The Family of Zé Preto and the Horse - Montemor-o-Novo, March 2010

..

All photographs were made using a Rolleiflex SL 35 (Rollei Singapore) equiped with german made Carl Zeiss lenses, namely the Planar 1.4 / 50mm HFT and the Sonnar 2.8 / 85 mm. A Rollei yellow filter was also used with both lenses.

Fomapan 200 developed in Kodak D-76 1+1.

I would like to dedicate these modest photographs to someone that I very much respect and admire for many years: JOSEF KOUDELKA.

His book "Gitans - La Fin du Voyage" (copyright 1975 by Josef Koudelka, Delpire éditeur Paris and Aperture, Inc. New York) has been a true companion of mine since many years now, and a true source of inspiration.
I wish I could have the genius and the integrity of Mr. Koudelka's vision...

A special thank you goes also, of course, to the portrayed family!

..

Working Class Hero - 1st of May, 2010

..

Rolleiflex SL 35 + Carl Zeiss Planar 1.4/50mm HFT

Fomapan 200, Kodak D-76 1+1

Lisbon, Portugal, April 2010

Leica M2 + Super Angulon 3.4/21mm

Fomapan 200, Rodinal 1+100 (stand development)

Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal, September 2009

Leica M4-2 + collapsible Summicron 2/50mm

Fomapan 200, Rodinal 1+50

Évora, Portugal, December 2009

Rolleiflex SL 35 + Carl Zeiss Planar 1.4/50mm HFT

Fomapan 200, Kodak D-76 1+1

Lisbon, Portugal, April 2010

Zorki 3-C + Jupiter 8 2/5cm

Fomapan 200, Rodinal 1+50

Praia da Amorosa, Portugal, August 2009

Zorki 3-C + Jupiter 8 2/5cm

Fomapan 200, Rodinal 1+100 (stand development)

Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal, September 2009

"Working Class Hero" - JOHN LENNON

As soon as you're born they make you feel small

By giving you no time instead of it all

Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all

A working class hero is something to be.

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school

They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool

Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules

A working class hero is something to be.

When they have tortured and scared you for twenty odd years

Then they expect you to pick a career

When you can't really function you're so full of fear

A working class hero is something to be.

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV

And you think you're so clever and classless and free

But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see

A working class hero is something to be.

There's room at the top they are telling you still

But first you must learn how to smile as you kill

If you want to be like the folks on the hill

A working class hero is something to be.

If you want to be a hero well just follow me.

(Words and music by John Lennon, 1970, from the album "Plastic Ono Band")

"Politician" - CREAM

Hey now baby, get in my big black car

I wanna just show you what my politics are.

I'm a political man and I practice what I preach

So don't deny me baby, not while you're in my reach.

I support the left, tho' I'm leanin', leanin' to the right

But I'm just not there when it's coming to a fight.

Hey now baby, get into my big black car

I wanna just show you what my politics are.

(Written by Jack Bruce and Pete Brown, 1969. From the record "Goodbye Cream")

It's so long ago and still so fucking true!

..

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

..

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.

..

Raúl Lino - "Casa do Cipreste", Sintra, Portugal (1993)

..

Working on assignment for Editorial Blau, I came to know this absolutely wonderful project from 1912, in the small town of Sintra.

This is actually one of the houses that Raúl Lino (1879 - 1974) built for himself, and is known as the "Casa do Cipreste", a true icon of the portuguese architecture (maybe I should say "in Portugal" instead... In fact, I think that it looks more german than portuguese, what is natural, thinking that Lino studied in Germany).

Being considered by some to be a controversial personality in our 20th century cultural life, Raúl Lino cannot be ignored for sure. His importance and influence still lasts until today.

"Casa do Cipreste" is definitely a magic place full of charm and warmth, a place of outstanding beauty and harmony.

A place that I would undoubtedly love to call home!

The rectangular images were shot using a Sinar F2 camera in 9x12 cm/4x5 inches, equiped with various lenses manufactured by Schneider in Germany.

The square photographs were shot with a Hasselblad camera in 6x6, using Carl Zeiss lenses (Distagon, Planar and Sonnar types), also made in Germany.

Lighting equipment was made by Hensel in Würzburg, Germany.

Light meters by Sekonic and Minolta.

Ektachrome film by Kodak.

I would like to dedicate this post to the architect Luiz Trigueiros from Editorial Blau, a person to whom I owe a lot in personal and professional terms. He was the one who brought me to professional architectural photography, when I returned home from Germany in 1990. After some small misunderstandings that lasted for some time, we are now on good terms, and I was happy to see him and his wife again.

P.S.: Raúl Lino also designed in 1925 Teatro Curvo Semedo in Montemor-o-Novo, wich you might know from some other posts that I have done.

..

Silke in Mannheim, Germany, August 1989 (Agfachrome RS 1000 - Part Two)

..

All photographs taken with a Nikon F or F3 camera

(probably equiped with a 200mm Nikkor lens),

using Agfachrome RS 1000 film.

On a recent post, I showed some images shot with the old, and long discontinued, Agfachrome RS 1000. As I have stated before, I found it's coarse grain wonderful for some subjects in 120 size, although a little too rough on 35mm film.

A couple of days ago, I happened to find these images taken on the same sessions, using the smaller format, so I thought it would be interesting to post them for you to compare.



I didn't want to fumble with the old slides, so I didn't take them out from the cardboard mounts I used to display them. That is the reason for the brown color of the film frames.

I hope that you enjoy...


P.S.: These photographs make me ponder that color photography has gone a long way, even in a very recent past...
As you know, I am a true film believer, but I must agree that digital easily surpasses (from a technical point of view) film quality at ASA/ISO 1000...

Anyway, I still think that film grain can be a loveable form of expression!

I will forever be a film crusader!!!

..

I wish I could...

..

I wish I could forget the weird darkness which spreads all over this land,

I wish I could say good-bye to all this pain and these sleepless nights,

I wish I could turn my back on this endless Winter,

Put a candid smile on my face and say hello to the world.

Me, being wild with a Minolta camera, somewhere in Bretagne, France, 1977

(And yes, that is film grain!)

For the aficionados: I am holding a 303b in my hands. The lens must be the 1.8/35mm Rokkor that I have mentioned on the former post.

..