The image above is the result of a 6 month long exposure, using a pin-hole camera fashioned from an empty drink can, a 0.25mm aperture, and photographic paper. The photographer is Justin Quinnell, who took that camera and attached it to Bristol’s Clifton Suspension Bridge from December 19, 2007 to June 21, 2008, in other words from the Winter to Summer solstices.

The streaking effect present in the image is the Sun’s light trail, slowly changing course over the course of 6 months. At householdname, they have this interesting passage on Quinnell:

Quinnell, a renowned pin-hole camera artist, says the photograph took on a personal resonance after his father passed away on April 13–halfway through the exposure. He says the picture allows him to pinpoint the exact location of the sun in the sky at the moment of his father passing.

© Justin Quinnell

© Justin Quinnell

© Justin Quinnell

You can see more of Quinnell’s work here.

Spotted at householdname.

Photographer Jens Olof Lasthein Wins Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2010

Swedish photographer Jens Olof Lasthein has won the Leica Oskar Barack award for his series “Waiting for the future – pictures from Abkhazia’”, which aims to tell at least part of the story of the people in the Republic of Abkhazia. Abkhazia considers itself an independent state and so to do a handful of countries. Under international law however Abkhazia is still a territory of Georgia, so despite tremendous turmoil in the area over the last 2 decades, the future of Abkhazia and its people still seems uncertain, a theme it would appear that Jens Olof Lasthein has used as inspiration for this series.

As the winner of the Leica Oskar Barack award, Jens Olof Lasthein wins $6,100 or the equivalent thereof in Leica photographic equipment.

You can check out Jens Olof Lasthein’s series and all the other winners in several different categories at Leica’s website: leica-camera.us. More details in the press release below.

Some better examples from Lasthein’s series and an interview with the photographer can be found at Leica’s blog. Jens Olof Lasthein’s website is www.lasthein.com.

Press Release

Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2010

Jens Olof Lasthein Wins for his Portfolio ‘Waiting for the future – pictures from Abkhazia’  

Solms, Germany (June 2, 2010) – The first prize in this year’s highly prestigious photographic competition, the ‘Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2010,’ goes to the Swedish photographer Jens Olof Lasthein. His award-winning portfolio entitled ‘Waiting for the future – pictures from Abkhazia’ tells the story of the people of the Republic of Abkhazia in the Southern Caucasus. The second winner in this year’s competition is Andy Spyra from Germany. His portfolio, ‘Kashmir,’ shot in the region of the same name, is the winning entry for the ‘Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award 2010.’ The winner of the ‘Leica Oskar Barnack Award’ receives €5,000 (approx. $6,100) or, alternatively, Leica camera equipment of the same value. The winner of the Newcomer Award receives €2,500 (approx. $3,000). The prizes will be presented on July 6, 2010, as part of the photographic festival in Arles.

Although the Republic of Abkhazia – the central theme of the winning portfolio – has gained its independence after a period of unrest and civil war, it is still considered to be a part of Georgia under international law.  This politically complex situation is also reflected in the everyday life of the region. The future of the people there is just as uncertain as that of their home country and it is precisely this uncertainty that Lasthein has captured in his photography.

The Cold War years have left their marks on Abkhazia; the future was simply frozen in time. And this is the state in which the region still finds itself today. The political situation not only hinders the reconstruction of the region, but also cuts its inhabitants off from the rest of the world. So the people wait, trapped between despair and the joyful expectation of a happier future. The portfolio shows the desolate reality: the beaches of Sukhum, the capital city, formerly crowded with vacationers from throughout the Soviet Union, are now almost deserted. The ruined houses and overgrown gardens of the small coastal town Ochamchira appear to have been abandoned. And Tkuarchal, the once thriving industrial center, is now a place of devastated factories and high unemployment. Life in Abkhazia has come to a standstill. Any aims, dreams or plans simply shatter due to the lack of opportunities. “For me, it is much more important that my pictures capture visual insights into life in all its facets than to simply record the bare facts. To capture life as far as possible in all its complexity and diversity – so that my pictures tell their own, sweeping and varied stories,” says the photographer, explaining his work.

