The opening of the exhibition “Family Album” was fantastic :-)

Yesterday I had an opening of my exhibition “Family Album” in Gallery Laterna in Črnomelj, Slovenia. It’s a small nice gallery with passionate public. The gallery was packed and at the opening not everybody could fit in. Even friends and colleagues from Novo mesto, Ljubljana and Zagreb came! On the end of the opening ceremonial I’ve made a demonstration of the Wet Plate Collodion and made a group portrait in front of the gallery. Unfortunately this was about half an hour after the opening, so not everybody are on the picture.

From the show I’m literally astonished what kind of quality does a small 9x12cm ambrotype contains! Bojan Radovič and Luminus made a print size 100x80cm and it’s perfect! I have some serious ideas with newly discovered potentials. What do I have in mind? Let me step back and describe a little the background inspiration for the show. About two years ago I saw an exhibition of Sally Mann in The Photographer’s Gallery in London. I immediately fall in love with Wet Plate Collodion process and this was also times when I had enough of my job as a photoeditor and news photography on general. I was looking for a person who would know something about it at the affordable price. Year later I’ve bought a kit from Bostick & Sullivan , but I had all the chemicals, plate and a camera, but still nobody to show me how to do it. In November 2011 I’ve finally met Miša Keskenović who taught me nearly everything that I know about this process. Since then I’m working almost every day with it and it’s Rock and Roll!

Motif-wise of course I was photographing mainly my family and finally I was indulging the need what Susan Sontag describes as a need of a parent to photograph child’s progress. The absence of photographs from your child’s childhood it gives us parents a feeling that you haven’t been a good parent. And I must admit I’ve took thousands of photographs of my children, but ony few of them are in our Family Album! Finally with Wet Plate Process I had a feeling I’m making pictures that are worth to keep for the future! With Wet Plate I was shooting also large format 4×5″ sheet film and I’ve totally fall in love with it!

When I got an invitation for the show, I was told that budget is no-budget, so if I had to finance the show from family’s budget, why not devote the exhibition to my family! This was the start, the inspiration. After working couple of months for the show, I discovered several potentials that will go beyond our family album pictures series. For instance. The photo of Lučka leaning on a tree is inspired by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson‘s (better known as Lewis Caroll) photograph of Alice Lidell (Alice in Wonderland) and when I developed the photo I said to my self this is sooo cool, I want to illustrate a whole book with this kind of images! I have many friends that are writing for children. If you have a tip for me, please contact me.

Anyhow, the exhibition will be open until 14th of June 2012, but before you visit, please call the keeper of the gallery Slavko on 040661802. He will be more then happy to open the space upon your visit.

Včeraj sem imel otvoritev razstave Družinski album v galeriji Laterna. To je majhna, čedna galerija v centru Črnomlja z zvesto, strastno publiko. Galerija je pokala po šivih in za časa otvoritvenega ceremoniala niti ni mogla sprejeti vseh obiskovalcev! Celo prijatelji in kolegi iz NM, Lj in celo iz Zagreba so prišli! Na koncu sem naredil skupinsko sliko in demonstriral tehniko mokri kolodij. Na žalost so nekateri že odšli, tako na fotki niso vsi obiskovalci, a se že tako vidi, da je bil žur!

Z razstave sem se mnogo naučil. Najbolj oprijemljivo je to, kakšno neverjetno tonaliteto, ostrino in nasploh kvaliteto vsebuje ena majhna ambrotipija velikosti 9x12cm! Bojan Radovič in Luminus je naredil inkjet povečavo velikosti 100x80cm in izgleda fenomenalno! Norišn’ca, vam prav’m!

