nothing is too perverse
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
All pictures taken with: Zorki 3C and Jupiter 8 50mm f/2.0.
Ilford HP5+ souped in Rodinal 1:100.
On Sunday I also took my Zorki 3C to the flea market. As you can see, I’m definitely starting to get a hang of shooting with it. I didn’t use the light meter at all and the pictures turned out fine. I still need to work on it a bit, but I actually had quite a number of pictures that were properly exposed just like that. I was also shooting from the hip a fair bit, which means that I’m doing alright guessing distances as well. When I started with the Zorki I wanted to be able to use it for street photography. Well, goal achieved, I’d say! That’s of course no reason to stop. In fact I’m just getting started! Next up on the list of rolls to develop is my first roll with my new Zorki 4K and the 35mm lens. I’m really curious as to how they both perform.
time travel
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
“Just 10 Euros,” he said after he saw me look at that camera. It was a generic analog camera, not too sophisticated and in dire need of a thorough cleaning. “I don’t know … it’s a bit …” – “Dirty?” He asked. “Yeah, and besides, I just bought a new camera last week!” Then I moved on quickly, because I didn’t want to get tempted.
Flea markets can be a good spot to pick up analog cameras if you keep your eyes open and don’t buy the first thing that falls into your hands. This time I saw a Kiev in nice condition, and at least one Zorki. I say “at least” because one of those I saw looked exactly like a Zorki 4K, but it had cyrillic engravings. Not paint, no, engravings! It also wasn’t a Zorki 4, because it had a film advance lever instead of a dial. And 4Ks usually don’t have engravings! I was confused. And the lens? It didn’t even look like a Zorki lens! Whatever it was, the viewfinder was broken, so I walked past it. Besides, I just bought a very similar camera last week.
What did I buy? Well, last week I was just watching an auction of a Zorki 4K, seeing where the price would go and somehow I happened to win it … by accident almost. I wasn’t expecting for the price to stay so low, because it was a Zorki 4K with a Jupiter 12 35mm f/2.8 lens and even a case! The lens alone would normally go for a higher price than what I paid in total. I don’t know what kept the price low, but in any case, I was happy. Today the camera arrived in the mail and everything seems to work just fine on initial inspection. The lens looks good, the camera seems to be in good shape, the shutter speeds seem to work ok and even the self timer runs alright. There are only two things I could find wrong with it for now: the plastic bit of the film advance lever is gone and there are two missing screws in the baseplate. The film advance lever works fine like that and I’m not bothered about it. I covered the sharp metal edge with a bit of heat shrink wire insulation and now it looks and feels fine. The missing screws give me more of a headache though, because they could cause light leaks. I will have to shoot a roll of film with it to see whether there is a problem or not. Generally the camera seems to be in fine condition though and I can’t wait to go out to test it. It would be nice to have a working Zorki 4K. The Zorki 3C is definitely much prettier, but I keep breaking my fingernails on the film advance dial. The lever of the 4K is much more convenient, so although the camera is a little ugly in comparison it would make the experience of shooting film ever so slightly less tedious.
Next week I’ll be going to Spain, so this week is all about deciding which cameras to take with me. I already decided on my trusty little Olympus E-PL3, because it’s so nice and small, but I definitely want to take one of my Zorkis as well. After putting all this effort into analog photography I won’t go almost 2 months without it! Before I leave I hope to get through a couple of rolls with my new 4K to see whether I stick with the 3C or take the new one. I’m also looking forward to trying my new 35mm lens which was the main reason for getting the 4K in the first place. It’s going to be even more tricky for framing, because the viewfinder of the Zorki doesn’t even work very well for framing 50mm shots, let alone for shots with a different focal length. For 35mm an external viewfinder would be a good idea, but for now I’ll try to make do without it.
In the end I didn’t buy anything on the flea market. I took quite a few pictures, both with my Zorki and with my E-PL3 though and I’m happy with the outcome. I hope I also managed to get some good ones with the Zorki, but I will only know tomorrow when I scan the results.
in pairs
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
Yesterday instead of going outside I just relaxed and developed a roll of Tmax film from last year. Almost every roll apart from the second one I developed myself had some kind of flaw. The first roll ripped in the camera and was scratched. The third I fixed with old wrongly mixed fixer and cut it before checking it – it still has yellow spots and drying marks -, the fourth roll didn’t sit at the bottom of the tank and the top of the frames didn’t get enough developer. This time I almost made the fixer mistake again, because I mixed up the fixer bottles. Luckily I realised it almost immediately and fixed it again with the right fixer solution. However, despite having dodged that mistake, there was still something wrong with the roll. When I opened the spool to hang the film, two thirds of the roll were empty! This time it wasn’t a developing mistake though, it was that infamous roll where I tried to fix the issue of having sprocket holes in my pictures with a bit of foamy plastic. It jammed the film advance dial and even after I removed the foam in the dark that specific film kept getting stuck. In the end I gave up and just rewound the film. Well, one day I will get everything right and not pull a face when I look at what comes out of the developing tank! Digital pictures are often so flawless and clinical. For now I keep having the opposite problem with my analog pictures. I guess it’s a matter of practice.
The pictures I show to you today were taken on Thursday when I had to go to the hospital for a checkup. It’s one of those routes that involves lots of walking and not many opportunities for taking pictures. And since hospitals freak me out a bit anyway, I wasn’t exactly in the right mood. I still came back with some decent enough pictures though.
companions
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
When I copied pictures from my SD card yesterday I suddenly became confused with the dates. I completely forgot that between my trip to the planetarium and my trip to the hospital for a checkup I actually went out to go to my photography course. A whole day just disappeared from my awareness and I needed the timestamp of my pictures of that day to remind me where all that time had gone. Speaking of time, did I mention that it seems to fly these days? Not only is it June already, but my analog photography course ended as well! Didn’t I just start that? Well, nevermind, the important thing is that the content stays in my mind. I learned how to develop film and have since started to develop film at home. I learned how to make contact sheets, how to make prints, how to use multigrade paper and how to dodge and burn in the darkroom. It was so much fun!
