Industrielandschaften - Mannheim, Deutschland, November 1985

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Three years later, also on November, but on a very dissimilar mood from my previuos post, I felt an urge to shoot urban landscapes.

The Rhein (Rhine) and Neckar rivers are the home of one of the most important European inland ports, spreading around the German towns of Mannheim and Ludwigshafen.

I decided on medium format equipment for the task, bringing along the Hasselblad 500 EL/M and the Rolleiflex T.

Wish I had done these photographs in large format, but that was still zukunftsmusik...

So, will you please excuse me for some inaccurate perspective?

Shot with Hasselblad 500 EL/M + Rolleiflex T

Technical Data:
Cameras - Hasselblad 500 EL/M + Rolleiflex T
Lenses - Carl Zeiss Tessar, Planar or Sonnar (Distagon?)
Film - Kodak Tri-X + Ilford HP5
Developer - Kodak D-76 1+1
Location - Mannheim, Germany (last one on the border to Ludwigshafen)
Date - November 1985
Scanner - Epson Perfection 4990 Photo

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Happy Birthday, Jorge! - January 2nd 2011

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(Giving me a serious look in the Castle of Heidelberg, Germany - November 1982)

Jorge is my eldest sun. He celebrated his 33rd anniversary last Sunday, January 2nd. That makes me realize how the years fly faster and faster...

I was lucky to be with him for a couple of hours, but I didn't manage to make this post on time. I believe that Jorge will forgive me... Like we say around here: "mais vale tarde do que nunca!"(what means something in the way of "better late than never!").

Jorge runs a company specializing in Sound, Light and Multimedia (Mainvision Media Solutions, Lda.), with the help of his girlfriend Marcia and his brother Luís.

They just got a new studio in Lisbon, so please allow me to also wish them all the luck, prosperity and success in the world.
I know that they are very, very hard workers, but some luck won't do no harm in such a competitive field...

(At home in Heidelberg - Ziegelhausen, with Rudi - December 1986)


When Jorge started growing up, I used to listen to a lot of records from singers and musicians that we can, broadly speaking, call the Woodstock Generation. One of my favourite groups (and solo singers) was Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Wonderful voices backed up by meaningful words and music.

One of their songs that used to give me strength when I was assaulted by the demons of doubt, regarding my competence, or its absence, in the role of a young father, was "Teach Your Children", by Graham Nash. I kind of used the lyrics of that song as a certain psychological crutch, a kind of moral guide to lead me through the dark.

I guess that I did more or less well...

So, besides my love, respect and admiration for Jorge ("Um grande beijo de parabéns, meu filho"), I would like to remember the words of that tune, as Jorge must have been too young to recall them:

"Teach Your Children" – by Graham Nash

You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by,
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good bye.

Teach your children well,
Their father's hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they pick’s, the one you'll know by.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

And you, of tender years,
Can't know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.

Teach your parents well,
Their children's hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they pick’s, the one you'll know by.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

From the album “Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Déjà Vu”, 1970
(with Dallas Taylor & Greg Reeves + Jerry Garcia, John Sebastian)

(Thanks for your song Mister Nash! I know that you are a great lover of photography too...).



Technical data:
Camera - Hasselblad 500 EL/M
Lenses - Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm and Carl Zeiss Sonnar 150mm respectively
Film - Ilford HP5 (old version)
Developer - Ilford ID-11 and Kodak D-76, both diluted 1+1
Location - Heidelberg, Germany
Date - 1982 and 1986
Scanner - Epson 4990 Photo

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Hasselblad 500 C/M - Heidelberg Altklinikum, November 1988

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Camera: Hasselblad 500 C/M
Lenses: Carl Zeiss Distagon C 4/50mm, Carl Zeiss Planar C 2.8/80mm
Yellow or Red filter
Film: Kodak T-Max 400
Developer: Kodak D-76, diluted 1+1
Location: Heidelberg, Germany
Date: 1st of November, 1988

Scanner: Epson 4990 Photo


No words today!





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Hasselblad 500 EL/M - First Photographs (Circus Giovanni Althoff - Heidelberg, November 1982)

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I did a lot of mistakes in that day!

The first time that I tried to load a roll of film on the camera magazine, I lost half of its exposures. I must have forgotten to wind it to frame one, before I started shooting...

The plane of focus was obviously not correctly placed on some pictures, and I had some bad surprises about the shallow depth of field that I got in some negatives...

The shape and weight of the camera didn't help me to feel confident either. Being much different to hold than a Leica, or any 35mm SLR of that era, I didn't have yet the opportunity to master the "left-hand Hasselblad grip". As far as I remember, all these frames were done handheld.

The focusing hood was a little disorienting, with its reversed image, left-right (nowadays, it really doesn't matter if it's reversed or upside down, or whatever, I got so used to it!).

Having only twelve frames per roll, definitely seemed too short for me, at least for capturing moving subjects...

On some situations, I could have benefitted from the use of another focal distance, but all I had at the time was the normal lens, the 80mm Carl Zeiss Planar, supplied with the camera.

I also recognize that it was difficult for me to come to terms with the square shape of the format. A few pictures could be improved with some cropping... I opt to show you the full frame instead (when I die, please don't change it! This is the way that I want it!).

Fortunately, I was accustomed to fully manual controlled cameras. I also knew well my Minolta Autometer, so using an external meter was not new for me.

All I had to do, was to go out and get the pictures done! Enough of excuses for their success or failure... I was the only one to blame!

Here they are...

All the photographs above, were indeed made on the very first day that I used the Hasselblad 500 EL/M, the nice grey camera that I have introduced to you a couple of posts ago.

Two days later, I came back to make the other photographs, apparently feeling a bit more at ease.

Maybe the light was just a little better that day... Moreover the film was correctly loaded on the A12 magazine...

The Ilford HP5 negatives are hard to print on the traditional darkroom, and they surely are a pain to scan, at least for poor unskilled me and my Epson.

Yes, I am barely satisfied with the results, I should admit...

In any case, I do like some of the images, regardless of their flaws.

So I find it appealing to show you my very first atempts on using this noble camera from Sweden, a brand that so many professional photographers have cherished for generations.

A Hasselblad used to be an investment for life!

In fact, all this equipment keeps on working, as it always did on the last three decades!
We should try that with our digi-dings!...

Well, that can't be me, I believe...

To become invisible is not an easy task to accomplish, when you carry a grey Hasselblad 500 EL/M in your hands...

The noise of the motor can be rather annoying and irritating when you don't wish to catch all the attention from the neighborhood...

Despite that, I believe that most of these photographs show natural looking people, people that don't seem to be intimidated by a camera pointing at them.

They just kept doing what they had to do.


I just kept trying to do what I wanted to do!

Was I effective? The decision is left to you...





Technical data:
Camera - Hasselblad 500 EL/M (for the ones who are lazy to read the whole story...)
Lens - Carl Zeiss Planar 2.8/80mm
Film - Ilford HP5 (the old one, of course!)
Developer - Ilford ID-11, dilution 1+1
Location - Heidelberg, Germany
Date - November 1982

Scanner - Epson 4990 Photo



Circus Giovanni Althoff was in town!

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