Jan 14, 2009

Black and white portraiture

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I always had a special pleasure on doing black and white portraiture of the informal type. So some friends and relatives, or just people I met, often came in for a sitting in my living-room or in the studio.
Only the last shot was made while on assignment. The man is a worker in a large quarry in the mountain of Monchique, south of Portugal, where I improvised a small studio in the dining-hall. I just loved the way he came and sat there, full of dignity. Sadly, I don't know his name.





Ana




Barbara





Florian




Filipa




Francisco




Irina




Luis (my son)




José (my father)




Sara (my daughter)




Stephen




Worker


All photographs on this post were made using a camera by Hasselblad (either a 500 C/M or a 500 EL/M), and a Sonnar 150mm, made by Carl Zeiss. Phantastic gear, designed for hard-work of the highest quality.
Light was sometimes made by a single portable flash by Metz, aimed at an umbrella, or using Hensel Studiotechnik equipment, built in the nice german town of Würzburg. I usually prefer to keep my portrait lightning simple, using very often a single light source.


The photographs were scanned directly from black and white prints, produced on the traditional wet-darkroom. Somehow, they lack some detail and get too much contrast for my taste. I really need to do some home-work on scanning!
I apologize...


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2 comments:

  1. Rui, these are wonderful. I am new to my Hasselblad 503cx with a 80mm Zeiss F2.8 lens. I love portraiture. I may need to get a 150mm as well for portraits. Thanks again for sharing these.
    regards
    Matthew

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  2. Thank you.
    Yes, I love the 150mm!
    Great for portraiture.
    Wish you success with your 503!
    Greetings,
    Rui

    ReplyDelete