The most valuable part of all this was learning how to develop film, because now I’m much more in control of how my pictures turn out. I can change ISO settings in the middle of a roll, can shoot without paying too much attention to the light meter and I know that for the most part I will still end up with something usable. And most importantly, I don’t have to pay 5€ for something that only costs a few cents when I do it myself. The next thing I want to try at home will be to make my own contact sheets. My photography course really showed me how useful they can be, especially when you just want to evaluate your pictures quickly or when you’re trying to find a specific negative. At the moment I have to actually scan the whole roll in full resolution before I can see whether the pictures are sharp, which is a bit of a hassle. With contact sheets I can evaluate the pictures before and only scan those that turned out alright.
I won’t try the contact sheets immediately. Since my checkup at the hospital confirmed that I’m healing alright after my surgery, I will actually be in San Sebastian over the next month. Finally a real holiday! This also means that I won’t have access to a darkroom, which I actually see as a good thing. Using a commercial lab for a while won’t be the end of the world and it will force me to be more accurate with measuring light a while longer. My main plan is to relax on the beach though, take pictures whenever I feel like it and hopefully enjoy some good food as well. My next doctors appointment here in Berlin is in August, so that gives me at least a month to relax and get a real holiday away from doctors, away from the city and from my daily routine. And my return from Spain is as good a time as any to start making my own contact sheets.
Speaking of August: Last year in August after I finished my 365 project I wrote that my goal for the following year was to really get into analog photography. I wanted to really get the hang of shooting my Zorki and to learn how to develop my own film. At this point I can give you a clear update on these goals: I definitely got into analog photography and I also learned how to develop my own film. I even learned some more darkroom techniques apart from that. I filled 10 rolls of film with my Zorki so far and although I’m not completely at ease with the camera yet, it’s definitely getting better. By now I can properly expose with the help of an external light meter and I’m trying to get the hang of judging light intuitively without a meter. Until August I’m planning to shoot at least another 10 rolls of film and maybe by then I can really say that I got the hang of taking pictures with my Zorki.
I’m really happy that I’m actually reaching my goals. With all my health problems in the last year it’s really reassuring to be able to still do the things I want to do. In fact I even went beyond my goals. I figured out that my passion lies in street photography and updated my gear accordingly. I also had a few pictures in an exhibition in Dresden and I made a portfolio to apply to art school. I didn’t get in, but at least from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf I got a response which showed that I’m on the right path. After all this I think I deserve a holiday!
By the way, don’t expect me to drop off the face of the Earth while I’m not in Berlin. I’m not only taking my Zorki but also my E-PL3 and I’m actually really looking forward to some street photography in the Basque Country.
six
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
The other day when I took my Zorki to the planetarium I took some more pictures even after I finished my roll of film. I exchanged my Zorki for my E-PL3, which I had in my bag as well. It is absolutely no problem to carry around two cameras as long as one of them is light and small. And I’m sure glad that I had the Olympus on me, because I really like the first picture! It was taken at the station Gesundbrunnen, which is exceptionally dark with really strange lighting in some places. I’ve attempted pictures at precisely this spot again and again, but the lighting is really difficult and the autofocus is usually struggling a lot under such conditions. This time I got lucky!
People don’t like to admit it, but street photography relies on luck a lot. Sure, the photographer is in control, he has to know where to go, where to find the right kind of people, the right kind of scenes, the right kind of camera settings and so on, but in the end he depends also a lot on luck. That miraculous moment when the right scene meets the right light is a matter of chance. If you’re unlucky your camera is out of battery or your roll of film is full right when that moment happens. If you’re unlucky your autofocus decides to be unbearably slow or someone walks right in front of your lens. And if you’re really unlucky it’s all over when you’re finally close enough to get a decent shot. Luckily it doesn’t always matter that you missed the shot. Doing street photography often means that you notice moments that other people ignore, because they are too busy to be in the moment. That’s always something to be appreciated, even if the picture turns out nothing like you imagined.
to the east
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
All pictures taken with: Zorki 3C and Jupiter 8 50mm f/2.0.
Ilford HP5+ souped in Rodinal (stand development).
The day before yesterday I decided to head east to check out the planetarium. The show inside is supposed to be really lame with animations from the 70s, but the building is just cool. It also made total sense to go there because I was heading out with my Zorki. Where better to go with a soviet camera than a place that made kids dream about being a cosmonaut?
To get to the planetarium I had to take a tram to Bornholmer Straße, and change there to the S-Bahn. I can’t remember having seen that station from the inside before, and I have to say that I quite like it. Picture 2 and 3 were taken inside and the first picture out front. The planetarium itself lies at Prenzlauer Allee and is surrounded by a little park. It was a rather sunny day, so I took a stroll in the park and filled up my roll of film there. I was practicing zone focusing and I was also shooting without a light meter for the most part, so a lot of the pictures in the park were actually quite overexposed. This doesn’t matter much, because one can do a lot in post processing, although of course in the darkroom it would result in a lot more grain. I’m trying to develop a feel for light though, so this was good practice. Now I know that on such a bright and sunny day I should either stop down even more (I was mostly at f/8.0) or use a higher shutter speed. Zone focussing worked well though and most pictures were sharp enough. My Jupiter 8 doesn’t seem to be the sharpest lens anyway, so it was as sharp as it gets.
