Photographing London 2012- the works

"Photographing London" is now in it's 6th year and despite the risky date we managed to have a good day out. We were extremely lucky to have escaped the rain during the trip on the 22nd April. However, we were hit by heavy showers on our way home!

A small selection of images presented by the photographers in week 2 are displayed below. We tried to find a thread in the work and edited towards a theme for each photographer.

The participants were: Rohanna, Stephen, Karin, Shan, Alex, Phillip, Louise, Meg, Maria.















Images left © Julia Horbaschk

My next workshop starts 26th May and is hosted by City College: http://www.ccb.ac.uk/public/college-life/photographing-Brighton

For more images from the course visit our Flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/photolondon

Images by 2012 participants of "Photographing London":
 
© Stephen Shaw 


















© Saron Richards




























© Shankar K. Eham

© Louise Workman

© Phillip Howell



































© Alex Laxton

Ideas generation- Photo Fringe 2012

I am revising a few ideas for my own work (and potentially this year's Photo Fringe). Today, I continued my mind mapping and edited one image from each test. The ideas have been sitting in my notebook for a while now! You can see the work in progress below.

It's not easy to generate new ideas but even harder to stick with them and create something half decent from it! Especially if you want your work to be contemporary and without cliches (as suggested by Martin Parr). At the last ArtsFORUM, Martin Seeds' project "I have troubles" has inspired me to try once again. Come back sometime and check how the ideas develop...

"The landless generation"
Work I have started out on in summer 2011 along the back roads of Shoreham Port. The project is inspired by Fay Godwin's "Our forbidden land" which comments critically on the claim of public land for private use by co-operations/government.

Since arriving in the UK in 1999, I have noticed how little investment is given to recreational areas allowing swim, rest and play. These images explore the potential of "shared space" and its need for this generation.





"MAKEShift"

This project is a comment on our current economic situation. There has been a resurgence of buying and selling second hand goods with a view towards sustainability.

The project aims to look at the value we place on objects (quality vs. quantity vs. price vs. usability). It is an attempt to a multi-layered approach encompassing objects and portraits. I have started image making in November 2011 photographing at car boots sale.


At this stage I am exploring where my motivation for taking these images comes from and if these projects have anything that ties them together. The titles are working titles and subject to change... Some of the work is shot on medium format, some on my mobile and some on vintage film cameras found at car boots sales. See results here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/freshandwild/sets/72157629000113363

I would also like to involve a group of photographers opening a photo stall/live shoot.
Get in touch for more info: j.horbaschk@gmail.com

Homage to Kodak- another vintage experiment

In light of Kodak's news this week, filing for bankruptcy protection, I thought I share another experiment with my favourite B/W film: The Kodak T-max. Whilst taking pictures on the car booty with my first vintage camera, I came across another little creative bargain. For £2 I bought this Halina Paulette made in Hong Kong in the 60s. Apparently very popular in the UK.

I had the honour to take the very last roll of film on this camera!

At frame no 24 the Pauletta decided to fall apart. It was a great little camera to play with. Specs include: a built-in selenium meter, a good shutter speed range, bulb setting and flash sync! Plus a good range of f-stops -much better than the Ilford Sporty!


The images below are shot in Brighton North Lanes (Dec. 2011) on 35mm Kodak T-max 100. © Julia Horbaschk. Only basic level adjustments- no sharpening applied. Click on the images to enlarge.

Also check out my experiments with Kodak 120 rollfilm and Ilford Sporty here and visit my Flickr set: www.flickr.com/photos/freshandwild/sets/72157629000113363. Comments welcome.

Ilford Sporty - a few more pictures

Here a few more pictures from the 1960s Ilford Sporty taken in Nov. 2011. Not bad for what looks like a plastic lens. Still have to master the winding mechanism as it's a little random- although some people like the effect (panorama below= winding error). 120 Kodak Tmax 100. No sharpening applied. Only basic level adjustments.

Ilford Sporty experiments

Here one of the negs from my first roll taken on the Ilford Sporti. As I bought it at Car Boot Sale, I thought I could also shoot it there. I wanted to do a project on Car Boot Sales for a while.

I was surprised about the outcome after reading that most users only got blurred shots. This one came out the best- click to enlarge. It was scanned by Tom Wilson-Keller. I believe some sharpening occurred. Will shortly add the other frames and for comparison will not apply sharpening...

I submitted the contact sheet to Photo Collective "Preston is my Paris" who run a curious archive project at the Photo Fringe Open: http://www.findbrighton.blogspot.com/2011/11/julia-horbaschk-camera-ilford-sports.html

Rollfilm: A love story

A few months ago, I sold my Digital SLR and started shooting again on my Bronica. I found a good value 120 back at Clock Tower Cameras giving me an extra boost in using up all my expired film from the fridge. I hope this helped my camera to warm up. I am enjoying the slowed down working procedure of film and the quality of the large negs.

On the other hand, a little frustrating is the limited exposure range and the heavy weight of the camera and all it's needed gear (two backs, tripod, light meter etc). And of course there is the price. With predictions that the end of film is near and shops reducing the amount of stock and upping the price it feels like walking near the edge of the cliff.

However, film just has some excitement to it that digital does not compare with. Even new-comers to the medium can feel it- it's not just nostalgia. Furthermore, going back to my last blog entry and the importance of experimentation it is also rather enjoyable to mix and match different styles of image making and not stick to just one solution. Who knows best then photographer Chris Coekin (Knock Three Times, the Hitcher) who experiments with different styles and presents multi-dimensional projects.

In the process of shooting two new projects, I started to ask myself if it really matters what medium we take the images with and I am currently experimenting with mobile phone imagery to go alongside the 6x6 results. I am even thinking to use the recently bought Ilford Sporti for my other project, which would benefit from a vintage/amateur style, yet have 6x6 frames.

Will reveal the results once I have mastered the task of bulk colour shift/cast removal.

A little creative bargain: Ilford Sporty 6 (1963)

It's important to experiment and to break loose from conventions, norms and expectations. Some would argue this will lead to more creativity - and I need some!

On this note I am writing a blog entry purely hoping to illustrate the point. After all, we lecturers too often have our heads full of rules and regs and yearly CPD (Continuous Professional Development). (Ouch, if Graham ever reads this, I will have to pay up for the swear words!)

Hence, in an attempt to keep my own creative work going and blog once a month, I am writing about what keeps me engaged in the photographic universe.

An Ilford Sporty 6 (1963)

Initially I only bought it for a laugh and £1.50 at my local car boot sale and so far it cost me a few tears with the first film coming out blank. I don't even share much with the Lomo/ Diana fascination and yet something makes me smile when bantering over this little Ilford bargain.


I'm not sure if it's the fact that it's a 6x6 and the last sincere production of it's kind or perhaps that it was manufactured in Reutlingen by Dacora Kamerawerke, just 10 miles from where I was born, and that it has traveled around for almost 50 years, just to be found around the corner from where I live today? I suppose this may be it: a nostalgic moment and a reminder that photography is often oh so autobiographical.

To see the first test shots of this little bargain camera check back shortly...

Ref: http://www.thecamerasite.net/07_Viewfinder_Cameras/Pages/ilford-sporti.htm