Pa tudi sicer sem nenadejano naletel na potenciale, katere nisem vedel, da obstajajo. Naj malo pojasnim o čem govorim. Pred približno dvema letoma, sem si ogledal razstavo Sally Mann v The Photographer’s Gallery in se v trenutku zaljubil v proces mokri kolodij na steklu! Ta čas je sovpadal z mojim naraščajočim nezadovoljstvom poklica fotourednik in novičarske fotografije v obče. Iskal sem človeka, ki bi me lahko naučil o tem procesu, po sprejemljivi ceni. Leto kasneje sem kupil cel kit pri Bostick & Sullivan , a še vedno nisem vedel kako se s tem operira. Lani novembra sem spoznal Miša Keskenovića, ki me je naučil skoraj vse kar vem o mokrem kolodiju. Od takrt delam ali se učim o tem postopku vsak dan in je čisti Rock&Roll!

Jasno pri učenju postopka mokri kolodij, sem fotografiral predvsem svojo družino in končno sem potešil vzgib, ki ga Susan Sontag opisuje, kot potrebo starša, da dokumentira odraščanje svojega otroka. Pač v sodobni družbi se starša, ki ne fotografira svojega otroka smatra za malomarnega starša. Seveda to ne pomeni dejansko to, a v principu tako se počutimo starši. Sam sem posnel tisoče fotografij svojih otrok a le nekaj jih je dejansko v obliki fizične fotografij in v družinskem albumu.Končno s postopkom mokri kolodij delam fotografije imam občutek, da delam fotografije, ki so vredne hranjenja za prihodnost. Medtem, ko sem snemal na kolodijske plošče, sem tudi začel fotografirati na 4×5″ velikoformatni plan film in se čist zacopal v mehovke in fotografiranju na stojalu.

Ko sem dobil povabilo za razstavo mi je bilo povedano, da ni sredstev za produkcijo razstave, tako sem pomisli, če že moram razstavo financirati iz družinskega proračuna, zakaj jo ne bi posvetil svoji družini! To je bil prvi vzgib, inspiracija. Potem ko sem delal za to razstavo par mesecev, pa sem odkril kar nekaj potencialov, ki bodo daljnosežni! Na primer fotografija Lučke, ki se naslanja na drevo je bila inspirana s fotografijo Alice Lidell (Alica v čudežni deželi) fotografa Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, bolj znanega pod psevdonimom Lewis Caroll. Ko sem razvil to fotko sem bil tako navdušen, da sem takoj pomislil, da ilustriram kako knjigo za otroke po tem postopku. Poznam veliko pisateljic, ki pišejo za otroke, tako se bo že kaj našlo. Če imate nasvet me prosim kontaktirajte

Razstava bo odprta do 14.6.2012 in če boste šli pogledat, prosim pokličite prej skrbnika galerije slikarja Slavka na 040661802. Z veseljem vam odpre galerijo tudi zunaj urnika galerije.

Photo: Damir R.

Invitation to the exhibition of my Wet Plate Collodion photographs

Dear reader, I invite you to the opening of my exhibition Family Album that will be in Galerija Laterna in Črnomelj, Slovenia on Friday 25.5.2012, at 19:00. I’ll exhibit a series of portraits of my family that I’ve made in last half a year. Some of it are made in Wet Plate Collodion technique, others are taken of sheet film format 4×5″. Large format rules! I’ll also make a live demonstration of Wet Plate Collodion portraiture. Fun it will be! Here are some previews from the show.
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Dragi bralec, predraga bralka, vabim te na otvoritev razstave Družinski album, ki bo ta petek, ob 19. uri v Galeriji Laterna, v Črnomlju. Razstavil bom portrete svoje družine, ki sem jih naredil v zadnjem obdobju, v tehniki mokri kolodij na steklu in na velikoformatnem plan filmu. Na otvoritvi bom izvedel tudi demonstracijo tehnike mokri kolodij. Bo zabavno! Tu je nekaj predogledov z razstave.