When I got home that day I almost immediately proceeded to develop the film. And speaking of mistakes: I probably didn’t put the spool in correctly, since when I opened the tank after fixing the spool wasn’t at the bottom of the tank. Definitely not good enough for stand development. It didn’t end up too bad though. Maybe 2 mm of the top of the images are murky, but the rest is fine. Next time I’ll make sure to push the spool all the way down. Well, it’s all a learning experience.
By the way, in case you’re wondering: Scanning the pictures takes up much more time than developing. It took me about an hour to make the raw scans, which was followed by another hour going over the negatives one by one, selecting the ones I want to edit and doing basic sharpening on them. After that I roughly edited the ones I liked the most and picked the ones I wanted to show to you here. Finally I went over this final selection and removed dust and scratches with the clone stamp tool. This is boring stuff, but when you work with film, dust is unavoidable, even if you use antistatic solution and wipe the negatives before scanning. You see, it involves a lot more hassle than the digital workflow. However, it’s also rewarding. It feels like there is a lot more skill needed, starting with my fully manual camera, development and finally scanning, which seems to be an art in itself as well. In my photography course I have also been making prints and this again takes a lot of time. When at the end of 2 hours work you get to take a couple of nice prints home, it feels like you achieved something though.
highly inappropriate
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
I know, childish, right, but this really made me chuckle. And I couldn’t find out at all what it was all about either.
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
These girls were standing around there for ages. Not sure whether they were waiting for something, but whatever their intentions, it gave me plenty of time to get some shots of them.
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
One minute to go.
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
These girls had a whole hand interaction going on there that kept changing while they walked past me.
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
When I was in the hospital there was a phase when I was feeling too bad to read a book, but not brain-dead enough to watch television. As a result I discovered a really nice photography magazine. It’s called Schwarzweiss and it’s a magazine about black and white photography that is relatively light on the technical aspects, but rich in very interesting beautiful black and white pictures. Since I liked it I decided to buy the latest issue yesterday. I went to Friedrichstraße to see whether my favourite bookstore had it in store only to realise that they sell hardly a dozen magazines in total. They sent me on to the bookstore in the train station, because they were much more likely to have it. I popped into a couple of places that sold mostly magazines in and around the station, but both of them didn’t have the magazine in question. So, in the end I decided to give up and buy some groceries instead. I went into the organic supermarket and then decided to stop by a more regular shop as well. At the moment they are renovating the station, so you pretty much can’t be sure whether to find the shop you’re looking for until you’re already in it. Turned out that they closed the grocery shop I had in mind, but I stumbled into another bookshop instead. And this one in fact had the magazine! Considering that I’m also really happy with the first picture of this bunch, this was really a very successful outing.
on the corner
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
The best way to shoot street pictures for me is to just go out on my typical errands and take my camera with me. This makes it cumbersome to take a bigger camera or one that needs a lot of stopping, measuring light, taking care of the direction of the sun and so on. No wonder that I have to make an effort to take my Zorki out for a spin. It involves a little bit of planning and I can’t just take pictures on the move. It requires me to slow down, and preferably go to a place where I’m not too out of place with a camera in front of my face. My neighbourhood? Well, difficult. I read somewhere that in the Middle East people are much more suspicious of cameras. Maybe that’s why I don’t feel at ease at all around here when I’m pointing my camera towards a stranger. After all there are a lot of people from the Middle East in this neighbourhood. Here my little Olympus and shooting from the hip comes in handy even though it depends much more on luck whether I get a good picture or not.
Despite this I will try to do more shooting on film the next couple of weeks. I can now develop my own film, so there is much less of a delay when shooting on film. I can shoot a roll one day, develop it the same day and scan it the next. It’s more effort than digital, but I think it will get me somewhere. I think a few weeks of slowing down and taking pictures more deliberately will really help. I’m planning to shoot 2 rolls a week. Not sure how this will work out, but I will give it a shot. And there is no reason why I shouldn’t continue shooting on the move as well. It’s so convenient to have a small camera to take everywhere!
bright days
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
The last few days were exceptionally slow going. I spent lots of time relaxing and doing only things I enjoy. Apart from a walk through the neighbourhood yesterday I did absolutely nothing worth mentioning. Sometimes it’s just like that, especially when you’re in a bit of a mood. I will continue with my relaxing days and don’t force myself to do anything. I think I’ve earned a little break. And lucky me, it’s even sunny!
The downsides of applying to art school
invasion | Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2011
As you might remember, I applied to art school a few months ago. It was one of those crazy ideas from the start, so I really wasn’t expecting much. I already have a Masters and I don’t really need another education. Since the public art schools don’t take fees over here it would have just been nice though. I applied to two schools, Universität der Künste Berlin and Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, both good schools, but the one in Berlin is obviously more popular. Every year UdK gets tons and tons of applications – literally, portfolios are heavy – so I wasn’t expecting anything. The application is a two stage process with a portfolio and an entrance exam. I wasn’t even expecting to get past the portfolio stage.
