Once Upon a Time in Old Heidelberg, Germany (1986)

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Shot with Hasselblad 500 EL/M + 500 C/M + Carl Zeiss lenses on Kodak film

 

 

 

 

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Once Upon a Time in Old Heidelberg, Germany (1981-1986)

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Looking at these photographs, don’t search for perfection.

Color film in those days, particularly slide film, could be a pain in the neck!

Kodachrome 25 and 64 were really wonderful, showing sometimes breathtaking results, but by the time you loaded your camera with Ektachrome 100 troubles began to surface.

Going beyond, or above that - say Ektachrome 400, or other film with even higher ISO/ASA -, you felt like committing suicide.

Fun, for sure, but highly unpredictable!





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scanning those old pieces of film is not a simple task: what was already bad, just gets worse, you soon begin to shiver with hallucination, your unassuming photograph may well turn out a surrealistic masterpiece…

 

Don’t understand me wrong, nothing compares to a beautiful Kodachrome reflecting back from the projection screen.

Yes, slide film was intended to be projected – not scanned -, and there it genuinely shone!



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photographs made with Leica cameras on Kodak film.

 

 

Heidelberg is a very nice town, and I am glad that I had the chance to live there.

Three of my four kids were born in this friendly place, and that is where my long-lasting love affair with Leica cameras began.

I have not cut ties with Heidelberg: my son Luís and some good friends live nearby, so I am longing to go back there.

I won’t forget to bring the Leica along!

 

 

Technical Data:

Cameras - Leica M (M2 + M4 + M4-2 + M5)

Lenses - various Leitz/Leica, some with Visoflex III

Films - Kodak Kodachrome + Kodak Ektachrome

Date - between 1981 and 1986

Location - Heidelberg, Germany

Scanner - Epson 4990

 

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860-880 North Lake Shore Drive-Chicago, Illinois, USA (architect Mies van der Rohe)

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Horseman SW612P + Rodenstock lenses

(detail Gandolfi Variant + 6x7 Linhof Rapid Rollex)

 

 

 

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900-910 North Lake Shore Drive - Chicago, Illinois, USA (architect Mies van der Rohe)

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Horseman SW612P + Rodenstock Lenses

 

 

 

Facing the beauty of Lake Michigan, The Esplanade Apartments on North Lake Shore Drive − not far from the famous Navy Pier − designed by architect Mies van der Rohe, probably enjoy the most beautiful situation of all his works.

These seminal and innovative buildings used unprecedented construction technologies, which became the standard used by Mies in all his future high-rise projects.

Completed in 1951, 860-880 Lake Shore Drive were the first towers in the world to exhibit the promise of glass-and-steel-frame construction, while the 900–910 towers, finished in 1955, were the first to totally accomplish the aluminum and glass curtain wall which became the hallmark of Mies’ oeuvre.

On the neighbourhood of The Esplanade Apartments is the John Hancock Building – which you can admire on the first photograph −, the Magnificent Mile portion of Michigan Avenue and Oak Street Beach. Also not far from here, you can go for a walk in Lincoln Park, which I also showed on a previous post about Mies' Commonwealth Promenade Apartments. 

I have used the Horseman SW612P, with Rodenstock lenses and a 6x9 roll film back, to produce these photographs on Kodak Ektachrome E100S film.

My son Jorge, assisted me on this rewarding task, in 1999. I think that we will never forget the days we have spent in Chicago.

 

 

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Praia de Mira, Portugal - Setembro de 1977 (The Minolta Years)

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Exactamente dez anos depois de eu ter tirado estas fotografias, o Dr. Adolfo Correia da Rocha escreveu:

Praia de Mira, 22 de Setembro de 1987 – Portugal não parece o mesmo. Em meia dúzia de anos, perdeu o carácter. Quem familiarmente lhe conhecia as feições que o singularizavam, fica espantado quando o percorre. Tudo mudou. As casas, as ruas, os trajes, os hábitos. Da praia de Mira que trazia na memória, e onde, num cenário mágico e a comungar com almas que o mereciam, vivi algumas das horas mais autênticas da minha vida de poeta, restam o mar, sempre revolto, e a capela, de madeira ainda, com os castiços palheiros de antanho. E é neles que consolo os olhos desiludidos. O velho oceano, na sua imutável e fascinante inquietação, e o templozinho de tábuas, na sua incorrupta e amorável rusticidade, dão não sei que razão calada ao meu espírito desencantado dum progresso que não sabe melhorar sem desfigurar.

Miguel Torga, Diário XV

Sim, o mar e a capela talvez ainda lá estejam, mas esse povo, onde anda ele?

Povo amado, que tão mal te tratam!

Peço desculpa pela qualidade técnica variável das imagens, mas talvez se deva perdoar a diapositivos que já resistiram a três décadas e meia de vida atribulada...

Quem me dera ter eu próprio resistido com tanto aprumo!

Para despedida - e por piada, como se costuma dizer - uma fotografia de moi durante a realização destas imagens, olhar perdido algures nos confins do azul, o coração invadido de esperança no futuro deste país...

 

Ficha técnica:

Câmaras - Minolta XM + Minolta 303b

Objectivas - Minolta Rokkor

Filmes - Kodak Kodachrome + Kodak Ektachrome

Lugar - Praia de Mira

Data - Setembro de 1977

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