode "Aperture Priority" and in most cases I activate the Auto-ISO. Depending on the subject and lighting conditions I set an exposure compensation. Now I use the camera and look through the viewfinder. I often have to correct my position a little bit to get the best perspective. Since I work exclusively with zoom lenses, I can set the framing mostly by adjusting the focal length. Then I take a first photo and look at the camera screen in particular to avoid overexposed lights. If necessary, I adjust the exposure compensation.

Once the setting seems to be okay, now I can concentrate on capturing. As described above, the desired picture composition is usually already occurred in mind. Every now and then there occurs a new or better idea when looking through the viewfinder. Because sometimes you just have previously seen not all or perceived not all.

Finally I take a few photos of the entire architecture for my own documentation. So later I can again have an idea how it was at site. Also having these documentary photos is quite handy if I want to visit the same place again.

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best quality, especially regarding saving details in the lights and recovering details in the shadows. Also you have more control over noise and sharpness. I work with ADOBE Photoshop CS6 Extended. The files I manage with the "Bridge", the RAW conversion I do with "Camera Raw" and the processing of the photos with "Photoshop". I work with a Windows PC and a calibrated monitor.

My lenses are: - NIKKOR AF-S 16-35 / 4 G ED VR - NIKKOR AF-S 24-70 / 2.8 G ED - NIKKOR AF-S 70-200 / 4 G ED VR As previously stated, it is not absolutely necessarily to use such a relatively high-quality and expensive equipment, at least for the start. A few of my pictures are even taken with the NIKON travel zoom lens AF-S 28300 G VR ("The break" and "Shadow play").

So this works too, even when it has its limits. But the demands on picture quality and comfort are rising. Essential for the lenses are their optical performance regarding sharpness, contrast and distortion. With high quality equipment this is fulfilled. Additionally with high quality equipment you have significantly more reserves when having only little available light – so you can use the performance of the lenses and the high ISO capabilities of the camera.

On photo tours I save every evening my photos of the day on my laptop and in addition to a 2.5” external hard drive. With the double save I have a good level of security and I never lost images until now. Mostly I am viewing the pictures of the day in the evening and make already a pre-selection of the best images I would like to process later at home.

Basically, I shoot in RAW. So you can get the

(Following page) Escape

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Broken

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(Previous page) Bricks CLOUDS

Deep space

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(Previous page) Lady with hat

UFO Landing

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Busy boss

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The break

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Looking at the images in your portfolio, I've noticed that very often, there is one element in the pictures, apart from the main architectural subject that reinforces the overall impression : the sky !

Can you reveal us a little how you get those dramatic skies ?

There is a distinct feel and look to the photographs that you have shown us.

May I ask you about your thoughts on how your process works from the choices you make before you press the shutter till the choices you make in the digital darkroom ?

First of all: of course, for outdoor shots of architecture, it is often a matter of luck what kind of sky you find. If the heaven does not fit, for example because it is to dazzling, I do not take any photos with content of sky.

The main idea of my architectural photography is that a good picture should have a recognizable image idea. The image idea may well be recognizable only at second glance - the lady in "The break" you only discover upon closer viewing the image. The difficulty now is that a visual idea as "aesthetics" is difficult to measure and pretty emotional and subjective. In order to have an aesthetic, I see as a very important prerequisite a crisp and coherent image framing.

So, before I press the shutter button, I look around in the viewfinder if I have what I want and I check if the framing is optimal.

For the balance it is very important where you placed the image-important elements. I give a lot of attention to the balance in the photo.

I work with three different methods to emphasis the heaven, and I will explain this on the basis of my images: In "CLOUDS" and "Deep Space" you see the natural sky - only emphasized. I do it in this way, that I decrease the lights and increase the shadows with help of the RAW converter. Additional I darken in the RAW converter the blue tones and aqua tone a little.

As with all controllers, I try not to exaggerate it. In Photoshop I used "Google Viveza2" to further darken the blue sky partially and to increase the details in the bright parts (clouds) of the image.

In "Escape" there was a continuous blue sky in the original. In the black and white conversion I have darkened extremely the blue tones and Cyan tones until they were black.

The building was masked before.

In "Bricks" it was so, that the camera was very close to the ground and the angleviewfinder was mounted. A tripod or a camera pillow was not feasible. So it was not possible to make a long-term exposure to get the blurred sky. Anyway, the sky at this day was blue with no clouds. So I had to create the sky in Photoshop at home, as I painted with several different brushes and different shades of gray in the sky and modified this with the Gaussian Blur filter and the motion blur filter. I must say that I am not a friend of artificial sky and I do this only in rare cases. But in this picture that was essential to finish the image idea.

It is quite beneficial to know basic rules such as the "golden ratio". Breaking this rules sometimes can make a photo more exciting or interesting: In my photo "Bird inspection" I placed the very important bird close to the edge of the picture - but it works and was a much better choice than placing the bird according the “golden ratio�.

Before I press the shutter button, I also check to have as less as possible interfering elements in my photo. If interfering elements cannot be avoided, I wonder at this moment, if they can be eliminated by post processing. If yes, I press the button. If I'm not sure, I'm trying to change the framing.

During changing the framing then I press the shutter button several times. Here I postpone the decision whether the image could be a good one or not.

A good example regarding eliminating interfering elements is my picture "V", for which

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there is also a tutorial at 1x.com. Before the building were many electric cables for the tram. For me there was no chance to take a photo without these cables. I knew at site that it will be a lot of work to remove them later by post processing. I decided then to take the picture and take a lot of work to do. And I think it was worth it.

Most of my pictures are in black and white.

But I also find it fascinating when I manage to get the colors of the architecture in the photo to the main element and they create the special aesthetics of the image. "The break", "Blue inner yard" and "A" and "Just wood and light" would hardly work as well in black and white.

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Helical Stair

Curve

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You have found your own and unique style, Harry. What is your overall vision and approach to Fine Art Architecture Photography and are there more goals that you wish to achieve in the future?

The genre of architecture photography provides a wide field. I hope my work illustrates this. What probably most of my architectural images have together, is a good image balance and framing, their aesthetics and their accuracy. Additionally you can see that modern architecture attracts me a lot. I love clear structures, shapes and lines. Curlicue are not my thing. Modern architecture gives me the opportunity to search for these elements.

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My goals for the future are: I want to find out how much more I can abstract my architectural photos and at the same time keep them aesthetic and appealing as well.

Another goal is to discover how far I could move away from the architecture in my photos so that the image can be nevertheless accepted as an architectural photo. My first attempt in this direction is the image "Static & dynamic" As another approach to extend my architectural photography I see the composition by using the depth of field - which is currently not included in my architectural photography.

A further approach will be the composition by use of motion blur for some objects in the photo. As a first try see "Walking through the city" So overall some of my future photos perhaps will be less aesthetic as before. But let’s see what will happen and how it works.

As you can see, my goal is to further explore the broad field of architectural photography.

Static and dynamic

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Walking through the city

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Thanks for this fine and inspiring interview, Harry.

Just one more question: may I ask your personal vision on 1X as a home base for your work and for more talented photographers in general?

It was an honor to me, Yvette.

Thank you very much too for the very pleasant interview and the possibility to present some of my photos in the 1X E-Magazine.

As said before, I like 1x.com already as a very good and inspiring home base for architectural photographers. I would be very happy if more photographers find their joy in architectural photography and share their work at 1x.com.

Stair lines

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The beauty of white I

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The beauty of white III

The beauty of white IV

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V

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Balconies

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Veneer

Bird Inspection

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Veneer Blue inner yard

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Veneer A

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V II

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Just wood and light

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PLATFORM 25 INTERVIEW PORTFOLIO P HOTO STOR Y E M E R G I N G TA L E N T THE MAKING OF P HOTO REVI EW ARTICLE 1X MEMBERS 1X RECOMMENDS

Yoshihiko Wada Jef van den Houte Markus Studtmann Jeroen Van de Wiel Karl Heinz Bitter Hilde Ghesquiere Gerard Jonkman Dennis Ramos Franklin Neto Julia Anna Gospodarou Jure Kravanja Kent Mathiesen Ben Van der Sande Henk van Maastricht Huub Limberg Jan Gravekamp Paulo Abrantes Jose Beut Dr. Akira Takaue Anna Niemiec Gilbert Claes Mathilde Guillemot Thierry Jung Sasha Ivanovic Bildwerker Frieburg

EMERGING TALENT | ARCHITECTURE AND ABSTRACT

PLATFORM _______________________________________ EMERGING TALENT Architecture and Abstract

Architecture is an incredibly fascinating area of design. The seemingly impossible physics, the play of light, the masculine textures, it all comes together to create an incredible sense of fantasy and wonder.

Architecture photography may be austere, abstract, B&W or color. But the magic of great architecture photography is highlighted and even amplified significantly when presented in the right way. * Think differently * Master Symmetry * Look Up * Twist that camera * Lighting is Everything Enjoy this wonderful quote from John Kosmopoulos, International Award-Winning Photographer Specializing in Architecture, Abstract, Long Exposure & Fine Art Photography “Architectural photography is like listening to Mozart or Miles Davis to me, abstract photography is like translating a novel written in the language of quantum mechanics and LE is like standing in a photograph of an eternal Proustian memory cocooned by a harmonious silence� ~ John Kosmopoulos Be inspired by this compilation of outstanding architecture/abstract photography from several talented 1x contributors. ~ Yvette Depaepe

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EMERGING TALENT | YOSHI HIKO WAD A

Black Mirror

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EMERGING TALENT | JEF VAN DEN HOUTE

Black Waves

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EMERGING TALENT | MARKUS STUDTM ANN

City of Darkness

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EMERGING TALENT | JEROEN VAN DE WIEL

Cloud Attack

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EMERGING TALENT | KARL HEINZ BI TTER

Eclipse

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EMERGING TALENT | HILDE GHESQUIERE

Endless Walk I

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EMERGING TALENT | GERARD JONKMAN

Exception

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EMERGING TALENT | DENNIS RAM OS

Flatron

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EMERGING TALENT | FRANKLIN NETO

Invisible Parallel

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EMERGING TALENT | JULIA ANNA GOSPODAROU

Like a Harp's Strings I

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EMERGING TALENT | JURE KR AVANJA

Lines

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EMERGING TALENT | KENT MATHI ESEN

Living in Boxes

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EMERGING TALENT | BEN VAN DER SANDE

Munich 2013

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EMERGING TALENT | HENK VAN MAASTRICHT

Stair Beauty

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EMERGING TALENT | HUUB LIMBERG

The Ceiling

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EMERGING TALENT | JAN GRAVEKAMP

The Cope Reflected

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EMERGING TALENT | PAULO ABR ANTES

The Long Dark

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EMERGING TALENT | JOSE BEUT

The Maze

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EMERGING TALENT | DR. AKIRA TAKAUE

The Portal for Silver Mountains

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EMERGING TALENT | ANNA NI EMIEC

The Wall

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EMERGING TALENT | GILBERT CLAES

The Window and the Mirror

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EMERGING TALENT | MATHILDE GUILLEMOT

Three Dots

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EMERGING TALENT | THIERRY JUNG

Twisted

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EMERGING TALENT | SASHA IVANOVIC

Yellow

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EMERGING TALENT | BILDWER KER FRIEBURG

Zick Zack II

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THE MAKING OF _____________________________________ Introduction by Yvette Depaepe

ARCHITECTURE AND ABSTRACT PHOTOGRAPHY The funny thing with architecture photography is that its biggest benefits are ~your subjects don't move~ can also be its biggest drawback ~you can't move your subjects!

Never fear, just start thinking more abstractly to shoot more creative images.

Here are some excellent and inspirational tutorials from highly rated 1X architecture / abstract 1X photographers.

A great way to train your mind ‌

‘DARK #2 ‘ - ANDREAS PAEHGE INTERVIEW PORTFOLIO P HOTO STOR Y E M E R G I N G TA L E N T THE MAKING OF P HOTO REVI EW ARTICLE 1X MEMBERS 1X RECOMMENDS

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THE MAKING OF | DAR K #2 - ANDREAS PAEHGE

THE MAKING OF | DAR K #2 - ANDREAS PAEHGE

"I was there between Christmas and New Year's Eve and there was very little traffic — fortunate for me because I had to lie down on my back, mostly in the street, in order to center the streetlight between the buildings."

THE MAKING OF DARK #2 BY ANDREAS PAEHGE

As I began setting up, I realized it would be nearly impossible to achieve this shot on a normal business day. I was there between Christmas and New Year's Eve and there was very little traffic — fortunate for me because I had to lie down on my back, mostly in the street, in order to center the streetlight between the buildings. In this awkward position I was unable to use a tripod, but the available light allowed me to set the ISO to 100, the shutter speed to 1/30 second and to handhold the camera for two shots.

I used a polarizing filter, which is mandatory in sunny conditions. It minimizes glare bouncing off metal and glass surfaces, reduces reflections in the windows and it creates a darker, more dramatic sky. My biggest challenge when composing this shot was keeping the streetlight in the middle while, to the best of my ability, aligning both buildings with the sides and corners of the frame. I always do this as best I can when taking the photo to avoid any extraneous transformations or cropping in post-processing.

POST-PROCESSING I use Adobe Lightroom to catalog my RAW images and to make basic adjustments. Final adjustments are made in Photoshop CC. I also used Nik Software's Sharpener Pro 3 plugin.

In Lightroom, it is important to first open the Lens Corrections panel and, under the Basic tab, select Enable Profile Corrections as well as Remove Chromatic Aberrations. This will remove lens distortions and color shifts.

This is the full frame image. Very little cropping was required.

After days of extensive research and preparation, I travelled to Frankfurt with a list of architectural images that I wanted to capture. Much to my surprise, my favorite and most successful photo on that trip was one I never planned to take.

I have wanted to make a black and white architectural image in the style of photographer Joel Tjintjelaar for a long time. One of the best cities in Europe to attempt this challenge is Frankfurt, Germany, with its many skyscrapers and famous modern architecture. After days of extensive research and preparation, I travelled to Frankfurt knowing exactly what I wanted to photograph.

I started in the morning taking long exposure images in the underground stations, and I ended the day photographing many skyscrapers when the sun was at a more suitable angle. While walking near the landmark MesseTurm, the third tallest building in the European Union, I stumbled across this streetlight completely by accident. I looked up and noticed that it perfectly bisected two amazing skyscrapers, and immediately I decided to take this picture.

1) In Lightroom I made the following adjustments: - Highlights: +9 - Shadows: +1 - Whites: +3 - Blacks: +3

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THE MAKING OF | DAR K #2 - ANDREAS PAEHGE

THE MAKING OF | DAR K #2 - ANDREAS PAEHGE

- Clarity: +20 - Whites: +3 - Blacks: +3 - Clarity: +20 - Dynamics: +11 - Sharpness: 41 - Noise Reduction: 26 - Blue: +6 Saturation and +12 Luminance 2) Next, I exported the photo as a 32-bit uncompressed TIFF file to Photoshop.

