Film diaries – Delft, August 2015
A year ago I started shooting black and white film. Scary at first, but immensely enjoyable once the brain made the switch. Everything is much slower — there’s no immediate way to see the shot you’ve taken and you’re thinking 7 times before pressing the shutter. Much tighter composition discipline as a result!
A €5 camera (Nikon F-301), one lens (50/1.8) and one roll of Tmax 100 and Delta 100 each — that’s the kit for the shots below. I was very lucky with the light those few days: Delft was basking in a warm summer sun, and the interplay of light and shadow on the streets was really inspiring — there were shots on every corner.
It took me a long while to get a solid workflow for scanning and processing the negatives, but I think I’m at a stage where I can share some of the results with you :)
The lady with the dog (I)
Morning shadows
Painterly light
At a cafe (I)
Bikes
Mannequins
Turned
Delftware at the street market
Proto-Kitchenaid
At a cafe (II)
African dolls
Shadow
That’s it – hope you like it!
Portrait of Alec Weil, managing director of Fazioli Japan — Tokyo, March 2015
One of the first shots I took with the newly bought Olympus 75/1.8 lens.
A visit to the Biblical Zoo, Jerusalem — Spring 2015
Hello everybody. This batch is from the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem, so called, because a part of it is a huge open area with animals mentioned in the bible. I had a free 2/3 of a day, so spent it there, doing some photography. Mostly in B&W, as you’ll see🙂
*** Part I — toned ***
Argentinian Tegu
Wind in the willows
Standout
Couple
*** Part II – untoned ***
Towards the light
Dramatic hamster (this!)
Memento mori
Bear spirit
*** Part III – Colour ***
Love
That’s it for today! See you next time.
Sleepless in Tokyo – at the Tsukiji fish market; March 2015
The second post from Tokyo. The Tsukiji fish market, and the tuna auction that takes place there every dawn are a must-see, so says everybody. So, having woken up one night at 4:30, and realizing that falling asleep again won’t work (despite trying really hard), I decided to follow the recommendations. A quick taxi ride, and there I was at 5:15, together with a trickle of foreigners, making our way into the depths of the fish market, and trying to find the tuna auction. Find it we did, only to be politely shown out by the security guards. “But the auction”, we protested, “we came to see the auction! Here it is! We can see legs! We can see huge slabs of tuna! Can’t we go inside?” But as it happened, we were woefully late; only two groups of 60 people are admitted daily, and as it’s on a first-come first-serve basis, we should have come around 4a.m. to secure a spot. Well, something to look forward to the next time!
As it was, I took a few shots around the market; for somebody like me who sometimes goes to sleep around that time, seeing the fish market at those hours – a fully functioning world unto itself – was utterly fascinating. The shots below are not representative of the market at all; simply small scenes and characters from that place.
(even the sleepless sometimes sleep)
To be continued…
Solitude in Tokyo – Nov 2014 and March 2015
Hello everybody! This is the first of three posts with photos from two recent trips to Tokyo. Looking through the shots, I felt a few of them were linked by the idea of solitude – not loneliness in the ‘sad to be alone’ sense, but rather a separation, perceived or implied, of an individual from their surroundings. I usually feel a certain strength of character emanating from the people in those photos, and always the presence of an inner world – though how much of it is in my imagination I cannot say.
Here they are:
