Matteo's Wasps' Nest » Photos

Darkroom night

Matteo — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 01:35:46 +0000

Tonight I went to the darkroom just to develop one roll of t-max 100 film from the Mamiya 7. Relax, fun, quiet: everything I could ask for. I’m happy that I went even if it was raining and I wasn’t feeling safe on my bike.

Photo geek note: I’m in love with my Kodak Process Type 3 Thermometer.

The next two months will be “printing months”, because I want to come to Italy for Christmas with a bag full of prints, from 6×7 and 35mm, to give to friends and family as presents.

Posted from Providence, Rhode Island, United States.

There’s a light in the dark(room)

Matteo — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 03:49:37 +0000

I’m just back from a printing session in the AS220 Paul Krot Darkroom. I’m just back from four hours of fun.

I stink now. I stink of chemicals. I stink of light.

My last time in the darkroom was I don’t even know how far in the past, around 18 months probably. My technique is rusty. It has never been shiny anyway, but I did a lot of mistakes this time: no worries, there’s room for improvement. A lot of room for improvement.

But I’m happy of my approach. It’s the beginning of something new, of a more confident approach, of a more I-(think)-I-know-what-I-want approach. Of a more educated approach too: in the past week or so I read David Vestal’s The Craft of Photography again, just to refresh my memory about what materials I needed for printing, and what steps are involved in the process. Now it’s the turn of Ansel Adams’ The Print, which I got as a present for my birthday in 2010, but never really read with the necessary attention. Both books are pretty out-of-date as far as the discussed materials are concerned, but what I’m trying to get this time is the approach, the mentality, the philosophy if you wish (I don’t) of printing.

I started keeping a darkroom notebook, to keep a record of what I’m doing and how. This already proved to be very useful since this first printing session, and I know that some details were missing. It’s a work in progress. It’s a process. Like printing. Like learning. Like learning to print.

I’m going back next Tuesday. I’m actually going back tomorrow, to get my dried prints. Will I be able to sleep or will I dream of dark and light making love in a pool of developer?

Posted from Providence, Rhode Island, United States.

Using a 28mm is hard

Matteo — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 03:36:09 +0000

Brief update: in the end I did not enter the contest for the LEICA Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award, contrary from what I said a month ago or so. I just had no time to work on my pictures so well, here go my chances of taking part to it, given that I will not be eligible next year. Anyway, it does not matter much. In the last few days, I have been scanning again some (almost all) of my color film. My workflow is now much more consistent (minimal Vuescan + minimal ColorPerfect + minimal Photoshop) and I am much more aware of what I am doing. Reading the documentation helps, tinkering with the software helps even more. I also got a very nice book: The Digital Photography Workflow Handbook by Juergen Gulbins and Uwe Steinmueller. I am very satisfied with it, since it not only covers a lot of material in an easy way, but also tells the user why some way of (post)processing images is better than another. Given that I am now a bit more happy with my scanning+postproduction results, I am also very looking forward to go downtown to the new AS220 new digital photography space and print something on their printers. Yay for community art places (especially when they are full of nice people like AS220).

But let’s get back to the topic: by scanning my pictures I realized that I still do not master the Konica M-Hexagon 28mm f/2.8 properly. The covered field is very wide compared to my beloved Leica Summicron-C 40mm f/2 and, due to my glasses, it is very difficult for me to see the entire framelines of the 28mm in my Leica M6TTL. But this is also a bit of an excuse: reality is that the 28mm forces you to go much closer to your subjects, especially in the kind of street photography I love. So I am happy: the 28mm forces me out of my “comfortable space of action”, which is always a good thing for a (wannabe) photoamateur. I have to thank Filippo again for selling me (at a very good price, IMHO) this wonderful lens.

Uh, it’s funny: a post about photography with no photos at all…

Posted from Providence, Rhode Island, United States.

Taking it to a new level

Matteo — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 14:27:12 +0000

I just decided, after having received the LEICA Newsletter this morning, that I will enter the competition for the LEICA Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award, a photographic contest organized by LEICA reserved for 25 years old (and younger) photographers. Given that I turned 25 just few days ago, I am eligible .

Although I almost surely have no chance to win (even if the award is for “newcomers”, a lot of submissions come from young professional photographers), at least I will work hard to make my pictures worth of being submitted. It will be the first time I try to work on a photograph not just to show it to my friends or family but to submit it for evaluation by a jury of strangers. If nothing, I will end up with some photographs I am proud of. This is a step towards one of my goals for 2011.

Posted from Providence, Rhode Island, United States.