3) To correct the perspective, I copied the original layer, enabled Guides to assist me and then used Transform > Distort to make the streetlight exactly vertical. I also removed spots from this layer using the Clone Stamp tool.

5) The Quick Selection tool was not precise enough, so I used the Polygonal Lasso to manually create separate masks for the building on the left, the streetlight, the building on the right and the sky.

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4) I converted the image to B/W using Nik Silver Efex plug-in with standard settings. I then applied the Blur filter with a high value to blur the sky on the upper right side.

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THE MAKING OF | DAR K #2 - ANDREAS PAEHGE

THE MAKING OF | DAR K #2 - ANDREAS PAEHGE

I made Groups for each of these four masks, and then created sub-masks for the same four areas.

By creating the masks, I could apply precise adjustments, such as Dodge and Burn, Luminosity and Joel Tjintjelaar’s Selective Gradient Masking technique, to specific areas of the photo. These adjustments defined edges and created a better balance between the lights and darks. For more information on luminosity masks, I highly recommend Tony Kuyper's tutorials.

Below are the four separate versions of group adjustments and the final version with all of them combined:

6) I then created a new 50% grey layer set to Soft Light in order to Dodge and Burn the overall lights and darks. I used the Brush set to 5-10% Opacity and 10% Flow to paint with white and black.

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7) Sharpening is always one of the last steps. I used Nik Sharpener Pro 3 plugin with the following parameters and a special High Pass layer to highlight the edges.

THE MAKING OF | DAR K #2 - ANDREAS PAEHGE

Afterward, I merged the upper and lower layers and changed the blending mode to Overlay.

This prevented halos from appearing around the edges of the buildings and streetlight.

8) At the very end, I decided that the image was a bit too dim, so I made a Brightness/Contrast layer and slightly increased the brightness.

The trick here is to create two identical copies of all the layers (two identical merged layers). I then changed the upper layer to Linear Light mode, inverted it and decreased the layer Opacity to 50%. A Surface Blur was applied to this layer to find the edges.

HINTS 1) Make a plan: always know what you will photograph ahead of time. That said, once you are on location, be flexible and aware of your surroundings in order to use the unexpected to your advantage.

2) Use a polarizing filter to manage reflections and glare.

3) Research your location in advance. Use online resources to find weather forecasts and lighting conditions, the angle of the sun throughout the day and the buildings in the area.

BIOGRAPHY I live in Gelsenkirchen, centrally located in the northern part of the Ruhr area in Germany. I have been extremely enthusiastic about photography since early 2012. I specialize in landscape, architecture and night photography.

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‘INTERRUPTION’ - DR . AKIRA TAKAUE INTERVIEW PORTFOLIO P HOTO STOR Y E M E R G I N G TA L E N T THE MAKING OF P HOTO REVI EW ARTICLE 1X MEMBERS 1X RECOMMENDS

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THE MAKING OF | INTERRUPTION - DR. AKIR A TAKAUE

THE MAKING OF | INTERRUPTION - DR. AKIR A TAKAUE

During my stroll, I saw a new housing estate with a beautiful exterior. The windows were nicely symmetric, and soft sunlight shone on the wall. I chose the regularity of the windows as my major subject. The pedestrian signal near the house contributed to an interesting composition.

THE MAKING OF INTERRUPTION BY DR. AKIRA TAKAUE

To make the different elements of the image blend together, my challenge was to get both the house and the signal into focus. I wanted both to be completed in a perfect flat-plane image without any distortions – and to catch the beautiful sunlight on the wall. Since the two objects were only ten meters apart, I managed to get them into focus by choosing a small aperture.

I wanted to make the pedestrian signal look as flat against the background wall as possible. By choosing the appropriate distance from the objects and using the right telephoto lens, I was able to take a photograph that looks perfectly flat, without the need of any digital manipulation.

This was partly possible due to the soft sunlight and absence of shadows.

POST-PROCESSING The post-processing was done in Photoshop.

1) I had to level the image several degrees, since the photograph was not aligned with the horizon. However, be aware that it is very hard to digitally correct a flat plane image that is not aligned with the vertical axis, because this means that the object is distorted in the photograph.

Make sure that things like walls, lines, windows and window frames are perpendicular or parallel. If this proves difficult you can avoid distortion by increasing the distance to the object.

2) Naturally, post-processing is as important as actually taking the photograph, but almost all of the photogenic elements of my image were completed in the RAW file. Therefore, the digital post-processing was used only for adjusting sharpness and tonal contrast of the wall, including emphasis of the red color of the signal.

HINTS 1) Architectural photography is categorized by three different viewpoints, namely short-, middleand long-distance. Alignment and distortion are difficult to modify with software so it is important that you have a perfect composition to start with. Post-processing is just for fine-tuning and not for modification.

2) You can not underestimate the effects of natural light. Therefore, pay particular attention not only to the composition but also to the light conditions. If the light is not appropriate for your photo, leave it for another day.

3) When you post-process, carefully check the effects of your digital filters, one by one. If you grow tired of post-processing your image, leave the photo and return to it with a fresh pair of eyes another day.

To create this flat-plane image that looks two-dimensional was a difficult challenge, since I needed to get the walls, windows, house and traffic signal in focus in one single shot.

Landscape architecture design is commonly conducted for short-, middle- and long-distance views. This photograph is based on my keen interest in flat-plane images, taken by middle- or long-distance views of cityscapes.

I noticed these flat-plane images in my surroundings as I walked around my hometown, Tsukuba City, Japan, with my Nikon D700 camera and a 70–300 mm telephoto lens. Tsukuba City is a new residential area, located in the countryside. Even at the central crossroads there are almost no obstructing walls, trees or signboards. Therefore I did not have many problems finding a subject to photograph.

BIOGRAPHY As an international structural engineer with a PhD in Structural Mechanics, I have been fortunate enough to visit many places around the world for various large architectural and bridge structure projects. I initially became interested in photography by taking photographs of the bridges and buildings that I have designed.

Recently I saw some wonderfully artistic architectural photographs and have been passionately interested in this genre ever since. My goal is rooted in both the logic of structural mechanics and material engineering as well as the finer artistic elements that make a building and its photograph successful.

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‘SI’ - GILBERT CLAES INTERVIEW PORTFOLIO P HOTO STOR Y E M E R G I N G TA L E N T THE MAKING OF P HOTO REVI EW ARTICLE 1X MEMBERS 1X RECOMMENDS

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THE MAKING OF | SI - GILBERT CLAES

THE MAKING OF | SI - GILBERT CLAES

"A photo should not overwhelm the viewer with a tangle of lines, graphics and colors."

THE MAKING OF SI BY GILBERT CLAES

I wish to stand out from others by developing my own style based on austerity — especially where light and minimalism are concerned. A photo should not overwhelm the viewer with a tangle of lines, graphics and colors. I keep my images as quiet and simple as possible and pay a lot of attention to strong composition. Lines, surfaces and especially the light play an important role. Color also plays a huge role in radiating balance and pleasing the eye. I am constantly looking for the painter in me; black and white images are therefore limited in my portfolio.

With that said I should mention that, on the contrary, I do sometimes convert images to black and white, but only when it really delivers and only when it's obvious that color is not an option. This picture is an example of that, but here I used blue instead of black. If you are wondering why this photo is blue and white, the answer is simple: blue is my favorite color, and I wanted to give more contrast to the white, plastic letters.

“Get straight to the point' is my motto, and 'SI' does just that."

"SI" is a good example of my style. It consists of those few important elements I previously mentioned — simplicity, some lines and surfaces and a great emphasis on the light — and nothing more to distract the viewer. The main attractions are the strong composition and the minimalist character of the work. “Get straight to the point” is my motto, and "SI" does just that.

This attitude of mine has naturally led to some rather abstract works. It also gives me an enormous freedom. During my photo walkabouts, I constantly come across subjects that are worthy of photographing, and they are often small details. I spend a lot of time walking around in cities — not to meet people, but to search for simple, colorful and banal subjects. They are frequently unnoticed by most people, but are so beautiful to me because they have the potential to be transformed into works of art. The crowning glory for me is when I discover those gems that can be found on any street. My goal is to make art out of them, and that's how I wish to stand out from the crowd.

"During a walk along the beach, I saw these big plastic letters, at least 10 feet (3 meters) high, being used for a commercial advertisement."

During a walk along the beach, I saw these big plastic letters, at least 10 feet (3 meters) high, being used for a commercial advertisement. In the original photo you can see that the letters were very damaged, by both the weather and the tourists. The many stains and scratches are apparent in the photo, and the top of a girl's head is in the bottom-right portion of the frame as well; she was having fun climbing on the display.

Canon 70D Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 23mm 1/80s f+16 ISO100 +1EV

Minimalism is not as simple as it seems; it can easily become trivial and uninteresting.

The trick, and the art, is to be very creative and sometimes depart from the general rules of composition, color and form.

These days there are so many people walking around with cameras, and there are countless photographs being taken and uploaded to photo websites. This really made me think. It also prompted me to consciously move away from taking these kinds of mass photos, and now I rarely take any landscape, portrait, animal or street pictures at all. I have a lot of respect for the privacy of others and do not just take pictures of people on the street without their permission.

This doesn't mean that I have no appreciation for those photographers who do. When such images are exceptional, then I can only admire them. I am completely open to every beautiful or special photograph in any category.

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Because my favorite subjects are mainly abstract, I have adapted my photographic eye to photographic thinking. That’s why I continually see interesting things during my walks. I don’t need to wait for the perfect light, the right person and so on. My subjects are everywhere, and Photoshop helps me to fully utilize this medium and create uncommon pictures.

"I call myself a photographer/painter or painter/photographer; I haven't decided which one is more apt, so I use them interchangeably."

It is imperative that my photographic work somehow resembles a painting. I call myself a photographer/painter or painter/photographer; I haven't decided which one is more apt, so I use them interchangeably. Just as light plays a very important role, so does the atmosphere that exudes from a photo. Thanks to the processing, many of my works appear very soft, creating the illusion of a painting. Therefore it is possible that I am, perhaps unconsciously, influenced by the style of many famous painters.

POSTPROCESSING The image was processed in Photoshop CS6.

THE MAKING OF | SI - GILBERT CLAES

and, moreover, it constrains my creativity. This way I never rely on my previous processing techniques, which keeps my work fresh and new.

Based on my experience with Photoshop, by experimenting with its tools, I have acquired the ability to look beyond a photograph while I'm shooting it and see its potential of becoming an interesting picture. Still, the fact remains that I have to shoot a good photo in the first place to be able to create something special in post-processing.

TIPS 1) For abstract photography, try your best to isolate the subject as much as possible. Remove all unnecessary elements or put the subject in a contrasting color.

2) I rarely take a photo with automatic exposure, and I always set the shutter speed and aperture manually. This can lead to surprising photos, especially when I experiment with slow shutter speeds and allow the movement of the camera to add a blurred effect.

3) Experiment with your RAW images in Photoshop by using different filters without consulting books. This often gives your photos a unique, creative impact.

1) I first removed the scratches, the damaged areas and the girl's head.

2) Since I had already made an image with white letters, I had an idea to work with dark blue to obtain more contrast in this photo. First, I removed the brightest spot of light on the "S" by replacing it with the same darker hue as the shadow beneath the arch.

3) Then I colored some parts of the letters blue. To do this I selected those parts with the Quick Selection tool and applied a Photo Filter.

4) I also applied the Gaussian Blur filter to those selections to create a smoother surface and put more contrast in those areas.

5) I cleaned up the two white parts using the Clone Stamp and Healing Brush tools. Next, I used the Quick Selection tool to select those two white areas, and then I applied both Clarity and Contrast to the selections, brightening and whitening those parts.

6) The small triangle on the right side still bothered me, so I removed it.

7) I was not satisfied with the color of the sky in the original image. I also wanted something more creative in the background, so I decided to use a cloudy sky image from my photo archives to replace the original sky. Once I matched the contrast in the new sky to the rest of the image, it then fit very well with the color tone of the letters. I chose dark blue because it works quite well with bright white. In this way I could immediately draw attention to the composition of the image.

Of course, the simplicity of the original image (the lines, the colors and the surfaces) made the post-processing quite easy and straightforward. I knew that would come in handy when I was shooting, and that was a real bonus!

A photo must attract attention so that the viewer takes the time to contemplate it. The original image evoked little emotion and required little attention, so I created the necessary atmosphere in post-processing.

I never take notes of the steps I make while I'm processing photos. It requires too much time

BIOGRAPHY I was born in Diest, a small town located approximately 40 miles (65 km) from both Brussels and Antwerp. I am a teacher and started photography when I was 18 years old. Initially I started with film, making a dozen short films and participating in several national and international competitions. I also studied at the art academy of Hasselt.

I became president of an amateur film and photography club and switched to photography because making movies took too much time. In the eighties I started studying again, but due to my profession, I had no time for photography for more than 20 years. Seven years ago, I found more time and I started again with digital photography. A new world lay at my feet, and especially the processing of RAW images in Photoshop was a revelation. One of my dreams when I retire is to paint. For now, Photoshop is the perfect instrument to transform my photographs into paintings.

I joined several photo websites all over the world, and through these sites I discovered the power of my creativity and developed my own style. In my country I am known as a photographer of abstracts, and various people pressure me to organize workshops and exhibitions. I’m working on it.

My photographic style is a mix of color, lines, movement and objects that I transform into a painting containing a lot of emotion.

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‘SKYLINE’ - JÜRGEN SCHREPFER INTERVIEW PORTFOLIO P HOTO STOR Y E M E R G I N G TA L E N T THE MAKING OF P HOTO REVI EW ARTICLE 1X MEMBERS 1X RECOMMENDS

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THE MAKING OF | SKYLINE - JÜR GEN SCHREPFER

THE MAKING OF SKYLINE BY JÜRGEN SCHREPFER

THE MAKING OF | SKYLINE - JÜR GEN SCHREPFER

To get the correct exposure, I chose aperture f/8 and Aperture Priority mode to find the right shutter speed. Once the exposure settings were established, I changed to Manual mode and adjusted the aperture and shutter speed. I used the bracketing function to take five pictures at 1 EV intervals, giving an overall exposure range of 5 stops, from –2 EV to +2 EV. I envisioned the final image to be a well-balanced composition of motion blur and static lines. I tried to achieve this by moving the camera during the exposure, but the result was unsatisfactory. Therefore, I decided to add the motion blur during post-processing instead.

I am very satisfied with the outcome. The picture is abstract, but the Frankfurt skyline is instantly recognizable to anyone who knows it. The colors in the image accurately reflect the mood of that wonderful morning light.

POST PROCESSING Minor adjustments were made to the RAW file in Adobe Lightroom, and then the image was exported to Photoshop for the final adjustments.

1) First I imported the RAW image into Lightroom to review the histogram.