Jens Olof Lasthein was born in Sweden in 1964 and grew up in Denmark. After graduating from the Nordic Photo School in Stockholm, he initially worked as a freelance photographer for various magazines, mainly in the fields of reportage and portrait photography. His best-known projects include ‘Moments in Between,’ a collection depicting the war in the former Yugoslavia, and ‘White Sea, Black Sea,’ a visual documentary of the countries along the border of Eastern and Western Europe. Jens Olof Lasthein’s works have already been shown at around 40 solo exhibitions in galleries, museums and photographic events throughout Europe and Asia.

Andy Spyra, from Hagen, Germany, is the winner of the ‘Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award 2010.’ His photography project ‘Kashmir’ ranks among his most important long-term projects. For him, the region he visited for the first time in 2007 is one of the world’s most wonderful places. All the more reason for him to lament the unfortunate situation of the people who live there.

The border region of Kashmir is one of the world’s most intensely militarized zones and has suffered from the territorial conflicts between India and Pakistan for many years. Squeezed between two nuclear powers and arch-enemies, it is of course the civilian population of Kashmir that suffers most: women are raped and murdered; men disappear without trace or are arrested at one of the numerous demonstrations against the military presence in the region. The Kashmir conflict has already claimed over 60,000 victims and the entire region is in a state of trauma. Furthermore, it is primarily the conflict within the population that is responsible for further unrest. Many young men who come to Kashmir with the intention of protecting the populace originate from poor, rural regions and are seen as foreigners: they do not speak the language and belong to other cultures and religions. Several political and religious factions exploit this situation for their own purposes. They add fuel to the hate and mistrust within the local populace and form a front against the people they are actually supposed to protect. Spyra’s impressive black-and-white photography draws attention to the fate and suffering of the indigenous population. The intention is clear: viewers of these images not only see the situation in Kashmir, but also experience it on an emotional level and empathize with the local people.

Andy Spyra was born in Hagen in 1984. After taking his university qualification examinations, he worked for a year as a freelance photographer for a local newspaper before he began studying photography in 2007 at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hanover. He has already won numerous awards for his photography and has been published in magazines like Geo, Middle East Report and 360° Magazine.

This year’s ‘Leica Oskar Barnack Award’ achieved a new record with a total of over 1,700 entrants. Professional photographers from over 79 countries took part in the competition. This year’s jury included the Leica photographer and World Press Award 2009 winner Anthony Suau, Volker Lensch (Photographic Editor of STERN magazine), Eva Gravayat (Exhibition Producer of the photography festival Les Rencontres d’Arles), Karin Rehn-Kaufmann (Artistic Director of the Leica Gallery Salzburg) and Dr. Andreas Kaufmann (Member of the Supervisory Board of Leica Camera AG).

For additional information, please visit leica-camera.us. To request image samples from the winning photographers, please contact Evins Communications.

About Leica Camera:

Leica represents a union of craftsmanship, technology and experience. It is at once an extension of art, knowledge and philosophy, providing a state-of-the-art optical experience in a precision, hand-made photographic instrument. Leica Camera has a simple mission: to provide users with an incomparable experience, an instrument that defines an unsurpassed heritage and sets a standard of excellence for the industry to meet.

Like you, we here at Neutralday.com find ourselves buying new camera gear from time to time. I’ve been on a bit of tear of late, so I thought I’d share some recent additions. One of the things I’d been wanting to get for awhile now is nice tripod, specifically of the carbon fiber variety. Readers will know, these don’t come cheap, even the cheap ones aren’t cheap. One thing was clear at the beginning, I wouldn’t be getting a Gitzo, so after much research, I settled on:

The Manfrotto 055CXPRO3 Tripod: It’s a 3 section carbon fiber tripod with a center column. The tripod itself weighs about 3.5 lbs and is 68.9 inches high, so with a ballhead attached it’s easily eye-height for me (I’m 6′ 1″). The legs lock with flip levers and the center column comes up and over to parallel, and all of it works quite smoothly. I’m happy to say this thing is rock solid for my uses, this guy is strong and stable. Flaws? No hook for hanging weight is about it, other than maybe cost. I got the Manfrotto 055CXPRO3 at B&H Photo, where it set me back about $400. That’s a big ouch, but I am loving this thing!

