Circus Willy Hagenbeck - Heidelberg, Germany, March 1977 (Mamiya C330f)

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It is rather hot, I've been maybe drinking too much beer and wine, but if memory still serves me any good, the first Medium Format camera that I have ever owned and used, was the Mamiya C330f (6x6), with two distinct lenses. Please, don't ask me about which ones, I could almost declare that the 180mm was one of them...

Beeing a fine camera, with fine lenses, I believe that I was not yet mature for this, somewhat heavy and cumbersome, TLR (Twin Lens Reflex): I sold it again after a short time.

Oddly enough, I would later on fall deeply in love (up until today) with other TLR cameras: the wonderful and elegant Rolleiflex!

Honesty makes me concede, that the Mamiya has some "advantages" over the Rollei: interchangeable lenses, 120 and 220 film capability, focusing bellows for easy close-up photography...

But, like everything else in life, chemistry sometimes doesn't work...

These are the first "serious" square format photographs that I ever took of a circus (another long-lasting photographic love of mine): Circus Wylly Hagenbeck, pictured in Heidelberg, Germany, on the 2nd of March, 1977 (Shit, time flies!).


Can you dig it? The film was still Ilford HP-4! (Yes, FOUR!).
I developed it in Tetenal Emofin, and the negatives are a little thin for my taste...
What should I care, these are "historic" images (well, at least for me...), nice to look at on a hot summer night.
Who cares if they are not so good-looking?

I still had (and have) a loooooong way to go...

Camera: Mamiya C330f (6x6 TLR)

Ilford HP-4, developed in Tetenal Emofin.

Circus Wylly Hagenbeck, Heidelberg, BRD, 1977

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Happy birthday Mário! (10th of July)

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My third son, Mário Júlio, will be today, 10th of July, twenty one years old.

Life has not been very easy for him the last years, and maybe I didn't stand by him like I should.

Eventually because life was also not always easy for me... (What, of course, can hardly do as an excuse...).

Anyway, I do love him, as I love all the other kids, and he (they) make me feel a happy / lucky father. I couldn't wish better children!

We, somehow, live different lifes with our different problems and frustrations, but we know that all the others are there and will answer to the call!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SON!!!

"Forever Young"

May God bless and keep you always,

May your wishes all come true.

May you always do for others

And let others do for you.

May you build a ladder to the stars

And climb on every rung.

May you stay forever young,

Forever young, forever young.

May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous,

May you grow up to be true.

May you always know the truth

And see the lights surrounding you.

May you always be courageous,

Stand upright and be strong.

May you stay forever young,

Forever young, forever young.

May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy,

May your feet always be swift.

May you have a strong foundation

When the winds of change shift.

May your heart always be joyful

And may your song always be sung.

May you stay forever young,

Forever young, forever young.

May you stay forever young.

Words and Music by Bob Dylan, from the album "Planet Waves", 1974

(Recorded with The Band).

Caption: I made the photograph of Mário with a Hasselblad camera in Dezember 1997, in Lisbon. Taking lens was a Carl Zeiss Sonnar 150mm.

Agfa APX 100, developed in Agfa Rodinal 1+25.

Studio light by Hensel, Würzburg, Germany.

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Álvaro Siza, Terraços de Bragança, Lisboa, 2005 - Wasted Project (1)

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This could have been a beautiful White & Blue book, about a beautiful architectural project in Lisbon downtown by Álvaro Siza. Mr. Siza was kind enough, as always, to guarantee all his collaboration, but somehow the book never came to life.

Feeling pity that it remains wasted, I don't want it to be a completely lost project, so I let you enjoy the photographs, while it's publication keeps on waiting for a better opportunity.

Film cameras were used exclusively on the documentation shown above:

- Sinar F2, with Rodenstock and Schneider lenses, for 4x5" and 6x12 (Horseman back);
- Horseman SW612 Pro, with Rodenstock lenses, for 6x12.

- Corfield WA67, Schneider Super-Angulon 47mm, for 6x7.

- Hasselblad 500 C/M, with Carl Zeiss lenses, for 6x6.

Light meter and color meter by Gossen.

Film by Kodak.

Tripods by Gitzo and Manfrotto.

Transparencies and b&w negatives scanned with Epson Perfection 4990.

Assistance by Luís Morais de Sousa, my son.

