Posts Tagged ‘Mladina’
Feature news story from Montenegro, done by 4×5″ large format view camera
Before I left on the road I heard there were violent protest happening in the capital of Montenegro, so I’ve decided that I will make a reportage about that. The question was how will I do it? I can not compete with local photojournalists and I wasn’t interested in news photography, I’ve done that a lot, I wanted to do it differently. I had to think what kind of reportage will I make, how will I approach the subject, what will be the subject at all? Many important questions to be answered before picking up a camera.
Talking about the camera, I was reluctant to take my super digital camera Nikon D4 with me, it’s too heavy and too expensive and I wasn’t into news kind photojournalism anyway, so I decided to do the feature reportage with my 4×5″ camera. I’ve decided that I will not wait for the violent protest, those images will be in the news anyhow, I wanted to make a different kind of story, so I’ve made the following approach.
When I came home there was the hardest task, to write a story, to write a text! For all of my years as a photojournalist I always was working in a team with a journalist, but now I had to do all by myself. I was kind of confident, because I knew how am I going to do this story before I picked up a camera or ask a question, so I sit down to write the story at 8am and finished it at 4pm. The experience working with excellent journalists for magazines like The Observer, Colors Magazine, Corriere della Sera, Mladina and others, was very good foundation. Even the editor in chief of Mladina weekly, said I wrote a good text. I was really satisfied with the feature reportage that was published in Mladina weekly. You can read the full article from THIS link, but it’s in the proper language, so I apologise to English speakers.
Last but not least, I’ve showed the feature story to my friend at UK’s picture agency Panos Pictures and he found it excellent and published it on their blog as an example of a good feature story. HA!!!
Long forgotten love for photojournalism revived in me. I don’t want to do daily news, but I am interested in daily life, small stories, that are affected by the stories from the news. Plus I realised I can do a reportage with a slow view camera, better then with my ultrafast digital camera! And imagine that, I can also write!!!
Klemen Slakonja, wet plate portait
Portrait taken on 4×5″ camera with petzval lens, exposed on wet plate collodion plate. This is retouched version, I retouched his face from the film negative I’ve recorded.
Klemen Slakonja is an actor and rising star of TV show business in Slovenia. Few weeks ago I had to make his portrait, but it was raining. I decided to do the portrait in wet plate collodion just the same. Under rain, no sweat! OK, it was just sprinkling rain, but on the end of the shoot I was all wet. I got used to that, actually. Wet wet plate photographer, why not! I arrived half an hour before the shoot, mix the developer and prepare first plate. We exposed it, but when I wanted to develop it I knock the glass beaker off the table and it crashed in front of us.
Klemen was kind enough to wait that I’ve mixed the developer again, but I didn’t filter it, i didn’t had time for that. Plate was fogged so his face wasn’t recognizable. I’ve repeat the portrait with the same camera, Linhof lens and I was exposing normal B&W film. At home I scanned the collodion plate, scanned the film negative and photoshoped that his face was recognizable. Lucky for me, I know all sorts of photography, so if I’m forced to, I use every possible tool to deliver a good portrait to a reader of Mladina weekly magazine. After all the stress, the picture looked fantastic in the printed magazine and it’s one of my favorites.
Perhaps you might wonder why have I portray Klemen as a cowboy. Let me quote Andy Warhol: “I don’t know.”
PS: In less then two hours an auction for my salt print is finishing on ebay. LINK.
My last creative portrait for Mladina weekly
Zora Stančič, an artist
Today is an important day in my career. After almost eight years I finished my regular collaboration with Mladina weekly. I mean I will still be doing a cover here and there and some special issue, but the collaboration on weekly basis has ended. The main reason is that my work for Mladina involves travel expenses from my home to Ljubljana and back and when I started the job as photoeditor in year 2006, fuel was half the price. I resigned the desk job in 2011 (if I remember correctly. Maybe was 2010?) to work and earn my living as an active photographer. At the time I was desperate to recalibrate my career to go back to photography. I mean have I study photography in Prague, Italy, UK and payed for it a fortune, just to sit behind computer and edit images that I knew I could have done better? It was fun to ride the camera, but the travel expenses grew whereas photojournalistic salary is much lower then editor’s, so at the peak of recession I’ve realized it’s just not worth the money anymore.