2) I selected the photo with the best overall exposure, adjusted the white balance and made some other small corrections. Then I opened the image in Photoshop.

3) In Photoshop, I first duplicated the background layer. Next, using the Transform tool, I skewed and rotated the picture to create the right perspective. I made two copies of the transformed layer. With the Motion Blur filter, I created a vertical blur on one of the copied transformed layers and a horizontal blur on the other.

4) Applying a layer mask and choosing the Brush tool, I created a mixture of horizontal and vertical blur, and then merged the two layers. I lowered the opacity of the merged layer so the untouched background layer reduced the blurring effect.

5) Finally, after merging these two layers and making some basic adjustments to Brightness, Saturation and Contrast, I cropped and flattened the image to finish with just one visible layer.

I arrived in Frankfurt early so I could take some photos of the skyline in the morning light. As I crossed a railway bridge, there was an opening in the dense blanket of clouds. The rays of sunlight illuminated the skyline for a short time, creating a magnificent scene.

I like clear structures, shapes and lines. Frankfurt am Main, only a few miles away from my hometown in Germany, is a good place to search for such elements. It has become one of my favorite places for photography because of its wonderful skyline and the contrast between modern and historical architecture.

"When using the Live View mode, the mirror is automatically locked up to reduce camera shake and to achieve optimum sharpness."

I searched for the best panoramic view of the impressive skyline, stepping left and right to get the best possible angle, and making sure that no distracting elements were included in the frame. I prefer to compose using Live View. When I was satisfied with the preview, I set up the tripod and adjusted the camera settings. When using the Live View mode, the mirror is automatically locked up to reduce camera shake and to achieve optimum sharpness. To further reduce the risk of adding even the slightest motion blur to the shot, I used a remote shutter release.

TIPS 1) Shoot in RAW format to get the most out of the image in post-processing.

2) Getting it right during the photo shoot is as important as the post-processing. If the initial image is good, a lot less post-processing is needed.

3) Light changes during the day. Be patient and take the opportunity to shoot in the early morning light or in the late afternoon, avoiding the harsh midday sun.

4) If the light conditions are difficult, you can use the bracketing function. It will help you to select a suitable exposure, and it will save you time from having to recover highlights or reduce shadow noise in post-processing.

5) When shooting from a bridge or similar structure, even someone walking by can cause severe camera shake. Wait until the structure you are standing on is completely still before taking the shot.

BIOGRAPHY I am a mechanical engineer living in Germany. Photography is my passion since 2005, and I mainly focus on architecture.

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GOVERT DE ROOS INTERVIEW PORTFOLIO P HOTO STOR Y E M E R G I N G TA L E N T THE MAKING OF P HOTO REVI EW ARTICLE 1X MEMBERS 1X RECOMMENDS

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PORTFOLIO | GOVERT DE ROOS

PORTFOLIO | GOVERT DE ROOS

PORTFOLIO _______________________________________ GOVERT DE ROOS Live Interview by Marc van Kempen Amsterdam, 4 September, 2014

On September the 4th, 2014, I met with Dutch society photographer Govert de Roos, born in 1953 and currently living in Amsterdam. The door of his studio, in an industrial area on the outskirts of Amsterdam, was already slightly opened to let me in.

Govert came to the door to open it further for me. I instantly recognized his familiar, engagingly and friendly expression, which we have often seen on TV and I noticed that one immediately feels at ease when entering his place.

Passing through a hallway, with many of his beautiful works of mainly world famous artists, you enter his huge shed that was once converted into a professional studio.

Inside this shed I again found an abundance of beautiful images of famous artists hanging on the wall. This included people that have been there, such as Kate Bush, Grace Jones, The Jackson 5 and Patricia Paay. But I also found artists like David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Blondie and not to forget his world famous photograph of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the well-known bed scene in an Amsterdam hotel. Too much to mention. Also actors like Anthony Hopkins have posed for Govert, on which later a nice anecdote.

Grace Jones by Govert de Roos

The moment I arrived, Govert was scanning

his old 6x6 negatives and we agreed that he would just continue to do so during our conversation. This gave our talk a natural, dynamic and relaxed vibe.

While preparing my questions it seemed interesting to me to discover who the person behind the name Govert de Roos is. By dividing his life in the five decades and highlighting these with how he has experienced the periods, first as a young boy and later as an experienced photographer. I was curious about his feelings and enthusiasm towards his photographic work at certain points in his life and whether there has been any difference after passage of time. What does Govert experience in the current time of photography compared to his early days? Is that essentially different? Is the passion of

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the young Govert still alive or has it gotten another dimension after all these years?

How do all the technical developments of the past decades fit in the work and methods of Govert? These are few of the many questions I had.

After I explained my purpose of the conversation, the eloquent Govert enthusiastically took over. And whether it was meant to be…almost in chronological order…we naturally went through my questions.

“The feeling behind it…pfff… you’re asking me quite a bit” Govert said with a smile and he started to tell his life story.

I am now 61 and around 60 memories from the past start to become a bit stronger. And my memories also came. On the wall hangs a photograph of Grace Jones. The image of that time, for example, comes back again and this also happens with the old folders that you look through. It puts you back in time and memory.

In front of me sat a passionate photographer.

PORTFOLIO | GOVERT DE ROOS

Why did I want to become a photographer?

I had never thought about the profession of photographer. No, I wanted to become a furniture maker, a coal merchant or a truck driver. The first thing I wanted to become was a farmer. I wanted to go to the agricultural college in Enschede. That was during the 4th year of primary school. It was only when I was 10 or 11 years old when I got my first interest in photography. That was in Nunspeet. There I got a little camera ‘box’ from my parents. At one point the roll fell out and I held it in the water, which of course had no point at all.

Eventually I went from primary school to the technical school. During this period I got a job at a printing company. In the printing company they had a lithography department. At some point I had to bring coffee around there. I entered the dark room once and I just saw a photo emerging in the developer bath. At that moment I remembered my primary school time, when I was busy with that roll, which I wanted to develop in normal water. One day I bought some photographic developer with a package of paper and I just started to experiment with it. I did that for years.

Image on the paper and then making contact prints. My first camera was a “Iford Sportsman”. My father was a furniture maker and he made an enlarger for me from an old view camera.

How did you then get all your knowledge?

Portrait of Govert de Roos taken during the life interview

By simply experimenting, asking people questions and reading books I eventually got the hang of it. Furthermore, I started to get interested in music, which was my biggest passion. Bands like The Beatles, The Small Faces, The Bee Gees or Nina Simone came to the Netherlands now and then. At one point I went there. Of course together with that Iford Sportsman. I was about 14 years old then. In the meantime I was saving for a “Yashica Mat” because I wanted to have a 6x6. In the concert hall, the artists went through a stage door. As a 14 year

old, I was waiting there for them outside. A porter was standing there and he advised me to get a press card. I naturally followed his good advice and since I was attending a graphical school I made my own press card.

When I arrived at the hall, I presented myself to the porter and proudly showed my press card. All the other times I didn’t have to show it to him anymore. The porter now knew me and just let me pass through. He granted me it. From that moment I was able to photograph concerts. My camera brought me to places I previously could never come. I can safely say that photography has brought me even further into the world because it gave me access to special people you would normally not be possible to get close to.

My friends were jealous, because I was together with John Lennon in a Hilton Hotel room with my self-made press card. They wanted to be there too, but I was there! At that time I had my self-made press card with me. Actually I was shyer than any other boy in the neighborhood. I had long hair, so I could hide behind my hairs. I don’t know, but the drive was somehow greater than the shame or something like that. Or call it shyness. You could hide behind the camera, because you are in a different world then. You aren’t there anymore at that moment. Just like a war photographer.

What kind of family do you come from and are they also creative people?

Not in the sense of musical qualities or art, but my father was a good furniture maker and he had a lot of love for his profession.

And that love for what I do I have learned from him.

Didn’t your parents ask “Why are you entering such an uncertain profession? ” No, my oldest brother went to college, like many at that time. My parents were happy enough because I was earning my own pocket money from my 14th. For example, after the concerts I quickly made my prints and brought them to ‘de Volkskrant’ (a newspaper) in the ‘Wibautstraat’ in Amsterdam.

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With a little bit of luck my images were used in the reviews of the concert. I then got fl.

17.50,- for that (about 8 Euro). I used that money to buy materials, such as film and photographic developer. Or for example at speedboat races in 1969. There I took pictures with some text underneath them and brought them to the final dinner. I asked people there if they wanted to buy them. At the end of the night I had fl. 300,- (about 135 Euro).

It was a combination of several things I’ve been able to take advantage of. I could earn my money with it; I came to places which I would otherwise not get access to; I came backstage; I was allowed to enter the dressing rooms and I lived in the entertainment. I was part of the entertainment industry.

What everyone of that age would want.

But I realized that I was not the only one who was there. There were others that could photograph. In 1974 there were around 15 at a meeting with an artist. But I did not want to make the same standard trashy flash photos as the rest. I wanted to make it better and especially different from all the others. (Note: Govert shows me a photo in which he is seen with David Bowie.

All those photographers were making the same photo. I didn’t want that. With that image I could do nothing, like those photographers made them. Then you will end up with a simple flash photo).

I always tried to separate the artists from the rest. And I pulled tricks. A nice anecdote from 1972 is for example a press conference in a Hilton suite at Rod Stewart, of whom I was a big fan. At one point I said to the people of the record label, which I knew well, that I had to go to the toilet and that I would come back later. I did not come off the toilet until I heard that everyone was gone. Then I came off the toilet. The guy from the record label, who eventually helped me a little bit, said to Rod Stewart “Oh Rod, sorry here’s Govert de Roos, a very important photographer from the Netherla-

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nds and he works for The Music Express”.

And yes, sometimes you need to get a little bit of help from the outside and that guy from the record label played along well. “Just five minutes” said Rod Stewart. And with a big smile I managed to get him on the balcony, because I told him that I did not want the same boring sofa picture as the rest, with the same background. Rod Stewart figured it out and said to me “Oh you’re so clever”. He figured me out. I could make 6 pictures and Rod Stewart said “That’s enough”. He had figured me out but he also granted me it. With that I had something explicit and different from the rest of the photographers.

An artist like Rod Stewart also understood it.

Ultimately you both come from the same laborers’ environment. In fact we were all brats of the street. And those people understood that; by doing it differently you made a chance in society. You also needed someone who could help you get further and someone who granted you something. Because of this method of approach and work, people of the record label helped me a little bit more than others. Years later I could photograph Rod Stewart with Britt Ekland in the Memphis Hotel. I got 10 minutes exclusively!

That was really great for me. And that was actually one of my first real sessions with a world famous artist which went around the world.

I became aware of the fact that if you put a lot of energy into that one different image, it will become valuable to you and it will pay itself of. For an exclusive publication of Rod Stewart in Germany I received DM 900,(about 460 euro).

Similarly, there is a nice story about photographer Laurens van Houten who wanted to photograph Elvis Presley. That was phenomenal because nobody was allowed to photograph in Las Vegas. He managed to pull it through by getting under the table of Elvis Presley with his camera and taking his Britt Ekland and Rod Stewart by Govert de Roos

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world known photos that have brought him a lot of money. With the first shot you could hear a click and Elvis heard that too.

Laurens thought he would be screwed.

However, Elvis winked and he was then allowed to photograph the whole concert. that too. Laurens thought he would be screwed. However, Elvis winked and he was then allowed to photograph the whole concert.

You had the nerve to ask for money for your work, so you weren’t that humble as you said in the beginning?

No, but there was sort of a threshold or whatever you may call it. But I always asked the question “what should I ask for that job”? I always asked the customer. And then they would for example propose fl.600,(about 270 Euro). I was basically not that concerned or thinking about money. I turned it around. Customers just gave me it and then again they granted me it. In the current economy though, it has become a different situation I must say. Back in the days they didn’t act difficult about it. They just paid me as any other, already established photographer. The last 10 years that has changed.

I will give you another example. Take Adam Curry and Patricia Paay. I could sell those images to ‘De Telegraaf’ (a newspaper) and it was the first official portrait of Adam and Patricia. “What was it worth” I asked?

“Govert, do you really have a portrait shot of them? It is very important to us. Could you live with fl. 5000,-?” (about 2270 Euro) was their answer. I didn’t ask it. What I had in my head was fl. 1500,- (about 680 Euro).

But it was offered to me and I never asked it.

And since we’re talking about money...we did not only do it just for the money. When I had the first shot of Linda with her baby (assigned by Linda herself), I was called by a

David Bowie by Govert de Roos

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German gossip magazine and they offered me DM 150.000 if I would send the photographic films immediately to Germany. Of course I did not do that, because they were for Linda. And she did not want that.

Those were really different times.

Nowadays I feel that photography as a profession is over. Not as a hobby, it will remain like that and that is also nice. But you should not have the illusion that you can earn well with it in these times. The 80s were my success years. At that time I for example had big assignments every day for 6 weeks, and sometimes I told my assistants “I want a day off”. Nowadays that isn’t possible anymore.

You are also known as the Playboy photographer from the Netherlands. How did you get into that?

My entry to Playboy was actually very simple. I photographed Patricia Paay as staff photographer. Patricia was approached by Playboy. She told Playboy that she did not want everybody to photograph her naked, but Playboy really wanted to have her.

“Govert may do it and I want him as the photographer” she told Playboy. Playboy’s editor Jan Heemskerk wanted to use his own photographer because he did not believe in Govert. Jan Heemskerk wanted to have his own mood in the photo. Then we agreed that Govert would still make the pictures, but without any obligation. Three days of shooting and then Playboy would decide whether or not to buy the pictures.

Eventually they were very happy and that edition of Playboy is one of the most sold editions. Because of Patricia her efforts of course. We received a fax from the international department of Playboy America with a great compliment that “Playboy Netherlands had found a photographer who managed to capture the spirit of Playboy. I would advise you to continue with this photographer”.

Andre Hazes by Govert de Roos

It was my luck that I could do a session with Patricia. And Patricia absolutely talked play-

boy into getting me and because of that I got the chance. And because of this success I was asked more often by Playboy. In my entire life I have done about 45 shoots in 15 years for Playboy. About three per year. So actually that isn’t that much. Pleunie Trouw, VVD celebrities and Sylvia Millekamp soon followed and I also made my name because of them.

I’m really not that good I always thought.

That photographer and that photographer and that photographer are much better photographers than me and I often questioned why they did not take them for the job. I got lucky, maybe by always being at the right place at the right time. I must say that I have always worked very hard for it though. I got up with it and went to bed with it. So the passion of that little boy is still there.

What is the difference from the past compared to current times with all techniques and new things in photography?

Most photographers have now become very good with Photoshop. Now I don’t see that much difference between photographers. It is currently hard to distinguish yourself with images and to develop your own signature.

Skin edits and stuff. I think it is not so unique anymore. But at the same time I don’t really mind that much, because it is the current age. It is actually the same with music.

How did your family respond to your fame?

