We had a small walk in the evening before dinner. There are many great things to photograph in Budapest, but this evening we probably photographed its most photographed building. The parliament.

Light was wonderful when I woke up and I decided to take some quick shots of the interior of my room. Mostly lights and walls though.

I really enjoy it when I see things.

Mundane. Normal. Boring. I admire photographers who are able to create a wonderful picture of nothing special. We often overlook our daily life, taking it for granted without seeing the beauty of our life. A pity, as beauty can be found in the small things. 

The room where I stayed had quite some wires. Some unfinished, some of the TV and lights, and some of mine. I thought it made a great series.

For the meaning of transcendent, click here. It’s a style I love, and the greatest pleasure is when one get’s it right at once in-camera. Personally, for me, this art-form should be without post-processing. Recently I went for a small walk and tried to create some special images. I really like how my mind went from bright images to almost dark in the end. Soul searching.

I woke up in the middle of the night, desoriented. The air in the room was too little, the temperature was too high. I went out the bed, needed to open the window, and while being half asleep, I noticed the contrasts in the alley beneath me. I noticed, yet did not realize. Until in the morning, early still, that I needed to capture this.

Though the image might not be special, the whole experience was: being asleep, half awake, realizing that you must take a picture. During my walk to work, I passed the microsoft office and took some more images based on my nighty mood…

While in Milano, my Turkish colleagues invited me for a drink. As I was alone, and they were five, I happily accepted the invitation. We found a nice local pub, and I asked them for a portrait. The setup was simple: a wooden background, dark atmosphere, some available lights.

While making these portraits, I also convinced the waitress to have her portrait taken. She had a great personality and I’m happy she accepted the challenge.

All images handheld with the xh1 + xf23, acros-jpeg’s processed in C1.

Today it appeared that my previous post about ‘back to basics’ was hard to understand for non-photographers. So, here a second attempt to put my thoughts on paper. Bear with me.

The last weeks, while travelling, I kept on wondering which gear to take. Basically, this is a sign that I have too much. Also, I asked myself, do I want a camera to take a picture, or do I need one to create an image?

Based on these thought I decided that I need less. I questioned myself which lens I’d need, which format I’d use and which size I’d love. The answers were simple: a square format, a basic and a portrait lens, and a sensor as big as possible.

Therefore, I’d decided to sell off my present gear and invest in a medium format system. This will allow me to focus, to boost creativity due to its limitations while getting the best quality. It will stop me from taking pictures, and push me to create.

Back to basics. Homecoming.

It was her last working day in town. Next day she’d be working 800km away from the head office. Same firm though, just sunnier surroundings. She was about to start a new job,  a bit nervous therefore. Nevertheless I liked her portrait. Meet Tihana (if you didn’t do so before).

Five seconds exposure, lightened with a ledpanel.

A strange title, I admit, but somehow it describes my state of (photographic) mind at the moment. Not sure where and how to start, so let’s talk size first.

About size

With film, for photography (not cinema), there are basically three kind of formats: 35mm (or leica-format), medium format (ranging from 6x4,5cm to 6x17cm) and large format (4”x 5” and bigger). With film it is simple: the bigger the film, the better the quality.

As a wedding photographer shooting film I used the first two formats: 35mm with a Contax rangefinder and medium format with a Rolleiflex. The Contax for speed, the Rollei for (posed) portraits. Though I was very happy with the results from the Contax, the Rollei astonished me time-after-time. There is simply something special on medium-format which 35mm can not capture.

Enter digital. Formats were shrinked heavily: for consumer cameras a sensor about 65% the size of 35mm is used. For “professional” gear the sensor equals 35mm (nowadays called full frame, FF) and medium format is everything bigger than 35mm. Large format does not exist nor does the size of 6x6cm or bigger. We come close to a sensor of 6x4,5cm but with an enormous price. One could buy a small house instead. As with film, the bigger the sensor, the better the quality.

So, for both film and digital, bigger is better. I’d love to have a large-format film camera and take portraits with it. Sometimes I’d even look into a webshop for prices and so on, but living in Croatia leaves me without the possibility to buy big sheets of paper and get them developed. The latter I can’t do myself due to lack of space. Besides, it is probably not the most ecologically either. So no, large-format, no film, for me, pity.

