Recent Photographs and Comments

2012-02-02T21:02:00.002-05:00

I just started the slow and tedious transition from the losing Apple Aperture to Adobe Lightroom and already impressed how much better the Adobe version of this database/editing software is. Here is a picture from last week using Lightroom's one of the many preset editing combinations for black and white conversion (+ minor manual tweaking). I only wish there was an easy way to transfer tens of thousands of photo files to LR's database.

An Aaron Siskind quote I read this morning

2012-01-12T07:34:00.001-05:00

Photographer Aaron Siskind: “Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving.What you have caught on film is captured forever… it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”

new camera concept

2012-01-12T06:42:00.000-05:00

While I am excited by the upcoming Fuji X-Pro1 (retro) rangefinder-like camera some talented designers are about to upset the established photo equipment manufacturers (assuming that this idea is feasible).

Uncle Ed's birthday photos

2012-01-11T06:08:00.000-05:00

This series has been taken with a Fuji X100. Not bad image quality but very slow focus and the camera is awfully slow when goes into 'sleep' (prefers to sleep deeply). I hope the new X-Pro1 will be as fast as the Canon 5D M II (which comes back extremely fast). This is an issue because during the event you need to turn off and on the X100 all the time.

http://www.secondfloorstudio.com/Ed2012/

2011 Lexington neigborhood portraits

2011-11-30T07:03:00.001-05:00

This is the third year we invite people from my street (Lexington Avenue, Cambridge) to an outdoor social gathering and free photo session at Patricia's (our next door neighbor and co organizer) drive way. This is a easy way to meet folks who you see frequently and talk to them, learn their names and something about their lives.

These are the selected images from last weekend.

Still photo-dance movies by Ryan Enn Hughes

2011-11-07T05:48:00.002-05:00

I must share this Ryan Enn Hughes art-dance-photography here. Watch what Hughes makes and see all his fascinating still photo -movies. Unfortunately I have nothing to do with this original and extremely well done work.

(Sorry, the Vimeo imbed does not work. Click on the link to see his stunning videos)

http://www.ryanennhughes.com/

2011-10-01T22:44:00.002-04:00

Photos from this afternoon: the annual Honk Fest in Somerville.

2011-09-22T07:01:00.000-04:00

Street scenes from Basel and Zurich

Walk after "Irene" had passed

2011-08-30T20:23:00.000-04:00

After the storm left Cambridge Debora and I took a walk and met Jane driving to her office and Shepley looking out of her door. [PS: the second image is a victim of the X100 camera's sticky blade problem. That's why is it overexposed.]

How do digital cameras work?

2011-08-05T08:23:00.002-04:00

You think you know everything about the digital camera technology, right? I just read this article that illuminated me on several aspects of light metering and exposure. ETTR is when you set the exposure histogram of the camera to the right so that the edge of the graph goes all the way to the right end of the scale. This way the image is not going to be dim and dull (underexposed). Of course we may need to correct the photo (especially the dark end) in a raw editing software. I assume we all take raw format (only) pictures, right? But before you complain about less than point-and-shoot ease remember that enlarging from black and white negatives (if you are old enough to have used them) wasn't strait forward either.

Note: The autor does not explain what ETTR (= Exposure To The Right) is.

Vacation...

2011-07-29T22:37:00.002-04:00

Baby Hope at a party

2011-06-23T06:25:00.000-04:00

Baby Hope is observing the crowd at Maddy's graduation dinner.

From Maddy_grad

The Raya Brass Band on a sunny Sunday afternoon

2011-06-21T09:28:00.007-04:00

We were invited to Judith Ross' house to listen to the Raya Brass Band. They are from Brooklyn and play Balkan folk music. It is the most cheerful and fun folk music I know. Their interpretation is authentic (I grew up near Serbia) with the cool of Brooklyn. That made these talented and enthusiastic guys' performance a superb musical (and social - thanks to Judith) experience.

catching the moment

2011-06-13T06:49:00.002-04:00

I had a date with Deborah in Belmont ("where the roads are third world quality with matching driving habits") . While waiting for her I put the camera on the table, set it to overexposure (strong outside light) and as she opened the door I fired a shot. I like it.

neighborhood scene

2011-05-30T13:13:00.004-04:00

[Note: Apple updated Aperture for the X100 raw remarkably fast.]

progress with X100

2011-05-16T17:59:00.001-04:00

Unfortunately there is no good application to render the Fuji X100 RAW files properly and conveniently except probably Lightroom (that I do not use). I am still waiting for Apple to eventually update Aperture with X100 raw interpretation. In the meanwhile Adobe RAW is so-so OK. Not their Bridge software that makes the X100 raw images so blurry I almost returned the camera. Anyway, this is a learning process and here is a few samples from yesterday. Most of them at ISO 3200 put through a multi step macro (action) sequence that involves NeatImage's noise reduction, NIK Software's BW conversion and s few Photoshop steps.

A few more X100 images...

2011-05-13T18:24:00.000-04:00

I am getting used to the clumsy operation of the marvelous Fuji X100 camera.

Fuji X100 experience

2011-05-07T16:04:00.002-04:00

I have been using the X100 for a few days now. It takes time to get familiar with a new camera and find out the optimal use for my ways of taking pictures. So far I am increasingly pleased with it. I find the same annoying design problems most other reviewers pointed out, such as the useless RAW button, the too small MENU button, the limited Fn functions and many menu based functions that are hard to access quickly. In short: certain important operations are outright awkward but still, a thrilling tool and a lot of fun. Here is one image from last night.

Images from Hungary and Austria

2011-04-28T21:19:00.002-04:00

This was a visit of family and friends who we have not seen for some time.