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Wet Plate Collodion workshop’s report

Uf, this day are fleeing as crazy. I’ll try to make short posts with lots of images. With Miša Keskenović we had a workshop of Wet Plate Collodion in Trieste and few days later I had a demonstration of Wet Plate Collodion photography in Maribor. Last but not least I’m running a class on collodion photography on VIST college. What I am trying to say is that my life is evolving around Wet Plate Collodion photography and I must say I’m enjoying immensely. It just takes so much time… Today I started to work on a real proper photographic personal project and in four hours I’ve shot like four perfect photographs. It takes a lot of time and patience to make it perfect, but that’s as I call it zen thing. With Miša we have next workshop on Fotopub festival in Novo mesto, Slovenia between 25 till 28 of July 2012. It’s going to be for four days and we accept only 10, maximum 12 people, no more! The fee is 250EUR and that includes material costs. Hurry, I know this will be sold out before the deadline.
PS: Pictures from the workshops are taken by Branimir Ritonja (MB) and Dr. Photo (TR)

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Workshop of Wet Plate Collodion process in Trieste

Bottomline, a music group from Novo mesto, Slovenia. Photo: Borut Peterlin

Today I’ve done portraits of a music band Bottomline from Novo mesto, Slovenia. It was a first time after I don’t know how many years  that I went to take pictures without taking a digital camera with me. I took my 13x18cm Plaubel camera for Wet Plate Collodion and a 4×5″ camera on normal B/W film. If I’m honest I forgot a digital camera at home. Is this normal? Anyhow, here are results. Dušan Smodej was helping me a lot and he’s soon abandoning his digital camera and his Leica M3 and start real photography

I’m excited to announce that together with my mentor for Wet Plate Collodion photograhy, Miša Keskenović we have a workshop in Trieste. It’s starting this Sunday, 6.5.2012 at 9:30 and it’s going on whole day. We’ll go through all aspects of Wet plate Collodion process, from mixing chemicals, cleaning plates, exposing, developing and varnishing a plate. All the secrets revealed for only Price 150,00€ and that includes also working material. More info with Dr. Photo or at email info@doctorphoto.net . Workshop is limited to 12 people and it’s almost full, so hurry!

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New camera, new view, new work #largeformatphotography

Linhof Kardan Color camera and ShenHao camera

So, this is a follow up post from my latest post, when I had to return borrowed Linhof Master Technika, but now I’ve bought two 4×5″ cameras. Jure Breceljnik, my friend and classmate from FAMU Academy sold me Linhof Kardan Color camera and her little sister ShenHao camera. Jure bought Linhof camera from our classmate Ivana Tomanović (ex. Brezovac), so the camera remains in FAMU class 1998. But the best part are lenses! First league all of them! Carl Zeiss Jena 90mm f/4,5, Schneider 135mm f/3,5 and Rodenstock 210mm f/5,6. In a huge case I got also trillion of accessories for those ladies. I’m so happy this digital revolution is raging (Digital Hysteria?), so I can run my own analog counter-revolution in photography.

I’m not sure if you know this term counter-revolutionary, but in former Yugoslavia under communism it was the nastiest allegation ever! A remark that you were a capitalist pig was a compliment comparing to a contra-revolutionist remark. Anyhow now we’re upgraded from revolutionaries to consumers and we all live under one bright capitalist sky and there is no such thing as revolution nor contra-revolution and a remark capitalist pig sounds more as an expression of envy then an insult word.

Bellow are few test images that I’ve shot few days ago. My wife Alenka Peterlin shot a great portrait of me! She is also a photographer and you can check her site. Currently I’m still testing the equipment doing a weekend art project. More to follow…