Oh, occasionally the children noticed something about it in the theater or so. I never wanted to stick a label on, just act normally.

The family had not much difficulty with it neither.

I would also not be able to do it as before. I have become a lot older now and maybe also more direct. I wouldn’t be possible to do a band like the Dolly Dots for example. However, Rob de Nijs or Willeke Alberti wouldn’t be a problem. They are peers.

You have to understand your subject. Andre Hazes, Golden earing, Emile Roamer, or whoever. Otherwise, you won’t get the best out of it.

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How did you do that in the TV program ‘De Naakte Waarheid’? Women who were quite uncertain and had to be photographed more or less naked?

Gaining confidence, that was the case and sometimes I had to talk for three hours. It is actually not explainable on one A4. It’s quite hard if it is difficult to get through to someone. But I always managed to do it. I did not show them or let them judge the pictures at that time. A few days later we would always look together, when it settled down. The client was always ultimately the one who decided what the final outcome would be.

Would you do it again if you were 30 years old now?

No, I would choose another profession in these times. Become a farmer. I had a drive. My father had a minimum wage and he often came home tired. And as a good craftsman he never got paid what he actually deserved. I didn’t want that, I wanted a respected job. Photography! I put my energy into it and I knew that I could do it.

That undertaking started at quite an early age in 1971. On my 18th I was temporarily working for the befriended photographer of Nico van der Stam at ‘de Flevohof’. There we made and sold pictures of the visitors.

We had the equipment for it and the money just came rolling in. Per month I would earn up to fl.2200,- to fl.2500-, net (about 1000-1135 Euro). That was quite a lot of money for those days. While a normal salary for me as photographer would be around fl. 400,- (about 180 Euro) per month. So the whole investment of the machines at ‘de Flevohof’ was earned back within a very short time. I would become co -partner, but I decided not to do that.

“Leen (Nico’s friend), wake up” I said... “I am willing to earn money, but this is no photography”. Money was a means of independence, but I didn’t just do it for the money. It had to be fun for me. I wanted to create beautiful things and not just undertake it

that way. Like I said, I quited that job quite soon. The nice thing was that I realized that photography gave me opportunities. But not in that market, because that had nothing to do with photography for me.

Nowadays that is different. Certainly if I look at what my children have to do. The crisis weighs heavily at the moment. Also on the existing assignments at this time. Earlier, I could sometimes turn jobs down if I was on vacation and now you must stay focused on the tasks. These are simply different times compared to the past. You need assignments in order to maintain everything. And to purchase your materials or to repair them. V system, H1, H3 with backgrounds.

On your websites your teachers are mentioned. That adorns you.

Nico van der Stam and Claude Vanheye and Paul Huf. The people who I have learned it from. Especially Paul Huf I admired. With him I had close contact and he thought I was his successor. That is quite an honour I think. I am old school in terms of photographers that I admire. Five photographers that are in my favourites list are Ansel Adems (for his techniques), Yousef Karsh (for his nice portraits), Richard Evadon (for his ideas and solutions), David Bailey (for his fashion and happy photography) and Newton (for his madness).

And the Dutch photographers? Ed van der Elsken, Sanne Sannes, Gerard Petrus Fieret?

Ed van der Elsken I came to appreciate much later. His approach is totally different compared to mine. I could not have done it the same way as he did. I protected people in all fairness. And Ed van der Elsken photographed very differently. Other aspects of people that he shot, I did not. For example, I was at Prince in the locker room, listening in the suite to recordings he had made earlier that evening. Prince asked me what I thought about it. Ed van der Elsken would have absolutely made pictures of that. I

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thought that was a bit too private. So I did not do that at that time.

I was especially fascinated by Paul Huf, Erwin Olaf (technically brilliant). Currently I am very impressed of Stephan Vanfleteren.

I think he is an incredibly good photographer. He is one of the few people of current time that has achieved to create his own mark.

You have a charming personality. I talked to someone to whom I said I would come here. The first thing she said was that she would immediately dare to get out her clothes, do you recognize that?

That often still surprises me. Yes, I recently had the Dutch women’s volleyball team visiting me for a shoot. Which many people said to me that it was not going to happen.

But it did work with everyone. They thanked me afterwards for the boost that I had given them and that I was able to convince them and that I photographed them that way. I thought that was such a nice compliment. Apparently I have that ability.

Many people want to be photographed.

Andy Warhol once said that everyone wants to have his or her “15 minutes of fame”.

And if you come up with the right story, with which you can fill that “15 minutes of fame”. Everybody will then say yes. It’s not what you’re asking, but how you ask it. And again, with this there is also a “granting” factor.

A good example is the following. André Rieu had a musical collaboration with Anthony Hopkins. Nobody could know that he was in his recording studio and nobody was allowed to photograph there. I shall spare you the story of how it all came about, but eventually I had shot a roll of film. Later he was in Maastricht on ‘het Vrijthof’. He came five seats past everyone and asked me “Hey Govert, how are you?”. My hero recognized me and my hero asked me how I was. That was my own “15 minutes of fame”. I got goose bumps. I was very proud of that.

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Anthony Hopkins by Govert de Roos

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Technique I learned, because I felt that I needed to become a good photographer.

Everyone can learn technique, because that’s a matter of time and a lot of energy put into it. And besides that I sincerely love people. Because I want to make a portrait as beautiful as possible. So that in the future, the children will say “What was grandma beautiful”. I wanted to make iconic, valuable and characteristic pictures for the people. I find it hard to take a bad picture of someone. No hard images.

You have experienced five decades?

Actually from the 60s until now. The 60s was learning, the 70s shooting, the 80s my breakthrough, the 90s and present what I do now.

You have also made the picture of Lennon and Yoko Ono. As a young boy you had quite the guts to make that picture. It’s also a damn good shot. A difficult photo with backlighting. I tried it once again but I am not exactly able to do it the way I did back then.

Do you have something else to say?

Something you have never done?

Or do you have any tips for new photographers? Or would you say don’t even try to start, just keep it as a hobby?

The one about the teachers I had never been asked before in interviews. And tips, I wish I had them. I’m actually now at the stage that I need tips from them.

There is perhaps a future in autonomous work, the free work. Create something that distinguishes itself and what others don’t make. I now have a phase of 45 years of experience and light is my thing. And thereof you could perhaps see and tell that someone else says that Govert has made that one.

I regularly clash at the educational institute John Lennon and Yoko Ono by Govert de Roos

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because I think that that conceptual thinking is bullshit, but that is very personal though. Because I would never really do that. In the past you came up with an idea and you would work it out in a short time and you made it. The next day there was another idea and picture in your head and you would make that. Nowadays you are learned at the educational institute to develop a theme and you think about it for days and after that you are working for a year to create that theme. For example, making 20 portraits, but then the first good image often weakens at the 20th.

With earlier photographers you could still see their signature. Now you see all the tricks of Photoshop. I put the camera down and if I have students here in the studio, I set up the light in a good way and position the people, and then all the students can press the button. But whose image is it then? Is it of the student or me? Does the camera take the picture or is it the photographer? Whose eye is it? Everyone can push the button, but it is the photographer who needs to put up the scene. That is craftmanship, that is insight.

Another example is “grain” in the past. Recently I spoke to someone about the use of grain in the picture. This person said “then I’d just quickly do that in Photoshop with a plugin.” You can’t do that! In my whole life I have developed over 15.000 film rolls and I was always excited about the result of the grain. That was always different. You can’t make it universal. It was always a surprise.

Photoshop always creates the same grain.

With developing you always had a different grain. By the use of it you could make your trademark.

If I have an advice I would say “Don’t use Photoshop anymore”. Instead, create an image. Because of Photoshop everything looks similar nowadays. I only know a few who make it in this profession.

Another example is 100 musicians who all Daly Blind by Govert de Roos

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play the same thing. You instantly recognize who the musician is, while the music is the same. Every top artist has his own trademark. Photographers of these days should also work on that.

Herman Brood by Govert de Roos

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Kitty Courbois by Govert de Roos

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Matroesjka’s by Govert de Roos

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The work of Govert can be seen on: www.govertderoos.nl http://www.gofoto.nl/page30/page29/ Work of Govert de Roos can be ordered via his website or

http://govertderoosgallery.nl/5/ Contact with Govert de Roos via http://govertderoosgallery.nl/contact/

B;ondie by Govert de Roos

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ANALOGUE PHOTOGRAPHY INTERVIEW PORTFOLIO P HOTO STOR Y E M E R G I N G TA L E N T THE MAKING OF P HOTO REVI EW ARTICLE 1X MEMBERS 1X RECOMMENDS

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FILM _______________________________________ FROM PHOTOLAB TO PHOTOSHOP

by Raul Pires Coelho

There are many ways to label professionals!

In days past there were two kinds of photographers if you consider the way they worked once the film was out of their cameras ready to process. One group would develop and print their own negatives. The other sort would rely on others for development, (it could be a friend, an employee, a specialist or a nearby photo shop), someone he could trust to do the best job.

Famous is the story of Robert Capa, who sent to England the precious negatives he made on D day, June 1945 on Omaha beach under heavy fire, with blood and death everywhere. A technician almost ruined that valuable and unique document. Only a few frames were saved and they are history today. Two examples on ways of dealing with those priceless negatives: first we have Ansel Adams, who developed and printed all his material to extreme precision based on his own devised Zone System. On the opposite side we have Cartier-Bresson, who delivered to his staff all his negatives for developing and printing, eventually giving some personal input after receiving the contact sheets.

photolab we so much need and love. It can be at home, if you are so inclined, or elsewhere, but it is the place where all your produced material as a photographer is processed. The main editing tool is the contact sheet, where all your negatives are laid out by direct print on photo paper. From there a decision can be made about the best one to enlarge and do a possible final print.

Both ways have advantages and disadvantages. The professional specialist will do the best job he can (not for Capa in WWII for sure), but he is not you. By doing it all yourself the complete work flow is under your control. Certainly, Cartier-Bresson would have got the prints exactly the way he wanted, or course.

We can then start to devise the birth of that

So, at the heart of the photolab there is a

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laboratory, a place where chemicals are thrown into special containers to develop negatives. Afterwards we make contact prints. In the end, with an enlarger and the aid of precise techniques you print your best images on emulsion covered photographic paper that again goes into specific containers with chemicals to get the final photograph.

But, at this point, in the flow of time, there is a new path on the horizon; unstoppable: digital! Computers start popping up everywhere you look!

Soon, you will have the option to register your photo work not in a negative as before, but on an electronic sensor, and all you get to process in the end will just be a digital file! If you choose this new path, your smelly chemicals will be useless forever.

Your home or street lab is fighting a losing battle with the future. Or so it was thought in those historical years.

The traditional lab technician had no idea what to do with that digital file you lay on his desk. That image file must be processed using a computer. Some software is needed to do it. The Knoll brothers, Thomas and John, arrive on the scene. It was the late 1980's and the image revolution has started. The brothers saw an opportunity and they took it to heart. A milestone software was created to take care of those files as if they were negatives. They were not photographers but software engineers. I always have thought Photoshop should be called Photolab because it really was conceived to be a photo lab, not a photo 'shop'.

Finally, every photographer from now on could have his/her lab at home. No need for a wet zone, dry zone or red light. Gone were worries about dust and particles in water, and all that. You still have the option to send your files to a Photoshop specialist to process them for you but that is not the idea behind the software. Would CartierBresson's work flow change if he was shooting with a digital camera today?

Let us now imagine the Knoll brothers, the digital pioneers, seated at a table brain storming to launch their big idea. They would have known everything about the traditional lab (ie. exactly what was necessary to process a negative and make a print on an enlarger). Their aim was to replicate those tools and work flow into the software because that is what a photographer at that time would be expecting and be comfortable with. The file arrives from the camera, is placed on the computer disk, and from there our software should be able to take care of it and manipulate the image in ways similar to the old methods. You could develop your negative consistent with your pre-visualized ideas for the final photograph. With this software you must also be able to brighten or darken the image. The print can have more or less contrast according to the grade paper it is printed. You must be able to do it with our software. And so on.

The digital work flow had its roots in the conventional lab that was the norm for more than a century. The tools and modifying windows you have in those menus and tool bars came from all that lab stuff. It was simply a translation of the process.

The aim of this article is to compare the digital tools used today with the tools available in old days. I believe many digital photographers today have no idea where they came from and it’s important for them to know.

They are used intensely and experts can render beautiful results but I think knowledge of its genesis will be insightful and make them more aware of the history of their trade.

Today, every step is so simple to perform.

The photographer can focus on ideas and subject, about the story to tell, and save time not dealing with all the technical matters a darkroom requires. Maybe that makes them better professionals. Or not! In the past it was all a lot of hard work: pure craftsmanship.

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DODGE AND BURN

CROPPING Look at a simple crop where you cut around the edges of your image, modifying the proportions for a better composition and framing. With a negative on the enlarger, what you do is move the head up and down over the easel where the photo paper will be laying flat later and at the same adjust the rulers around the image light to place it exactly where you want it, all under red light of course. It’s a very thoughtful process. And it’s very creative and beautiful. The outside world stops it's motion, all that's left is that projected light image down there, ready to be carved on the paper emulsion. Once these decisions are made the paper comes out of the box, the exposure seconds calculated based on a test strip made previously and on to the chemicals that process it: developer, stop bath and fixer. Finally you can turn on the white light and see how it went. Are you happy with it? It may be good, even awesome. If not, back to the beginning. Now that the crop has been perfected: what about the other variables?

Some parts of the image may be too dark, others locally too light.

Some dodge and burn here and there will surely help. What is it and how do you do it using an enlarger? It’s all so easy with your beloved software. You burn overexposed areas and dodge underexposed areas. To burn under the red light, holes are used to focus light where additional exposure is needed. To dodge in the darkroom cardboard masks of various shapes and sizes are used to shield areas where less exposure is necessary. This is a complex task, because while you are doing it, light continues to spread over unmasked areas. An accurate scheme has to be devised based on seconds or exposure units. It’s a trial and error process. You do it one time, develop and fix, then inspect the results. Is it good? No? Stick another sheet of paper on the enlarger and start from beginning for one more try. Several sheets and many hours later something good is coming out at last, if you are lucky! You have your final print with the exact burn and dodge in place, the exact exposure and contrast, a masterpiece perhaps, ready for the upcoming exhibition.

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can be used), it can be seen that after development and drying the image is not as sharp as it's twin. Next day, with both negatives precisely aligned, they go into the enlarger again to make the final amazingly sharp photograph. The lucky few that have seen a print made this way swear they have never seen anything like it!

PERSPECTIVE AND SKEW Skew is another fascinating and easy tool to use when, for example, you do architectural photography and you want to vertically align the convergent lines resulting from having to point your camera up. In Photoshop just grab the handles on the image and drag them to the sides to obtain full precision. It's that easy! The same results can be obtained in the darkroom. How? By using a view camera. Those types of cameras allow us to change the plane of focus regarding the lens plane. By moving the back of the camera, convergent lines can be corrected right there in the field. It is another time consuming but fascinating job because every time you change the planes, focus must be corrected over and over again until all is in focus in the ground glass.