More "Friends 2011" portraits

2011-04-08T17:46:00.000-04:00

[click on images for large size]

Mihaly from the "Friends, 2011" series

2011-03-24T18:31:00.005-04:00

More from the "Friends" series

2011-03-24T18:30:00.000-04:00

Started a new series ("Friends, 2011") of black and white portraits (more later)

2011-03-08T21:02:00.003-05:00

Billy-Bob Thornton: ...I always feel that black and white...black and white in a way looks more like real life than color does, even though real life is obviously in color.

One of the Coen brothers [I can't tell their voices apart —MJ]: Yeah, there’s something hyper-real about it.

BBT: Exactly.

[quote from "The Online Photographer" blog]

Photograph (and meet) your neighbors

2011-02-19T07:17:00.002-05:00

I also suggest to look at Kickstarter, an impressive, new art project financing initiative. Here is a link to Eliza Gregory's beautiful portraits.

This time: a birthday dinner for Sara

2011-02-08T17:35:00.001-05:00

Marni coat + light test

2011-01-26T21:08:00.000-05:00

I am tweaking the studio lights for a bigger project and my sweet wife volunteered to be an unpaid model for the preliminary testing. That coincided with the arrival of a Marni coat (actually in two versions). Here are some shots from tonight:

Black and whites with the GF1 + 14 mm pancake

2011-01-18T06:16:00.005-05:00

The GF1 is not a good low light camera (too noisy over ISO 400) and the 14 mm lens widest aperture is f/2.5. The combination results in a poor dim ambient light performance. However, the Panasonic is quiet, small, has no mirror - like the bulky 5D - and people hardly notice when I take photos. The camera can be on the table at hand for a quick shot when I see something.

I hope the next post will be a series from the new studio light arrangement.

I just learned about Vivian Maier....a little late, I know.

2011-01-05T06:44:00.002-05:00

I was scanning my photography RSS collection this morning and found a posting on a Leica site about Vivian Maier (even though she used a Rolleiflex, not a Leica). I am thrilled and only can imagine what those real estate guys felt when they discovered what they bought at an auction. Look here for more about this (until now) unknown but world class photographer. I recommend to scroll through the large volume of Ms Maier's work posted on the linked blog. Her photos are exceptional!

The Panasonic 14 mm for the GF1

2010-12-29T08:07:00.000-05:00

I finally received yesterday the long anticipated Panasonic 14 mm pancake lens. This is the first use of it at the friendly Kitchen on Common restaurant in Belmont. All photos at f/2.5, its widest opening. ISO 400 (the GF1 sucks above ISO 400). Click on it for larger version.

Holiday party

2010-12-05T22:34:00.009-05:00

We invited our friends to a holiday party at our house. These are some photos from last night.

...and how the refrigerator experienced the evening:

kitchen time lapse from Akos Szilvasi on Vimeo.

A year went by ....

2010-11-22T07:29:00.005-05:00

I started taking photos of my neighbors with a simple outdoor setup. Open shade, back lit white tarp for a white background. No directing: everybody represents him/herself. Last weekend we repeated the event. I enjoyed it very much even though I had little chance for socializing. The feedback was positive. We need to think about how to follow up with the expressed desire for a more interactive neighborhood. It has to be low on technology. When I set up a neighborhood blog last year no one ever responded to anything or wrote into. Maybe the annual photo shoot and email list is enough... Here is a selection of the photos I like most and this is the full line-up.

Photo of the "Glass House" author

2010-10-20T19:03:00.004-04:00

Last night at a dinner I took a few casual photographs of Simon Mawer, the author of the "Glass House".

This is a history based fiction about a family who commissioned a famous modern architect to build a house for them. The book does not name the architect or the location but the glass house is the Tugenhat house in Brno (Czech Republic) designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. I heard that once the house is being restored by 2012 (EU heritage site) a film will be made out of this highly recommended writing. This house - and it comes through the book - represents the high end of classic modern, the foundation of all the "contemporary" values that uprooted and replaced the 19th century oppressive, bourgeois culture, architecture and life style.

A photographer's home....

2010-05-21T18:09:00.003-04:00

I may have mentioned earlier my desire to have a natural light photo studio. Richard Avedon had one...and more. Take a look at this perfect living + working space. And all this in Manhattan. Luckily, the place is on the market for $ 12m.

But think for a minute. Let's imagine we could buy the home. Would you have the nerve to take photographs in his studio?

Let's get over the Avedon apartment. How about a free Hasselblad? OK, not a $ 50k camera but the software that helps edit and organize the images. It is really free and we don't need to buy the Hasselblad for using it. the "Phocus" interprets many popular RAW formats. Not only CR2 and such but - to my surprise - it read without a problem the Panasonic GF1 RAW. Get it while you can. Both Mac and Windows versions. The Mac seems to be a bit more sophisticated...but we use Macs anyway.

Summer is around the corner (not bad for New England)

2010-05-17T16:10:00.001-04:00

I photo from last weekend on Martha's Vineyard.

a spontaneous portrait

2010-04-11T09:37:00.004-04:00

Even though this photo does not look like a casual snapshot: it is. Last night I asked Deborah to let me take a photo of her hair. Turned on the background light and through a medium sized grid in front of a strobe I snapped a few pictures. No light meter, only the flashing highlights on the camera back was the guide. This morning I picked this one from the series of ~~mostly unfortunate~~ images.

One of my favorite portrait books...

2010-03-26T07:07:00.000-04:00

...even though I only received it this afternoon. Penn extracts the small-trade practitioners from their environment into a stark but not sterile studio with no reference to their lives except uniforms and tools of their trade. The photos are full length, very contrasty (I am not sure it was a stylistic or technical reason - I found them unpleasantly high in contrast). The lighting is a classic natural light studio (I wish I had access to one here in the Boston area). Penn depicts the subjects in a dignified, respectful way and you feel a close relationship between the photographer and subject; closer than Avedon's American West images or August Sander's even more emotionless characters (*), for instance. Penn also selected an ideal camera angle, which produces subtly flattering images. The subjects, though rarely smiling, have a warm expression. They obviously feel welcome to the photo session.

Several years ago I saw a photograph of a young couple (appeared to be cooks because the man holds a cooking pan in his hand) in a setting very similar to Penn's. It was on the wall in our favorite pasta shop. The shop owner could not tell me where the photo came from nor who took it. The image stayed with me for years and now I think it may be one of Irvin Penn's small trade people series (though not in the book).

You must own this collection if you like long lasting photographs of people.

(*) from a very different period and culture.

Snapshots from last weekend

2010-02-23T07:01:00.008-05:00

We had a short weekend in New York City (for no special occasion) to realize (again) what a fascinatingly beautiful city NYC is. It wasn't a photo trip but I have a few snapshots here.

...hard to resist to photograph our dinners

2010-02-01T21:02:00.010-05:00

All right, I can call myself a dinner party photographer (is there demand for that?). Here is an other set from last weekend. The images were taken with a Panasonic GF-1, 40 mm lens and batch ("action") processed in PS CS4. Then presented as a "quilt" using the CS4's Zoomify feature.

Happy new year

2010-01-01T22:03:00.005-05:00

I have a "Zoomify" experiment here with the new year's eve party photos. Happy new year to all of you!

The CCDC 2009 dances

2009-12-19T19:13:00.011-05:00

This is a short selection of Caitlin Corbett's dances in rehearsal a day before the first show (2009).

The Lexington Avenue neighbors (in 2009)

2009-12-03T15:46:00.022-05:00

Last weekend Ben and I set up an open air photo studio and photographed all our neighbors who accepted the invitation. Here you can see the photos. The images scale to the screen size automatically and the larger (and calibrated) your monitor the better they look.

If you like any of them and wish to download the photos click here. I hope no one gets offended by the portraits which were taken in a rather casual setting and some aspects of the photography are imperfect and were left to chances. Let me know what you think (comment here or email me) about the project.

Akos

A very short visit to Hungary

2009-11-25T17:32:00.014-05:00

Last week I flew over to Hungary for a four day visit to see my family and friends. The photos are here from the trip.

After converting the images into black and white I realized that I almost always create bw photos from my Hungary trips. Why is that? Probably because I lived abroad as much as in Hungary and - even though I grew up there and Hungarian is my mother tongue - the place is somewhat abstract and distant after being a tourist there for the last quarter of century. This is neither strange nor sad. It is a fact. At the same time black and white images are poetic. I associate them with the 70s when I discovered photography through Peter Korniss, Janos Reismann, Robert Capa, Andre Kertesz and many more Hungarian and other masters who only used black and white film.

An article on portraits from the British Journal of Photography

2009-11-06T21:46:00.004-05:00

This article, "One more, with feeling" from the BJP, is a short summary of the trends, opinions and styles of contemporary portrait photography as the jurors and participants see it through the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition.

Unfortunately the National Portrait Gallery (of London) does not publish the images on line but at the end of the BJP story you can find links to the artists who won prizes this year.

Lexington Avenue STREET STUDIO 2009

2009-10-31T17:21:00.005-04:00

Neighbors and friends, please, come to the first annual post Thanksgiving

“People of  Lexington Ave” photo shoot

Enjoy a glass of wine, cup of hot chocolate, or cider, catch up with old friends and make new ones, and have your picture taken for posterity, and for the People of Lexington Ave Photography Exhibition and year book by our very own Akos of www.secondfloorstudio.com

Individual portraits are the main purpose of the session. The shooting starts at noon and we finish it at 3 PM with a group picture.

Sunday (the Sunday after Thanksgiving) November 29 from 12 PM to 3 PM at 30 Lexington Avenue

The event takes place in rain or shine. Come with an umbrella. We want real life “open air studio” photos. It's OK to be in rain coat and shivering. When your grand children look at those photographs in fifty years they'll say: "Cool folks at Lexington Avenue in 2009". Dress warm, bring something to eat and drink (share your leftovers)

Contacts | Patricia (co-organizer) p.illingworth@neu.edu | Ben (co-arranger) jane.ben@comcast.net | Akos (photographer) akos.szilvasi@gmail.com 617 575 9020

We invite all Lexington Avenue residents to be an author on our blog: http://lexington-streetview.blogspot.com/ (send Akos an email if you wish to join.)

NIK's Silver Efex Pro

2009-10-28T07:15:00.007-04:00

This is a crop from a portrait I recently took to illustrate the NIK software Silver Efex Pro black and white rendering (my first test) .
[Click on the photo to see it in full size - unfortunately Google strips the quality of the jpeg]

PS: oops....it has a MAJOR BUG with Snow Leopard. Photoshop freezes pretty much every time you open it with the plug installed. Too bad. The elimination of the font conflict (as they instruct you on their FAQ) does not make a difference.

PPS: Today - after an email exchange with the customer support - I downloaded the new version and - so far - it seems to be working OK.

PPS: the Silver Efex Pro is a very (very) good black and white rendering plug-in. Once you bought it you can also install it into Aperture and Lightroom.

One in 8 Million - Todd Heisler's portraits

2009-10-20T21:16:00.009-04:00

A portrait photography ars poetica by Todd Heisler of the New York Times. I would say the best photographs I have ever seen....or I don't remember anything as touching, as humane and complete as a portrait as this narrated series.

