John Minnicks : The Liberator Camera

In this electronic gizmo, " fits in your pocket " era, John Minnicks reaches into the past to revamp a classic film camera into an art piece that is getting quite a following.

What he wanted was a hand-held 4X5 camera, with some style, with a look…

So he started with the Graflex cameras. The only problem was they wouldn’t accept the 7” F:2.5 lens. The lens with the 3-D look, (the fastest 4X5) that could focus from 3’ to infinity…  {The AERO-EKTAR lenses were used for aerial reconnaissance spy photography in World War II!}

Minnicks modified them to accept the lens by machining the camera. He makes custom-designed bellows, a new mirror-bright screen and a Graflock back, which will accept any 4X5 Polaroid back and roll film backs. 

The lens board has a Tilt & Swing enabling
selective focus. The live image is 4X5 landscape, the short back focus of the lens and the precision size of the body to achieve infinity. Shutter speeds generally range from 1/500-1/30 sec.+ time exp.

Each camera body is unique and special, a bit different because each part is individually designed to suit the camera.



That amazing look is matched with the images achieved with the camera: a hand-held 4X5 with full control of the image.

image by ...©Bernard Testemale

John enjoys working with each client to design his or her personal and unique camera.

( on the right Dave Burnett )

image...©Bernard Testemale

Each one uses different materials and finishes: leathers, exotic leathers, metal finishes, choices of bellows and hood materials…


Prices depend on materials used: lenses, body and parts/materials.
 A basic black leather runs about $3600.00, the Woodies run $6,000.  Due to the amount of custom work and attention to detail and specially machined parts, he can only build a few a year. ( woodies )  -  (Weather conditions affect finishes as well.)




For more information, contact us at:   johnminnicks@gmail.com   203-247-3833

"From Their View " Mark Kulaga...Sergio Duarte

Mark Kulaga:

Scissor Wings was created from a pair of scissors I have had for over 30 years, and inspired by a friend whom told me once to run with scissors so I did, and then I gave them wings.   The technique used I call photosculpture, and each of my pieces can and will one day be fabricated.  At this point they are only available on canvas with Giclée process.  

The next piece is "Stairs" and was an image taken by one of my doctor's offices when I was quite sick.
For more on my work, please visit:
http://koogz.net
http://facebook.com/artofkoogz
http://koogz.see.me

____________________________________________________________________________________

Sergio Duarte:

The first photo ( 20120527-Guimaraes-07p&bq72dpix600.jpg ), was taken in a Art center in Guimarães city in the north of Portugal.The light caught my attention due to the light foggy day, and the lines textures were have given me a special atmosphere that I tried to capture.

The second ( 20130406-Elementos-01a72dpix600.jpg ), belongs to the same series I'm working on - series that I called "Elements" - which concerns architectural or engineering details. These one was taken in the access stairs of a public swimming. The detail that caught my attention was the small plant that was becoming to grow in the middle of those big concrete stairs and his resilience.
 
http://www.sduarte.net/

http://sergioduarte.photoshelter.com/gallery/Elementos-Arquitetura-e-Engenharia/G0000yXorHX0GvBg/C0000kybB0Jn5SfU
 

From Their View...Peter Treiber,,"Ethereal Luminescence"

My primary goal as a photographer is to make beautiful images, but to make that beauty both dynamic and fascinating. The union between the motion we live in and still photography which captures that motion seems to be the place where this “dynamic beauty” fuses. This series, “Ethereal Luminescence”, is a study of color abstraction, light and motion in the popular and active places where we find pleasure and exhilaration.


Technical notes: All of these photographs were made with a high resolution digital camera as single exposures with a technique, created by me, which I call camera painting. Only very minimum color corrections and cropping were made during post production. More of this work here and here.

Peter Treiber Photography
ph: 610.867.3303 fx: 610.867.6607
Email:  peter@ptphoto.com
Web Site         cell: 610.554.0337
Publisher of the book Inside Bethlehem Steel
Member: ASMP  American Society of Media Photographers
Art Center Portfolio     Behance Portfolio    AdWeek Portfolio
Print sales:GlowArtworks       OCDesignerSource

From Their View "Dream Walking".....David Aschkenas

 

" A couple of years ago there seemed to be an ongoing debate about what "look" only film could produce, as opposed to anything digital.  I decided to rework a group of photos from the last 30 years, done in virtually every format from 4 x 5 view camera color and b & w film, 2, 1/4 film, 35mm neg and chrome film, polaroid SX 70 film
and finally digital imagery, to give them and interesting cohesive look that you could not tell what image was made with what film or technique.  Of course all of this was done digitally.