PS: Check a trailer of Jure Breceljnik’s movie Chalk & Chocolate!
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Torej, kje sem oni dan ostal? Potem ko sem moral vrniti kamero Linhof Master Tehnika sem kupil dve 4×5″ kameri! Jure Breceljnik, moj prijatelj in sošolec s praške FAMU, mi je prodal Linhof Kardan Color in njeno malo sestro ShenHao kamero. Jure pa je kupil kamero od najine sošolke Ivane Tomanović (ex. Brezovac), tako vse ostane v FAMU familiji Ampak najjači pa so objektivi: Carl Zeiss Jena 90mm f/4,5, Schneider 135mm f/3,5 and Rodenstock 210mm f/5,6! Poleg tega sem v ogromnem kufru dobil še en milijon dodatkov, za optimalno ježo teh zveri. Kako sem vesel, da vlada digitalna revolucija, ki meji že na histerijo, tako lahko v miru zganjam svojo osebno kontra-revolucijo. Kdo bi si mislil, da bom bil kdaj kontrarevolucionar! To je bila včasih v Jugoslaviji najbolj žaljiva opazka, poleg katere je kapitalistična svija zvenela kot kompliment. A sedaj vsi povišani iz revolucionarjev v potrošnike in živimo v svetlem kapitalizmu, revolucija in kotra-revolucija več ne obstajata in opazka kapitalistična svinja zveni bolj kot izraz zavidanja kot žaljenja.

Spodaj je nekaj posnetkov, ki sem jih naredil in portret mene, ki ga je posnela moja žena Alenka Peterlin. Tudi ona je odlična fotografinja, poglejte si njeno stran. Trenutno še vedno testiram in se privajam na novo opremo, tako delam en umetniški vikend projekt.

PS: Oglejte si film in pa trailer Juretovega filma Chalk & Chocolate!

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My finest interview portrait – Jože Mencinger

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I’m commissioned by Mladina weekly to do many portraits and that’s either creative far out portraits of artists or portraits that illustrate interviews. This Monday I’ve made a portrait of Jože Mencinger, a former Slovenian minister of economic development and acknowledged economist. I’ve made few portraits with digital camera and then one more with Linhof Technika, a large format camera. I asked him to make a portrait outside although it was rainy, in fact since it was discussion about recession I wanted to make a portrait of him with umbrella. It turned out to be one of my best interview portraits. Usually Mladina’s magazine layout demands a square format of a portraits for interviews, but in this case creative director Robert Botteri made a custom design so the image was not cropped and it shines in full specter. THX!!!

On Wednesday I’ve returned the Linhof camera to the owner and it felt like breaking with a girlfriend so now I’m compulsively buying another Linhof Master Tehnika. I’ve published my intention on FB and Twitter and two friends offered me their camera to buy / borrow, so on Monday I’m back on saddle again.

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Za Mladino običajno delam portete bodisi umetnikov na kreativen način ali pa portrete, ki ilustrirajo intervjuje. Minuli ponedeljek sem portretiral Jožeta Mencingerja, znanega ekonomista in bivšega ministra za gospodarstvo. Sprva sem naredil par običajnih digitalnih portretov, potem pa sem ga prosil, da narediva portret še z analogno kamero Linhof Master Tehnika, formata 9x12cm. Prosil sem, da narediva portret zunaj, na dežju z dežnikom. Pač v intervjuju je govor o recesiji in vladnih ukrepih, tako je bilo kislo vreme kar ustrezna kulisa. Portret je izjemno dobro izpadel, še posebej, ker se je še posebej potrudil kreativni urednik Botteri in prikrojil grafični design fotografiji. Namreč običajno se od nas zahteva portret kvadratnega formata, a tako postavljena, neizrezana fotografija zares zasije v vsem svojem sijaju. THX!

V sredo sem moral vrniti Linhofco lastniku in počutil sem se kot srednješolec, ki ga je zapustilo dekle, zato trenutno kompulzivno kupujem drugo Linhofco. Objavil sem zapis na FB in Twitterju in dva prijatelja sta se ponudila, da mi posodita / prodata svojo, tako sem v ponedeljek spet v sedlu!

My “new” camera for Wet Plate Collodion photography

An abandon trailer in front of our house, taken with my "new" camera Plaubel 5x7" with a Wet Plate Collodion process.

Today started the first European Collodion Weekend at Fotoacademie Eindhoven in Holland, organized by Alex Timmermans. I signed in and even payed a fee for a masterclass so today I should be in this room with Luther Gerlach. But then I got this two great (commercial) projects for two annual reports and I couldn’t afford to take time off. Nevertheless I worked on my own at home, tapping on the energy and inspiration from these masters of Wet Plate Collodion process.