"Portrait dialog" - Irvin Penn's portraits

2009-10-18T17:27:00.008-04:00

This great slide show is a preview from a recent Getty Museum show of Penn's small trade people portraits.

Penn extracts the small-trade practitioners from their environment into a stark but not sterile studio with no reference to their lives except uniforms and tools of their trade. The photos are full length, very contrasty (I am not sure it was a stylistic or technical reason - I found them unpleasantly high in contrast). The lighting is a classic natural light studio (I wish I had access to one here in the Boston area). Penn depicts the subjects in a dignified, respectful way and you feel a close relationship between the photographer and subject; closer than Avedon's American West images or August Sander's even more emotionless characters (*), for instance. Penn also selected an ideal camera angle, which produces subtly flattering images. The subjects, though rarely smiling, have a warm expression. They obviously feel welcome to the photo session.

Several years ago I saw a photograph of a young couple (appeared to be cooks because the man holds a cooking pan in his hand) in a setting very similar to Penn's. It was on the wall in our favorite pasta shop. The shop owner could not tell me where the photo came from nor who took it. The image stayed with me for years and now I think it may be one of Irvin Penn's small trade people series (though not in the book).

You must own this collection if you like long lasting photographs of people.

(*) from a very different period and culture.

Honk Fest 2009

2009-10-11T21:56:00.006-04:00

Chris Yaeger initiated this photo event at the Somerville-Cambridge annual Honk Fest. That is a parade of marching bands and all sorts of lovable fun people. It made my day + we ended up with a load of portraits of the participants in front of a sheet of white paper. Here is a small selection of the shots.

Here is a spectacular video of the event.

a found photograph from last year

2009-10-07T17:23:00.002-04:00

Last night I was browsing through old photos and found this lovely image of Shepley singing at the Daily Catch in a summer night in 2008.

Street photo is back

2009-10-07T06:31:00.004-04:00

The new Leica cameras bought back the street photography genre to the spot light. I will take walks with a camera more often in the future. Here is my first inspiration from last weekend.

[click on the posted photos to see them in larger size.]

The Sigma 50mm 1.4 lens

2009-09-28T21:23:00.007-04:00

My snobism drove me into buying the Zeiss Planar f/1.4 manual focus lens for the Canon 5D II. I did not even test the lens trusting the usually good "German engineering". When I took a few pictures wide open I got some unacceptable, hazy, blurry images. I panicked and implemented my standard newspaper test where I put the camera on a tripod and take photos of newspaper pages that cover the whole field of view. The Zeiss performed miserably between 1.4 and 3.5 f/stop. I quickly returned it to B&H for an exchange of the less expensive but far superior Sigma 50mm f/1.4 lens. My first impression ranks it in the league with Canon's 85mm f/1.2. The Sigma seems to be much better than Canon's f/1.4 or Zeiss f/1.4 or any "normal" lens I have seen (however, the $ 10k Leica f/0.95 Noctilux seems to outperform them...but who can afford - or needs - those). Here is my first studio test image (at f/5.6):

two portraits - 6 years apart

2009-09-25T22:12:00.004-04:00

Even though I like both images the old black and white portrait is more attractive and authentic than this recent color one of S.M.

Laura Aronoff, artist

2009-09-21T19:08:00.004-04:00

Small size photos

2009-09-18T22:08:00.004-04:00

We tend to use the high resolution cameras at their full pixel size for all purposes. The thinking is that you never know when you take that prefect shot and it better be as good as it gets. Right. But when you take photos knowing that they go on the web or some other digital application the low resolution yields better images. Ken Rockwell illuminated me on that subject. I compared different raw format photos in shrunk sizes and, indeed, the smallest looked the best. Keep this in mind. Here is a sample form the 5D markII at its lowest resolution (shot in raw, adjusted in CPP and PS).

PS ( a couple of days later): I also can shoot the raw format small or large and have the complementary size (large combined with small) in jpeg as a backup.

My favorite kind of photography....

2009-07-19T12:28:00.009-04:00

Clay Enos ( a video from "Wired") takes portraits of people on the street. Just the way I like it: in shade + a piece of white paper as background. The images are ~~a bit too high in contrast (graphic looking) and~~ (only on the video) too tightly cropped but overall great...I guess I am overcomplicating my concept with the "tent" (see previous post).

See here CLAY ENOS "Street Studio" photos from all over the world.

First try: Open Air Sudio

2009-05-27T18:43:00.028-04:00

The first attempt with the open air studio turned out disastrously. The sample photos here were heavily "fixed" with different applications.

The concept: a tent or shade like structure assembled with PVC plumbing tubes and mosquito screen + a big white paper background.

The lesson: we need more punchy, contrasty light and even illumination. Actually the top image is one of the bad lighting. The one below (Ben and I) is good in terms of light because we stepped out of the shade but stupid as a portrait. The one below of Deborah was taken on the previous afternoon under different light conditions and looks somewhat better.

People of Barcelona

2009-05-26T21:46:00.021-04:00

I have a few pictures from our recent Barcelona trip. This selection is images of random folks on the street. Not many and not spectacular ones but the experience convinced me to travel with a packet camera. I take many more photos and more casually than with a large and noisy and not-at-all-unnoticeable digital SLR. My dream travel camera would be a very small, fixed focal length (=fast and sharp) lens equipped camera with sophisticated all-auto features (with controls). Unfortunately there is no such thing as of yet. This time I used a Fuji F200 EXR. All the selected pictures are here.

[PS: there is hope. Today I read about this thrilling Olympus E-P1 camera that may soon fulfil my travel photo needs.]

If you go to New York....

2009-05-26T18:58:00.004-04:00

....don't miss Avedon's fashion photographs at the ICP. His fashion photos never cease to fascinate me even after seeing them for the 50th time.

