Posts Tagged ‘fotografija’
Announcing probably my best exhibition opening
“A cyanotype print from a wet plate collodion negative format 10×12" (25x30cm). Print was toned with tanin from green tea. Part of the series "You remained a part of the landscape, it's beauties and it's pain", a hommage to a painter Božidar Jakac. A cyanotype print from a wet plate collodion negative format 10×12″ (25x30cm). Print was toned with tanin from green tea. Part of the series “You remained a part of the landscape, it’s beauties and it’s pain”, a hommage to a painter Božidar Jakac.
On Tuesday I’m opening an exhibition that will probably be my best show until now. In November I was invited to have a show in Gallery Krka in Novo mesto and I thought I’ll have enough time to do nice wet plate collodion plates until the end of April, but winter was lasting until day before yesterday and I was forced to make wetplate images in harsh conditions. I had an extensive help from my mentor Miša Keskenović and Mark Osterman, the world authority in alternative processes. Let me quote Mark Osterman: “Remember that no photographer in their right mind would have been making images in that severe cold in the old days..so you are doing ok. 
“. Topshit compliment indeed!
OK, I had a date of the opening of the show. I knew I wanted to do landscape photography from the beginning, which was not the smartest decision in winter time, but I also knew I don’t want to go for usual mainstream aesthetic, let’s call it national geographic kind of aesthetic or even Ansel Adams aesthetic if you want. I mention Ansel Adams, because he’s a huge influence to me, but I live in different times, I don’t want, can not and I’m not competent enough to replicate his perfection of his art. On other hand I also didn’t want to make shitty collodion plates, that would later be scanned and digitally fixed, printed as inkjets and call it an Art, that’s for sure! I mentioned before how I got inspired to do wet plate collodion process on the exhibition by Sally Mann in London’s Photographer’s Gallery. In her images I saw a huge potential to be explored, a huge vain of gold to be dig, so I was aiming for technical brilliance, but to somehow capture enchanting beauty of Sally Mann’s work. Mission imposible, I know.
Second resolution was, that I need to dig in art history and grow roots deep down there. One of my first tintype landscapes was of frozen river Krka at -17C in year 20012. Last time that river Krka got frozen it was some 85 years ago and at the time young painter Božidar Jakac painted the scene that astonished me as a child. Jakac later became a renown painter in Yugoslavia. I want to make a hommage to his work.
The title of the exhibition is “You remained a part of the landscape, it’s beauties and it’s pain”, that’s a verse of Tone Pavček engraved on his grave.
I’ll make a video podcast about my show, but let me share an image from the show, illustrating what I wrote above. It’s a cyanotype print from a wet plate collodion negative format 10×12″ (25x30cm). Print was toned with tanin from green tea. I took this image like 100 meters from my house and left my dog to guard the camera Because it was a huge contrast between dark trees and white snow, I dodged the plate while exposing. The exposure was 6 minutes at aperture f/16 and 2,5 minutes I was holding a black velvet in front of the lens. Of course I was moving the velvet so it’s not visible. I used Vageeswari 10×12″ camera with a Rodenstock bistagmat lens from year about 1907 and it covers format 18×24 cm, but I wanted to have vignetting effect, so I put it on a camera format 25x30cm (10×12″).
See you on Tuesday 23.4.2013 in Gallery Krka, upravna stavba Krka d.d., Novo mesto, Slovenia, EU, at 19.00.
Wet Plate Collodion + digital illustration = a creative portrait of Kaja Avberšek
Kaja Avberšek, an illustrator
Month ago I’ve made this portrait, but haven’t published it on my blog. Kaja Avberšek is an illustrator, so I suggested her that I’ll make a wet plate and then she’ll draw on it. Unfortunately I was doing small 4×5″ plates, on the field, so she didn’t draw directly on the plate, but did it on her computer. This is the result. It was published in Mladina weekly and I love how it turned out. Sometimes the publication is an icing on a cake and many times it’s just the opposite, but this time it’s definitely presenting my picture in the best way. Is it a bird? Is it Superman? Or is it topshit?
OK, I’m introducing a new rubric on my blog. It’s a quizzzzzz!!! I’ll be publishing my mistakes I have done with a question what is the cause of the mistake and few days later I’ll publish the answer. Of course if you will not guess it first. Let’s start with an easy one. Here are two plates. Problematic plate has some lines in blacks and in the right bottom corner even collodion lifted off. The other plate has perfect blacks, no peeling problems. What was the cause of those lines on the crappy plate?
Two outdoor ambrotypes in 35 min
Kodak Folding Brownie 3A, f/64, t= 8s. Check solarization effect on the sky. So cool!
Kodak Folding Brownie 3A, f/64, t= 8s
Today I was driving from work through a forrest with beautiful light! True fairy tale scene. I got home, pick up my wetplate stuff that was still packed from yesterday and I head back. I’ve done two ambrotypes (or winter ambroice) plates in 35 minutes and the time start counting from stepping out of a car, setting everything up until sitting back and driving away with two plates. I’m experimenting how fast can I work, how much time and preparations do I need. I love it. Very relaxing, very spontaneous!
