BORUT PETERLIN in a rabbit hole of photography

This picture is for JC and Igor 2times Jackson. Guys, if you’ll learn Photoshop, you don’t have to do fitness! Photoshop bodybuilding by B5.

PS: Igor 2times Jackson.

PPS: I think it’s a nice experiment, when we don’t trust pictures since the invention of photoshop, especially if Photoshop is mentioned. We shouldn’t trust them also before the invention of Photoshop, if I might add

PPPS: The comments and reaction followed mainly, where else then on Facebook.

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Dear JC, Igor, Leopard man and other readers of my blog. I’m sorry for haven’t been posting much these days, but as you know that only means that I’m working even more, not less. Now I’m working on a DVD that will include a basic course of photography and user manual for Nikon D7000, D5100 and D3100. I hire few friends to help me with this enormous job and we’re few days from the final stage, that is a recording of a video. I’m really excited far more than you can imagine. I love the keynote and all the animations that is capable of. I know it does sound strange, but I love to do all the basic tests with equipment. Like I did a test at which aperture my lens 50mm f/1,4 is the sharpest and I realize it’s not the middle value 5,6, but it’s one before the last, f/11!!! Shocking I know…

I’m even more excited because the next stage is to start an on-line magazine on photography. That will be a perfect mix for me as a photographer / journalist. At the beginning it’ll be not be written in an imperialistic language, but later who knows…

James Mollison stopped at my house yesterday on his way back from Belgrade. For you who don’t know James’s work, you must check his books and he did many, many books. My favourite book of his is The Disciples, a must have in your photographic library.

We used to work together in Fabrica.it we lived in an old stereotypical Italian villa, where we had numerous parties. Here is a link to a picture from one of the party. The villa was very old and rooms were without a heating, we only had one big central fire place and that was the place for brainstorming about nothing and everything. And so we did also yesterday night. After a glass or two, I confessed that I “envy” his success in book publishing and that after my postgraduate studies at London College of Printing I decided to set aside my artistic career and first take care of my family so I became a craftsman, build a house, learned how to make a money with photography, take care of my family,… Now we’re in a new house and my daughters are ladies already at age of 4 and 7 and I can feel the Artist-in-me is coming on stage again. The craftsmen-in-me is nowadays only taking pictures and everything else is outsourced.

Today I got this great, great, GREAT feeling that at age of 36 I have a really solid foundation for life in the house, in my family, in my friends, in the-craftsman-in-me and I’m in the best physical shape ever. I got this great feeling that in front of me are at least another 36 years to be devoted to The Art. And of course James, an old friend is a beacon out there – in here, a guest in my house.

I tried his camera Phase One model P65. I was making a personal test how the camera would fit my way of working. First few impressive technical characteristics. This animal produces files of 8984 x 6732px, that is 60million pixels, format 6×4,5. It is basically a system of Mamiya AF645, shaped up for needs of studio / fashion photography. Slideshow below can show you what was I interested in. How those Schneider lenses are drawing at aperture f/2,8, could I catch a moment when my daughter will be in focus while swinging,… The noise level at 400 ISO is already very visible. James said he uses only at 100 and 200 ISO. Display is very small and very bad and batteries run out amazingly quickly. Nevertheless this depth of field at full body shots with 110mm lens at f/2,8 is amazing and sharpness at 8 is too good.

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Mina Žabnikar is an illustrator and graphic designer. I’ve been commissioned by Mladina weekly to do her portrait and I was thinking how should I do a portrait as an illustration. I’ve done a really successful portraits of illustrators Katja Pal and Eva Vasari and many more illustrators. Just click search under keyword illustrator and you’ll be surprised as I was how many illustrators I’ve illustrated and that’s just a selection. I guess it’s good that I forget how I did my last portrait, so every time I start from the scratch and invent a new image.

Anyhow on a forum Lukka was wondering how I did the portrait. Easy, without a photomontage. Do you remember my picture series Zombies? I know JC does, it’s from 1997. I did this picture on a sidewalk in the beginning of my studies in Prague (1994) and I love it and I was keep on shooting in the same manner for the rest three years.

The portrait of Mina is done in this manner, with a small flash burst in her face, since it is a portrait after all. So technically as you can see in EXIF I used a long lens, an exposure of 1/10 and a door as a light shaft, so light is directed in one direction and not scattered through out the space. Basically I needed a silhouette and if that silhouette is moving, it does a slimming ghost effect as you see it. Last I needed s flashburst directed by a honeycomb onto her face. In postproduction I just level out the contrast on her face. Simple as pasulj.

DRAGAN ŽIVADINOV, attractor, candidate cosmonaut. DUNJA ZUPANČIČ, visual artist. MIHA TURŠIČ, designer of zero gravity dwellings. Delak is a production house exploring postgravity art and outlining space culturalisation. It produces different sorts of contemporary art practice in the field of postgravity art: informances, exhibitions, musical and theatrical productions. 20th of April they have an informance POSTGRAVITY ART at Kino Šiška, Ljubljana.

I made this group portrait at Krvavec mountain at night with a torch. What I had in mind is a feeling of space. Few days before the shoot I drove to Krvavec to check it out how and where will I shoot and I saw this grass field bent like a crater. I wanted to create a portrait that will communicate a space, energy, team, peacefulness of the night… so this is it. I hope you’ll enjoy it. Don’t forget to rate, comment and share.

PS: Did you saw my portrait of Živa in the snow at Krvavec? Worth of a click.

PPS: Sorry I haven’t blog lately. I’m lacking time for everything. Plus I lost 8GB of pictures from a job and that was the biggest fiasco that I still didn’t overcome. Now I’m shooting on both CF cards at the same time, so I have a backup + using an imagetank to back up additional. I decided that was the last time I’ve lost images like that.

It wasn’t me, but it was Tomaž Planinšek, a 15 year old boy with autism. During a summer I had a photography workshop with him and on the end of the workshop under supervision of creative director Tomaž Apohal, we created an image for the poster attached. The poster won a prize for best usage of photography at SOF, Slovenian Advertising Festival. Poster is promoting a concert of Derek Paravicini and raising awareness of autism. I’m so happy for Tomaž and congratulations once more!!!

Ne, nisem jaz dobil nagrade omenjene v naslovu, ampak jo je Tomaž Planinšek, 15 letni fant z avtizmom. Med poletjem sva imela fotografski tečaj in na koncu najinega usposabljanja smo skupaj s kreativnim vodjo Tomažem Apohalom naredili poster, ki je potem na SOF-u dobil priznanje za najboljšo uporabo fotografije. Poster je promoviral koncert Dereka Paravicinija in dvigoval zavedanje o problemu avtizma. Zelo, zelo vesel za Tomaža in Rok in Rol še naprej,
B5