UNSHARP MASK But it's the Unsharp Mask that is truly fascinating, and the one that I find most interesting to explain. People ask all the time why is it called unsharp if what it does is to make an image sharper. What does this mask do to make an image sharper? Well, in the old days doing it in the lab was hard work over many hours, even days, to accomplish. In Photoshop all it takes are a few seconds, depending on your computer processor. Once again the Knoll brothers knew all about it, of course. If we can replicate that time consuming process in our software, we will be a success. And they were. Look at figures 1, 2 and 3. Two negatives are needed, one made after the other, and this is mostly done with 4x5 large format negatives. The second one, our unsharp replica, will be a blurred version of the first, and is obtained by contact print transferring from the first negative, using exact light times. But, because there is a distance between the two (as an option a transparent separator

Result

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The view camera is the ultimate tool in photography. Another way of doing it was with a special and very expensive enlarger, as can be seen here. Again, very hard work!

RETOUCHING To finish this discussion on the origins of modern digital tools we still have time to talk about the band aid tool, the retouching tool, or whatever you may call that circle placed over ugly spots that come from a dirty sensor.

In your processing window on your computer screen, just go around clicking those nasty spots and, as by a sort of magic, they all disappear in front of your eyes. In the past , and indeed, present times a negative can also pick up dirt: from particles in the water, dust from the air while it’s drying or from sloppy handling. Those random imperfections will show up in the final print. Also in the processing cycle from enlarger to drying it can accumulate strange spots along the way from dirt in the water ect. So your final print, after drying and flattening is ready for display in your portfolio. Is it? No! Because there are present (just like in that computer screen we have mentioned) nasty spots that we need to remove. Your masterpiece has some white or black spots, big and/or small, that only hard and meticulous work can eliminate. No easy clicks of the mouse here.

Grab the retouching kit that includes special pens, small bottles of colored dyes, carefully crafted tiny brushes and sharp x-acto knives. Patience and steady hands are also a must. White spots

are easier than black. A brush carefully applied over and over with the right colors does the trick. Black spots have to be removed first with the x-acto knife, just the bare surface, to turn it into a white spot, then the brush finishes the job covering it. It may take several hours. If successful, your masterpiece is ready for the fierce museum curator to accept. If not, back to the negative and enlarger all the time thinking that you must try to be even more careful about the cleanliness of the whole process. The sense of reward after all this hard work, holding that print in our hands, one you can feel with all five senses is something to remember and be proud of.

Do we feel the same after the ease of our digital work flow?

Recommandations PERSPECTIVE and SKEW A Users's Guide to the View Camera, Jim Stone, Harper collins, 1987 Master Printing Course Tim Rudman, Mitchell Beaxley Editor, 1994 CROPPING, UNSHARP MASK, RETOUCHING Way Beyond Monochrome, 2nd Edition, Ralph Lambrecht, Focal Press, 2011 DODGE and BURN Master Printing Course Tim Rudman, Mitchell Beaxley Editor, 1994 Black and White, Larry Bartlett, Fountain Press, 1996

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KAH KIT YOONG _______________________________________ Australian Travel and Landscape Photographer

by Yan Zhang Since the first digital SLR camera was invented in 1991, a revolution has occurred in the world of photography. Now, every minute, more than 200,000 new images are uploaded to various social media sites over the Internet, such that our previous generations would never have imagined possible. Yes, we are overloaded with visual information in today’s digital era – which often makes it unclear for people to recognize the quality of an image.

Fortunately, we all agree that digital photography is a form of art where traditional artistic criteria are still upheld and can guide us to explore this amazing field.

In this article, I introduce Australian photographer Kah Kit Yoong who has achieved and retained critical artistic standards in his photography practice over the years. Kah Kit has his visions and principles in landscape photography. His work may not follow the current trends in popularity but have been highly recognized by prestigious international photography organizations.

This article tells the story how Kah Kit’s photography has influenced me personally, following an in-depth interview with him. I hope by reading this article and the following interview together with his stunning images, readers may be inspired by Kah Kit’s passion and unique characteristics in travel and landscape photography.

The photographer who inspired me the most

Self portrait

I started my digital photography in 2007.

From the very beginning, Kah Kit’s travel and landscape images – often displayed on the front page of the website Photo Net – touched my heart. I noticed that these

images were very different from many other “pretty photos” in terms of colours, compositions and moods. Since then, I have been in contact with Kah Kit to seek his help and advice for improving my photography.

The first time I was able to closely observe Kah Kit’s photography was during my

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participation in his 18-days New Zealand Photography Workshop in 2011. That New Zealand workshop profoundly shaped my photographic path.

In April 2011, we, a group of amateur photographers from all over the world attended Kah Kit’s workshop in New Zealand.

During this trip, we explored many interesting spots on the South Island – it is absolutely one of the most beautiful places on this planet. This experience also became my primary motivation to focus on my landscape photography in New Zealand during the following years.

As a person with a scientific background, I am usually much more interested in exploring new things from their intrinsic characteristics instead of the operational level. As such, for landscape photography, I was quite confident in my capability to handle various techniques including some complex post-processing methods. I also trusted my intuition for making something interesting when I was in the photography field. What I really lacked, at the time of my early exposure to photography, was a true inspiration.

I believe that the most important thing I got from Kah Kit’s workshop was exactly that inspiration: pursuing landscape photography with unlimited imagination, creativity and originality without losing the natural foundation.

I remembered one night, Kah Kit led me and other two members to go to Hooker Glacier Lake in Mt Cook to make night shot there. By the time we started our shooting, Kah Kit seemed not fully satisfied with his composition. Then he went into the darkness to search for a new composition. After we finished our long exposures, he was still exploring in the hills. It seemed to me that a perfect scene was probably formed in his mind, and he spent hours persevering to find a right composition to express his ideas. His dedication to pursuing perfection really amazed me.

Kah Kit’s images usually have a strong visual impact from a compositional aspect. He once

told me that composition was the most essential element in his photography that is why he always spent so much time to find the best composition when exploring a new location. As we can see in those images in the following interview, for instance Photo “Starfish Swirl”, they often have a striking visual presentation and impact. Even for popular locations, where most people present similar compositions, Kah Kit could identify some new element through his unique vision, i.e., Photo “Moment of Clarity” taken at the well-known Tasman Lake in Mt Cook.

Surreality and mystery are distinguishing features for many of Kah Kit’s images. When we look at Kah Kit’s photos, even those taken during the two periods of golden times, we hardly relate them to those typical pictures depicting nice sunrise or sunset. Instead, quite often, we feel a certain surreal and mysterious mood that inevitably invokes our imagination about these places: are they on our planet? (i.e., Photo “Neverland” and Photo “Tendrils of Fury”) Representing such surreal and mysterious moods in nature and landscape photography is very challenging, because the photographer is significantly constrained by the environment where he/she is engaged. For that, we need sharp eyes for observation, indepth visual sensitivity, and more importantly, new ideas for originality.

I found that such surreality and mystery was partially contributed to Kah Kit’s treatment of colour. Colours of many of his images definitely do not fall into the typical popular pattern: rich, warm and bright. In contrast, by mixing with some monochrome, cool and darker colour tones, Kah Kit effectively developed a surreal and mysterious feeling to many of his images. While maybe quite not in the main stream, e.g., from social media based on people’s popularity voting, I think Kah Kit’s images present a distinguished personal style – perhaps that is the most important thing for an artist.

After I participated in Kah Kit’s New Zealand

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photography workshop, I started to follow his photography blogs, from which I learned more about his philosophy behind his photography practice. While most people including some well-established photographers, now are desperately seeking high popularity in social media for their images, I can see that Kah Kit has persistently retained his photography standard, and this may explain why his images could continuously win awards in various prestigious international photography competitions in these years.

Kah Kit Yoong is the photographer who inspired me the most. Greatly influenced by him, in recent years, I gradually started to establish my own style in photography: without comprising the ground principles – the pursuit of true beauty and simplicity, I always treat surreality, ethereality and mystery as important characteristics in achieving a striking image; and I pay extra attentions to subtle details and relate them to the overall scenery when I do compositions in the field. The following image is an example of such inspiration, taken in Kah Kit’s New Zealand photography workshop 2011.

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Interview with Kah Kit Yoong Yan: Hi Kah Kit, I am very glad to get in touch with you again and thanks for agreeing to accept this interview.

To start with, can you tell us how you got into photography? I know that you graduated from the medical school of Melbourne University – one of the leading medical schools in the world, and also once worked as a full-time doctor.

What was the passion that made you change your career to become a professional photographer? And has anyone inspired you in photography?

Kah Kit: Firstly, thanks for the opportunity to be interviewed in this forum. It’s been a pleasure to watch your photography develop since our workshop together those few years ago.

You’re correct Yan, I graduated from the University of Melbourne with a medical degree. My interest in photography developed quite suddenly and unexpected since up to the time I held a D-SLR in my hands, I had no previous desire to even take it up as a hobby. I think many budding landscape photographers in the mid 2000’s like myself were inspired by the TimeCatcher group which comprised Patrick Di Fruschia, Jay Patel, Marc Adamus, Kenneth Kwan, Ian Cameron and Adam Burton. Not long after Adam Gibbs, Darwin Wiggett and myself were invited to join them.

What makes me passionate about photography? There’s really no single simple answer. The reason I feel inspired to make an image varies depending on the situation. It might be simply the desire to preserve what I saw at a moment in time to something more complex like capturing how I felt or the mood of a particular scene.

“Moonlight” by Yan Zhang, taken during his participating in Kah Kit’s 2011 New Zealand workshop.

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Yan: I understand that since the beginning of your photography practice, you have been doing some photography including human subjects. I am specifically interested in your images you made in Venice. May you tell us some story behind these images, for instance, what brought you to be interested in photographing such subjects?

Kah Kit: I started including people in my photography from 2008 onwards. I visited Venice in 2005, on my first major trip abroad which also served as my main introduction to photography. To be honest I wasn't a great fan of that city back then. Touristy and overpriced, it didn’t make much of an impression on me after experiencing many charming historical Italian towns in Tuscany and Umbria.

But during that initial visit I become interested in the shops selling Venetian masks and postcards of elaborately dressed characters wandering around the floating city. I decided that one of my bucket list items would be to visit Venice during Carnevale and photograph these masked people.

The opportunity arose a few years later, testing out and writing an article about Canon’s new flagship D-SLR, the 1DsMkIII. I booked myself on Charlie Waite’s company “Light and Land” Venice workshop in 2008. It turned out to be an overwhelming experience for the senses. Carnevale photography is often frantic for first timers. It’s most often the case of ‘shoot first, think later’. There are literally thousands of photographers; being able to think straight and creatively in such circumstances is difficult. Even so, I came away with many photographs that I was happy with. My photo “The Great Show” of Arnaldo, one of the most famous Carnevale masks became quite well known that year.

“King of the Ring” by Kah Kit Yoong

Two years later when I returned for my second Carnevale, I was starting to fall in love with Venice. I made a photo “Show Stopper” which finally captured for me all the drama

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and surreality of the festival. It was also the beginning of my collaboration and friendship with that character Sophie Farfalla. Over the next few years, I came to know more of these ‘masks’ who often go every year with one or more new costumes. We do a lot of private shoots which has the advantage of peace and quiet without hundreds of photographers crowding around.

“Show Stopper” by Kah Kit Yoong

“Breeze” by Kah Kit Yoong

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“The Great Show” by Kah Kit Yoong

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Yan: When people view your landscape photos, they usually agree that you have defined a personal artistic style that, to some extent, differentiates you from many others. Can you tell us what is (are) the most important thing(s) you have been trying to express from your work?

There is a lot of scope in positioning yourself and controlling the camera’s perspective to make things more or less important in the frame. I think also about the elements which I consider important in the scene and how they relate to another. Such relationships can be emphasized in the composition or the opposite; I try to find the right balance.

Kah Kit: My approach to these issues reflect the answer to the previous question. It’s all about finding the most effective way of expressing my ‘message’, a term which I use loosely here. This may simply be conveying the beauty of a location, capturing an emotion I felt standing there, capturing the atmosphere of some unique conditions or telling the story about a landscape.

I try to exclude elements that distract from this goal or try to diminish their impact.

A successful photograph is more than an image which is technically sound and follows compositional rules. I was looking at somebody’s mountains reflected in a lake photo recently and thought that it depicted a beautiful winter scene. The processing was good, the rocks in the foreground intelligently distributed according to the rule of thirds and the exposure was perfect. But the message (which I presume was to present the pristine beauty of a winter’s morning in the mountains), was messed up by the dominance of

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one of the rocks in the center foreground of the frame. It took a lot of the beauty away from the snow-capped peaks in the background. Taking a step back would have deemphasized the not overly attractive foreground rocks and given the mountains and their reflections more prominence.

It’s important to keep an eye on the big picture not just the finer points of technique and the appropriate application of compositional rules. A photo is supposed to say something!

In one of the photos featured here, ‘Neverland’, I wanted to convey a dark sinister mood. The spectral shaped cloud appears to be rising up from the lake. I had originally shot this with a more extensive foreground but eventually decided that grounding the viewer took away some of that mystery. I worked the contrast in the lake instead to bring up the vague reflections of the cloud instead and cropped off the bottom half of the original image.

“Neverland” by Kah Kit Yoong

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Yan: Except for local professionals, you are probably one of the first photographers who devoted great efforts to explore the unique beauty of New Zealand landscapes. For instance, the following photo probably is one of your most famous images that I have seen many times from different places.

Now, with the increasingly popular digital photography, everyday we see so many images made from New Zealand, but most of them look very similar or even identical.

Has this bothered you?

In your view, for a serious landscape photographer, how can he/she discover new opportunities to make fresh and good photographs even in a well-known location?

Kah Kit:

I have always tried to visit regions which I considered fertile subjects for the landnted in images. When I began my exploration of New Zealand, the hot destinations were Patagonia and Iceland. My plans had initially included both countries but I saw that many well-known landscapers were going there that year; it seemed that a New Zealand portfolio would stand out since nobody else was traveling there.

It is true that even among local photographers, locations like Twelve Mile beach and Tasman Lake were hardly ever photographed back then. Now you will see many among the popular pages of 500px each week. While the Wanaka tree has always been a popular subject for local photographers, I think it is fair to say it has now become the most famous tree in the world!

It is inevitable that any worthy original idea or novel location remains fresh only so long.

These are not easy to come by. The important thing is to try to make a big statement

“Moment of Clarity” by Kah Kit Yoong

PHOTO STORY | KAH KIT YOONG

with those first photographs. If you don’t make a big enough impact because your images are not memorable enough, someone else will take that idea, improve on it and create the blueprint for others to copy!