The Cambridge Art Portrait Photo meeting in March

2009-03-13T06:41:00.020-04:00

Despite the unfriendly, cold evening (will this winter ever end?), a good number of Cambridge Art Association members arrived to the Kathryn Schultz Gallery to discuss the subject "how to interact with your subject/model as a photographer." We had a good two and a half hour conversation, which covered a variety of topics including the 90's folk music scene (see post below), street photography, studio portraits, and the advantage of being a woman when you approach someone you really want to photograph (and more). We also discussed the ethical and legal aspects of portrtait photography, including model releases for commercial work and copy right. We also had a pile of photo books on the table among them Anders Petersen's "Cafe Lehmitz" social documentary photos from a desolate bar in the 70's in Hamburg which stirred up heated discussions.

Also, the Fuji F200EXR (and the photos taken with that camera) generated some interest. Besides the advances in pocket camera design, we exchanged various ideas of how to "sell" yet an other photographic equipment purchase to your spouse. The F200EXR has great features but the photo quality is only remarkable when we compare it to its peers. At 1600 ISO the noise is too high (we are spoiled to also use the good SLR cameras). ~~Unfortunately~~ at the EXR Auto setting the ISO can ~~not~~ be limited to 800 (where the camera beats every point-and-shoot I have ever seen). In "P" setting you can limit the ISO. (The attached photos were taken in full auto EXR mode, most at ISO1600).

Ed suggested that we do assignments -- actually taking photos (??) instead of spreading our wisdom around the table. Hm.... new idea. Since the subject of this gathering is focused on photographing people we agreed to stick to that. Mary came up with a mysterious-artsy theme: BLACK. Now, what's that? Black color? Dark photos? Low key images in the basement? Night images in the kitchen or candle light dinner table pictures (of which I already happened to have plenty.) Go ahead, Fellow Enthusiasts, be specific or leave it open to imagination. Since I have the key to the gallery the next session will be when I (!) have a stunning photo that meets the challenge....or is that abuse of power?

CAA portrait photogs next session: How to Interact with your Subject

2009-02-14T17:18:00.017-05:00

Dear Camera Operators, Photographers with Artistic Calling and the Rest of Us,

Last time we met, we concluded with the idea that we focus on the relationship between photographer and model (or in my case the relationship with friends and neighbors I frequently photograph). That is, how photographers interact with their subjects - how they put them at ease, create a mood, facilitate a pose, or setup what we have in mind.

I guess it is rather a two way road: our subject assumes we know what we are doing while we do pretend we are in command but actually we are looking for inspiration from our subjects. How do you see this interaction? How do you handle it? What's your method?

How about discussing the photographer-subject interaction on (....the date ~~latest~~ final proposal is) March 12 at 7 PM @ the Kathryn Schultz Gallery?

There is nothing like being a fashion photographer

2009-02-13T23:46:00.006-05:00

Look, guys, we should all turn pros. Watch this video by a successful fashion photographer.

Some good links....

2009-02-11T18:15:00.004-05:00

Lens Culture

Seen by

Equvivalence

Photo Eye

...Art Slant

Invisible lighting

2009-01-12T18:15:00.009-05:00

OK, the idea is neither new, nor original, nor sophisticated...but I am getting closer to my "invisible lighting" scheme. My ideal light is the overcast winter day light. The posted photo was test on a large (72"x56") softbox that tilted at around 30 degrees (no higher angle possible due to the ceiling height) and a narrow fill soft box just below the camera. The background is overexposed white. I have to fine tune this arrangement more but so far the effect is such that you do not pay attention to the lighting.

Lighting setup from Profoto

2009-01-02T09:13:00.003-05:00

This morning I came across a good lighting video from Profoto. A short one packed with information...only they forget that most of us don't have the generous space those photographers work in. Too bad.

There is also this Profoto blog.

Cambridge Art portrait photographers secret session

2008-12-30T07:33:00.008-05:00

Yesterday afternoon Bob, David, Chris and I met to find out where to go with the CAA portrait photo initiative, and to chat about technical and conceptual issues. The technical part was easy. However, when it came to the conceptual part -- thinking about what defines portrait photography -- the conversation was more challenging but also very exciting. We covered photographic art history (with great emphasis on Disfarmer's portraits and why he was so popular and how we can attract people into the studio like Disfarmer was able to) and an endless list of other ideas.

Unfortunately David and Bob had to leave before I remembered the cheeses and wine I bought for just this occasion. Chris and I had a dinner and kept the conversation going.

Chris had a good idea (as he often does): Since most of the interested CAA members have their own point and shoot cameras or other automatic cameras, he suggested that we focus the next session (some night in January at the KS Gallery) on "how to take good photos with a point and shoot camera," including a discussion of the advantages and limitations of these cameras.

The next idea (also, Chris's) is to borrow the LCD projector and bring a few images made by the members to a discussion.

And (yet another Chris Yaeger suggestion) is to discuss portrait photo book and learn how to create images that we see and like.

Let me know what you think and which day would be convenient for a meeting?

Akos

(On the photo is idea-powerhouse Chris Yaeger last night at Lexington Avenue.)

Dinner parties minus one

2008-12-26T08:46:00.003-05:00

This is my first series (the usual recording of our friends at social gatherings) with the 5D Mark II. The camera was set between 1000 and 2000 ISO (16-35 mm 2.8 at f/2.8 aperture priority, raw, full size exported from Aperture - that finally supports the MarkII raw - at 30% in size, 50% in quality). My impression is that the image quality in low light is a little better than the 5D but, like all cameras, the MarkII images are noisy with low contrast subjects.