Already a little while back I got my rejection letter from Düsseldorf. They graded my work 2.86, which is better than the worst mark – and they mostly only send out those. I was actually really happy with the outcome, because it basically meant that there was some potential in there. Good enough for me. At that point I already knew that there would be a rejection from UdK as well. It is easier to get into Düsseldorf, because they have much less applications. Well, yesterday I got my rejection letter from UdK and I have to say that this was a much more frustrating experience. The letter says that my work is derivative and follows “poorly understood role models”, employs clichés and doesn’t show any ideas of my own. Ouch! I mean, I expected a harsh letter from them, since I read one of those online somewhere, but it’s a whole other thing to actually read this about your own work. Yesterday when I opened the letter I thought for a moment “Wow, they really hated my work”!
good day everyone | Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2012
I was on my way to my analog photography course and these words were ringing in my ears: “poorly understood? … poorly understood! … poorly understood …”. And then I started thinking. Wait a minute, what does that even mean?! They don’t even know my influences and assume I don’t understand them? That doesn’t even make any sense! There was no concreteness in this judgement, no specific reference. Derivative of what? And clichés? Sorry, no nudes, no skulls, no manga, no fantasy art, no street photography of homeless people. In fact, I racked my brains for probably an hour and I couldn’t even think of one cliché that fits my selection. I’m also not aspiring to become like a specific photographer. I can tell you influences, but these have very different styles. Derivative? I don’t know. Well, after thinking about it for a while I realised that they weren’t actually writing this about my work. They probably send a version of this to everyone. In the end “derivative” and “cliché” fits probably most of the stuff they are sent, so maybe it’s just what they send back to everyone who doesn’t get in.
In the end it comes down to this: They have too many applications and they liked the work of other people better. Period. And who are these people anyway? If whoever wrote this was a teacher there, then I can expect them to be primarily artists who have better things to do than to be locked in a room with thousands of portfolios full of poorly drawn dragons and skulls. On some level I can understand the sentiment, although it’s probably not a particularly good attitude to have for a teacher.
bloodbath | Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2012
My stuff wasn’t good enough and they probably don’t even know why. The problem is that they have to give an explanation, since in Germany you can sue your way into a university. Any explanation! Better tell everyone that they suck big time so that they are entirely discouraged from even trying that route or from ever bothering them again with an application. Saves money like that.
In the end I’m not surprised that it works like this here. In Germany it’s entirely normal to have your spirits crushed. While I was in secondary school I always felt that the schools were designed to extract any type of individuality out of the kids and instil a sense of quiet desperation that forces everyone to just take any meaningless job. Equalise personalities, crush spirits, make them obey, make them do their job, instil ideology into them, that’s the purpose. Sounds harsh? Well, if you think about the history of mass education then this was precisely what education was all about when it was first introduced anyway. And even though now there might be more opportunities and there might be even a way to get something out of it, there are still remnants of this old purpose in the system. And art school is no exception. Think about it: Many brilliant artists dropped out of art school, because the system was too oppressive. Many artists also refused to take teaching jobs for the same reason. And additionally even nowadays there are many different forces at work that want to restrict creativity to the same oppressive and elitist art schools and crush it everywhere else. For example, here in Berlin they recently closed down the art space Tacheles and in Dresden they are planning to build a mall where the Freiraum Elbetal is located. As long as art is restricted to a canvas in galleries and museums the establishment is fine with it. Street art, graffiti, artist squats though? No, those are not artists, they are thugs! Criminals who vandalise public property. Or even better, lazy people who don’t want to do real work! That’s something Germans definitely don’t want to encourage. Funny that even the art schools over here are part of the ideological brainwashing.
miss piggy | San Sebastian | © Verena Fischer 2011
In the end there are many different reasons why I shouldn’t even give this letter any more attention. It makes me wonder though. I myself am old enough to understand the forces at work here and know better than to take this harsh judgement too seriously. I will carry on with my work anyway, regardless of what these people say. What about those kids though? Those impressionable young kids, who just came out of school and aren’t quite sure of themselves or their work yet. What would such a letter do to them? Is it really necessary to crush people’s dreams like that? Isn’t it harsh enough already to get rejected by your dream school? Why go further than that? Luckily I never had very high hopes and UdK certainly wasn’t my dream school, but hey, the same thing just happened to tons of people who had high hopes and were dreaming a little. It’s a depressing thought that right now tons of talented creative young people are racking their brains about a stupid letter like that and might just decide to give up their ambitions altogether in the process.
spontaneous combustion | Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2012
Don’t get me wrong though, I don’t regret having applied. I think it was a necessary step and it really got me to a new level. I learned lots of stuff in the process and I realised that I’ve already found out where I want to go with my work. And in the end the other rejection from Düsseldorf was on some level even encouraging. I’m glad I did it. More importantly, I’m also not writing this out of wounded pride. I knew from the start that I wouldn’t get in and their criticism doesn’t seem specific enough to even be talking about my work at all. I am writing this because I’m just plain baffled by the attitude behind the wording of this rejection letter. Even if it weren’t a template letter designed to discourage people from suing their way in, even if it were actual criticism of the specific work that was submitted, even then there are much more diplomatic ways of phrasing the same thing and thereby soften the blow. Maybe these people find some sort of perverse pleasure in crushing people’s spirits on purpose, who knows? Whatever the reason, it’s sad, really, because it will discourage people from following their dreams. And why? Because some person in an art school says so? It’s ridiculous! I’m glad that I only tried to apply now and not when I was still naive enough to take such a letter seriously.
In any case, I will continue with my work and I doubt that I’ll ever again apply to UdK. If they treat their students to the same kind of judgement as the people they reject, then it’s probably not the right place for me anyway.
dance baby dance | Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2012
the hamster wheel
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2012
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2012
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2012
All pictures taken with: Zorki 3C and Jupiter 8 50mm f/2.0
Ilford HP5+ souped in Rodinal 1:100 (stand development)
The other day I developed a roll of Tri-X film and thought I’d just skip the fixer test, because it was already late and I was getting tired. Well, I shouldn’t have. The next day I noticed that the roll developed a yellowish tint in the middle, because it hadn’t been fixed properly. Normally this wouldn’t be a big problem, but I only noticed this after I had already cut the film. Shorter film strips are harder to dry and so now I have drying spots on the negatives as well as a couple of spots where the strips stuck together and where the fixer still didn’t reach. Well, at least I learnt a valuable lesson: Test the fixer before fixing and check your rolls in good light before cutting them! Anything else will just create an awful lot of hassle later on.