Today I finally finished with modification of my camera for Wet Plate Collodion process. I bought this camera on Ebay for 220 EUR, without a lens, without a lens board and without a focusing ground glass. Plaubel camera is known for it’s German precision craft and relative light-weight. The back for film holder was super tight, so the ordinary 5×7″ film holder could not fit in. I was banging my head how to readjust camera back and then I found a back from Linhof 5×7″ camera in very bad shape. This Linhof camera used to be a Panzer tank comparing to light Plaubel. I draw a plan and a craftsman weld an adapter so I could fit a Linhof back to Plaubel camera. Then I transformed a film holder so it could fit a glass plate. Here is a video how to do it, although I’ve done it a bit better, so the glass plate is better aligned with focusing level.

Today I’ve done first tests. I photographed a trailer that is parked in a vicinity of my house. It was a dim and cloudy day so exposure was 44 seconds at f/4,5. The rest info is in captions. Don’t forget to comment, rate, like and Rock&Roll!

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Danes se je zgodil prvi vikend evropske kolodijske fotografije v Eindhovnu, na Nizozemskem, pod vodstvom Alexa Timmermansa. Takoj, ko sem za to izvedel, sem se prijavil in plačal udeležnino za demonstracijo in danes bi moral biti pri TEM dogodku z Luther Gerlach-om. A na žalost (ali na srečo) sem dobil dva velika komercialna angažmaja za dva letna poročila, tako si nisem mogel privoščiti potovanja. Kljub temu, sem delal sam zase, doma, priključen na energijo in inspiracijo teh velikih mojstrov fotografije.

Danes sem končno zaključil modifikacijo kamere za proces mokrega kolodija. To kamero sem kupil na Ebayu za 220 EUR, a je bila brez objektiva, brez plošče za objektiv in brez fukusnega stekla. Plaubel znamka je znana po svoji nemški natančnosti in relativno majhni teži, tako je bil hrbet kamere narejen za posebno, res tanko kaseto za plan filme. Običajna kaseta ni niti približno sedla. Kak mesec sem si razbijal glavo kako bi priredil hrbet, a potem sem našel star, odtrgan hrbet Linhof 5×7″ kamere. Samo predstavljam si lahko, da je cela Linhofca bila pravi panzer tank proti moji Plaubelki. Natuhtal sem načrt za adapter in orodjar mi je iz kovine privaril primeren adapter, da sem lahko spravil Lihnof hrbet na Plaubelco. Potem sem še običajno kaseto za film prikrojil, da vanjo lahko vložil stekleno ploščo. TUKAJ je video celega postopka, a jaz sem naredil bolje, da se fokusna ravnina bolje ujema, kot se na dotičnem filmu. No, nisem jaz kaseto postružil, ampak jo je sosed majster Jože (HVALA!!!)

Danes sem naredil prvi test. Fotografiral sem prikolco, ki zapuščena leži v gozdu blizu moje hiše. Danes je bilo temno in oblačno, tako je bila ekspozicija 44 sekund pri 4,5 blendi. Ne pozabite lajkat, komentirat in Rock & Roll!

This is how I got it from Ebay for 220 EUR.

This is with a Plaubel original back, appropriate for a sheet film holder, but with a new ground glass.

This is after I finished with my work on the camera.

The back of Linhof 5x7" camera.

Voigtlander Heliar lens 300mm, f/4,5

A normal film holder modified for a glass plates.

This is a digital photo

Which one is better: The digital or the collodion one?

Daniel Miller, the founder of Mute Records

Few weeks ago a festival Slovenian week of music was happening and they hosted Daniel Miller in Ljubljana. He is the legendary founder and the big boss of legendary Mute records. He was (still is) collaborating with names in popular music like Nick Cave, Depeche Mode, Erasure, Laibach, Moby and many many others. Mladina weekly hired me to make his portrait to illustrate an interview with him. Creative editor called me and said, that in Mute Records they specifically asked Mladina that I should be making the portrait of Mr. Miller. Apparently that was a condition for the interview. I don’t know from whom exactly this email came from, but I’m quite in doubt that someone from Mute records in London expressed that wish. But what if so… Perhaps it’s time to finish my career as a photographer and become a rock star! Well, for that I have too healthy life style and on the end of the day all I really want is to be a hockey player.