The "minus one" title refers to my absence from those photographs. The reason is that usually there are no people present who can operate the camera and take pictures of me.....OK, I don't trust them either.

I took a few studio lighting photos of Deborah. They are very impressive. My old 5D is on its way to Ohio where Kees will enjoy using it.

People with wide angle lens

2008-11-25T20:17:00.010-05:00

I just love using a wide angle lens when I photograph people in interior settings (not that you have a choice). Since I have nothing else to present here is something from last Friday. Dinner with our neighbors. The 16-35 Canon zoom was on 16 mm setting, f/2.8 aperture priority, ISO 1000 (1250 with the candle light), raw format and Expodisc color balance. The color balance makes a major difference. Don't be lazy and think you can do it in Aperture or Light Room. I exported them from Aperture to the exceptionally handy "Banana Album" at 50% of their original size (which is rather huge) at around only 50% quality (to reduce the size). The result is that the photos scale to your screen up to bigger then a 23" monitor and down to an iPhone. And that all automatically. The disadvantage is that the photos can not be downloaded (a Flash feature).

Happy Thanksgiving. Akos

PS: If I had the money I would trade in this Canon zoom for the new, manual focus only Zeiss Distagon T 2.8/21 mm lens.

PPS: An excert from an email from this weekend:

"....I have a few (critically reduced number of) photos here. Take a good look at them because I am not going to bring this camera with me any more. This is an addiction. Once the camera use is combined with alcoholic beverages there is no ending of firing it - which in return bothers everybody and takes me out of the evening conversations. Not to mention the embarrassing amount of pictures I end up with. Next time I only take photos if you ask me in advance....."

Election Day 2008

2008-11-05T13:57:00.015-05:00

A few images from yesterday in Cambridge. A memorable day for most of us.

High spirit in the line...

...and in the booths.

Watching of the results with friends at the end of the day.

CambrigeArt portrait photo group meets on October 18

2008-09-29T07:27:00.004-04:00

The next Cambridge Art portrait group will focus on outdoor portrait photos. The best time for most of us is OCTOBER 18, Saturday morning at 10 AM at Lowell Street park. Since the theme is outdoor photography, the plan is to set up a "studio" in the park. We can discuss the details in emails. In case of rain or extreme cold....hm.... we can have a ~~drink~~ coffee somewhere of just stay home and reschedule the event.

Scenes from Tom's Wealth's dress rehearsal

2008-09-24T18:45:00.008-04:00

Tom's Wealth - the premiere

2008-09-22T08:03:00.004-04:00

This weekend was the premiere of the Caitlin Corbett Dance Company's production "Tom's Wealth : Dances for the Masses" at BU's Tsai Center. It was a great success even beyond our expectations. Saturday night the Tsai Center was almost full. Here is the full Boston Globe's review.

"There is no narrative or story line. Tom's treasures are alluded to through Ann Steuernagel's video compilation of photographs by Akos Szilvasi. The images intersperse photos of each treasure with pictures taken during the work's rehearsal, reinforcing the sense that these are real people making a concerted effort. The camera beautifully captures close-ups of facial expressions - from confused to delighted - as well as hands, feet, a lift midair." (Karen Campbell, Boston Globe)

Caitlin's dancers' photos

2008-09-20T17:30:00.010-04:00

Many of you asked to see the extended selection of the Tom's Wealth (Caitlin Corbett Dance Company) rehearsal photos. I have two sets here (too many for one slide show).

[to see individual images in their best quality - the slide show compresses them more than they are as a single photo - stop the show, click on the photo than click on the magnifying glass in the upper right corner]

Soon I'll post the new ones from the performance.

CambridgeArt Portrait talk...after the summer.

2008-09-16T07:29:00.004-04:00

Summer is over. We resumed the CAA Portrait Photography group. The sudden end of the vacation season cought me off guard but Chris Yaeger presented three "people-photo" books from different periods. One of Weegee's collection followed by Lillian Bassman's "discarded" fashion prints and finally a 1920-30's Hollywood glamour picture series.

Next month we will set up an outdoor, natural light "studio" in the Lowell Street park. That meeting will be a weekend morning session.

Come see this exciting production

2008-09-10T05:32:00.010-04:00

This evening length piece for 35 performers: five Caitlin Corbett Dance Company dancers and 30 untrained movers (men, women and children) is based in part on text taken from Mark Twain’s *Tom Sawyer. The 16 “treasures” that Tom Sawyer collects as trade for an opportunity to whitewash a fence will act as the score from which the structure of the dance will be shaped, with music by Chris Eastburn, photographs by Akos Szilvasi and production design by Ann Steuernagel.

for more info, please visit our website: www.caitlincorbettdance.org

2008 Canon Awards

2008-07-30T05:45:00.005-04:00

I just watched this morning this extraordinary collection of press photos on this year's Canon press photo competition.

Press photography is clearly on the comeback. The images are of spectacular quality, full of drama (unfortunately mostly tragic subjects - due to the state of the world) and empathy. I noticed that there are few head on (obvious) flash pictures. Most of them are naturally looking, color balanced ambient light pictures preserving the visual integrity of the situation. All this is possible because Canon and Nikon makes cameras and lenses that surpass our wildest dreams from the film or early digital era.

The other encouraging trend is the on-line editions of newspapers that publish more images that the poor quality printed dailies could ever do. This is a new market for press photography.

Summer colors

2008-07-25T13:39:00.006-04:00

Summer vacation....See you in September.

Germany's health care minister in Boston

2008-07-12T07:36:00.005-04:00

I went to hear Ulla Schmidt, Germany's health care minister, at the Massachusetts state house. Of course, the conversation was about how they can deliver a superior (to ours) health care to all people living in Germany for half the money we spend. I was also the "official" photographer of the event. Here is one picture of Ms. Schmidt talking to a guest.