The pictures I’m posting today are still from the previous roll. I’m really happy with how the grain turned out. Despite a bit of sharpening in post-processing it’s still not a problem. The first couple were shot wide open, so they’re quite soft. In fact the first one is not really terribly sharp, but I think it’s a nice picture anyway.
Martin-Gropius-Bau
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2012
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2012
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2012
All pictures taken with: Zorki 3C and Jupiter 8 50mm f/2.0.
Ilford HP5+ souped in Rodinal, 1:100 stand development
The other day I developed a roll of film at home. It was a roll from last year that I somehow didn’t get round to bringing to the lab. I managed to get the roll into the tank in my dark bathroom and then I started messing about with chemicals. I used Rodinal (actually the Adox equivalent Adonal) in 1:100 solution and stand development.
I ordered the Rodinal out of lack of knowledge. I wanted a liquid developer, preferably one shot, so that I won’t have to mess around with powder developer that only keeps for a limited amount of time. I had heard of Rodinal, so I just went with that, because this is just a very classic developer. Then after I ordered it I saw examples online of ISO 400 film developed in Rodinal, and boy did they have grain! Since Rodinal has some sharpening magic going on this sharpens the grain as well. In fact, this is why a lot of people agree that Rodinal is a bad idea for ISO 400 film. Well, at that point I was a bit thrown. Did I order the wrong thing? Should I have gone with Ultrafin? Still, I didn’t want to have spent 10€ on nothing, so I decided to try it out anyway. I researched it a bit more and well, all these people aren’t entirely wrong, but apparently this is more true for normal high agitation development in a strong solution (1:25 or 1:50). Normally, when you develop a roll of film you agitate the tank every minute and you have to be precise with your timing and the temperature of the solution. The timing depends on the type of film, on the ISO, whether you pushed it and so on. It’s a very unforgiving process and if you do something wrong, you ruin the roll. And well, you get grain like gravel on ISO 400 film, especially with Tri-X, which is most of the film I have still lying around here.
The alternative I wanted to try out was stand development. This is done with a weak solution (1:100) and surprisingly neither precise temperature nor timing is important. As long as the temperature is between 16 and 25°C and the development time above 1 hour you’ll be fine. You put the solution into the tank, agitate well for a minute, let it sit for half an hour, agitate slowly for 5 inversions and then let it sit for another half an hour. The cool thing is that you can develop any type of film of any speed, even pushed ones with the same timing, even in the same tank (provided it is big enough)! Even more amazing: you can even change ISO within one roll. And what about the grain? Well, look for yourself! At this size it’s hardly noticeable. It turns out quite smooth and I like it! Nothing like the examples I saw online. Also, stand development is very forgiving with underexposing by accident. There actually was one picture on the roll that was really grainy, so I assume that it was pushed to a higher ISO accidentally. With stand development such accidents are no problem at all! Sure, if you push the whole roll, then you can extend the developing time to bring out the details more, but with accidents even with the normal time the frame will be salvageable where normal development would only give you a blank one. Awesome stuff!
The next thing I’ll try will be a roll of Tri-X. I’m curious to see whether this grain machine will give me worse grain than the roll of HP5+.
what’s so funny anyway?
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
These days I feel a little cooped up inside. The problem is the damned weather that makes me not want to go outside. However, if I stay inside I just get cranky. I guess I have to brave the rain and go outside anyway. Well, at least Berlin is not prone to flooding like my hometown.
These pictures were taken on Thursday in Mitte. I was walking from Weinmeisterstraße to Rosenthaler Platz, because I wanted to check out the Fotoimpex shop. They sell all sorts of stuff for analog photography and so I picked up some negative sleeves in which I can store my developed film. The shop is actually very close to Weinmeisterstraße, so the only reason for me to walk into the direction of Rosenthaler Platz was that I wanted to pick up some things in the organic supermarket as well. Since my neighbourhood is rather rough and cheap we don’t have such luxuries here.
Mitte is generally not a particularly good place for photography. The streets are too narrow and it’s all so shiny and redeveloped. Lots of designer shops next to each other, tourists everywhere. Well, it gets old quickly. Street photography kind of works though if you stick to the few wider streets and try to pick out the characters. Usually the latter is the problem. Shooting street in tourist areas is easy, because you won’t stick out with your camera, but it usually doesn’t yield much. Tourists obviously look like tourists and behave like them as well. It’s hard to find a good middle ground. The best places for street photography are where lots of people are, but not exactly tourists. On the other hand, my own neighbourhood is almost a little too rough for anything apart from shooting from the hip. It would be a bit scary to point my camera at these huge Turkish bouncers walking around in my neighbourhood. Around here there is a fine line between “trying to seem cool” and “open hostility”, so I try to keep confrontational behaviour to a minimum as to not provoke anyone. And what about the decent enough mid-price areas? Well, in these areas people actually seem to stay at home a lot or they are at work during the day. Empty streets, occasionally some mothers with kids. It’s boring! Well, I need to hunt some more for the perfect places where to shoot people. Once the damned rain stops of course!
rain rain rain
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
I almost ran after this girl to get a shot of her cute umbrella.
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Not sure what she was looking at, but it definitely wasn’t me. I’m not that scary!
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
I find biking in the rain completely annoying, but they didn’t seem to mind.