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The Making of a Photograph - Water Tower, 20th of June, 2010

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Near Montemor-o-Novo, 20 of June 2010

Gandolfi Precision 8x10"+Docter Apo-Germinar 11.5/600mm+Leitz Or Filter

Fomapan 100, Rodinal 1+50

You know my name, you know my face, you know some of my cameras, so why not let you take a look at me making a photograph?

So, I asked Helena to do a little reportage of me and my Gandolfi at work. Take this as a little story, how the image above came to happen.

It's almost 50ºC today, I drink some cool beer and I talk to you out there, what better way of spending a hot sunday afternoon could I dream of?

Hope that you have some fun...

Setting up the camera

First adjustments and leveling of the camera

Checking up the Copal 3 shutter

A little smile for the photograph...

(notice the box of the Rodenstock filter, to avoid bellows vignetting)

Another smile with the 8x10" film holder

Inserting the Fomapan 100

Abusing the comfort of the Rimowa cases...

Getting a little lazy

The beauty from the back

To filter or not to filter?

Waiting for the wind to stand still

A special thank you goes to Helena Roque who took these wonderful photographs with a Canon 30D, and who was kind enough to help me carrying the heavy equipment.

She was not only lucky enough to survive one more ride in the Defender, but she also survived the boring company of a photographer and his passion...

It takes some guts to accomplish that!

P.S.: The big camera above is equivalent to use a Nikon or Canon and a 85-90mm lens (in 35mm). That's more or less what you get with the 600mm in 8x10"...

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Happy Birthday father!

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José Morais de Sousa, Coimbra - April 1980

If my father was alive today, 17th of June, he would be 88 years old.

My mother reveals that he often declared that he wanted to live until he was 84. He was lucky, that's how old he got!

He was an army officer but, on occasion, he also served in Guarda Nacional Republicana. That's where I have pictured him, in his office in Coimbra, with my Leica.

So please allow me to pay him this little tribute and say "Happy Birthday father".

Evelise Morais de Sousa, Coimbra, 6 of April 1980.

Yes, that's my mother on her 48th birthday, holding a bouquet of roses.

In reality, both photographs were presumably shot on the same day, as my parents lived inside the base (for some years I lived there too, by then I was on vacation from Germany).

Time goes by...

Both photographs were shot with my (at that time) almost-new Leica M4-2 and Summicron 50mm, on Kodak Tri-X film, developed in Kodak D-76 1+1.

You should be acquainted with that camera from former posts on this blog. As it so happens, she keeps on going strong after all these years. A good friend of mine!

Funny: she keeps on being my youngest Leica!

Wish we could all be forever young...

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Central Tejo, Lisbon, July 1996.

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I have yet to meet a photographer who, in a way or another, doesn't feel fascinated by old and abandoned industrial sites.

Doubtless, there seems to be a certain kind of magic inherent to such locations, rendering very inspiring and photogenic material for many creative minds.

In small, medium or large format, analogic or digital, you will be rewarded with some appealing images if you enter such an environment with open eyes and a curious mind.

Some others prefer to simply use it as a backdrop for their creativity: fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh has produced some memorable shots in those places where the machines have long stood still.

I had just switched my main 35mm SLR equipment from Nikon to Canon when I made these shots, way back in 1996. I had decided to "modernize" and go auto-focus, with the help of some exposure automation, for my "bread and butter photography".

In those times I was exceptionally busy, so I thought that it was maybe clever to simplify my life a little and leave some heavier equipment in the studio: for many assignments (when transparency size was not of primordial importance) I started leaving the Hasselblad and brought the Canon stuff along. So I also could save on film expenses and rescue us from too many E-6 developments, which we used to do by ourselves.

I had already enough jobs to do in 9x12/4x5", my back was needing to take a break!

All shots with Canon EOS-1n + EF 70-200mm f2.8 L in Ektachrome film.
(older version, without Image Stabilization)
Close-focus capability with extension tube EF-12.

It was not an option then, but I never missed Image Stabilization, as you can find in the newer model (the photographs above were shot with the camera on a solid tripod, making IS unnecessary).

In any case, there is still a strong argument in favor of the newer lens: it is weather-sealed!

You could find very wet conditions where I used to live before I have moved to Montemor-o-Novo, so my lens got some nice fungus inside, after I had it at home for some monthes...

I suspect that weather seal could have avoided it.

In any case, stupid me! I should have known better...