I don't anyone could determine what the original was made from in terms of format or material."

Link to other DREAM WALKING photos here



Link to web site here

http://www.daschkenasphoto.com

" From Their View " 3...Paolo Nigris, Robertas Kanys

Paolo Nigris:

I am doing photography for more then 30 years after being lucky enough to spend time with Ansel Adams and the "Friends of Photography" group long time ago in Carmel, CA.

My main job, is designing software for hospitals, but all my free time, and more..., goes to photography.

I am the process of publishing a book on the water towers in New York City.
 (http://paolonigris.com/blog/)

The two images submitted are one from Zurich and the Limmat River (Switzerland)  - Nikon D600, 

 

This one taken at the New Delhi Train Station (India) - Nikon D90.

 For more on my work:


www.paolonigris.com

http://paolonigris.500px.com/#/0




Robertas Kanys:

These are B&W reminiscence, copies of hand made prints by scanned its.
 I took that  photo in 1985 -1987, cameras: Pentacon six TL(6X6), FED-3 (35mm)
           

" Mr. Nobody "













                                                                                                                                     "The Dustbin"

 " The Universe and Dustbin "

 I like to work with one or several photos...

" From Their View " 2...George L.Smyth, Peter Gorwin, Jim Barnard

The second in our series open for discussion:

George L. Smyth:

At one time Braddock was a city of over 20,000 people, but the collapse of the steel industry and infusion of crack cocaine reduced it to a little over 2,000 inhabitants. However, this is not a place that has given up. A strong mayor and the determination of the people are starting to pay off, though there is a very long road ahead.

The Braddock Project - Part 1 is the beginning of a project where I will visit the city twice a year over the next decade to document the resurgence. This is a baseline that will tell us where it has been. Indeed, a number of these places no longer exist, as the city works its way back.

These images are scans of prints created through the Bromoil process, a labor intensive, time consuming procedure where the silver is removed from a traditionally created darkroom print and replaced with lithographic ink by striking its surface with a stiff, ink charged brush. It adds an ethereal atmosphere to the scene, allowing the viewer to enter and understand the image on their own.

For more images from this project visit www.GeorgeSmyth.com
HandMade Photographic Images: GLSmyth.com
The Dividend Reinvestment Resource Center: DRiPInvesting.org
Blog: GLSmyth.wordpress.comct please visit GeorgeSmyth.com

 Peter Gorwin:

 

a) The Birdbath in My Garden:
Photographed with a medium format 4x5, wide angle pinhole camera.
I took it using b&w film. I've printed it using a hybrid process, a Pictorico OHP
transparency generated from an Epson 2200 internegative, and then a Van Dyke.
The negative has also been scanned, and digitally printed using fine art paper.
It was captured several years ago while my wife and I lived in Southern California.
No need to explain anything about it further.

b) Cat and Her Shadow, Istanbul, Turkey 2007:
Captured with a Nikon D2X while on a trip to Istanbul in 2007 using a good
14 mm Nikkor 2.8 lens. The lens accentuated the the s-curve of the feral cat and her discovered shadow
while she was cradled in the the arc of the cobblestones. (I assume it was a "she," but I have
no way of knowing.)

It was shot in RAW color and brought to b&w through manipulation of the channels.
I then digitally sepia toned it. As usual for me, it would be printed on flat, natural rag.

I sometimes photograph animals when they reveal a certain intelligence, a certain awareness in the moment that I'm fortunate enough to capture.  Animals, however, are not a subject that I gravitate to often, just when I see what I just described. I'm very interested in saying things simply with my photos, but I hope what I aim to say with an image isn't that simple.
www.petergorwin.com

Jim Barnard:

The work and pleasure of my photography is discovering some particular beauty of a person, place or object, and then showing that beauty in play with the wondrous and sensual qualities of light.

In these portraits I used only natural light (and a white card) to illuminate the natural beauty of my subjects.

To see more of my work,  http://www.JimBarnardPhotography.com

" From Their View " 1, John Voss,Walt Stricklin,H.William Lewis

This is the first of this series open for discussion via the comments below.

Fine Art Photographers introduces 

John Voss:

The lone tree by the lake is a subject I've returned to in different seasons and times of day.  This was taken at sunrise.  The rood in the field with sunlight was pure serendipity.  I had also photographed the cross before, but without much drama or interest.  As I passed this field one morning, though, the fog, the sun, and the cross composed themselves for me, and I merely had to press the shutter!  For more of my work, you may visit www.johnvossphotography.blogspot.com. 