Seriously, it doesn’t really bother me; nothing remains original forever. From what I’ve seen in the last decade, most landscape photographers seek out subjects because they want to create something similar to what they have seen somewhere. There are a lot of fresh ideas and locations out there but it’s much easier to follow someone else’s footsteps than make your own. In a relatively undiscovered country like New Zealand (as opposed to the popular national parks in the USA), the effort to do your own scouting soon pays off.

I do look at and study other photographers’ images as research. This is mainly to see what sort of photos are already out there so that I can do things differently.

Yan: As you know, more and more amateur photographers are out there, and some of them are making very good images. It sems that the boundary between professional and amateur photography is getting vague. As a professional photographer, do you feel competition from this side? How do you deal with this?

Kah Kit: Actually I find the distinction between amateur and professional photographers to be non-existent. There are amateurs who achieve the highest level of excellence in their work who put many professionals to shame. I don’t feel competition from amateurs as such. But I think that they are more likely to undervalue their work which has eroded the entire photography industry. I prefer to deal with what I can control and not worry about what others are doing.

“Tendrils of Fury” by Kah Kit Yoong

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Yan: Nowadays, seeking popularity from social networks seems to have become many people’s primary goal in their photography, at least for many amateur photographers.

What are your views on this trend from a professional viewpoint? In your view, what is the most important thing(s) we should pursue in nature and landscape photography?

What are your essential criteria for evaluating an image?

Kah Kit: Unfortunately that is true. For many, the ‘endgame’ of photography has become exposure rather than excellence. I have heard of photographers (both amateur and professional) presenting their images in a way that is likely to be popular rather than according to their own tastes. I think it’s sad that social networking has had such an effect on artists that they would compromise their vision in this way. Everyone has their own vision - pursuing, refining and finally achieving it is the most important goal in my opinion. When I teach people, it is my job to help them work through that process.

Although I appreciate people taking the time to look at my images on social networks, popularity is largely irrelevant in my personal evaluation of an image. As a throw back to my days as a pianist, there’s a big difference between impressing the shopping mall crowd and an adjudicating panel of professional musicians. It’s the same thing with social networks. The general population know what they like or don’t like but it is hardly a rigorous evaluation by people experienced in the field. At the end of the day, critical analysis is left to myself and a small number of people whose opinion I trust.

“Starfish Swirl” by Kah Kit Yoong

Despite these negative aspects, I believe that social media is a powerful tool which most professional photographer should

seriously consider using. Networking thro– ugh Facebook has greatly widened my opportunities at Carnevale. And last year I made a name for myself as a dance photographer through the same channels. It was mind-blowing to watch how my reach into an entirely new genre of photography would extend from an unknown entity to providing advertising images for the premier industry companies within a matter of hours.

Yan: One principal difference between professional and amateur photographers is that professional photographers have to support themselves through photography, which sometimes may not directly relate to their primary interests. How do you balance this in your life?

Kah Kit: Very true. Being a professional travel or landscape photographer is a romantic notion but I found that the reality is somewhat different. This may well be related to my personality but I have a hard time doing things not directly related to my primary interests.

My priorities have changed over the past few years. I’m very selective about when I choose to take my camera out and never make images simply because it is there to be used. I’m not constantly driven to build up my portfolio, preferring to add photos only when they contribute something different to what I already have. I’m just as likely to be found enjoying the outdoors without a camera in hand as shooting landscapes nowadays.

I decided that I would rather be practicing medicine (which I enjoy) than doing things in photography which hold little interest for me. At the moment I like the balance I have struck. Each year I offer a few small private landscape/travel workshops. However, I am very excited about a collaboration with Lofoten Tours, run by Norway’s premier landscape photographer Arild Heitmann. We are co-leading a grand tour of the Lofoten Islands next year. Hopefully we will witness some good aurora activity.

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“Wilderness Coast” by Kah Kit Yoong

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Yan: You have won a number of prestigious international photography competitions in past years. I noticed that this year again you have 5 images across three different categories in the shortlisted finalists in the 2014 Australian ANZANG Nature Photography of the Year competition. In general, what are the main differences between an awardwinning image and a popular image, e.g., an image received a lot of votes and favorites from social networks?

What are the benefits you have received from participating in prestigious photography competitions?

Kah Kit: The marketing aspect of photography has never been my strong suit. Fortunately my success in competitions has worked as a form of advertising. Before the advent of social networks and photo-sharing platforms, this was the primary way I built up my reputation.

There’s a big difference between an awardwinning image and a popular one. If you look at the popular pages from social networks, they tend to feature iconic views in sweet light, pretty but there’s little to distinguish between the repetitive renditions of Moraine Lake, Mesa Arch, Kirkjufell, Twelve Apostles and the like which we see over and over again. On the other hand, contests usually reward imagery which show something unpected, creative or ‘out of the box’.

I ended winning the landscape category of ANZANG this year with ‘What Dreams Are Made Of’ which illustrates this point perfectly. It was one of the least popular landscapes I have posted over the past year on various platforms. If I had entered this competition based on how many likes or votes the image received on social networks, it is doubtful that I would have had this success. Photo selection is obviously critical. In my opinion, the most important “Cradle Blooms” by Kah Kit Yoong

rule in choosing images is to put yourself into the judge’s shoes. Imagine that you are on the panel and consider for what reasons the judges may single out your photograph out of thousands of other entries.

Apart from the exposure and prize money associated with success in competitions there are some less obvious benefits. One of my favourite aspects about awards nights is meeting up with other photographers, some whom I may have already become acquainted with from online forums. It’s a nice way to spend the evening, hearing others talk about their work. It’s certainly not about being Narcissistic, collecting your award and admiring your photo on a wall. Success at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year means being invited to the week of events at the British Natural History Museum in London.

The opportunity to hear other photographers talk about the stories behind their winning images is always greatly inspiring.

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“Invisible” by Kah Kit Yoong

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Yan: Now let’s talk about some technique issues. Can you tell us what you usually do in a photography field? What sorts of scenes mostly attract you in general?

From my previous experience of attending your workshop, I observed that each time you put a great effort for getting a right composition. In your opinion, what is the key for getting an appealing composition?

Kah Kit: I’m most attracted towards locations which offer a distinctive foreground and background. If there’s something interesting in the mid-ground that’s a bonus too. I also like to work with scenes where one is not locked into only one or two compositions but offer a myriad of possibilities in many

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directions.

shooting into the sun.

Colour palette is also something that I consider carefully. I am drawn towards scenes with contrasting colours or unusual hues. If I have an idea for a composition, I think about what sort of conditions would best complement it. “A Moment of Clarity” which I captured on our workshop together has become one of my most successful photographs. The completely cloudless sky would not normally be something considered ideal light for landscapes. However, for my concept it worked in well with the complex composition and contrast with the warm light on the mountain peaks.

The two major ingredients for a photograph are composition and light. When you’re in the field the latter is generally not a factor that can be easily immediately modified. However composition is something that is completely under your control.

Making the best use of whatever light which is available is also a compositional skill.

Sometimes it is possible to manipulate the available light to your advantage. “Breeze” is such an example. I used midday light reflected from a building to create front lighting on Sophie Farfalla even though I was

“Roar” by Kah Kit Yoong

your principle and boundary of image post-processing?

Yan: For processing your images, what tools do you use and what is your general work-flow for processing an image?

With the powerful Photoshop and other digital image processing tools, now everyday we see more and more “over cooked” images on the Internet, and people’s aesthetic taste seems also to be more tolerant for this trend. What are

Kah Kit: My work-flow is really nothing too fancy by current standards. I draw out as much dynamic range as I require by multiple passes through the RAW converter and then work the contrasts and colour in Photoshop proper. I find that Nik software and Tony Kuyper’s suite of actions complement my work-flow well as finishing touches.

I agree that the past couple of years have seen greater popularity of more highly processed landscapes. What was considered ‘overcooked’ 5 years ago might now be accepted as pretty normal processing now. I wonder if this trend continues whether it will eventually erode the way landscape photography is perceived. As the final result

“Canyon Delight” by Kah Kit Yoong

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deviates further and further from reality it is possible that landscapes are seen as a figment of the artist’s imagination rather than something derived from the natural world.

I have some principles which govern how I approach both my landscape and travel photography. My preference is to present a version of the scene optimized for contrast and colour. My style has an emphasis on clarity, clean details with a natural-looking colour palette based on the real experience. I would not make big changes in colour balance such as changing a blue sky to purple or composite in a sky from another shoot. I can however respect and appreciate the work of others not bound by my personal boundaries. When going beyond these limits in processing, I do think the photographer has a duty to disclose such

liberties in their image creation.

Yan: There are so many images made from Mount Cook, New Zealand. The following one probably is one of the most special ones I have ever seen so far. Do you mind sharing with us how you made this image? And what techniques you used to achieve this effect?

Kah Kit: Thanks Yan, I have to confess that at the moment I captured this image, I never envisaged that it would eventually become one of my personal favourites. The title of the photo is called “Desperate Measures” because the behind the scenes situation was really quite frantic. I had carefully set up my composition with this iceberg. As usual I was standing in the ice cold water (this time I

“What Dreams are Made of” by Kah Kit Yoong

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stripped down to underwear and sandals since nobody was around) ready to shoot the sunset. Then, at the crucial moment the piece of ice suddenly started to spin and float down the river. I desperately lunged to save it and using my tripod managed to haul it back towards the shore. In fact the sunset was nothing to write home about but the dull conditions forced me to think differently about how I could best make use of the light. The subtle reflection of the cloud on the piece of ice and the surrounding water was the key to making the photo work. In monochrome, I was able to emphasize the glow in a more natural way than it would have been possible in colour.

In the end concentrating on creating a dark and ominous mood helped to make this a distinctive Mount Cook shot since almost everyone else focuses on sweet light, colour and reflections. In the past couple of

years, I have expanded my repertoire to include more brooding imagery.

Yan: Thank you very much, I really appreciate that you share so much about your photography with us today.

Kah Kit: Thank you.

“Into the Vortex” by Kah Kit Yoong

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A highlight of Kah Kit’s recent years photography awards: Digital Camera Photographer of the Year: 1st Prize Landscape Travel Photographer of the Year: finalist Australian Geographic ANZANG: 1st prize in landscape, black and white, threatened

species BBC Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year: 2nd prize Wild Places, commended Animals in their Environment New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year: 1st prize Landscape, People’s Prize International Conser

Kah Kit Yoong’s photography website: http://www.magichourtravelscapes.com/

“Desperate Measures” by Kah Kit Yoong

13 SHOTS INTERVIEW PORTFOLIO P HOTO STOR Y E M E R G I N G TA L E N T THE MAKING OF P HOTO REVI EW ARTICLE 1X MEMBERS 1X RECOMMENDS

Holger Schmidtke Dick Heckmann Susanne Stoop Francesco Caso Michael Kรถster Harry Lieber Weber Norbert Jeroen van der Wiel Stefan Schilbe Sus Bogaerts Christian Skilbeck Martin Fleckenstein Baren Guven

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PHOTO REVIEW OF | 13 SHOTS- INTRODUCTION

Many professional architecture photographers, who work for architects or magazines and other media approach their subject completely different. For them it is important to show the design, function and environment of a building. It is their job to make beautiful illustrative images. They don't search for special points of view that changes a very concrete building into a realistic abstract image.

PHOTO REVIEW _____________________________________

By Susanne Stoop The photographic reality of architecture photos can be very different from the reality as seen when standing in front of a building. Or in the words of 1x photographer Harry Lieber http://1x.com/takami as written in his about: "My goal is to find special structures, lines and shapes and to extract them by means of photography". He feels quite happy when finding a composition that shows the aesthetics of a building and not its reality.

Jef van den Houte http://1x.com/member/jefvdh stated in one of his tutorials: "I try to capture shapes and lines and I pay special attention to how the structure's forms is emphasized by the effect of the light".

Track 5 - Jef van den Houte

In this review I will show some of the many ways in which architecture photographers can explore their subject. Here's the list: 1. The realistic approach 2. The concrete animal 3. Architectural minimalism 4. The architectural night 5. The problematic sky 6; Places of worship

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PHOTO REVI EW OF | 13 SHOTS—DICK HECKM ANN

Langen Foundation - Holger Schmidtke

Gemäldemuseum Berlin - Dick Heckmann

1. THE REALISTIC APPROACH

It may take some time to get hold of the entrance ticket, but once have it, your photographic eye will be richly rewarded. First you come into a small hall with a dome (see: Klemen R – http://1x.com/photo/722682 ). The light is subdued. It is in complete contrast with the light-filled central, the entrance to the galleries.

The Langen Foundation near Neuss in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) houses a collection of Oriental art and Modern Art. It was dessigned by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando.

Holger Schmidtke shows us a serene, almost Zen-like image. A place to sit down and contemplate. This image is a personal interpretation of the building, but it also gives an insight into the design principles, structure, shape and the materials used. A well chosen point of view, soft light and colours tell the story of Ando's art.

The spacious hall is conceived as a place of quiet reflection, which is very well caught by Dick Heckmann.

It is like entering a temple. The atmosphere is serene - as if never disturbed by visitors - but also a bit severe. Dick emphasizes this by concentrating on the strict symmetry of the hall and its repetition of forms, which is only broken by the more playful lamps in the ceiling and the arches.

If he had chosen another point of view, the impression would have been quite different.

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PHOTO REVI EW OF | 13 SHOTS—FRANCESCO CASO

Gemäldemuseum - by Susanne Stoop

Beetle - Francesco Caso

2. THE CONCRETE ANIMAL

When reading a title like "Beetle" one might expect to see a macro, or the car nicknamed beetle, but not a one made out of concrete. And yet, here we have it - and it is not the only one in the 1X archives - for instance Gerard Jonkman's beetle: http://1x.com/photo/290561 . Officially it is L'Hemisfèric (Planetarium), part of the City of Arts and sciences in Valencia (Spain), designed by Santiago Calatrava, and meant to resemble a giant eye.

By choosing a special point of view, frame or lightning a photographer can give a building or part of it, a meaning which was not intended by the architect. An eye became a beetle, a building turned into a carambola ( a fruit), but it may be a bird as well.

"Beetle" is part of his series "Animals in Architecture", in which he explores the resemblances between a building or its parts and animals. Francesco makes his point by isolating the building from its surrounding. There is nothing to distract the eye. It is his trade mark for this series, We see the same in his other animal abstracts such as "Eagle" – http://1x.com/photo/532722 - and "Bat's wing" – http://1x.com/photo/701296/all:user:136750

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PHOTO REVIEW OF | 13 SHOTS—MICHAEL KÖSTER

PHOTO REVI EW OF | 13 SHOTS—HARRY LI EBER

Carambola - Michael Köster

the lamp - Harry Lieber

Carambola is a tropical fruit. It is also known as star fruit and has five to eight prominent longitudinal ridges. And yes, it resembles the building Michael Köster photographed in Berlin. Between brackets, I must confess I had no idea what a carambola might be, so I googled a bit and found out that there are also lamps with that name. One of our 1X photographers had associations with a huge bird flying high to the clouds. That's also what I saw when viewing this image.