I used no flash, only my favorite 85 mm f/1.2 Canon lens at f/1.4 [WB on a gray card, aperture priority, ISO 320, RAW format].

Firefox 3.0 can use your monitor calibration profile

2008-06-19T20:51:00.011-04:00

What? You are not using Firefox 3.0 yet? It's been out for a couple of days now! Go to mozilla.org and after downloading it add a color management profile plug-in from here. You need to create log-in profile.

[This only useful if you have a calibrated monitor.] Navigate to your monitor calibration profile (if you use a Mac: Macintosh HD - Library - ColorSync - "Monitor.date.icc". ) I don't think it automatically updates to the new version of the profile but if you leave it for six months the profile will still be most likely better than not using any.

Saying good bye to friends in Budapest....

2008-05-27T00:55:00.001-04:00

Greetings from Berlin

2008-05-27T00:48:00.003-04:00

I naively hand my camera to Deborah and it turns out she can take better photos than I. The camera will be in my hands in the future. Who can afford "such much" challenge?

An exceptional outdoor photo tutorial...

2008-05-15T08:55:00.002-04:00

The STROBIST is a great blog. It is a permanent part on my iGoogle collection of RSS pages. This morning I read this very well written and illustrated entry on outdoor portraits. Take a look.

Jeff Ascough

2008-04-28T14:58:00.005-04:00

I just read this article about Jeff Ascough. He is my kind of artist. He developed a photojournalistic style mostly in black and white, high ISO (noisy) images that are most importantly taken in ambient lighting. His final images remind me of the great period of the Boston Globe (in the late 80's early 90's) when they dared to take dramatic, emotional (of course in black and white) photographs. Do you remember ..... what was the chief photographer's name?.......hm..... Stan Grossfeld. He was a great inspiration. So was Mark Wilson (also Globe photographer at that time). Too bad the Globe gave up on its (then award winning) style of photography.

SHOTS Magazine [CAA Portrait Group postings]

2008-04-18T18:26:00.002-04:00

Catherine Evans directed me to Shots Magazine, an independent, edgy and fascinating publication I never heard of before. I submitted some photos to the last issue but did not make it (boo-hoo). I sent a portrait to the National Portrait Gallery's (London) annual competition and was rejected....one has to be persistent and humble (they receive around 7000 submissions). Anyway, look at SHOTS. Some images from the back issues are available on-line.

Akos

A dramatic Phillip Roth portrait by Olaf Blecker...

2008-04-16T12:53:00.003-04:00

....and the story behind it. Here it is.

First meeting with the CAA portrait photo group

2008-04-08T10:56:00.004-04:00

Dear CAA Friends,

Yesterday morning we tested the viability of having regular meetings, live and on-line discussions, practical exercises, lectures, reviews and other activities related to portrait photography. I think our meeting went well. I hope you did too and that you enjoyed the lively conversations, exchange of ideas, and many suggestions for future meetings and projects.

The first real session is on May 12 at 7 PM at the Kathryn Schultz Gallery. At that time, we will practice with indoor ambient light and studio strobes, or rather one strobe for simplicity's sake. Please bring your cameras (if you want) and a tripod or monopod (if you have one). The idea is to photograph one or two "models" from among us. The session will include a discussion about how to meter the light, set the color balance, camera operation, etc. If you have your own tripod, then you don't need to wait for your turn (I will bring two). Make sure you are familiar with your camera's operations, such as setting custom white balance and manual exposure control.

For future subjects, we have many suggestions. Some of them are the use of on-camera flash units (softening the light, bounced flash, remote controlled, multiple flash units, fill flash, etc) or outdoor photography (sunny day vs overcast sky, diffusers and reflectors combined with fill flash, etc), tricks and traps of wedding photography (David is a great wedding photographer). I propose a "talk night" where we discuss the portrait styles of the old masters. We can project images and compare, criticise, analyse classic portraits. Everybody should bring in her/his favorite portraits and introduce them to us, or something like that. Chris Yaeger will talk about Mike Disfarmer to us one night. That can be combined with other lectures on portrait photographers (like August Sander, Irvin Penn, Arnold Newman - and even better if we find lesser known artists).

Of course, the main activity should be to take your own photos and share them with us. For that purpose I will find an online solution soon. You are encouraged to bring your prints to any meetings.

Please, feel free to write comment to this blog. The livelier the better. I hope one day the CAA can afford a high resolution digital LCD projector.

Akos

-- http://www.secondfloorstudio.com/

CCDC8

2008-04-08T06:07:00.002-04:00

Last Sunday the kids rehearsed a section for "Tom's Wealth". Caitlin choreographed a cheerful-playful piece from the that all of us enjoyed. Some photos from the afternoon.

Cambridge Art Association Portrait Group reminder....

2008-04-03T20:54:00.001-04:00

CCDC7

2008-04-01T11:02:00.004-04:00

Sunday afternoon we had a public preview of Caitlin's (and the 30+ dancers') "Tom's Wealth" work. The reception was enthusiastic, the performance was great and I took and other round of photographs there.

CCDC6

2008-03-24T22:19:00.005-04:00

I posted a few recent photos of the ongoing dance rehearsal series. We will select the better ones for the performance (at this point not clear how to use the images) and I am even considering a booklet for the show in September.