It's not a website with selected images, but rather an ongoing presentation of images more or less when I make them.  

Thank you for looking. 

Walt Stricklin:

Country Churches, is autobiographical project and  exploring rural churches was ingrained in me from growing up the son of a country preacher. Never seeing eye-to-eye with my father’s orthodoxy, I did discover in the quiet simplicity of these churches a truer meaning of faith.

Rambling through the back roads of the rural south brought up feelings I had not expected. There is something special about these church buildings—they have a sense of community and comfort in their architectures that grounds the soul in the common sense that went into their construction.

I try to capture the universal “Us” in everyday situations, connecting the viewer to our shared experiences. I believe our environment shapes us as much as we shape our surroundings and I want my images to celebrate the common characteristics of places and people and how they all fit together.”

http://www.waltstricklin.com

H.William Lewis:

Almost every morning and evening I take our dogs out for their walks. It had been raining in the night and I was looking for something to photograph that would show the after effects of the rain. I was struck by this leaf and the way the water droplets were arranged large and small. I converted the color raw image to black and white. 

Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ35 in raw + jpg using the following setting: F/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO 100, Exposure Comp -.7, 27mm focal length,
The raw image was processed in Photoshop CS6 and converted to black and with with either Topaz Black & White or Nik Silver Effects 1.0.
 

http://www.naturephotographybyhwilliam.com

http://www.hwilliam.wordpress.com

" On View " Images and Comments

" On View "

By submitting images to the fine-art-photographers.blogspot.com you agree and understand the following:

Send material to my email address matthew@matthewpace.com.
**Please do not direct me to your site where I can find your work.** 

By submitting material to this blog, you grant permission to post  your material and warrant that you are the sole owner of its copyright  

HOW:
1-2 images jpg. 72ppi no more than 600 pixels on the long side with your metadata embedded, a with a brief paragraph on either technique, what it's about, reason, your feelings on it etc. You may place a watermark © notice on your image or printed under it .
Either head or close your post withYour name and your URL as a link (if you wish) or a for more on my work www.ghjgjhgj….

1) Have patience, LinkedIn only allows me to email this group once a week to make a new announcement to all the membership. I will try to post 2-3 photographers a week, over a weekend in the order they come to me. Yours may be # 75…. don't get upset if it takes a while to see your work.

2) This isn't a contest. We all come from different walks in photography sharing the same interest and love.  


CAUTION :
NUDES…..I am no prude but the blog is open for the public to view and it does have a certain criteria. We can argue all about the morals, religion, justice, what the Pope and aunt Hida thinks in the Group but the blog is different and not the right place for me to challenge rules. Let' s not start a march on the establishment. There are fine art nudes,studies and then naked pictures. You can make your artist statement or info with a link to where they are ON YOUR SITE… fair enough for this subject only.

AWARNESS:

Any image on any site can be copied, but at a low res how far can you go with it? If you're that concerned, keep them home. Neither I nor Blogspot will be held liable for some nerd who wants to make a screen saver, or show it in his book report . If you have a unique way of protection let us all know, please.


COMMENTS:
Know and accept that comments good and bad can be made by others, maybe even by outside persons who read this blog. This blog is public, the Group is not.
Let's discuss the work but not go for a dissertation. Try to keep comments brief and to the point. A few words or sentences can do it best.  You can add more thought in another comment.

Please spare us all from a simple "Like"  as a comment. That serves nothing. Mom "likes " what I do… so what…Tell us why you like it or not, how you see it, how you relate to it, how you feel about it . Point out something that might open our eyes and bring an image to another level might not be standing on. Make good constructive comments.

Making a good comment is not as easy as you think , be understanding of those who try, realize photographers are better visuals than wordsmiths. We're interested in what you say, just be considerate on how you say it.

If you don't expect comments, don't send material. Refer to the person in your comment and his image.There may be more than one photographer in a post. Questions may be asked about the work or technique, however some techniques may not necessarily be divulged, the photographer's call . Stay on topic. Talk about their work not yours. Any critique should be solely on the work not the person.

Don't defend your work by answering a comment you don't agree with… "..I couldn't stand in a better place…it was raining that day…I didn't have enough time, my wife wanting to go shopping.." Better to say, " I chose to make it dark for a more somber feeling" not  "Push the brightness button on your monitor dummy.."