Whatever you see - it might even be a kite - Michael did a good job. He eliminated all details that could distract the eye, while processing the image into lovely black and white. The little cloud is the icing on the cake. It gives you an idea of spaciousness and directs the eye. It is as if one flies towards the little one and beyond.

3. ARCHITECTURAL MINIMALISM The Webster dictionary defines minimalism as a style or technique that is characterized by extreme spareness and simplicity.

On various photo sites it is described as " keep it simple", which might be a bit too simple.

For me it means showing the absolute essence of your subject. Like in abstract photography it is also about making ordinary objects or buildings stand out in a completely different way and thus showing something unexpected. It is, as the images of Harry Lieber and Weber Norbert shown about creating something new out a reality you just saw.

There is almost nothing to be seen. Just the absolute essence. A wall, three surfaces, some green, a bit of white and a lot of grey. Nothing more and yet Harry creates an exciting picture with this sparse ingredients. He achieves this through a sophisticated field division and the use of light that gives the grey tones a lovely glow. .It is a delicate balance. The image would lose its visual impact if you lower the horizontal line or use less subtle light.

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PHOTO REVI EW OF | 13 SHOTS—JEROEN VAN DER WIEL

Lines of shadow - Weber Norbert

Breaking the wind - Jeroen van der Wiel

In "Lines of Shadow" Weber Norbert shows us a simple but effective composition; a wall and two sun reflected lines. It isn't as exciting as "the lamp" by Harry Lieber, but it has something very special. The way the elegant lines are imaged, givie the picture a dynamic look and feel.

They make me think of a running figure on the tracks of an athletic field. It symbolizes a fleeting moment and as Weber writes in the description of his image, it can only be made once a year, when at a certain hour the sun is in the right position to cast these shadows.

4. THE PROBLEMATIC SKY For the architecture photographer the sky can be very problematic. It is more or less useless when it's flat grey, or too bright, or covered with too many disturbing dots of small clouds.

So, how to deal with the problematic sky?

Of course you can leave the sky as it is, but most of the time it is not the right solution.

A photographer like Dr. Akira Takaue spends days adjusting sky, carefully considering the location of the clouds and the direction of the light.

Others like Jef van den Houte or Gerard Jonkman use their own sky stock photos when dealing with a useless sky.

Their way to solve the sky problem are described in various 1X tutorials.

Here I will show the solutions of Jeroen van der Wiel and Stefan Schilbe On a sunny day Jeroen van van der Wiel photographed the sturdy wind breakers, that protect the harbour of Rotterdam. The sun casts a nice shadow of trees bending in the wind on the concrete wall, giving it a more friendly look. By photographing the wall in a diagonal position, Jeroen shows how solid and sturdy it is and he also avoids a lot of sky by doing so. That doesn't mean, he didn't have to work on this sky. I think it was full of white clouds and Jeroen changed it into a smooth and pleasing part of his photo, But there is more to it. When you study the image, you will discover that the shadows of the branches of the tree match with the stretched out forms of the clouds. A clever piece of work!

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PHOTO REVI EW OF | 13 SHOTS—STEFAN SCHILBE

PHOTO REVI EW OF | 13 SHOTS—SUS BOGAERTS

To the sky - Stefan Schilbe

Louvre - Sus Bogaerts

If I am not mistaken this sky scraping building is the Colorium in Düsseldorf (Germany), once an office, now a hotel with a colourful glass facade. So it is brave of Stefan Schilbe to show it in black and white.

5. THE ARCHITECTURAL NIGHT

Like Jeroen van der Wiel, Stefan made his photo on a sunny day with lots of clouds in the sky.

The sky is a substantial part of the image and the flow of the smoothed out clouds give it a vivid, if not rather dramatic look and feel, possibly indicating it was windy that day. It is a nice solution to the sky problem. But there is a trap. It is hidden in the reflections on the facade. when looking closely, you can see that the flow of clouds heads into another direction than the flow in the sky.

In the sky they head upwards, in the reflections they point downwards and that bothered me.

Night photography and architecture match quite well. The darkness obscures details you don't want to see on your photo and strengthens the photographic point you wish to make. It very much helps you to photograph the essential.

Sometimes it are small details that make the photo. On "Louvre" by Sus Bogaerts it the triangular lamp on the foreground. It is an unobtrusive eye catcher from where the eye wonders into the photo. It makes you also discover that the reflection from the light in the lamp on the dark stones seems to be a mirror image of the big pyramid - the real antagonist of this photo - and the two little ones.

The lamp and the pyramids together also form a triangle, which is repeated in the ornaments above the windows of the rectangular building at the background. It is as if the concrete architecture changes into an almost abstract play of shapes and lines.

I wonder if Sus had also achieved this result if he had made his image during day light.

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PHOTO REVIEW OF | 13 SHOTS—CHRISTIAN SKILBECK

PHOTO REVI EW OF | 13 SHOTS—M ARTIN FLECKENSTEIN

Assyrian Sphinx - Christian Skilbeck

Louvre - Grundtvigs Kirke - Martin Fleckenstein

The Assyrian Sphinx is part of the Liberty Memorial Park in Kansas City (USA). To get an overall idea of this park I browsed a bit on the internet and saw that Christian Skilbeck has chosen a detail out of a vast complex.

6. PLACES OF WORSHIP

Christian took his photo on a dark, possibly rainy night, creating a sombre mood, that reflects on the sacrifices of war. The light within the building is a strong focus point. From there eye wanders over the picture towards the veiled sphinx, the reflections in the pond. Like Sus Bogaerts Christian concentrated on the essence of the things he saw - a remarkable set of forms and patterns of which he made a good photo.

I think however that it could be made better, not to say more impressive it the image were cropped at the left side until the building (which by the way should be punt right; it leans out to the right, which is rather disturbing) and just a bit on the top and bottom. As it is now the building and statue are a bit lost in the pond. When cropped it gets much more presence.

Modern architecture is favourite among the 1X architecture photographers. In church photography there are wonderful, colourful photos to be seen of the roofs or the panoramas by FrankBa http://1x.com/member/fbaillet .

There are however very few black and white photos that show us the interior of two contrasting churches.

Quite surprisingly the Grundtvig church in Copenhagen (Denmark) isn't an old gothic cathedral from the late Middle Ages. It was built in the first half of the twentieth century.

Martin Fleckenstein view of the church a graphical one. It is almost like an engraving, displaying stillness, serenity and an unusual lightness.

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PHOTO REVI EW OF | 13 SHOTS—BAREN GUVEN

Holy music - Baren Guven Is there any greater contrast than between the Copenhagen Cathedral and the one of Pitsunda, where Baris Guven made his picture? I don't think so. The stillness made way for a dynamic look and feel, with its strong black and white tones. And yet, when the eye travels from the stern looking Christ on top of the image to the ground flour, the dynamism makes way for stilness, for the holy music.

CRISTINA OTERO INTERVIEW PORTFOLIO P HOTO STOR Y E M E R G I N G TA L E N T THE MAKING OF P HOTO REVI EW ARTICLE 1X MEMBERS 1X RECOMMENDS

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PORTFOLIO | CRISTINA OTER O

PORTFOLIO _______________________________________ CRISTINA OTERO Interview by Christian Argueta

The first time I heard about Cristina Otero was when I read a Huffington Post article titled, “ Cristina Otero, 16-Year-Old photographer, creates stunning self-portraits witfruit.” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/25/cristina-otero-16-yearol_n_1625715.html) The article showed a number of images from her series entitled, “Tutti Frutti.” They were, essentially, just pictures of her face. Though she is obviously attractive, these images were striking. In each one, it seemed like, through attitude, performance and some very creative makeup, Cristina tried to personify the flavor of the fruit she was taking her portrait with. In one, there was a tangy slice of lemon and she showed a stunning expression of a puckered face. In another, she gives a seductive gaze through her pale makeup while she enjoys an incredibly red, plump strawberries. Each one of the images drew me in. They captured me entirely and I could not take away my eyes in fear I would miss a detail. I then realized that I had momentarily missed the biggest detail of all… that she was just sixteen. These pictures looked like they were achieved by someone who’d been doing this for a long time and knew exactly what they were doing. That’s when I realized I hadto know much more about her.

Cristina was gracious enough to take time off of her busy schedule and answer a few questions for 1X.

Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? How old are you? Were you always interested in photography? one life

My name is Cristina Otero, I’m a photograh-

er currently living in Madrid, Spain. I was born in Galicia (Northwest of Spain). I am 18 years old. I started photography at 13, after watching some America’s Next Top Model (an amateur models competition TV show). I

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PORTFOLIO | CRISTINA OTER O

fell in love with the lighting, makeup, and expressions. I then knew I wanted to do the same!

What is "photography" to you? How has it affected your life? Why do you like it so much?

Photography to me is therapy. It makes me feel alive and know I’m real. It allows me to be myself; it makes me free. Art has always been very important in my life, but I know now I want to dedicate all my life to creating new work.

Do you think you have a particular photo "style?" If so, was this something you chose or something you just fell into?

I would say I do, that’s what I am usually told. I fell into it! When I was younger, I actually wanted to ‘change’ my style to make people like my work, but I couldn’t do it! I loved creating dark, scary work. I know now that my style is evolving and I will just go with the flow.

What do you think of other styles of photography? (Landscape, photojournalism, abstract, architecture, etc) There are amazing pieces and great photographers with styles that are very different to mine. I enjoy looking at others’ art, but I am not interested in creating that kind of work.

What's "good" about doing self portraits?

What's "bad" about self portraits?

Self-portraiture teaches you a lot about yourself. You suddenly know all your flaws and ‘’perfections’, physically and emotionally speaking. This can either be good or bad; sometimes this new information may punch you in the face and make you feel miserable. But this isn’t something that happens everyday. It’s all worth it.

Has shooting self portraits taught you anything about yourself?

Yes, definitely. .

the hider

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Where do you shoot mostly? Home? Studio? Outdoors? What do you prefer?

At home. I have created a small, portable studio in my room so I feel quite comfortable at home.

Where do you get your ideas from?

Inspiration comes basically from my own life. I take daily wonders, thoughts and fears and try to convert them into something beautifully artistic.

Lighting: Profoto b1 and Profoto deep silver umbrella L. Editing Program: Photoshop cs3 and Lightroom 4.1.

How often do you shoot?

I try doing it once or twice a week, but sometimes between college and (photographic) work, it’s hard!

What is the ONE question people ask you the most?

Are there other photographers/artists that inspire you? If so, who are they?

“How do you do it?” As if it was easy to answer that!

I don’t know if they inspire me, but I love Zhan Jingna and Steven Klein’s work.

What advice would you give someone interested in photography? How should they get started? What should they NOT do?

Do you ever experiment with your photography? Do things you wouldn't normally do?

I’m starting to do so, and I’m learning a lot from just experimenting.

What do you do when you get "photographer's block?" (When you can't think of any ideas.)

Look for them! Look up at beautiful sounding words in the dictionary and create a story around it. Listen to a song, read a book. There are millions of ways to get inspired

To experiment a lot to see what they enjoy doing the most. I began doing a bit of landscape and macro, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as with portraiture. I always recommend showing your work through social media, like Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram; this will help a lot to get known.

You should NEVER copy. Ever. One thing is being inspired by an art piece, and another thing is plagiarism. Doing this will eventually pull you down.

What has been your biggest project so far?

What other things do you besides photography? (Reading, drawing, yoga, writing, movies, etc?)

Probably my ad campaign for the national Spanish train wheel company, Renfe.

I read, write, listen to music, dance… I tremendously enjoy long, great conversations about art, history and philosophy.

What parts of the world have your photographs been shown at? (in galleries and/or shows)

What is your current toolkit? (Camera, lenses, lights, software, etc)

From 2011 to now, my work has been in Spain (different places), Algeria (twice) Holland, and Germany (twice).

Camera: Pentax k3 Lenses: Pentax 70mm f2.8, Pentax 55mm f1.4, Sigma 85mm f 1.8 and Sigma 18-35mm f 1.8.

PORTFOLIO | CRISTINA OTER O

(previous page) daeva hunger

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PORTFOLIO | CRISTINA OTER O

lamia

the guardian

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I've noticed that some of your latest work seems to be Fashion photography.

Is this where you see your career going?

From the start, I knew I wanted to do Fashion photography. I want to mix my artistic style with fashion.

If you couldn't do photography, what other career do you think you'd be interested in?

Right now I’m in college studying Art History. My life will always revolve around art.

Do you listen to music when you're working on your photographs, and if so, what do you listen to?

Yes, I do! I mostly listen Indie, Epic, or Rock.

It helps me create the mood I Desire.

I noticed you have a Youtube channel.

You like showing people some of the behind-the-scenes from some of your shoots. Why is it important for you to show or teach people?

I want people to know that this started as a hobby and that it’s possible through hardwork to achieve what you desire. I want to help them to walk through such difficult path. If I was able to make it, anyone can too.

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Where do you want to see yourself going with photography? Meaning, at what point would you say, "Yes! This is what I imagined being a photographer would be all about!"

I sincerely don’t think I will get to that point; I am very harsh on myself and I never feel completely satisfied. This idea makes me feel a bit sad, but I know this is what pushes me to the next level and makes me never to stop growing.

advena

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(previous page) wilting even in death it grows

don’t tell mom

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uva

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the aftermath

trauma

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Thank you Cristina for sharing with us a bit more about who you are and what you do.

We’re excited to see what works of art you come up with next.

If you’re interested in keeping up with Cristina and her work, you can find here here: F aceb ook :http s://ww w.face b ook.com/ cristinaoterophotography Twitter: https://twitter.com/CristinaOtero_ Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/ cristinaoterophoto Website: www.cristinaotero.com

don’t tell mom

MEET THE CURATORS INTERVIEW PORTFOLIO P HOTO STOR Y E M E R G I N G TA L E N T THE MAKING OF P HOTO REVI EW ARTICLE 1X MEMBERS 1X RECOMMENDS

Jef van den Houte

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MEET THE CUR ATORS | JEF VAN DEN HOUTE

MEET THE CURATORS _______________________________________ JEF VAN DEN HOUTE

by Thomas Brindt “Good photography is not “what” you see, but “how” you see”

A matter of point of view When you browse through the work of 1x curator Jef Van den Houte, you’ll notice that it's not the type of architectural photography you would normally expect to see. The shape of the architectural structures conform in ways that sometimes seem like they are not for real, but created in a computer.

That’s until you read the descriptions and realize that they are just real and ordinary buildings. In fact, some of them are famous landmarks that you may have visited yourself.

Circle of light

Jef Van den Houte has an amazing ability to find original and creative point of views for his architectural motifs, showing a genuine feeling for visual imagery. As unlikly as it may seem, all of his images are entirely made in camera. Of course he is using (sometimes quite some) post processing

afterwards, but only to further emphasize light, shapes and the visual impact he want to express.