Let's start the CAA portrait group

2008-03-24T12:56:00.004-04:00

Dear CAA Friends,

After Al Fisher and I had a Third Thursday talk about portrait photography, some of us engaged in a conversation about the subject. That inspired me to invite you to an ongoing discussion and idea exchange about "people photography". I prefer not to use "portrait" here because most of us associates the term with formal studio photos (from Yusuf Karsh to the Sears baby pictures). Instead I want to exchange thoughts and ideas about how to take photographs of people in all possible situations, which I still consider portraits in a broad sense.My initial proposal is to set an agenda and discuss together what we want to know. I have several ideas about how we might use these sessions, including specific assignments and photo sessions (where we photograph each other or invited models) and visiting the MFA to see the El Greco + Velazquez show (that is mostly portraits). For one meeting, I could invite you to my modest home studio to take photos or bring some of my photo lights to Lowell Street for experimentation. I want to emphasize the beauty of ambient light photography (like the attached picture that I took this afternoon). We could arrange talks about certain photographer's work, a particular era of portrait photography and that could be extended to all CAA members in a form of a Third Thursday meeting.
Let's come together on April 6, Sunday morning at the Kathryn Schultz Gallery (Lowell Street) at 10 AM. We can use the space until noon. I am going to bring pastry from Hi Rise (to increase our body mass index and motivation) and we'll arrange coffee and tea. A casual spring morning talk.

See you there, Akos

http://www.secondfloorstudio.com/

Lenin

2008-03-06T17:39:00.008-05:00

This blog (so far) is more a depository of individual photographs than smart exchange on how to depict people. That's fine.

The above photo of a discarded Lenin statue in Hungary. Every week I passed this symbol of communist oppression on the way to the Anatomy Institute when I attended medical school in Szeged (Hungary). Many years later on one of my visits with friends there I asked the major's office to help me find and photograph that Lenin statue before they sell it as scrap metal. This is the once untouchable bronze sculpture after the change in Eastern Europe.

Lost photographs

2008-03-06T17:00:00.006-05:00

Unfortunately I lost the negative of this image. Only this poor quality scan survived. The picture was taken at the MoMa (New York) in 1990. Brancusi's iconic beauty juxtaposed with the rather indifferent (if not outright bored) guard. Not only their faces are in contrast but (fortunately) their hands are included in the composition. This is the only lost negative I am missing.

Cambridge Art Association dinner

2008-03-05T06:36:00.012-05:00

Here are a few faces from a successful fund raising dinner with a Venetian motif. The event was to support our art association in Cambridge. I took my flash light but could not bring myself to use it -- I can not stand the harsh flash light in people's faces. However, during the same weekend, I took a series of family pictures on location and the flash served well at minus 2 underexposure setting as an invisible fill light.

As I looked at this set photos I come to the conclusion that, even though ambient light photographs are technically more difficult to shoot, they remain my preference. However, head on flash pictures (unnatural as they are) create a more "flattering" image -- they do not show shadows, little wrinkles and, of course, are always sharp and in focus. In contrast, by using available light with fast lenses, the resulting image can feel more natural and alive.

Once I read on a wedding photographers' discussion group that about 90% of their clients could not tell, don't care, whether the photos were taken with a camera flash or with ambient light.

An other CCDC series

2008-02-27T13:26:00.007-05:00

This is the last series of this rehearsal. The following photos will be of a different part of Tom's Wealth.

I am adding the blurry series of photos here. This is new section of the Tom's Wealth project that involves a lot of running. The first idea was to set the camera on aperture priority and f/13 or so. The exposure became long, the photos blurry. We have to decide how to move on from here....

CCDC3

2008-02-19T20:00:00.004-05:00

This is the new set of pictures of Caitlin's lovely dancers from last Sunday's rehearsal.

Photographing dancers?

2008-02-11T07:56:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I took a few more pictures at Caitlin's rehearsal (see posts below). One women, on her way out, commented on how difficult it is to photograph dances. I replied that I don't really know how to photograph dances. I take pictures of people. I am not recording the progress of the rehearsal or the developing project. My main interest is to capture the enthusiasm, fun, concentration of the dancers and especially their interaction with each other.

Crop

2008-02-06T07:15:00.000-05:00

This is a small section of an old medium format (film) photo. The original double portrait was not that interesting. Once I cropped close the eyes of this couple their relationship became more intimate and I like this image now.

[Well, I have to admit that I did not even have the choice to scan this negative (from a Hasselblad) with a Nikon (35 mm film) scanner. I actually cropped it with a pair of scissors. Pssst....]

Tom's Wealth

2008-02-04T17:43:00.001-05:00

The Caitlin Corbett Dance Company started a new project. The title is "Tom's Wealth" and the subject of this hour long show is the story from "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" when Tom "outsources" the fence white washing. The collected precious items inspired Caitlin's choreography.

I am going to do the images they project as a background for the dances. Right now many ideas are floating around but we have no final concept yet.

I started documenting the rehearsals. That is mostly for inspiration, collecting ideas and having fun with the photos.

Here is the very first session.

Never stop taking pictures

2008-02-01T06:56:00.001-05:00

When my subjects go "out of control"
(like having a bad hair day on this series)
I keep taking photos..... never know what
comes out of it.

What should our model wear?

2008-01-29T07:58:00.000-05:00

People always ask what to wear for a portrait session. If they don't ask I remind them. My preference is solid, dark colors. Of course, there are many photos where the subject is dressed in the most colorful and busy-patterned outfit (also see Seydou Keita's photos below).

Solid colors allow the face and hands draw the most attention, especialy if you use a patternless (e.g. white or grey) background. In these conditions, the subject's posture is clearly pronounced and full of expression.

At the same time, like everything in art, a personal preference should rule. The client may want to (should even be encouraged to) bring multiple outfits.

I consider the "portrait" to be any photograph involving people -- it can be one or more persons, and the goal is to capture personality, character straits, emotions, and connections. The most exciting assignments for me are to take pictures at events, gatherings, dinners or any other occasions where people come together and interact. I'll write about this in a later blog.