• Manfrotto by Bogen Imaging 055CXPRO3 3-Section Carbon Fiber Tripod Legs at B&H Photo

Markins M10 Ballhead: Another well researched addition. The Markin M10 is small compact ballhead that features a neat little trick that allows the user to dial in a “sweet spot” where one can freely move the camera, but still let go of it and have it stay firmly in place. The M10 is beautifully crafted and works like butter. Spec’d to 90 lb capacity, the M10 will be fine for most camera/lens combinations, but for real long glass, it’s best to get the bigger M20. Another not cheap addition at $339, and worse, not easy to find. They don’t carry Markins at B&H Photo, so for this you’ll have to go to Markins directly.

• Markins M10 Ballhead at MarkinsAmerica.com

Canon BG-E6 Battery Grip: I know I’ll be buying a portrait type lens soon, and it can be a pain to do portrait work without a vertical grip, so I finally broke down and got the BG-E6 for the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. It doesn’t add any performance to the 5D Mark II, but it does allow you to install 2 batteries for twice the power. Of course it also allows for pretty comfortable vertical shooting with some carry over controls from the horizontal position. On the negative side, it adds quite a bit of weight, but so far it’s worth the compromise. The grip cost me $249 at B&H Photo

• Canon BG-E6 Battery Grip at B&H Photo

B+W Filters: Widely regarded as the maker of some of the best filters, I thought I’d give B+W a try, and so opted to buy their #110 Neutral Density (ND) 3.0 Glass Filter as well as their Circular Polarizer Multi-Resistant Coated (MRC) Glass Filter. Both are high quality looking and feeling items, and I really can’t complain about the performance. The ND filter is good for 10 stops, it’s so dark you can’t see through it, which is great for long exposures (where you’ll need a tripod, see above.). Once again, these items aren’t cheap, $91 for the ND filter and $156 for the polarizer.

• B+W #110 Neutral Density (ND) 3.0 Glass Filter at B&H Photo
• B+W Circular Polarizer Multi-Resistant Coated (MRC) Glass Filter at B&H Photo

That’s it for this edition of “Recent Additions” but before we leave you, a couple of readers with their own “Recent Additions”.

Photographer Rupert Marlow acquires a Panasonic GF1: Reader Rupert Marlow is the lucky new owner of the excellent Panasonic Lumix GF1. He discusses the GF1 and posts plenty of image samples at his blog:

• http://rupertmarlowphotography.posterous.com/

Writer/Artist Eolake Stobblehouse acquires a Nikai FMD: Reader Eolake Stobblehouse, who has a new camera of some sort every time I turn around, discusses his latest acquistion  at his blog:

• http://eolake.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-new-nikai-camera.html

Camille Seaman has a new body of work titled “The Big Cloud”, some of it currently being shown at Soulcatcher Studio’s website. Seaman has already garnered some renown for her series of photographs of icebergs (”The Last Iceberg”), and that seems likely to grow based on the evocative images of supercells that Seaman chased for 10 days in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota. Via Soulcatcher Studio:

The storms we were chasing were Supercells, capable of producing grapefruit sized hail, and spectacular tornadoes; they were 50 miles wide and reached as high as 65,000 ft. into the atmosphere. These clouds were so large that they had the capability of blocking all daylight, making it very dark and ominous standing under them.”

-Camille Seaman

© Camille Seaman "The Collapse III (3), South Dakota, USA, June 2008"

© Camille Seaman "The Collapse II (2), South Dakota, USA, June 2008"

© Camille Seaman "Chasing the Storm, Kansas, USA, May 2008"

I loved Seaman’s icebergs, not simply for the subject matter, but also how she personified them, in addition to her overall treatment, toning etc. All of that carries over to the “The Big Cloud” images, which for me evoke much more than a simple awe for the power of nature. Striking work from a great photographer.

Check out Camille Seaman’s website at www.camilleseaman.com.

All work is copyright © Camille Seaman.

Up right now and through November 29 is Sam Taylor-Wood’s exhibition of photographs at White Cube Mason’s Yard, London. Titled “YES | NO”,  the exhibit includes three series of photos and one film, in which Taylor-Wood explores “absence and mortality”. Via White Cube:

…the pictures depict a beautiful and expressive landscape, and yet one that is also bleak, almost exhausted, as if the landscape itself expressed the novel’s brutal take on the themes of desire, thwarted love and suffering. One picture depicts two leafless trees, one large and dominant, the other appearing to turn away meekly, in a relationship that seems to embody that between Catherine and Heathcliff. In another, a brisk wind pushes some yellow-grey grass along a ridge beneath a moody sky. Although the photographs are suffused with the chill of winter, the harsh beauty of the landscape gives the photographs a hint of vibrancy and resilience.