Disorientato

Matteo — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 18:59:53 +0000

Nei primi mesi d’America mi è capitato spesso di non sapere in quale negozio acquistare certi prodotti. Negli Stati Uniti, o almeno dove sto io, non esistono più alcuni tipi di attività commerciale che personalmente ritengo ancora comuni e diffuse in Italia: edicole, tabaccai, mercerie, cartolerie, e tutti quei negozi solitamente gestiti da marito e moglie che vendono piccoli elettrodomestici o oggetti utili per la casa.

Quasi sempre ho trovato quel che cercavo da CVS, una catena di pharmacy che ha un po’ di tutto ma non proprio tutto. Per esempio, non ho ancora una idea chiara sul dove comprare ago e filo per attaccare un bottone. Se lo sapete, lasciate un commento.

Oggi, mentre camminavo per il mio primo giro per Padova da quando sono tornato, ho tirato fuori la mia Leica M6, solo per accorgermi che le pile dell’esposimetro erano scariche. Non ho per questo rinunciato a scattare, andando un po’ ad occhio (1/30s, 28mm f/2.8, 400 iso alle 4 del pomeriggio di un giorno invernale velato… vedremo cosa ho ottenuto…). Mi sono domandato però dove avrei potuto trovare due batterie da 1,5 Volt. Sono quelle che si usano anche per molti orologi, o si usavano forse. Hanno sigle quali SR44 o D357 e sono abbastanza comuni. Non sono stato capace di darmi immediatamente una risposta. Forse sarebbe stato sufficiente entrare in un qualsiasi orologiaio, ma temevo di pagarle molto più del necessario, quindi ho esitato. Non ho potuto entrare in un supermercato perché era Mercoledì pomeriggio. Infine, ero molto incerto se entrare in una tabaccheria e chiedere e quindi non l’ho fatto (che volete, sono timido…).

Sono ancora senza batterie per l’esposimetro, ma l’accaduto mi ha dato occasione per riflettere sulla sensazione che ho provato: disorientamento. Non mi sentivo quasi più nella familiare cittadina in cui ho vissuto per 23 anni. Moltissime attività commerciali sono cambiate o chiuse anche solo dalla mia ultima visita, in Settembre, la gente (alle quattro del pomeriggio prevalentemente donne di tutte le età) indossa vestiti che non riconosco come lo stile a cui sono abituato (ma immagino che tutte credano di imitare l’ultima moda di New York, con quei Moncler, i cappelli da puffo, e le UGG), persino il ritmo delle camminate era diverso dal mio, da quello con cui sono cresciuto.

Ho scattato foto insulse ad alcuni scorci e ad alcune viste del centro, principalmente Palazzo della Ragione, più per poter riappropriarmi della mia città che per una vera ispirazione. Fotogrammi forse buttati, non sarà nulla di che. Tuttavia, devo essere sembrato un turista ai Padovani che mi hanno intravisto. Ma certo, turista a Padova non sono.

Il tutto mi ha disorientato.

Ho portato dei rullini a sviluppare, poi delle foto a stampare (in due posti diversi), e infine sono entrato in libreria. Mi sentivo un turista. Ho comprato “Il Principe” di Macchiavelli a 4.90 euro, e un libro Taschen, “Paris Mon Amour” a 9.99. È bellissimo, l’ho poi sfogliato con Marta: ci sono centocinquant’anni di foto di Parigi, dalle barricate del 1848 alla moda degli anni ’80. Cartier-Bresson, Sieff, Boubat, Izis e molti altri. Sfogliandolo mi sono sentito a Parigi, come un turista a Parigi.

Posted from Padova, Veneto, Italy.

On film scanning

Matteo — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 14:09:22 +0000

Learning how to use a film scanner is not hard but really time-consuming. You have to try different pieces of software, read documentation, read blogs and forums and group discussions on flickr, ask other people and, eventually, scan scan scan.

I bought my Epson Perfection V700 in September, tired of shooting a lot of film and ending up archiving it without even having looked at what I shot but using a 8x lupe (wait, I already said some of this in older post). After two months, but only very few serious scanning sessions, I feel I’m getting there, but the perfection, which is what the scanner name suggests (I won’t go as far as saying “promises”) is still far away.

What did I learn up until now? 1. My scanner has some limitations, as it is obvious given that it’s a serious-amator film scanner and not a pro-lab film scanner. These limitations become more evident in the 35mm format, but I bought the V700 because I plan to move to 6×4.5 or even 6×7 in the spring (or at least buy a medium format camera to have fun). 2. I need a larger monitor than my Macbook 13″. My scanner is at home so I scan film there, but I work on the tiff files in my office where I have a 19″. The difference is evident and I feel I need to have a larger monitor for the scanning phase. As as side note, I also need more RAM. My Generation 5,1 Macbook 2.4GHz is now 2 years old and has 2GB of RAM. I’ll upgrade to 4GB as soon as possible. 3. There is a lot of software out there and some of it is very good. Vuescan, ColorPerfect, obviously Photoshop. I get Photoshop CS4 for free through Brown University, I bought Vuescan and I’m planning to buy ColorPerfect. They are all great pieces of software. 4. I love taking pictures, but I also love looking at the pictures I took. In this sense, the scanner was a great purchase.

