Gandolfi Precision 8x10 inches - Studio Portraits, Lisbon, 1996

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Hictiandro and Mário

When I bought the Gandolfi Precision, back in 1996, I was anxious to try it under the control of studio lighting. It was also, in a way, an easy form of getting acquainted with the camera and it's characteristics. Although I had sometimes used a Linhof Technika, I was at the time much more familiar with the monorail design, making most of my work with a Sinar camera. It was also advantageous for me to get used to handle the much bigger film size in the comfort of my darkroom.

So, I just got some T-Max 100 and looked for some "volunteers" at hand: in this specific case, my third son Mário (now 20!) and his friend Hictiandro.

All black and white negatives were developed in Kodak HC-110, dilution B. I should maybe further write, that I never was a great friend of HC - 110... (Mr. Ansel Adams, will you please forgive me?).

To shoot these b&w images, I equiped the Gandolfi with the Rodenstock Apo-Ronar 480mm MC, and the session took place on the 4th of April.

Irina

A short time later, I decided to experiment with some color in 8x10", so I ordered some Fujichrome Velvia 50. As I was looking for some colorful subjects, I thought that it might be interesting to photograph some african girls. The only thing I asked them, was to pose with something dressed that they would think of as typical african (living here for long, or already born in Portugal, I got the feeling that they hardly knew what that could be... Well, they tried...).

I like these photographs, because I think that you can instantly perceive that the girls were amateurs, however they shone and possessed a lot of dignity. I am sure, that they had never posed in front of such paraphernalia, at least in front of such a big camera, but they seemed to have no problems whatsoever about that, they looked joyful and confortable at it.

Lots of natural talent!

I am very thankful for their patience and goodwill. They were very, very kind.

(I have already posted another photograph resulting from these sessions on a former post dedicated to the immigrants. Please be so kind and take a look, if you wish so).

The main light was in all cases provided by a Hensel Autolight.

The transparencies and negatives were scanned with an Epson Perfection 4990.

I can honestly assure you, that looking at a Fujichrome Velvia (with a lupe) in this format is just breathtaking and thrilling!!!

Well, at least for this old school fellow of yours... I hope that you enjoy.

Good night, sleep tight.

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If Six Was Nine

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Getting rid of the superfluous...
(self-portrait, 4th of October 2009)

If the sun refuse to shine
I don't mind, I don't mind.
If the mountains fell in the sea,
let it be, it ain't me.

Alright, 'cos I got my own world to look through,
And I ain't gonna copy you.

Now, if six turned out to be nine,
I don't mind, I don't mind.
If all the hippies cut off all their hair,
I don't care, I don't care.

Dig, 'cos I got my own world to live through,
And I ain't gonna copy you.

White collared conservative flashing down the street.
Pointing their plastic finger at me,
They're hoping soon my kind will drop and die,
But I'm gonna wave my freak flag high, high.
Wave on, wave on.
Fall mountains, just don't fall on me.
Go ahead on Mr. Business man, you can't dress like me.

Nobody knows what I'm talking about.
I've got my own life to live,
I'm the one that's going to have to die,
When it's time for me to die,
So let me live my life
The way that I want to.

JIMI HENDRIX - If Six Was Nine
(from the album "Axis: Bold as Love", The Jimi Hendrix Experience, 1967).

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Studio Work (Sheet and roll film)

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Some people have the rather erroneous idea, that the life of a professional photographer has a lot to do with easy-living and glamour.

While some certainly achieve such a wonderful status, I guess that the vast majority gets to know very little or no bright life at all.

Antonioni's "Blow Up" is a faraway mirage, continuously vanishing a little further away from our dreams and expectations. The girls just don't show up for a private dance, and very few of us drive Rolls-Royce convertibles...

Instead, we have every month to deal with our taxes and our costs, as any other business.

Crisis can take away all our wish to laugh and dance...

Beeing in a dark studio for endless hours, trying to make some ordinary objects turn to gold, can be a very frustrating and boring activity: "A little more light here, a little less light over there, a reflector here, that flash head a little further away, now that bottle just a little bit to the left, that shadow is too dark, the reflection is too strong", and so on and so on...

A shot looking simple and straightforward can take an eternity.
When you finally go back home you suddenly understand that it is long past midnight...