That’s one out of the three reasons.
Second one is that I got in love with photography again, processes that were practiced in 19th Century, Wet Plate Collodion and Salt printing process to highlight just two. Intimately I feel this is the path that I need to take, but with day job in Ljubljana I just couldn’t find enough time to pursue the path.
Third reason was fear. I feared that I will finish my career at Mladina in some car accident. In 7,5 years on the road I avoided many accidents and witnessed many many more. Although I’m safe driver in about 18 years as a driver I had only one accident and even that wasn’t my fault! But still I was afraid this was destined to me. Now I finished the job and I’m so happy that I was wrong about that.
What’s next? The bad news is that I’ve jumped out of the plane without a parachute. I have no safe employee in my sight, that’s for sure. The good news is that I think I know how to fly. Well at least I should know! If who, then I should be the one to know how to earn a living from photography! I have many business ideas! One is about to be tested in 6h 26m 27s (Jun 27, 2013 15:25:38 PDT)! On ebay I’m auctioning a print. When I put this print on auction I didn’t know that week later I will finish this chapter of my life and it’s very symbolic that it’s ending today!
And now to the image above. Zora Stančič is very successful Slovenian artist recognized widely and she’s expressing herself mostly trough graphic arts. When I look back to my first creative portrait in Mladina weekly, that was Melita Zajc in year 2006, I look back with a content on the path I’ve taken and the work I’ve done.
Tomorrow’s a new day! I so much look forward!
Severa Gjurin portrayed in wet plate collodion technique
PS: How much gay can a step test be? ha, ha…
Elvis Halilović, his wooden Camera Obscuras and my wet plate portrait of him
Elvis Halilović, portrayed with my ShenHao 4×5″ camera on wet plate collodion process
Elvis Halilović, portrayed with his camera obscura.
Few days ago I’ve made a portrait of Elvis Halilović.
In his words: “I’m a passionate lensless photographer. For the last seven years, I’ve been photographing using pinhole cameras that I’ve made myself. Through the years, I’ve constructed and used extensively about 40 of them; the largest produced images measuring up to 3 x 4 metres while the smallest could fit inside a person’s mouth. I’m also an industrial designer and a carpenter….”
He designed super slick camera obscuras and made them from wood. They look super cool. He started ONDU Pinhole Cameras project on Kickstarter, aiming for $10.000 USD of backing and three weeks before the end of kickstarter project he has already pledged for $63.000 USD. Check his project and back him. For now, that’s the only way how to get the camera, but he has many worldwide offers for his product.
I’ve done his portrait with his camera, but since I didn’t had a clue what angle of view is, I totally missed the framing. In tomorrows Mladina weekly it’ll be published his collodion portait. At European Collodion Weekend I bought one old brass Petzval lens and check the results. I suggested Elvis that with this cameras also wet plate collodion process could be done, since it uses ordinary 4×5″ film holder. He will lend me one for a ride. Can’t wait!
Digital and analog manipulation by Collodion Bastard
final result, portrait of a band Napravi mi dete
In Friday’s Mladina weekly there will be published my portrait of a band Napravi mi dete (make me a child). I’ve done their portrait on Mamiya C330, on film format 6×6. Then I develop the film and exposed a wet plate collodion plate, but with chemistry of Miša Keskenović (based on receipts of J. M. Eder) that was meant for contrasty wetplate negatives. We’ve made few tests with different developers and we got results that somewhat might be opalotypes. I’ve scanned the plate and it was alright but I’ve took a step forward and hold it over flame so it broke. Cracks are more controllable then you might think, but still very unpredictable. Plate literally exploded in my hand, since I hold the flame too much in the middle of the plate. You can see the hole where all cracks are coming from. Left bottom corner. I’m attaching how pieces of the plate looked like on my scanner and then I digitally sew them together. Is this a digital manipulation? I decided to sew the pieces together digitally, because I already scratched the surface of my scanner while scanning plates. It’s a though job, being a collodion bastard, but someone have to do it…
Post Scriptum:
Today I’ve bought a table saw. Before devoting completely to photography, I’ve made a secondary school for carpentry and now I’m getting in touch with my inner carpenter. I’m planning to make my own frames, silver and fixer baths, copying frames,…
every Colodion Bastard need a good table saw!