As conclusion, a very recent scan which I consider quite successful, although I think I can get even better results (if you look at it in a very large format you would notice a lot of color noise in the water in the foreground ). I suggest you to look at it big and on a black background.

Posted from Providence, Rhode Island, United States.

Scanning film

Matteo — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 22:43:21 +0000

I spent most of my day doing laundry and scanning film on my Epson V700. Some of the pictures are totally new for me: I shoot much more than I can print so I’ve never seen some of the pictures before, except enlarged with an 8x lupe from the negative or from the few contact sheets I make.
Since I was a child and, from time to time, used my mum’s Olympus XA2 to take some pictures of my family, my father have always told me to shoot closer to the subject than I think it is enough, which is basically what Robert Capa suggests:

“If your picture isn’t good enough, you’re not close enough.”

I see some almost good pictures in the frames I am scanning, but I should go even closer from my subject. The best way to improve your photography skills are looking at your pictures and realize what’s wrong with them, then work hard to solve the weaknesses you found.

This post would make much more sense if I added some pictures to it, but no.

Update: Here are two pictures, which I consider good, no need to go any closer in these.

Posted from Providence, Rhode Island, United States.

2 Libri

Matteo — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 12:34:33 +0000

Oggi, passando davanti ad una libreria, non ho resistito.

Sul tavolo davanti all’ingresso c’erano mucchi di Economica Laterza. Ho preso “L’uomo medievale”, curato da Jacques Le Goff. 6 euro e novantanove per un po’ di sano buon medioevo marxista.

Dentro, libri Taschen a 9.99. Incerto per un po’ tra Brassaï e Sieff, che non avevo mai sentito nominare prima, ho optato per quest’ultimo, più per la mia totale ignoranza dello stesso e per la bellissima foto di Twiggy (che non avevo riconosciuto) in quarta di copertina.

Un libro di belle fotografie a 9.99. Ma c’è ancora chi parla di arte elitaria.

Non ho voluto prendere le fotografie di Stanley Kubrik a 40.99 o qualcosa di simile. Appena finita la mostra andrà a 20, e magari ci si farà un pensiero.

Posted from Padua, Veneto, Italy.

“Mrs. Robinson, would you like to go to a movie?”

Matteo — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 23:45:03 +0000

Stasera, ho tirato su una pasta aglio e olio, peperoncino e un po’ di grana. Mentre cucinavo, mi sono messo a guardare “Il Laureato” in inglese. Come antipasto, una scatola di acciughe. È possibile sentirsi così vivi senza aver bisogno di altro che di normali azioni straordinarie ? Era tutto così comune e peculiare che ho tirato fuori la macchina fotografica, no scusate, il cellulare, e ho fotografo la scatola delle acciughe, ormai vuota.

Sono buone le acciughe.

Pimp my M6TTL!

Matteo — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:13:52 +0000

Con il mio primo stipendio (sì l’*intero* mio primo stipendio) mi sono regalato una Leica M6TTL (e così ora mi ritrovo con 3 Leica…bella malattia la “Leichite perforante al portafoglio“…)

Questo post potrebbe anche avere i seguenti titoli: “Come migliorare o distruggere una M6TTL” o “Cose che farei alla mia M6TTL se il mio conto in banca fosse pasciuto almeno quanto me“. Tono: ironico.

Aggiornamento del mirino a quello della MP, con aggiunta condensatore anti-flare e sostituzione vetri con quelli della MP. Costo indicativo: $500. Livello di utilità (1=max, 5=min): 2.
Sostituzione bollino rosso “Leica” con bollino nero. Costo indicativo: pochi euro. Qualora si volesse utilizzare un bollino “Leitz” (da ridipingere di nero!! eresia!), il costo salirebbe di non poco. Livello di utilità: 5.
Sostituzione della leva di ricarica con quella in stile MP/M3. Costo indicativo: ??? (mettiamo un $500). Livello di utilità: 2 (giudizio personalissimo e senza cognizione di causa: non ho mai usato una macchina con la leva in stile M3, ma non mi piace la plastica di quello di serie M6)
Incisione Leica sul lato superiore. Costo indicativo: ??? (non voglio nemmeno immaginare). Livello di utilità: 500.
Laccatura nera by Shintaro. Costo indicativo: ??? (+ costo del tempo di attesa…). Livello di utilità: 5000.
Sostituzione vulcanite con pelle di emu tipo M6Tit o altro..Costo indicativo: ???. Livello di utilità: indefinibile.
…consigli???

Giornata lenta oggi in ufficio: domani è Thanksgiving…