Photography has been his passion for more than 30 years. But besides his professional background in one of the leading companies in the graphic arts industry, Jef Van den Houte doesn’t have any formal education in photography itself. Instead, he did find knowledge from other sources:

“I learned a lot through the contact with other photographers, reading about photography, visiting exhibitions and looking into photo books. But above all, I think, by submitting my own work to comments and critics. I wanted to learn and to improve, by having the look of others on my images” To get this critique, he took part in photo

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MEET THE CUR ATORS | JEF VAN DEN HOUTE

club activities and has participated in a lot of photo competitions: “Not to collect awards, but to expose my work to the judging of others. I am not a competition driven photographer, trying to collect prizes, it’s not a real goal for me”.

Despite this, he has gathered quite a number of prizes. Including awards in the prestigious Trierenberg Circuit. His motto for creating a good photo is: “Good photography is not “what” you see, but “how” you see”. This sentiment is clearly visible in his work process. He starts by searching for some interesting areas of architecture. He then takes a walk around and tries to find some interesting constructions. When it’s time to take photos, he his keen to do it in his own style: “I try to render the architecture in my personal way. It can be a point of view, a detail, a combination, a processing…”

Putting your own style to a photo is also his most important advice to novice photographers: “Find the type of photography you really like to do, not what you think might be more successful. Look at the work of other photographers you like, not to copy but to let them inspire you. Visit photo exhibitions, look into books..”

Jef Van den Houte puts this philosophy to practice in his work as a curator at 1x. His final advice if you want to get your photos published is as easy to understand as it’s sometimes difficult to accomplish: “Try to bring photos that are a bit different, somewhat surprising and original in their approach to the motif."

Does Jef Van den Houte live up to his own advice? If you have any doubt, you are free to look through his portfolio yourself. It is, like everything else, a matter of point of view.

Patches of light

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MEET THE CUR ATORS | JEF VAN DEN HOUTE

Golden swan

Light play

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MEET THE CUR ATORS | JEF VAN DEN HOUTE

Black hole

Overlooking the world

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Silhouettes

The Screw

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MEET THE CUR ATORS | JEF VAN DEN HOUTE

The chimney

Running

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MONO YEARBOOK 2014 INTERVIEW PORTFOLIO P HOTO STOR Y E M E R G I N G TA L E N T THE MAKING OF P HOTO REVI EW ARTICLE 1X MEMBERS 1X RECOMMENDS

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Hesham Alhumaid

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Katarina M책nsson

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Anna Niemiec

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Burger Jochen

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Kouji Tomihisa

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Vicente Moraga

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Biserka Sijarič

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Pessoa N Beat

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Philipp Balunovic

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Jeroen Jongebloed

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Claudio Montegriffo

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Arnd Gottschalk

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Antonio Perrone

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Tomer Eliash

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Peter Svoboda

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Batoev Anton

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Dr Akira Takaue

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Wieteke de Kogel

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Chris Dixon

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C S Tjandra

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Huib Limberg

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Carlo Cafferini

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THEME WINNERS INTERVIEW PORTFOLIO P HOTO STOR Y E M E R G I N G TA L E N T THE MAKING OF P HOTO REVI EW ARTICLE 1X MEMBERS 1X RECOMMENDS

1X MEMBERS | WEEKLY THEME WINNERS

1x MEMBERS WEEKLY THEME WINNERS WEEKLY THEME CONTEST ON 1X The weekly theme is a successful part of 1x.

Every week a new theme is posted.

Anyone can join.

The members can vote and the photo with the highest score wins.

This is a wonderful way for the participants to see their work displayed.

It brings out the best in our members.

Week-after-week, the entries continually show originality, creativity and talent.

We are proud to announce the winners from the last two months.

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1X MEMBER WEEKLY THEME WINNERS | PIOTR KROL

1X MEMBER WEEKLY THEME WINNERS | PIET FLOUR

Renkowo - Piotr Krol

No words to describe the feeling - Piet Flour

WHITE

BIRTH

This theme offered many opportunities for creative entries. Classic motifs such as birds and cats competed with polar bears and snow filled landscapes.

The winner PIOTR KROL spoiled us with a dreamlike and poetic landscape.

The 1X photographers prove that even a seemingly narrow theme like “birth” can give inspiration to a variety of interpretations. We have seen the birth of humans, animals, and plants.

The winner PIET FLOUR made us silent with a wonderful image of a new born baby taken seconds after birth.

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1X MEMBER WEEKLY THEME WINNERS | MARCO ANTONIO

1X MEMBER WEEKLY THEME WINNERS | YVETTE DEPAEPE

Woman in red - Marco Antonio

Bursting with youthful energy - Yvette Depaepe

FENCE

ENERGY

Do you think all fences look the same ? Then you haven't seen the 1X photographers new designs. The “Fence” theme showed us that fences can come in shapes and styles.

The winner MARCO ANTONIO even added a delightful red touch to his B&W fence design.

Energy can come in many different forms. Among the entries, everything from power plants to athletes and different kinds of nature phenomena were displayed.

The winner YVETTE DEPAEPE showed us a burst of youthful energy.

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1X MEMBER WEEKLY THEME WINNERS | SOL MARR ADIS

1X MEMBER WEEKLY THEME WINNERS | VICTORIA HELLNER

Disquietude-Days of nothing (2) - Sol Marradis

Ghosts in the Attic - Victoria Hellner

ART EXCHANGE

GHOSTS

The Art Exchange theme contest proved very successful indeed, when it came to luring out the artistic talents of the 1X photographers.

The winner SOL MARRADIS a very talented lady, presented a most artistic creation.

Halloween is over for this time around and it's time to present the otherworldly talents of the ghost theme contest. Some scary and some more friendly looking. Not surprisingly, the color palette was somewhat bleaker than usual and many used processing more extensively to bring out the spookiness in their photos. The most ghostly talent is VICTORIA HELLNER who captured some in her attic.

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1X MEMBER WEEKLY THEME WINNERS | PIET FLOUR

1X MEMBER WEEKLY THEME WINNERS | NATALIA BARAS

Facing the light - Piet Flour

Paintings - Natalia Baras

SELFIE

ART EXCHANGE II

The phenomenon of taking “selfies” has been around for quite a while now. It was up to the 1x photographers to make the selfie seem interesting again and as always they rose to the challenge. It was especially fun to see that so many photographers took the opportunity to feature themselves in the photo. The winner who proudly can see himself on the podium this time is PIET FLOUR.

The second round of the Art Exchange was as creative as the first one and perhaps even more polished in the execution. The theme gave many users an opportunity to show their advanced skills, while others chose a bit more subtle approach.

The winner this time is NATALIA BARAS with a colorful and original creation.

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1 X M E M B E R W E E K L Y T H E M E W I N N E R S | DAVID MARTIN CASTÁN

1X MEMBER WEEKLY THEME WINNERS | JEAN DE SPIEGELEER

Sand - David Martin Castán

Bats swarm at sunset - Jean De Spiegeleer

SAND

SUN

A theme that may seem limited in its boundaries, but sometimes limitations can spur the creativity. The entries included a fair share of beaches and deserts, but also objects like hourglasses and sculptures. The winner who's name is written in the sand is David Martin Castán.

The theme “sun” inspired to a lot of beautiful sunrises, sunsets and shadows. Some chose to play with silhouettes in an interesting way, while others preferred to use the sun merely as an effective backdrop. The winner who deserves his time in the sun is Jean De Spiegeleer with a unique capture of a bats swarm at sunset.

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BOOKS INSPIRATION INTERVIEW PORTFOLIO P HOTO STOR Y E M E R G I N G TA L E N T THE MAKING OF P HOTO REVI EW ARTICLE 1X MEMBERS 1X RECOMMENDS

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BOOKS | INSPIRATION

BOOKS BE INSPIRED MODERN ARCHITECTURE by Harry Lieber Harry Lieber is a 49 year old mechanical engineer and lives in Germany. Photography is his passion. Harry loves modern architecture, particular facades, staircases and lamps.

He tries to find his own sty and point of view e.g. lamps or stairs.

View | Order

NIGRUM ET ALBUM by Dennis Ramos A collection of landscape, architectural and seascape black and white fine art photographs.

View | Order

FROM BASICS TO FINE ART by Joel Tjintjelaar and Julia Anna Gosodarou.

Both passionated photographers eager to understand the power of B&W Fine Art Photography.

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EUCLIDEAN JAZZ by John Kosmopoulos "Euclidean Jazz" refers to the chaotic harmonics found in the geometry of architecture found in the likes of Gehry, Calatrava and Gaudi.

This photo book is an exploration of the geometry, symmetry and abstract nature of an urban ecology. When I analyze architecture, I tend to dissect structures and compose them in my own mathematical alchemy of angles, light, time and space. My analysis often runs counter to the intention and function of the urban landscape. This is my way of harmonizing the city in the way that I envision it. I often critique city planners as a photographer for their lack of vision in creating aesthetically pleasing spaces to live in. Architecture often offers the music and photography offers the lyrics click by click – the unique signature of the photographer.

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REVIEW | FROM BASICS TO FINE ART: BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGR APHY

BOOK REVIEW ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

‘From Basics to Fine Art Black and White Fine Art Photography’”

By Joel Tjintjelaar and Julia Gospodarou

I highly recommend this book to all of you who are passionate and eager to understand the power of B&W Fine Art Photography. It is captivating, interesting and easy reading. It shows the personal insight of these two amazing photographers, but in addition it gives the answers to all our questions from the moment you click the button till the final product.

The first part of the book is very intense and a must read for every photographer, from beginner to professional.

The topics you can find inside include how to develop a personal vision, what is the theory behind vision and presents a guide on how to get there. Julia writes about the well-know German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer and she says: “The world is a dream, the world is an image. So the world is unique for each of us and in our interpretation”. Furthermore, Joel and Julia refer to Alfred Stieglitz concept of Equivalents. Referring to vision, Joel says: “It is not what you capture that matters, it is how you interpret it that matters and will elevate it from a snapshot to a work of art.” Both authors are providing you with hands-on tips on how to find your vision.

The second part of the book focuses on technical and practical aspects, as well as post-processing tools one must know : Composition and light Photography drawing Rules of gray Emotional abstract Guidelines for cityscapes and skyline photography, night photography Additional topics include HDR, Infrared and also all technical aspects and principles of LE photography.

You can order it here The book is more than worth its price: 49 euro (more than 400 pages) Website: Joel Tjintjelaar Website: Julia Gospodarou

Review by Yvette Depaepe August, 2014

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SHANGHAI EXHIBITION INTERVIEW PORTFOLIO P HOTO STOR Y E M E R G I N G TA L E N T THE MAKING OF P HOTO REVI EW ARTICLE 1X MEMBERS 1X RECOMMENDS

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1X MEMBERS | SHANGHAI EXHI BITION

1x MEMBERS _______________________________________ SHANGHAI EXHIBITION by 1x founder Ralf Stelander

There are many benefits of being published at 1x. One of them is that you have the chance to have your photos displayed in major international photo exhibitions, like the prestigious exhibition that took place in Shanghai on October 13-19, 2014.

The Shanghai International Photo Festival was founded in 1986 and has been held every second year since then. In the last Photo Festival 15 talented photographers from 1x had the great opportunity to be selected for the exhibition. Normally the application process is quite long but thanks to the great help of our new Chinese printing partner Artron Images, we were able to participate at short notice. Artron Images is China’s leading printing agency, with patented innovative printing techniques.

The selected photographers were Piet Flour, Robert Mueller, Cesar March, Jef van den Houte, Lara Kantardijan, Ricky Siegers, John Fan, Peter Svoboda, Yvette Depaepe, BJ Yang, Ben Goossens, Yan Zhang, Stefan Eisele, Victoria Ivanova and Yiming Hu, with an interesting mixture of photos from both east and west.

The photos were exhibited in three prime locations across the city. In the Shanghai International Shipping Center Artron which had a booth right when you stepped in through the front door at the second floor. The 1x photos hanging on the walls were framed with matte boards for an artistic presentation and the printing quality was outstanding, with a rich tonal range, excellent contrast and fine details.

The second location was in the outskirts of the town at the Meilan Lake International Art Gallery, close to the beautiful Lake Meilan. The sun was shining and a light breeze was blowing from the sea making it very enjoyable to stroll around the area.

1X MEMBERS | SHANGHAI EXHI BITION

The main exhibition was in the China Art Museum, a very impressive building erected for the China pavilion of the World Expo 2010. The former pavilion and current art museum has a floor area of over 160.000 m2, which makes it the largest art museum in entire Asia. It’s 63 m tall and called the “Oriental Crown” since it resembles an ancient Chinese crown. The design is inspired by traditional Chinese roofs, dating back nearly 2000 years and is painted in a traditional red color for good fortune. The building is very interesting because it represents both the old and the very modern at the same time and becomes a symbol of the rapid development in China.

It’s not until you stand close to the building you realize how big it is. From a distance it looks like a futuristic pagoda so it’s very hard to estimate its true scale. Entering the building, you are astonished to find that Artron has its own permanent exhibition area very close to the entrance, and as such, is the best possible location throughout the entire museum. It was thrilling to see 1x images printed in big size and beautifully presented right at the very entrance of this huge museum. An image can make a totally different impression in print and be much more rewarding than when viewing it on a computer screen and that was definitely the case here.

China has a very long and rich history of art and is a very interesting market for art. Founded in 1993, Artron Images is a perfect match for 1x, sharing the mission to “Bring art into everyone’s life” and also the vision that only the best is good enough. Art is a universal language, which unites people from all over the world, enriching each other and becoming much stronger together. We are very much looking forward to future opportunities working with Artron and expanding our co-operation, allowing 1x photographers to reach the prosperous Chinese market and also enrich 1x with more talented Chinese photographers as well as helping them to reach a global audience.

Artron: Website Shanghai Exhibition: Link

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1X MEMBERS | SHANGHAI EXHI BITION

1X MEMBERS | SHANGHAI EXHI BITION

Atmosphere by Piet Flour

Companions of Darkness by John Fan

Discussion by Peter Svoboda

El bello despertar by Cesar March

I can fly by Ben Goossens

Midnight Rendezvous by Yiming Hu

Milford Sound Waterfalls by Yan Zhang

On the road with the Thunder Gods by Yvette Depaepe

Patches of Light by Jef Van den Houte

Shadow Lines with Helmut Newton Polaroids by Lara Kantardjian

Smile of an Indian female worker by Robert

Stay still by BJ Yang

Stuck in holy hooligans ground by Ricky Siegers

Tea Dreams by Victoria Ivanova

Transform by Stefan Eisele

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ARCHIVE | ISSUES #1 November 2014

SUBMISSIONS e-magazine submissions | support@1x.com

Send us proposals of photo stories, Interviews and projects in writing if you wish to be considered for future publications. If your proposal is accepted, you will be contacted with details of how to submit your ideas thereafter.

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