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Well, you don’t have to know much about Berlin to be able to guess where this was taken: Prenzlauer Berg. There seem to be more kids running around there than adults. If you’re not pregnant or have a kid in the sticky-hands age, you definitely won’t fit into that neighbourhood.
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
This is a bridge above the S-Bahn. For some reason people tend to stop to wait for the train to pass. I guess it’s a rather nice spot to watch the flow of things. It’s as good a place as any to stop for no reason.
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
Yesterday I spent about 4 hours in the darkroom. I made a contact sheet for the film I developed on Monday and made a couple of prints. The first ones I’ve ever made! As for what’s on the film: Well, mostly quite flat and uninteresting stuff, because I was walking around Mitte. I also seem to have had problems with the focus. I’m still not sure whether the rangefinder isn’t actually off a little, because I tend to get a lot of out of focus shots. I should probably shoot a whole roll at f/2.0 with very obvious non-moving focus points to see whether there might be a pattern to it. On the other hand … it could just be a matter of practice. In any case, there are at least a couple of nice enough pictures on the roll and I like the prints I made.
So, as you can see in the pictures it was raining again yesterday. It wasn’t too bad, but well, I’m definitely longing for nicer weather! Ever attempted to handle a fully manual camera while you’re trying not to let your umbrella be blown away? Uhm, impossible! Not exactly the best kind of weather to practice with my Zorki. And it’s supposed to stay this way until next week! Seriously, what’s with the weather this year? First the incredibly long winter and now this rain all the time? So annoying!
starlight express
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
I was waiting with them under the roof for the rain to get less heavy.
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Why the kid would want the umbrella inside the mall is a riddle for me.
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
After the storm is before the storm. More clouds approaching.
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
I have to say that this looks slightly wrong to me. Maybe it’s because the girl’s eyes are closed. Also fun: The skull leggings of the girl on the right.
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
I like the fact that the guy in the middle is holding a bread while chatting on a street corner. Really makes this an everyday kinda moment.
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
Yesterday I walked to the mall to get some measuring cups for film development at home. When using highly toxic chemicals one definitely shouldn’t be using kitchen utensils for it. Although I could have just bought some in my local supermarket I thought it would be better to have measuring cups that look different from the ones I’m using for cooking. Mix ups of this kind would be rather unhealthy. That’s why I went to the mall to get them.
Just when I got out of the house it started to rain again. Within minutes all hell broke loose, a proper thunderstorm, pouring rain. Nothing to do but to wait under the nearest roof until it got a bit better. I didn’t have to wait long and continued walking in the rain to catch some people with umbrellas. The problem was though that the light was rather gloomy and my Olympus was somehow set to prefer ISO 200 with a wide aperture rather than to dial up the ISO setting. This resulted in a lot of shots at f/1.7 with the focus entirely wrong. Wide aperture is fine if you’re in a dark place or when you’re just waiting and composing, getting the focus right and so on, but when you’re shooting outside from the hip the wide open aperture will give you problems. None of the people with umbrellas pictures worked out for that reason. I now changed the settings so that the default ISO is 400. Maybe that will work better. By the way, that’s one thing I really like about the E-PL3: you can change just about any setting imaginable. Some of the settings are very hard to find, but with a bit of searching you can get this camera to do just about anything. I have used this camera almost every day for 1 1/2 months now and I’m still finding things to tweak. It’s a great camera once you figure out all the best settings for it.
As for the Panasonic 20mm lens: Well, that one can be a bit of a mess. The image quality is great, I really don’t have a reason to complain about that, but boy can the autofocus be annoying! Most of the time it does a decent enough job, as long as you shoot at similar distances, but if the distances change a lot or it gets a bit darker then the autofocus is just slow slow slow, and sometimes also far far off. If the focal length and the image quality wasn’t exactly what I was looking for I’d maybe even consider exchanging it for a different lens. However, around my standard length the only alternative is the Olympus 17mm which is much slower aperture-wise and isn’t really any better in the autofocus department as far as I’ve heard. The autofocus of the Panasonic 14mm is supposedly faster, but that’s already a little too wide for my liking, at least as my main lens. I guess I just have to get used to the quirky autofocus of the 20mm and be prepared to lose the occasional picture. I hope that tweaking the settings will already improve this issue a bit.
waiting for the light to change
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
Yesterday I spent quite some time taking pictures with the analog equivalent to “no card”. The day before yesterday I thought that the roll wasn’t full yet. Well, what actually happened was that the film ripped at the end of the roll and it seemed to be advancing in a fairly normal manner still. After a while it got clear though that the film just can’t have 50 frames. Lucky me that this roll was precisely the one I was supposed to develop myself – there would have been no way to rewind it to give it to a lab. The whole process of developing is quite crazy by the way, using scissors in complete darkness, messing about with highly toxic chemicals, precise timing required for shaking, stirring and what not. So much fun! The film is now hanging to dry in the lab and I only had a very quick glance at the frames. So far I can only tell you that I was doing alright with my light meter. Since this was my main problem area with the Zorki I’m actually pleased already, no matter what’s actually on the roll.
As you can hear, I got very excited about this mess! And I realised that it would be really easy to do at home as well. My bathroom has no window, so getting it completely dark is very easy indeed and it generally doesn’t need much equipment at all. A developing tank, a couple of reels, some film clips for the drying, some measuring cups and some chemicals, developer, fixer, antistatic. That’s really not much at all. So, last night I ordered a batch of all that. I already have 4 rolls lined up for developing, so I can’t wait to get started!
can he pull it off?
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Can he pull it off to hit on a girl in that ridiculous outfit?
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Taken in my neighbourhood.
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Drunk Eastern Europeans … They didn’t look like they were drunk, but when the dad walked past me there was that distinctive smell.
