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shinden

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Posts posted by shinden

    My new portfolio: Prerana Hostel

    in Olympus

    Posted

     

    <p>I would like to share my pictures with the photo community. My new portfolio "Prerana Hostel" is a result of my 3 months' stay at the hostel in Danapur, Bihar, India, where I taught the Musahar girls and could live with them and share their joyful and sorrowful moments. by Ladislav Drezdowicz</p>

     

     

    gaoersi 6x12 panorama camera

    in Large Format

    Posted

    I have just got new gaoersi 6x12 panorama camera and was surprised to find no

    manual with it. Anyone has got any experience with assembling the camera (I will

    be using it with schneider super angulon 8/75mm lens). Thank you for any advice.

    Ladislav

    Nikkor AIS 35mm/f2. Your personnal opinions please

    in Nikon

    Posted

    I have used 35mm lense almost exclusively for more than 25 years. My Leica 35mm/1,4 aspherical was stolen in India in 2003 and I bought Nikon

    35 mm/2 AiS instead and has used it since then. And I must say that I like the Nikon results just as much as the expensive Leica lens. You will simply love the smooth quality of the pictures but must be careful to avoid flare, in my eyes the only handicap of the lens.

    Ladislav Drezdowicz

    Focusing screen

    in Leica and Rangefinders

    Posted

    Thanks for all the comments so far. It may be that Gary is right and the screen is the older type. I'll check. As I said I find it hard focusing in close-up work and in poor lighting conditions. And for close-up I mostly use 2,8/60 mm makro elmarit. And I like to work fast.

    And please don't pick on Jay so much. His voice of dissent is quite refreshing in the sea of the romantic Leica sighs.

    Thanks again.

    Ladislav

    Moral/Aesthetic conflicts of a photograph

    in Leica and Rangefinders

    Posted

    Hello Everybody

    It's about time I drop a my comment into the pot:

     

    1. Don't order the photo; it's not for sale any longer

    2. The picture is framed now hanging in the living-room and so far

    nobody's been shocked, enraged or saddened.nm But then, as some

    of you suggest, we are here in Europe

    2. Please abstain from sending any pictures of your cancer-dying

    relatives or friends. My brother died of it just two years ago.

    He was a pitiful sight. Nobody had ever forced a cigarette into

    his mouth when he was a child or later.

    3. Grab shot, void of any asthetics, poorly lit. Well, I'll be more

    careful next time

    4. How about adding a new category to the picture rating system: M:

    for "moral". Would be a great outlet for many a frustrating soul

    5. The little girl has long forgotten she had a cigarette put to

    her mouth; so has her father and mother, but some of you will

    carry the moral shock and the bitterness of it for a long time.

    6. No harm meant but how about a little bit more of humour next time.

     

    Ladislav

    My new folder "Cabo Verde"

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    Unlike my first folder on Tibet, Cabo verde has been a 6 year

    project done on no assigment but for pure pleasure. When I first

    visited the islands in 1997 I knew I was hooked and destined to

    return every successive year. It would be hard for me to give reason

    full reason, but as I am mainly interested in people I found the

    right kind of them on these desert like islands. I felt I had to

    learn the Capverdian Creol to move and communicate more freely. As

    there are more Capverdians in emigration than on the islands I

    traveled to find them around Boston, in Holland and Belgium,Senegal

    and Switzerland. And I am still on my way to find out more about

    them.

     

    The address is:

     

    http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=334889

    My new folder "Cabo Verde"

    in Travel

    Posted

    Unlike my first folder on Tibet, Cabo verde has been a 6 year

    project done on no assigment but for pure pleasure. When I first

    visited the islands in 1997 I knew I was hooked and destined to

    return every successive year. It would be hard for me to give reason

    full reason, but as I am mainly interested in people I found the

    right kind of them on these desert like islands. I felt I had to

    learn the Capverdian Creol to move and communicate more freely. As

    there are more Capverdians in emigration than on the islands I

    traveled to find them around Boston, in Holland and Belgium,Senegal

    and Switzerland. And I am still on my way to find out more about

    them.

     

    The address is:

     

    http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=334889

    My new folder "Cabo Verde"

    in Leica and Rangefinders

    Posted

    Unlike my first folder on Tibet, Cabo verde has been a 6 year

    project done on no assigment but for pure pleasure. When I first

    visited the islands in 1997 I knew I was hooked and destined to

    return every successive year. It would be hard for me to give reason

    full reason, but as I am mainly interested in people I found the

    right kind of them on these desert like islands. I felt I had to

    learn the Capverdian Creol to move and communicate more freely. As

    there are more Capverdians in emigration than on the islands I

    traveled to find them around Boston, in Holland and Belgium,Senegal

    and Switzerland. And I am still on my way to find out more about

    them.