Sinar F2 + Horseman 6x12 back

Sinar F2 or Gandolfi Variant + Horseman 6x12 back

Gandolfi Precision 8x10 inches + 5x7 inches reducing back

Gandolfi Precision 8x10 inches

Gandolfi Precision 8x10 inches + 5x7 inches reducing back

Of course, if the products look good, you can have a lot more fun, even if the shots are relatively straight and simple.

Beeing a hi-fi and music fan myself, I did really enjoy doing these images.
Somebody made a review about the equipment for a magazine article, and I did the shooting. As I usually didn't get a lay out, I had the freedom to do as I pleased.

Nice, although the costs had to be kept to a minimum...

(You seldom can have the whole fun...).

Sinar F2 4x5 inches

Gandolfi Precision 8x10 inches + 5x7 inches reducing back

Watches can be something very challenging to photograph in 5x7 inches...

You really need a long bellows draw to be able to fill the frame with an interesting image.

Reflections can get you into serious trouble and you really have to master your lighting.

It is kind of funny to have a little watch facing a really big camera, surrounded by lots of lights...

You got to keep cool, or you quickly mess it up...

Sinar F2 4x5 inches

Sinar F2 4x5 inches

Sinar F2 4x5 inches

Sinar F2 4x5 inches

Sinar F2 4x5 inches

Now, glass can be rather tricky too.

It reflects your lights, your camera, your whole paraphernalia and yourself.
Maybe worst of all, it also reflects the dark corners of the studio.

In the examples above, and in the case of the "floating" watch, the background was also made with light.

Please keep in mind that all these photographs were shot with analogic gear, and that what you see is what the transparencies show.

All these images are not manipulated (except for some minor corrections like dust spoting, etc).

Basically, you see what I got in camera.

Gandolfi Precision 8x10 inches + 5x7 inches reducing back

Sinar F2 4x5 inches

The perfume bottle above and the two cameras below, were not shot on assignment. I just made them for myself. On the photograph above, I was experimenting with colored light to produce a background.

Sinar F2 4x5 inches

No, it is not a Leica, and the lens is not a Leitz Elmar!

It is just a fake Leica made by the russians, probably a FED or a Zorki I.

On the top plate a swastica is also engraved with the word "Bildberichter" (photo reporter).

Looks nice, but the shutter doesn't work...

Gandolf Precision 8x10 inches

My lovely Rolleiflex 3.5 F, that you should already know by now.
It graces my profile, and you also can see her around my neck in the portrait I posted some time ago.

Now you can watch her in all her beauty...

The images on this post were shot in my former studio in Lisbon, using flash equipment from Hensel Studiotechnik, Würzburg, Germany.

My cameras were equiped with Schneider and Rodenstock optics.

Light meters/Flash meters from Sekonic and Gossen.

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International Worker's Day - (Gandolfi Precision 8x10)

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I dedicate this post to all the immigrants
 

"I Pity the Poor Immigrant" - Bob Dylan

I pity the poor immigrant
Who wishes he would've stayed home,
Who uses all his power to do evil
But in the end is always left so alone.
That man whom with his fingers cheats
And who lies with ev'ry breath,
Who passionately hates his life
And likewise, fears his death.

I pity the poor immigrant
Whose strength is spent in vain,
Whose heaven is like Ironsides,
Whose tears are like rain,
Who eats but is not satisfied,
Who hears but does not see,
Who falls in love with wealth itself
And turns his back on me.

I pity the poor immigrant
Who tramples through the mud,
Who fills his mouth with laughing
And who builds his town with blood,
Whose visions in the final end
Must shatter like the glass.
I pity the poor immigrant
When his gladness comes to pass.

(From the album “John Wesley Harding” - 1967)

 

 

The above photograph was shot in the studio with a Gandolfi Precision 8x10 inches on Fujichrome Velvia film.

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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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Some portuguese VIP's...

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Adelaide Sousa

Bárbara Guimarães

Catarina Furtado

Fernanda Serrano

Filipe la Féria

Júlia Sargeant

Paulo Pires

Simone de Oliveira

I used a Canon EOS 1n with EF 70-200mm f/2.8L lens to make these portraits, in different dates and locations. My lightning equipment comes from Hensel Studiotechnik, Würzburg, Germany. Very nice people out there, manufacturing very good "deutsche Geräte". I am a big fan...

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