Being passionate is fine but keep it civil and professional . There's a difference between " Joe I think your shadows are murky, punch up the black " and Joe that looks like crap, my grandmother shoots better than that "  Remember your comment is solely your opinion even if it's based on all the diplomas, ribbons and awards you received. Critics were wrong about VanGogh and so were the buyers.

Do not send any commercial ventures, offers, sales, recruitment, subscriptions etc. of any kind, no  take my course, join my expedition or Buy My Prints crap. You can post that in the group under Promotions.

One last thing… let's not argue, let's share, learn, enjoy each other's company and move forward.

good shooting
matthew pace

When Nudes aren't Naked

What does a photographer do when he takes some time off ? This one goes to view other photography and with a title like " Naked Before the Lens" I couldn't resist. Showing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, this exhibit draws a timeline in the progression of nude photography from the 1800s to the 1900s. 

Leaning more on works done from its beginnings rather than today's, one can see the struggle an artist had with censorship and what the public was willing to openly accept. With nude subjects paintings were just paintings an art representation, but photography was real life with real people, engaging the viewer as a witness to a graphic world that existed rather than a painted one. Maybe it was this reality that made it disturbing enough in the era to make models hide their faces in one form or another and photographers to title early works as " an artist study" rather than feature them as art nude for own sake. The photographs from that time period mimic classic paintings and sculptures rather than today's images that stand alone as fine art nudes. Finding a ulterior reason for their existence they were shown as anatomy or figure studies etc. that equate to not too long ago when some men said.." I buy this for the articles"  when that brown paper wrapped magazine shows up in the mailbox.



This very early 1860 photograph by Nadar was taken to help the painter Jean-Leon Derome depict his painting of Phryne before the Areopagus.




Eugene Durieu made this as part of many studies for Eugene Delacroix's paintings








Rather than for a painting, this one,by Oscar Gustav Rejlander, is influenced and taken from paintings by Raphael,Titian,Rubens and others.



As the show progresses, we start to see nude photography evolve. No longer done for other artists, faces revealed, among other things, engagement with the subject becomes more direct. 

Brassai's "Introductions  at Suzy's"… is a favorite of mine, a glimpse to a place where fantasies take place including being there for those who wondered what was inside. While this is nude, it borderlines naked, a raw, candid with that "you shouldn't be there feel" yet you have to keep staring. It moves me differently than the nude studies shown prior.      

The show was well done as usual with the Met, except for the glitzy sign NAKED that looked more like a triple x marque. I felt it deserved something better, but that just me.  
I felt that where the show missed were nudes in the present. We have come a long way of what is acceptable since early photography with extremism at both ends, and hopefully to a better visual understanding  between nude and naked.

Phoneography ..part two

My brother has an auto body shop and a tool chest taller than me. I asked him why he needed two drawers of screwdrivers to which he replied that each one does a different job. At my level of mechanics, I have only two. On his level, he has them and calls on each to do a  different job. 

Photography has become that way too. At one time only the large format to today's ever growing selection of camera types, we achieve different looks with different approaches that each one delivers.  Some help to direct our vision, some change our tactics and some free us. Large formats bring us to those pensive moments, a slower attention to detail and deliberate compostions... 35 to speed of subjects and our reactions with variety of views, plastic cameras to whimsical haphazard moments sometimes happy accidents. Like my brother's screwdrivers, each does a different job and often, with it in hand we search and focus for just those. 

Ahumada Enrique sees his path with "Menage a Trois" or the square of three...


which turned not only into a series but an App for the Iphone/Ipad that creates its layout design.

In his words..." this is a series is a result of an extreme sense of joy that I experience in the magic alignment of three elements: my eye, my Iphone camera, and my subjects"

Smart phones seem to have a spontaneity and public acceptance that other formats don't. In a crowd, on the street, in buildings, lifting a smart phone doesn't draw the attention that lifting your 35mm does. It has become almost unnoticed, a normal, unquestioned part of today's life, allowing reaction without hesitation to what we see. In view of all that is happening on the global changes in governments and movements, it has become a strong tool that through its freedom of visual capture, changes the world like no other camera before it. In time as it continues to develop, it becomes its own art form and in the world of electronic media, internet, Ipads, Smarter phones and whatever else comes, takes its place as a tool for advertising.

Phoneography... part one

Anyone aware of the history of photography doesn't have to be told how far we have come. From the "Camera Obscura" to film and now digital, it has provided a steady growth of expression with newer techniques and tools pregress. For those who pursue its medium a new forms of art or looks emerge  with every advance .