Exhibition of my creative portraits in IJS, Ljubljana, Slovenia, EU
Yesterday I had an exhibition opening of my creative portraits in Inštitut Jožef Stefan. With curator Tatjana Pregl Kobe, we decided to exhibit my portraits from 2006/07 on ground floor and on first floor my portraits from 2012/13. For Mladina weekly I’m making every week at least one creative portrait of a creative person and although I love making this work, it’s no easy walk, I tell you! I remember that many times I woke up in the middle of the night, because I didn’t have the concept how to do a portrait later the day. Or I was dreaming about it. Nevertheless it’s such a nice feeling to view back on your work and you know it was worth the pain, sweat and stress. And most importantly it’s still worth to continue. Last year I switched my style of portrait photography from vibrant color playful portraits (LINK) to collodion portraits (LINK). I had a feeling that I had to move on. The fact that everybody liked my wicked humor and saturated colors, was just another reason to reinvent my style before going stale. And the change was not easy or comfortable whereas discrete! From digital camera with studio lights (link to the making of video) to old view camera on a tripod and with darkroom. Also the layout of the rubric changed completely. In year 2006 the portrait was published on about 1/3 of a page and now the rubric is published as a spread with a serious text about the person being portrayed. HERE is the link from national TV.
What am I trying to say. Two things. I’m proud on this body of work. And I feel an urge that I want some more of photography. I’m really obsessed! I feel very clearly that I’m on tipping point of my career. I crossed the point of no return.
What has changed? I will not describe my feelings, just actions and then you’ll get the picture.
1) Last week I quit my job as a photojournalist. I will still do gladly portraits for my Mladina weekly magazine, but I can not afford to waste my life on news photographs that have expiry date faster then diaria! I really lost all my interest in politics. Totally. Gone…
2) Revival of skylight Studio Pelikan is one the things I feel so connected with. I feel that although we’re running on no-budget and making small tiny steps, the direction is correct and we just need to continue
3) I’m receiving a huge support in my quest in Alternative photography from all sides. From different continents even!
4) I’m taking part of the workshop of Klavdij Sluban and although I participates at workshops of really famous photographers like Saudek, Oliviero Toscani, Ralph Gibson, Martin Parr, Stephen Gill, Paul Graham, Joel Peter Witkin, Duane Michals, and who knows who have I forgot, Klavdij Sluban is the best mentor. Perhaps I’m taking part in his workshop in a particular moment of my life, but he opened many windows to me and my photography! He does magic. I sensed how he is doing it. I can’t do it yet on his level, but I understood the principle, I mapped the path I need to take. Don’t believe me? You will see the results in few months.
5) Invitation for exhibitions are raining! First one opened yesterday. Next one is in my town of Novo mesto in April. In May I have an exhibition in Krakow / Poland and then in Novi Sad / Serbia. In November I’m having a solo show in the best photography gallery in Ljubljana / Slovenia and also our workshop group under Klavdij Sluban will exhibit in Novo mesto / Slovenia.
6) I’m selling prints. I know, I know, I’m selling it in very unorthodox way, for a small price, but I don’t care. I’m worker, an artist, but I’m definitely not a salles man. I prefer to get 50 EUR now, then 5000EUR when I’ll be a retired old fart!
Last but not least, let me tell you an anecdote. I felt like this before. It was after I’ve done all the exams at London College of Printing and I was chatting with my mentor. I’ve told him how I feel so strongly that my life will change dramatically. I’ve described his how I have all this knowledge that I’ve gained and now it’s the moment when I will confront it with real life, hitting it hard, like a tsunami. Literally few hours later my girlfriend called me and told me she is pregnant 🙂
A portrait of painters White Ice Cream
Artist’s collective White Icecream are often using brick pattern in their work, so the element is included in the photograph.