Anyhow, for the shoot I brought with me a guitar that I found in a neighbor’s trash can. My concept was that Mr. Miller would demolished it, you know like a rock star. I’ve made few exposure tests and then we waited our turn for the interview. When our turn came, we had only 10 minutes for an interview and that was not enough not even enough for the photo shoot. I expected this might happen so I had a back up plan. I saw a potential angle that could work and that I could make an interesting picture in one minute that I had. I took this two frames and off we went. Journalist Goran Kompoš made an excellent interview the following day. Everybody was very pleased with the image and know I’m waiting that Nick Cave would call me for a portrait
PS: I have a concept for a portrait of Laibach
music group. It will materialize eventually…

An apple tree with daffodils

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On my last post I published few images that were affected by light leaks in film holder. Yesterday I fixed the filmholder and gave it a go. I photographed an apple tree among daffodils by “Devil’s Tower” (Hudičev turn) in Soteska, Slovenia. At least I hope it’s an old apple tree. I’m already hearing my father how he’s showing off with his knowledge of latin names for trees and asking me for thousand times if we were not thought latin names for trees in secondary school for carpentry. I’m listening this question for last twenty years, and it all started with my secondary school degree in carpentry.
Anyhow, I’m happy that a film holder that I’ve bought on ebay for 15 EUR, is repaired and works nicely. I feel like a Camera Repair Man!
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Na zadnjem postu sem objavil fotografije, kjer se vidi, da mi je kaseta za fim puščala svetlobo in včeraj sem jo dokončno popravil. Preizkusil sem jo pri hudičevem turnu v Soteski in naredil tale posnetek jablane. Vsaj mislim, da je stara jablana. Joj, že kar vidim očeta, kako se bo važil z svojim znanjem latinskih imen dreves in v tisočero vprašal kaj nas niso na lesno tehnični šoli naučili latinska imena dreves. namreč to vprašanje poslušam že zadnjih 20 let, takoj po končani srednji šoli za lesarskega tehnika…
No, kakorkoli že, kaseta deluje, je popravljena in ne pušča svetlobe tako se počutim svetsku, kot bi bil popravljalec kamer!

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My 901st post on this blog + new work that I love

Ha, I can’t believe it, but this is my 901st post on this blog! I started this blog in September 2006 and since then I received 472,899 visits with busiest day of 1,474 visits. I know in blogosphere this statistics are nothing special, in fact it’s bellow average, but I’m still proud on it. I improved my English language, although I know my English is still pure. Or is is it correctly spelled poor? Anyhow most importantly, this blog gave me a feeling of being in touch with contemporary photography, exposing my work to critical audience and to my cynical friend JC. Now this blog won quite a number of followers that subscribed to updates and that makes me think twice what do I want to publish. I’m thinking that this year when I’ll post 1000th post I must make some sort of gift for you. What do you suggest? A nice print gift? To whom? Not to JC! Although he is the most frequent commentator of my blog, he owes me a print.

Last month I wasn’t publishing much since I had a avalanche of commercial jobs, which was very much needed after a winter drought. Anyhow here is my latest work done with my beloved Linhof Technika camera, format 9x12cm (almost 4×5″). One film holder is leaking light, so that’s why I have this mysterious rays of light I’ll publish here my work that was rejected, by editors, but I love it and I hope you’ll appreciate it too.

Brane Koncilja, a famous punker, but now he's making a living as a lumberjack. He's still an anarchist, proud on his tractor IMT - Made in Yugoslavia

Bojan Brecelj, a friend and a photographer

Stanka Hrastelj, a writer.

Stanka Hrastelj, a writer.