     

     

    http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=334889

    Remember Tibet. Folder

    in Leica and Rangefinders

    Posted

    Hello Kenny, I think I owe you an answer concerning your suspicion about my whereabouts in Tibet. Here is the desired information: I went to Tibet on my own, entered the country from Nepal on foot, hitchhiked and trekked in the country for two and a half months, illegally for most of the time, as the Chinese authorities would not issue any travel permits to individual travellers and confine them to the territory of Lhasa. I slept in cheap Tibetan hostels, monasteries and nomad tents. Nobody paid for my trip and I work for no Tibetan organisation, which is rather a shame on my part. Moreover I spent 25 years of my life in a communist country (Czechoslovakia) and with thousands of others never believed for one day the official Czech-Soviet propaganda. If you honestly want to know what's being done to the Tibetans, and you find it hard to believe independent reports of Amnesty International or similar sources, why not ask Tibetans and get first hand information. have met some who spent years in forced labor camps, were tortured in the most atrocious ways. I myself saw Tibetans maltreated by Chinese soldiers in their own country and witnessed an atmosphere of general anxiety almost everywhere. What more can I tell you?

    May I in turn ask you to give me your honest opinion on the issue of Tibet. Do you say yes to the occupation of Tibet by the PRC? Do you think it right that Lhasa today has more Chinese than Tibetans, that people cannot exercise freely their religion, that they cannot speak for themselves. Don't tell me China has brought progress and liberation to the people. Nobody asked for it. It destroyed and continues to destroy one of the most unique spiritual traditions in the world. I xpect your honest answer, Kenny. Stay well, Ladislav

    Remember Tibet. Folder

    in Leica and Rangefinders

    Posted

    Hello Rob (Appleby), I have pondered your argument about journalistic and documentary approach for a while and I must say I don't quite see your point as far as documentary photography is concerned. I remember many photographs, some from Old Tibet, in which

    people pose or face the camera and the pictures don't seem any less documentary for it. As a matter of fact I don't much care whether my work is journalistic or documentary as I don't wish to follow any premeditated pattern. I take a picture when I am moved and I sometimes don't hesitate to ask people to pose if I feel I may get more visual impact from a situation. My point is that if people look at me when photographed, they will look at hundreds of others who happen to look at the photograph. This is one of the magics of photography - the universal participation of eye consciousness. Also I would hesitate to use the word deep in context of photography. Good or bad, yes, but do you feel that C. Bresson's or Koudelka's photographs are deep? They are good and that's more that can be said.

    On the other hand I wouldn't hesitate to say shallow to some work, as the many high rated photographs prove.

    Still I thank you for your comment. It helped me to reconsider and clarify things for myself. Kind regards, Ladislav

    Remember Tibet. Folder

    in Leica and Rangefinders

    Posted

    Sorry Boys (girls do'nt seem to be Leica Fans - or am I wrong),

     

    Sorry I'm so late to answer your questions. First let me tell you how ovwerwhelmed I have been by so much appreciation. I didn't expect that.

    Andrew, thanks a lot for your offered help in terms of finding some publicity in N.Y.. I will be obliged to you for any contact. I am not with any agency so far and maybe I'm not the right man for it. I work slowly, enjoy long-term projects that seem never to end. Here a few technical details that you and some others would like to know.

    I use Leica M6 for most of my work and use it with 1,4/35mm asph. exclusively. I could just as well have it welded to the camera. Recently I've been also using a Nikon F100 with Nikon AF 2/105mm DC.

    My eyes are not what they used to be so I'm happy F100 takes over some job. Especially with a tele-lens and portraiture job. As to films and developers I do a lof of experimenting (sick of it sometimes), but basically I use Kodak TX exposed to 320 or 400 ASA and develop in D-76, diluted 1+1, for 11 minutes (20 degrees Centigrade). This combination works in almost all conditions. Because of the hard light contrast in Tibet, I developed some films in two-bath Emofin (6 min/6min). I exposed the TX at 640 ASA for that. The pictures I like I first enlarge 24x30cm to use them as show prints and to scan from them. I use Epson Perfection 2500 scanner. Later I enlarge to 30x40cm or 40x50cm for exhibition purposes. I use Ilford, Bergger and Moersch enlarging paper. Moersch is rather a new paper manufactured by a small company in Germany and in my view is one of the best. I don't use flash often and when I use it I always know that everything may go wrong.