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Not sure why that knee was so fascinating to the dog. He sat there unimpressed most of the time, but then got really excited about this guy walking past.
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Not sure what was going on between them, but pout and blank stare? Seems slightly disconnected.
All pictures taken with the Olympus Pen E-PL3 and the Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
Yesterday I figured out that taking 300 pictures with my Olympus is much easier than shooting 36 pictures with my Zorki. I was out for hours and still didn’t quite manage to fill the roll. I guess I need to head out a bit earlier today to finish the roll off.
I was actually planning to check out the old Jewish cemetery in Mitte and headed out into the rain. Well, I certainly forgot for a moment that I was in Germany. Of course the gate was locked and there was no way to get in. Oh well. So I changed my plans and just started wandering around Mitte. I walked the stretch between Hackescher Markt and Weinmeisterstraße, along different smaller streets, through some backyards and finally towards Alexanderplatz. There I made a left towards the Volksbühne and then back again to Alexanderplatz. There I stumbled into an Afrika-Festival, which indeed was a lucky break, since before then it was slow going with the Zorki. There was still just enough light to hopefully get some decent pictures of people. I think the roll must be almost full now, just a few more pictures left.
By the way, I didn’t even get soaked during all this, because the rain stopped just after I headed out. That’s how it’s supposed to be!
hanging around
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
All pictures taken with my Olympus Pen E-PL3 and my Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7.
When we were looking for flats we once ended up in the old East near Karl-Marx-Allee. The flat we looked at was horrible, dark, in a concrete block and the only windows looked out onto a school yard. However, walking around there was really quite an experience. Especially Karl-Marx-Allee was great with its old socialist palaces for the good comrades. The other day when I was faced with having to fill 2 rolls of film over just a few days I decided that it would be a good place for a photo walk. I took both my Zorki and my Olympus and got on the subway. Of course the Olympus with my 20mm lens – roughly 35mm frame – was not exactly a preview for the Zorki with the 50mm lens, but it was a convenient combination. I could still take my street shots from the hip on the way there and still take my time with the Zorki pictures. The external light meter for my Zorki makes things cumbersome, but it’s very good practice. At first I guess what the light must be like and then compare it with what the light meter tells me. This way over time I will get a feel for light, which is a very good ability to develop anyway. Over the next couple of months I will try to fill 2 or 3 films a week and hope that by the end of it I will have a good feel for my Zorki and for light as well. And since my Olympus is so small and light it’s really no problem to bring both cameras along.
On my walk I also did a bit of backyard exploration related to the old socialist buildings at Karl-Marx-Allee. I thought that it would be rather sad, because there are so many concrete blocks in this area, but wow was I wrong. Nice big balconies looking over tons of trees, really beautiful! If I had to go flat hunting now I’d certainly try to look at flats in one of those buildings with a view over the backyard! The second to last picture shows you one of the schools in the area. It’s really run down, but such a beautiful building as well. The area is not great for street photography – it seems rather empty and most people are coming through on bikes – but it sure has character. And since it’s still quite close to Mitte the photo opportunities are not too far away either, another plus for living in Karl-Marx-Allee. Shame that I’m not looking to move in the city right now!
I know I talked about moving after this terrible story at my local supermarket, but at the moment it’s much more likely that I move away from Berlin rather than inside the city. Don’t get me wrong, I really like Berlin as a city: It has tons of museums, tons of things to do, an English language cinema and massive amounts of photo opportunities. However, there are aspects of this city that also drive me mad. The winter is rough, it’s hard to meet people because it’s all so big and anonymous, and all the opportunities the universities here used to offer for me have all lost their funding. In the end I have to face it: I don’t have much reason to stay here, apart from my crappy health and all the photo opportunities. Berlin was supposed to be temporary anyway and since I have been here without a clear end in sight I haven’t actually been happy. Berlin has given me many disappointments, the problem with the funding, the superficial and show-off tango-scene, the rough winter, the lack of social contact and so on. In the end all the cultural offerings of this place don’t make up for the fact that I’ve actually been rather unhappy here. I guess I need to re-think whether I should stay here after all. This is not a short term thing, I won’t just pack my bags and leave – at this point I can’t anymore because I have furniture here and all my books – but in the long run either some opportunity needs to come up or I’ll move to a friendlier place. It’s not quite clear yet how it will all work, but slowly a decision is forming.
Opernwerkstätten
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
The day before yesterday I used the opportunity of the Olympus Photography Playground to explore the Opernwerkstätten a bit. I didn’t get to see everything, but I already enjoyed what I saw a lot. This building used to be the space where the stage sets of the opera were built. Nowadays it is rented out for exhibitions and large events like the Photography Playground. It’s a huge place and by now it’s a bit less shiny than it probably was in its heyday, which is precisely why I like it. I always had a thing for a litte bit of decay. I think I will go back there in the next few days to check out the part that I haven’t seen yet.
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Apart from pictures 1 and 5 these were taken with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 and the Olympus M. 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3.
Pictures 1 and 5 taken with Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
nobody likes to wait
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
All pictures taken with my Olympus Pen E-PL3 and my Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
The day before yesterday was a very long day for me. I went to the hospital early to make an appointment, which happens to be in roughly the same neighbourhood in Mitte as the Olympus Photography Playground. Of course I went to see whether this time there was less of a queue. I got in with just a 10 minute wait and got to try out the Olympus OM-D. I spent a couple hours there taking pictures, which was quite entertaining. I’ll tell you more about this when I post those pictures.
