0902 - grain skin

grain skin - sony nex 7 | sel50 f1.8 | f1.8 | ISO6400 | 1/15

today i finally decided to make the next small (fun-) step in my photographic life - before the production of 35mm film will be completely discontinued anytime, i'm going to have at least one try with analog photography even this spring. therefor i ordered one role ilford delta 3200 Professional (b+w), kodak portra 800 (colour) and fujifilm superia 1600 (colour) each. 

why such sensitive films? well, i want to begin (and probably stay) with a ultra-compact fun cam, something like a diana mini or any other lomography camera, since it has to accompany me to music festivals and other chaotic events where the nex usually has no place in. naturally you have to use high iso films if you want to shoot these lomo cams (fixed plastic lens, (almost) fixed, slow f-stop - f8/f11 switch, fixed shutter speed - 1/60) at dusk. although i definitely expect not less than blurred, grainy, absolutely poor exposed results of my coming lomo cam, i'm able to look forward to work with film. expectations can only be belied if they are exaggerated. actually i have only one expectation: with at a max 36 images on a role you have to think long and hard about your composition, which is why i hope to improve my photographic skills further.

with the intention to give high iso film a try sometime, i avoided to apply noise reduction to my self portrait already today. what you see is my grainy face in the double window of our kitchen with the idyllic, nightly yard in winter dress in the background.

0701 - reflection

reflection - sony nex 7 with sel 35 f1.8 | f2.0 | ISO1600 | 1/13

today was a good day. fairly old, pretty good memories appeared and caused a lot of questions in my mind. self-reflection is a process that i've internalised during my trainings, but this is of course way beyond looking at oneself in the mirror - have i changed for the better or the worse since a certain point? highly likely this question has to be answered by others.

any way, today is a very good day.

1107 - humanoid camera

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.8 | ISO100 | 1/13 | lightroom 4.1

when you are an ambitious photographer that is willing to learn constantly, at some point you will realise that you have begun to see your life only in frames. this is basically not so bad, you learn to handle this circumstance.

whereas the point to feel pressured by the obligation of capturing a suitable pic per day is a real problem. i ran into this issue some weeks ago and believe me, especially for an absolute beginner of serious photography this burden is definitely not conducive to obtain the best possible results and to learn the hobby in a relaxed way. you try to figure out if any, really any object would make a good scene - this is an exhausting process!

learning is known as a process whereby you improve your skills with every fault or problem you did. you have to be fully aware of this case, otherwise your expectations on yourself will always be unaccomplished. my personal aim of this photography project is the self-discovery which kind of photography i like and what kind of photographer i am, too.

in the course of this i sometimes feel like a humanoid camera.

cu, trshptr

1905 - the arab

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 18mm | f5.6 | ISO400 | 1/160 | lightroom 4

some things can't be rolled back.

today we met a very interesting and kind man at the middle ages market near ueberlingen and unfortunately i hadn't asked which country his homeland is. he looked like an arab, maybe he is from morocco or egypt. we are never going to know.

ok, no reason to be at odds, the most important questions were discussed. the seller - he offered different spices from around the world - told us a lot about his different products, spices from india, morocco, tunesia, france and so on, spices like masala, peppers, harissa, cardamom and different other oriental powders. due to his great consultation we finally bought two little bags of different salts.

really an amicable meeting with you, kind arab.

1604 - master painter

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 34mm | f4.5 | ISO800 | 1/30 | aperture priority | raw files cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4 

today i have brought - as the word is in germany - colour into play. this is a saying for making the things more interesting. besides this saw directly matches with the words you would say if a soccer player is straightly red-carded.

in my case today colour was brought proverbially under the skin - although today it was all about black, i exceptionally count this manifestation among the colours. in the early evening i had an appointment with konrad k., the tattooer of my confidence and owner of the studio xxxl-tattoo. as always we were in an animated conversation while konrad was smartening me up. today's subject was the tree of life, a symbol that signifies infinity, at least for me.

being at the tattooer is maybe comparable with a woman's appointment at the hairdresser. the customer has to trust the service provider blindly. at this moment you are at the contractor's mercy. a relationship of trust comes into existence only when the provider reveals its innermost thoughts. this state konrad and i had already achieved some sessions ago - most of the women vibe with their hairdressers directly after the first prosecco, too. konrad is a thoroughly honest, straightforward and positive guy from warsaw (pl) that by the way is a great tattooer. he is my master painter.

the pic was shot by me, hand-held, the left arm outstretched. it was one of round about twenty attempts. the focus is on konrad's hands.

cu, trshptr