Across its brief 150 years apprx, it has struggled in its acceptance as art, coming into its own buyer's scene within the last 20 years or so. It became the realm of masters who were capable of handling the equipment along with its technical procedures and could successfully express and produce fine photographic art. For the most part, it took years of experience.The struggle of films,chemistry,and technique kept the masses at a great distance. Enter digital and with it a  new door opened allowing new artists who might not have be here had media remained the same. What did remain for a long time however, was the tool.

A new tool is born..the Cell Phone: Tool for the masses..

Unobtrusive, at hand,capable of not only processing an image and tweaking its look, but immediately publishing it from within and on the spot, it gives birth to a whole new world of potential artists, some of which have probably never been photographers before. Every person I know has at some point shown me his "Pocket Images" some good, some bad, all fun but mostly random . In their hands, an instant photographer;  In others... an artist's expression, and these are some of what can be done through their eyes and experience taking this new tool to higher level :

Chris Hudson  an award-winning Art Director and Creative Director at advertising agencies in London and New York, is a member of the Royal Photographic Society and London Independent Photography.
With his keen eye for color, he finds new freedom with his cell phone and some of the apps that can be had. Here is the  Hipstamatic app. This from a flower series is part of his current book project. 

While in Iceland, he was so impressed by the quality of the phones ability to produce a quality image that he shot half of his trip with his iPhone.





Experiencing the same in my last travel, my assortment of lenses remained in my bag. The freedom and fun of my phone allowed me to see subjects in a whole new light, a different approached unencumbered by multi-equipment decisions and with no one to be suspicious of who I was and what was my motive, I was free.

 

Apps allowed processing after capture and adding a frame, to re-interpret scenes with a different light. This famous New York icon takes on a different look than its predecessor one hundred years later.

Imagery while waiting for lunch and published before it comes opens a whole new world with its a very addictive visual fever. More than just a sketch book, it becomes a final product.

But we are not just one brand of tool as it is really the person behind them that matters most. In capable hands this new tool, like discovering something other than a paintbrush, creates a whole new way of painting.  Donna Callighan  has been a successful professional photographer for over twenty years. Her approach in this new form is rather than use an in phone app, she processes her "cellimages" in Photoshop with her unique style.

This is part one of of this series of Phoneography. If you wish to contribute images for review, contact me through my profile...My thanks to both Chris and Donna for their contribution. 

Featured Artist...Jeff Weinstock

I heard it said that inside a great cinematographer or videographer is a great photographer to start with. That part proves out in Jeff Weinstock's work. His attention to composition and color saturates his landscapes showing us scenes begging to be a "set "


"I began working as a still photographer after a thirty year career as a nationally recognized documentary and commercial cinematographer. When the time came to close that door, in 2003, another opened as I turned to still photography to fill the void left after thirty years of creative filmmaking."
Starting out as a cameraman for the Washington bureau of NBC News, at 24, he was assigned  to cover the Ford administration. Some time later he was transferred to to the network's New England bureau where he also began to freelance for major clients. There he began his interest in still work.
In an era where most still shooters are looking at motion as their new expression, Weinstock takes the reverse with a thirty year track record behind him. 

"... the transition to still photography freed me from strictly structured content, budget constraints, working in large collaborative groups, and bringing to life the concepts and visions of others.  I've spent the last six years traveling to areas that have drawn me in by their unique natural beauty and the ability to shoot only that which touches my creative sensibility and personal esthetic."
 
His sensitivity to his surrounding is best expressed by the light he captures. It stands out dominate painting a portrait of the place he is drawn to. One of them being The Olympic Peninsula in N.W.Washington.

"From November, 2008 thru October, 2009 I spent over two months on The Olympic Peninsula in N.W. Washington photographing it‚Äôs rain forests, the Olympic National Park, the Olympic Mountain Range, and miles of broad coastal beaches battered by fierce winds and waves from winter storms off the Pacific.  That now completed project had become a passion  and from it grew an artistic and personal connection with the approximately 6800 square miles of the bio-diverse Peninsula.  The breath-taking beauty of this bio-gem is everywhere, and in certain places it‚Äôs beauty so mystically magnificent as to touch one on a spiritual level."

His commitment to this vision is total, having left his home in Boston in October 2010 and moving to Portland, Oregon to live in the Pacific NorthWest and continue his pursuit. His philosophy on his work is simple....
"My design is to share my vision of the ordinary and the extraordinary with those who find some value in the photographic images I creates. No more, no less."

more can be seen    here