The analog photography course I’m doing also started the same day, so in the evening I headed out again to Prenzlauer Berg. I was pleasantly surprised by the teacher. Not only does he seem knowledgeable about photography, but on top of things he also has a good taste in music. The lesson was really quite interesting. We were talking about all sorts of technical stuff as well as hands on advice on taking portraits and landscapes, and we even discussed one of my favourite photographers: August Sander. The teacher was just as surprised that I know Sander as I was the other way round. August Sander just isn’t very well known in Germany despite being a German photographer. So, although the teacher has a very different style from mine – very pre-conceptualised with a preference for large format cameras – I was still very happy with the lesson. The course will be mostly darkroom techniques, so the difference in style doesn’t matter so much in the end. That said, I definitely learned some stuff I didn’t know, especially about portraits, precisely because this guy works in a very different way. After this first lesson I can definitely say with certainty that this guy knows his stuff.
This week it was just me in the class, so next week I’ll be joining a group that is already more advanced. For this reason I will have a bit of an intense start. I am supposed to fill a roll of film until Monday, when we’ll develop it. Sounds easier than it is: The problem is that I still had a roll of a different type in my camera and so I had to fill that one first. Got that one out of the way yesterday near Ostbahnhof. I took mostly architectural shots of soviet style buildings on that one. On the weekend I’ll be filling the second roll, which is the one we’ll be developing on Monday. On Wednesday we’ll make the contact sheets for this roll of film and then start with making prints. So, all in all I will spend 4-5 hours in the darkroom that day. Sounds tough, but honestly I prefer it this way though, because come Wednesday I’ll already know all the basics. In fact I’m hoping that I’ll be able to develop some rolls of film I have lying around here since last year. The other reason why it will be good to join that other group is that I’ll get to meet some fellow photography enthusiasts, which should be interesting as well.
what are you looking at?
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
All pictures taken with my Olympus Pen E-PL3 and my Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
The other day a friend and me tried to go to the photography playground run by Olympus here in Berlin. There was such a long queue though that we decided not to wait after all. It probably would have taken an hour to get in there. Instead we walked around Mitte and finally went to a café near Oranienburger Straße.
I actually wanted to post these pictures yesterday after going to the grocery store at night, but I ended up being too rattled by the outcome of my trip to the store. Apparently the shop was closed because there was a murder there in the late afternoon yesterday! An old man was stabbed to death in front of the meat counter with a knife that you can buy in the shop. How crazy is that?! I knew that this is a rough neighbourhood, but I certainly wasn’t expecting that when I headed out to get cheese. The store was shut off with police tape, two police officers were standing guard and refused to give me any information. Since it was quite late none of the other shops in the area were still open. I just headed home and looked up online what happened. So far they don’t know whether there was a motive or whether the stabber was just crazy. So far it looks more like the latter. What a disturbing thought that I live in a neighbourhood where such things happen. And if it was just a random attack, where does that leave me and my peace of mind? I guess I can be grateful that I normally avoid prime shopping time. However, I think I should really move to a better neighbourhood – although obviously not even that is a guarantee for anything.
raw
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
All pictures taken with my Olympus Pen E-PL3 and my Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
Yesterday it was the first proper sunny and hot day here in Berlin. Or at least the first one I was able to use properly. I took the opportunity to go outside and sit in the sun at the Bode museum. Like every year on the first sunny day recklessness and lack of sunblock combined to a bad sunburn. And if you think I learned my lesson, well, wrong! Every year I make the same mistake around this time. I learn it for this current year and then forget the lesson again over the long and dark winters.
Since I hadn’t been out of the house with my camera in a while I was really eager to take pictures. I really took a lot of pictures. Well, at least this means that I ended up with a number of good ones. Somehow they were all taken in the subway. It’s still my favourite place to take pictures.
the usual kind of boredom
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Well, boredom is running errands with your mom when you could be at home running wild if only they left you alone.
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
What’s the most obvious indicator that we live in a working class area? All the fancy cars obviously!
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Another common sight around here.
All pictures taken with my Canon EOS 450D and my Canon EF 35mm f/2.0.
These pictures were taken when I was doing the grocery shopping a while back. Again yesterday I preferred to stay home, recover and spend my time watching a series. I ate well, tried to ignore the pain (of the excruciating kind) and went to bed relatively early to read the novel to the Star Trek movie The Wrath of Khan. Nicely written, interesting story, one of my favourite movies. I wished I could have gone out, but frankly, I really wasn’t in the shape for it. It’s nothing bad, just the logical result of my surgery.
By the way, today I heard back from one of my art school applications – it was the one in Düsseldorf. I didn’t get in, which was to be expected, but I’m still happy with the result. I expected the plain old worst grade since they seem to give that to most people applying there, but instead I got a better one! It means that they saw at least some potential in my work and that I’m on the right path. I bet the reply from UdK Berlin will turn out much less favourable, but it won’t matter since with this reply from Düsseldorf I already got more than I expected.
are we done yet?
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
This dog was waiting patiently until the guys were finished looking at the books. This was taken at a great art book store near Hackescher Markt. They always have reduced prices for really great books.
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
Ah dogs … always so eager! They both seem to say: “Playing fetch? My favourite thing!”
Berlin | © Verena Fischer 2013
The shadows of the shop front of a clothes store at Weinmeisterstraße. And no, I don’t actually know which shop it is.
All pictures taken with my Canon EOS 450D and my Canon EF 35mm f/2.0.
These days I just feel cooped up inside. Yesterday the highlight of the evening was going to the grocery store to stock up on food for the weekend. Not exactly exciting. I couldn’t even take my camera, because I was already carrying too much. Being continuously at home drives me mad anyway and it prevents me from doing anything sensible. Since I feel like I should be outside taking pictures I can’t really concentrate on anything else. Oh well, I guess I just have to be a little bit more patient.