We have so much snow, it’s hard to park a car, so this was mine today’s workplace.
Unfortunately the sun lost it’s power after my plate was ready.
Self-portrait like a cave photographer
In Friday’s issue of Mladina weekly there will be an article about my portraits and I’ve made this self-portrait today with the help of my wife Alenka Peterlin. The inspiration for the portrait was a couple. First I’ve heard many times, that in wetplate technique I look like a native American, second inspiration was to include an element of exploration and third was that it should look raw.
That’s my aim in photography to explore, search and learn. I know I’m doing it in primitive, raw way, but that’s exactly me, having a hell of a good time. Photography is for me what for some people religion is. A mean to become a better man, to transcend boundaries that were set, to change the world. I hope this (blind) faith is captured in the image 
Technical side: It was pretty cold, like -2C and to work at this temperature I’m using a normal developer, I’m just developing longer. Usually about 30-35seconds. I extend also sensibilisation of a plate from usual 3 minutes to 5 minutes. And that all there is. Sometimes I add two drops of nitric acid in 100ml of developer, but that’s not so important at working bellow 0C. It was a lot of light so the exposure was 3sec, f/11. This portrait was taken with Kodak Folding Brownie 3A from year about 1905.
I couldn’t have done the portrait without my lovely wife Alenka Peterlin, she is also a photographer. Thank you
You can see this and many other of my creative portraits on the exhibition in the gallery of Institut Jozef Stefan. Opening Monday 18.2.2013 at 18.00.
Reviving skylight studio from year 1898, Josip Pelikan Studio
Dear_readers_I’m_so_honored to announce that in collaboration with Museum of Recent History Celje we will revive portraiture sessions in one of the best preserved skylight studios in Europe. The glass studio was build in 1898 and from 1920 Josip Pelikan was working there. After his death in 1977 his youngest daughter Božena Pelikan took over the family busnis and when she retired in 90′s, the studio was donated to the museum that renovated it with great care for details.
In the following month of February we are planing to revive public portrait sessions in the studio in a noble manner of portrait photography of 19th and 20th Century. Well not every day, but on certain days. I was working really hard to achieve sufficient technical and aesthetic level. First step is to revive the studio, so people could enjoy the nobility that once portrait photography had.
Next is to have workshops on photography techniques of 19th Century and finally my greatest goal is to have a festival of Alternative Photography. I imagine that exhibitions and lectures on the topic would resonate perfectly in this space. I already founded Fotopub festival of documentary photography and I was the Art director of Fotopub during first seven years and the festival continues to thrive, so I’m confident that if I could do it at age 26, I could do it even better 12 years later! Especially because I have huge support in my mentor Miša Keskenović and wonderful people of Museum of Recent History Celje.
But step by step. And first step, first foundation stone is of course photography. Do you like it? Would you like to have a portrait of you in this manner? This is not my whole portfolio, this is just the beginning. Beside ambrotypes the studio will offer also wet plate collodion negative, printed on either salt print, albumen print, cyanotype, gelatin silver-bromide print and so on. But more about that in the following post. Josip Pelikan Studio is located in Celje, Slovenia, EU.
Workshop on Wet Plate Collodion Negative with Miša Keskenović
Misa Keskenovic, a portrait on a wet plate collodion negative. Photo: Misa & Borut
A self-portrait. Misa Keskenovic came up with his own formula for wet plate collodion negative and I’ve made a set up with my about 7000Ws studio flashes, Plaubel 5×7″ camera and voigtlander Helliar 300mm f/4,5.
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This_weekend_Miša Keskenović was here in Slovenia and we had a workshop in Ljubljana. On Sunday and Monday he had one on one workshop with me on wet plate collodion negative, on salt print, albumen print and cyanotype. Miša is not extraverted person (like myself), so not many people know his work, but his knowledge of 19th Century photography is astonishing! He has a huge collection of books and e-books on the topic and have been doing it for couple of decades. He have read probably all German books on the topic. It took him couple of years to test many receipts and he came to a conclusion which receipts are working and which aren’t. For instance, receipts for wet plate collodion negative that are practicing currently in USA are very different from receipts that prof. Josef Maria Eder was recommending. The difference was a relations between iodides and bromides, so he test them and realized that Eder’s receipts were giving negatives with much greater density then receipts that are currently in praxis. Even with only one developing, without intensification, negatives were dense and blacks were clear, without fog! The receipt is not finished yet, we need to find Cadmium-Bromide and Cadmium-Iodide. If you can help, we would appreciate.
Invitation to the exhibition Castrumfoto 2012 on a theme Disguise
I’ve been invited to participate in the Castrumfoto International Workshop 2012 that is organized since 2003. The Castrumfoto is an annual workshop for art photographers from Italy, Austria, and Slovenia organised by the Pilon Gallery from Ajdovščina under the leadership of Primož Brecelj. The results of the workshop of eleven artists will be presented on an exhibition in the Pilon Gallery, this Friday, 14.12.2012 with the opening at 19:00.