Last week I was commissioned to do a portrait of painters duo White Ice Cream. I’ve done a fantastic portrait of them two years ago and I was reluctant to do another portrait, but a commission is a commission and they are great blocks, so I was very excited to see what we will as their portrait. We were talking and we agreed that we will repeat the brick pattern from their cloths that were an art piece. We tried to make a snowman, but in Ljubljana there was no snow anymore so we went to Krvavec mountain, but snow there was too dry, too frozen, so we made this sort of characters. My idea was that they should go full monty and with one hand cover their “pride” and in the other hand they would hold an ice cream, but they were not up for it. We had a good laugh once again 🙂
A portrait of the collective White Ice Cream in year 2011
My photographs for cover pages on books, magazines and a CDs
I’m proud to present few publications that are wearing my photograph as a cover. Last week Mladina weekly had the main article about how Slovenian government is planning to sold out all assets that the Republic of Slovenia still owns in a very non-transparent way. Shape of the cheese is represanting the shape of Republic Slovenia.
Writer Vesna Milek wrote a biography of an actor Boris Cavazza and for a book in Serbian language they used my portrait.
Bottomline is a band from Novo mesto and they used my pictures for the cover of their newly released CD. I already bloged about that very amusing session.
A cookbook with the author on the cover. All stacks were against me for this cover, but I’ve made it happen and client was ver very happy and when client is happy I’m happy. And my family is happy 🙂
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YES! New creative wetplate portrait of Peter Movrin, a fashion designer
Peter Movrin is one of the most prosperous and highly rewarded young fashion designer. On HIS SITE it states: “Peter Movrin creates dark knight inspired menswear – long laser cut leather coats, paired with silk underskirts, grey tone raw leather pieces and accessorised with knitted head pieces and balaclavas in a modern attack on medieval attire.”
Mladina weekly assigned me to make his portrait and when I saw his site and video attached bellow, I knew wet plate collodion technique is destined for his portrait. We made the portrait is his shop in downtown of Ljubljana. I’ve illuminated him with Balcar Source 6400 studio flashes, which can be used as a synonym of light burst (6400Ws) that can compare with a nuclear explosion. I’ve scan the plate, then I scratched it with a brush paper and hold it above a flame, so the glass plate broke. Then I scanned it again and in Lightroom I added an effect of vigneting and the result is here! I hope you like it. Gregor Cokan was assisting me.
When I made this portrait I thought this is it! I will use Wet Plate technique and combine it with every tool there is either that’s analog or digital. Wet Plate photographers are often limiting them selves only to the tools that were available in 19th Century even to that extent that they don’t want to scan a plate because they scrutiny it or something like. I disagree. I consider 19th Century photographers a wizards of their own time. They were building their own equipment, mixing their own chemicals and mastering aesthetics of new media. I consider them as intellectuals that were open to wide range of knowledge and were not limiting them selves and this paradigm I like. I thought I figure all out for my next creative portraits! The conceptual and aesthetic approach, chemical part of this technology, illumination and so on.
BUT! (there is a but in every decision isn’t). But yesterday I was trying to make another portrait for next issue of Mladina, but it didn’t work. I mean I’ve made tests and everything was fine, but then people were late and there was no ambient light anymore. I had to make a set up with flashes and I tried to do their portrait without a tests, but in a rush, wet-plate does not work. After one hour I admitted my defeat and was forced to make a digital portrait.
I came to another personal resolution. I will use this technique only if I will have a clear concept and not trying to use it for every portrait in Mladina weekly magazine. It’s just to stressful, not to mention that I need an hour of pre-preparation before the shoot and even then it’s not certain that it’ll work. I mean I have a strong portfolio with my digital portraits, so no worries about the quality.
Peter Movrin’s fashion:
TOPSHIT PHOTOGRAPHY blog 