When writing this, all my digital cameras have a small sensor. They deliver great results, full of detail and rich colors. We live in times were technology gives us so much for such a (relative) low price. Simply amazing. Yet, no matter how good my cameras are, they do have a small sensor and no matter the technology we have, there will always be a difference with a big(ger) sensor, simply due to the law of physics. And this difference, is a big one to me, the fall-off of sharpness, the amounts of detail and the tonality makes me that I miss a medium-format camera. Those never used and/or studied the results, will not understand this longing. So, here I am, wanting as big as possible, having the smallest available. In that sense, digital has not really been a way forward to me. Good thing of digital though, is that development goes fast, resulting in a big second hand market. One could buy a secondhand camera without the need to sell his/her house. Homecoming.

About format

With film, the Rollei had a square format which I adored for portraits. The square minimized my background so the sitter would get full attention within the picture. And whereas I used the Contax for reportage style, I really enjoyed looking through the Rollei and make a composition which fitted the square.

With digital one could set his camera to a square format, but when using a small sensor, it would result in an even less smaller image, and, in case one does not has live-view, looking through the viewfinder, you wouldn’t see square and therefore not compose as such. Of course, one could crop in photoshop, but it is simply not the same.

With one of my present camera’s (the xh1) I do shoot square, using it’s screen and live-view to make a composition and it works. However, I lose 1/3 of the original size by doing so and it leaves me a relative small file. But I can, a kind of back to basics. A wannabe back to basics as it is not yet as I would like.

About lenses

With the Rollei, I had two lenses only: the 80mm and a 150mm (or converted to FF, a 44mm and a 80mm). This was all I needed for my portraits. The Contax had more lenses, but the most used one was the 45mm. Obviously, 45mm is a sweet spot to me. Not only to me though, most films have been shot on 40mm, as it gives the most complete look within one lens.

Enter digital. My little sensor camera has a great 35mm lens which is really magical, however converted to FF 53mm, meaning almost 20% narrower than what I was used to. May be not much, but having found this out, at least I understand why I was switching lenses all the time recently: one was too wide, the other too narrow. It would be great to have 40+ lens. Back to basics.

Back to basics

So, here I am, a camera bag full of camera’s and a bunch of lenses. Two brands, meaning two kinds of post-processing; too many camera’s because - as an ex-wedding photographer - I’d like to have a back-up; and way too many lenses, simply cause I could.

All this distracts me. Sometimes, too many choices is not good, sometimes, being limited boost your creativity. I need to unload; push myself with one or two lenses, even go back to square? Homecoming, back to basics.

These thoughts are going through my head quite a while now. I started the unloading, sold off a bunch of gear already, but now it is time for the final move. Which size, which format and which lens?

The answers in short are: which size: simple, as big as possible (and payable), which format: square and which lens: FF converted it should be around 45mm and a portrait lens of around 85mm.

A more important question will be though: with ‘only’ the above, can I unload all the rest? Would I be able to give-up all the rest? A tough question. With medium portrait one creates images, however, I used to take many images as well: on diners, parties, with friends and on outings. Images one can take with a phone as well. May be I should leave the image taking to others. May be I should focus on creating. Could I sell-off the magical 35mm? It’s really, really great, and so is the 14mm. Both I will miss, the 35 cause of it’s magic and the 14mm cause of it’s width. Selling off would be tough, but to easy my mind, I should. Or may be I should give them to a friend, who will in return borrow me a camera if I need to take a picture.

I go back to basics. One camera, two lenses. The decision is easy, still, there is so much choice. One Camera, which one? 

PhaseOne has the best, but it fails my criteria ‘payable’. New, I need to sell the house, second hand, about half the house. They give a free lens though. They’re the best, but out of reach.

Hasselblad: two systems, the more traditional one and a portable one. The first is new slightly (around 15t€) cheaper than the PhaseOne,,  still far out of reach. Secondhand, for items around ten years old, they are getting payable. However, without lens. Lenses are expensive. The portable version is a kind of payable as well, however lenses are expensive and the future still not clear.

Fuji: my present brand. Makes cameras since ages, cooperated a lot with Hasselblad and has huge experience with medium-format. To me, they out-perform all other camera brands regarding colour management. They have the best colour. Simply as that. Their relative new digital medium format camera is backed up with quite some new lenses, meaning they are investing in the system. Prices are high, but, if I sell it all, I could afford a camera and a lens, may be two. And, not less important, portable.

Stop taking, start creating. 

Anybody wants to buy some camera’s? To be continued…

The firm sent me to Milano. My first time, and the aim of the trip was to have a look into the near future, though I am not sure how near this future is. Nor for my firm, nor for my present country. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the job/trip.

Instead of taking the car or taxi in the morning, I decided to walk to work. The app said 45 minutes so I left 90 minutes before the meeting so I could play around with my camera.  

Though I had several lenses with me, I only used one, the widest. All images are unedited.