This year’s theme is A Disguise. My concept is questioning the term disguise and objectivity. I did a series of self portraits, following a dogma of photography that could be defined as un-manipulated, objective photography. I was doing a mug shot, without cloths, staring into a camera. The theme disguise comes into existence only if you see the whole series of self-portraits. For each self-portrait I’ve chosen a different camera, that is ShenHao 4×5″, Mamiya RB67, Zenza Bronica ETRS 645, Nikon D3, Kodak Folding Brownie 3A and Pentax K200. I was trying to maintain all factors that effect photography the same, only camera and a medium on which photograph will be recorded on, will be the variable in this project. I’ve chosen my friends camera Pentax K200 that records infrared specter of light, classic analog camera, digital Nikon D3 and also Wet Plate Collodion as a medium. Wet plate Collodion is sensitive to blue and ultraviolet specter of light.
The presentation will be simple, 50x70cm prints and under the prints there will be a note with characteristics of the camera and medium on which photograph was recorded.
My point here is that all this images are following dogma of photography as an objective recordings of reality, but when you put them together, the questions are arousing which one is more real. Which one is real? Just by noticing how different this self-portraits are, a viewer is faced with the fact that photography is not objective! PHOTOGRAPHY IS THE DISGUISE!
Thx to Luka Gorjup for helping me with infrared self-portrait and my wife Alenka for the help with the rest of self-portraits.
Self-portrait taken with ShenHao 4×5″ camera and wet plate collodion.
Self-portrait taken with Mamiya RB67 camera and Polaroid fp-100c.
Self-portrait taken with Folding Brownie and wet plate collodion.
Self-portrait taken with Pentax K-200, transformed so it records infrared specter of light.
Self-portrait taken with Zenza Bronica ETRS 645 camera and Efke 100 film.
Self-portrait taken with Nikon D3 camera
A description list of the camera and medium on which the photograph was taken.
Just a sketch how I was planning to present the prints on the wall. It’s not The Gallery Pilon.
90th birthday of Božena Pelikan, the youngest daughter of famous photographer Josip Pelikan
Today, 16th of September 2012 is the 90th birthday of Božena Pelikan, the youngest daughter of famous photographer Josip Pelikan. As a homage to famous Pelikan family and a humble gratitude to the photographical heritage of Pelikan family, I’ve made portraits of Mrs. Pelikan. I used Vageeswari 10×12″ camera with sheet film of 8×10″ and a lens Voigtlander Heliar 300mm, f/4,5. For Wet Plate Collodion portraits I used a Plaubel 5×7″ camera and I’ve made some quick takes also with Mamiya C330, format 6×6.
With Museum of Recent History Celje, we’re discussing projects that we might do together and I’m all excited since potentials are enormous! The studio is without a doubt one of the best preserved luxurious glass photographic ateliers in Europe with original equipment used by the famous Slovene photographer Josip Pelikan (1885–1977). More about it on the links bellow.
Links:
Museum of Recent History Celje / Josip Pelikan Photographic Studio
Panoramic view of Josip Pelikan Photographic Studio, Slovenia Landmarks by Boštjan Burger
Josip Pelikan’s photographies in the digital archive, DLib.si – Digital Library of Slovenia
Borut Peterlin during photo-session with Mrs. Božena Pelikan. Assistent Tomaz Strmcnik. Photo Helena Vogelsang. Camera Plaubel 5×7″, Wet Plate Collodion, Flashes Balcar 1500Ws & ’50Ws.
Silence (great band) – Wet Plate Collodion portrait
In last issue of Mladina weekly it was published my portrait of Silence band. I had this idea for a while, but some people were not feeling comfortable with it, but on the contrary with the duo Silence we had a good laugh and the result overpassed my expectation. My collodion needed a two pops of 2250Ws to illuminate it correctly, that is why Primož on the right side is a bit blurred. Later I find out that it could be done in one pop if I would raise pH of AgNO3 from 2,2 to 4pH as I did later on and described in THIS post.
Techs: ShenHao 4×5″, lens Linhof 135mm f/3,5; Flashes of 2250Ws – two bursts, AgNO3 pH 2,2.
Behind the scene. Photo: Vanja Pirc
New level of my Wet Plate Collodion portraits
Yesterday my family had a family lunch and a celebration of my father’s birthday, so I used this opportunity to make a new set of family portraits. Recently I reset and readjust my chemicals, so I was anxious to see how my pictures will turned out and here they are!
Technically I used Palubel 5×7″camera with Voigtlander Heliar 300mm f/4,5 lens at aperture 6,7 and illuminated by one flash burst of two flashes of joined power 2250Ws. Flashes were about 90cm away from the subject.
This plates along with others will be exhibited in Kulturni dom, Gorica in Italy. The opening will happen on 29th of September 2012. You’re invited.
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