© Sam Taylor-Wood Ghosts X 2008

© Sam Taylor-Wood Ghosts VI 2008

Mason's Yard, Ground Floor Gallery Photo: Todd-White Art Photography (click to enlarge)

I was lucky enough to see some of these works at Mass MOCA a little while back. Lovely landscapes with such a somber tone to them.

Find out more and see some of Taylor-Wood’s work at White Cube.

Closing this week is an exhibition of photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto’s latest series of work, “Lightning Fields”, at San Franciso’s Fraenkel Gallery. This latest work depicts electricity, quite literally. For the images, Sugimoto used a Van De Graaff 400,000 volt generator to apply a charge directly to the camera film. The resulting images can take on any number of forms and blur the lines on what viewers might consider abstract or representational.

Exhibition view

More information at the Fraenkel Gallery.

One portfolio I’ve been turning to quite frequently over last month is photographer Josef Hoflehner’s. Hoflehner is a landscape photographer, of both the urban and more natural varieties, whose exquisitely done black and white prints capture slices of time with near sublime results.

© Josef Hoflehner Burj Dubai - Dubai, Emirates, 2009

A frequent traveler, Hoflehner has photographed the landscapes of too many places to fully mention here, but the list includes the likes of Yemen, India, Iceland, Vietnam, Cairo, Venice, New York City, and most recently the rapidly changing cityscape of Dubai. I had hoped to pick out some favorites, but ended up failing, there’s unfortunately just too many gems in Hoflehner’s many series of works. Hoflehner has a keen eye for picking out just the right composition, and does so without falling back on any formula. From symmetry to asymmetrical, balanced to unbalanced, Hoflehner finds a way to make everything work, and does so with great aesthetic effect. That’s not to say Hoflehner just takes a pretty photo though. Unquestionably Hoflehner’s skilled technique at working in black and white, and frequent use of long shutter times do make for beautiful photos, but Hoflehner’s photographs don’t leave the seriousness out in the field, instead they easily balance depth and beauty with profound results.

© Josef Hoflehner Black Beauty - Dubai, Emirates, 2009

Josef Hoflehner (b. 1955) is an Austrian photographer know world round for his black and white photography work. Hoflehner was the winner of the Nature Photographer of the Year 2007. Hoflehner is represented around the world in over 13 galleries including the Bonni Benrubi Gallery in New York City. Many more examples of Hoflehner’s work, as well as finely produced monographs of his work, are available at his website, www.josefhoflehner.com.

All images in this post: © Josef Hoflehner.
Title image features: Water Buffalo II – Guangxi, China, 2007 © Josef Hoflehner.

"The Art of Frederick Sommer: Photography, Drawing, Collage"

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is now showing the work of photographer/artist Frederick Sommer, in a show titled, “Frederick Sommer Photographs”. From the show description:

Over his long life Frederick Sommer (American, 1905–1999) crafted a body of art inflected by surrealist ideas and distinguished by his meticulous love for the art of photographic printing, his broad knowledge of art history, and a keen sense of how the parts of a picture come together to produce meaning. This exhibition surveys five decades of his photography, including disorienting compositions such as Arizona Landscape (1943), a

Max Ernst, 1946 © Frederick and Frances Sommer Foundation

horizonless image that only gradually resolves its components into a desolate desert scene, and equally bewildering subjects such as Max Ernst (1946), in which Sommer experimented with layered negatives, superimposing an image of a rock onto a portrait of the pioneering Dada and surrealist artist to create the illusion of a human morphing into rock.

Some of Sommer’s techniques may seem old hat by now, double exposures, etc. but Sommer was one of the first to explore photography as an artistic medium, and is generally considered one of the “masters of photography”. Using large format cameras and unconventional methods, Sommer made influential works that are still interesting today.

Availability

• “The Art of Frederick Sommer: Photography, Drawing, Collage” is available at Amazon

Additional Resources

• The Frederick Sommer Foundation
• Learn more about Sommer at the Getty’s website