    Despite positive criticism some people suggested that I should stay away from politics when photographing (in Tibet only?). I wonder what photography is about. I take pictures of people not of daffodils or dragonflies. The fact is that all Tibetans I met, in Tibet and elsewhere, are utterly dissatisfied with the political situation in their country. I don't know if 70 years ago I would have taken pictures of monks beating up slaves, but in 1996 I witnessed Tibetans kicked and beaten up by Chinese soldiers. I photograph what I see, not what I am supposed to see. Sorry.

    Some of you express a wish to see some more of my Tibet photographs I may add a few more but I want to save space for my African folder about to come in two months.

    Thanks a lot again. I^m looking forward to seeing some of your work.

    Ladislav

    Remember Tibet. Folder

    in Leica and Rangefinders

    Posted

    Sorry Boys (girls do'nt seem to be Leica Fans - or am I wrong),

     

    Sorry I'm so late to answer your questions. First let me tell you how ovwerwhelmed I have been by so much appreciation. I didn't expect that.

    Andrew, thanks a lot for your offered help in terms of finding some publicity in N.Y.. I will be obliged to you for any contact. I am not with any agency so far and maybe I'm not the right man for it. I work slowly, enjoy long-term projects that seem never to end. Here a few technical details that you and some others would like to know.

    I use Leica M6 for most of my work and use it with 1,4/35mm asph. exclusively. I could just as well have it welded to the camera. Recently I've been also using a Nikon F100 with Nikon AF 2/105mm DC.

    My eyes are not what they used to be so I'm happy F100 takes over some job. Especially with a tele-lens and portraiture job. As to films and developers I do a lof of experimenting (sick of it sometimes), but basically I use Kodak TX exposed to 320 or 400 ASA and develop in D-76, diluted 1+1, for 11 minutes (20 degrees Centigrade). This combination works in almost all conditions. Because of the hard light contrast in Tibet, I developed some films in two-bath Emofin (6 min/6min). I exposed the TX at 640 ASA for that. The pictures I like I first enlarge 24x30cm to use them as show prints and to scan from them. I use Epson Perfection 2500 scanner. Later I enlarge to 30x40cm or 40x50cm for exhibition purposes. I use Ilford, Bergger and Moersch enlarging paper. Moersch is rather a new paper manufactured by a small company in Germany and in my view is one of the best. I don't use flash often and when I use it I always know that everything may go wrong.

    Despite positive criticism some people suggested that I should stay away from politics when photographing (in Tibet only?). I wonder what photography is about. I take pictures of people not of daffodils or dragonflies. The fact is that all Tibetans I met, in Tibet and elsewhere, are utterly dissatisfied with the political situation in their country. I don't know if 70 years ago I would have taken pictures of monks beating up slaves, but in 1996 I witnessed Tibetans kicked and beaten up by Chinese soldiers. I photograph what I see, not what I am supposed to see. Sorry.

    Some of you express a wish to see some more of my Tibet photographs I may add a few more but I want to save space for my African folder about to come in two months.

    Thanks a lot again. I^m looking forward to seeing some of your work.

    Ladislav

    Remember Tibet. Folder

    in Leica and Rangefinders

    Posted

    Hello! This is my first attempt to present a folder in photo.net. I

    hope it's going to work somehow.

    Remember Tibet

    To begin with Tibet is not an enjoyable country to travel around

    nowadays. To be sure, the scenery is breathtaking, the Tibetans are

    charming but the omnipresence of the police and the army overshadows

    your wayfaring pleasures. Tibet stood for high spirituality once but

    the Chinese have succeeded in disrupting the centuries long

    tradition. The scientists are telling us that by burning the virgin

    forests we are destroying the Earth's lungs and may soon become

    short of breath. Likewise I am convinced that by treading down

    Tibet's heritage we become more confused and desorientated than ever

    before.

    I travelled two and a half months through parts of Tibet and tried

    to capture some of the life's aspects of Tibet today.

    I was happy to carry one camera and one lens. The strain was taxing

    and I never missed sophisticated equipment.

     

    This is the folder:

    http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder.tcl?folder_id=250754<div>003zYZ-10110484.jpg.2c187b3f6685dddfc3d505cc1e95ea4b.jpg</div>

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