Innholdsfortegnelse for 6/20/2023 i Amateur Photographer

Film photography continues to grow in popularity, despite the price of film these days, thanks in part to its adoption by young people seeking something more real and tactile than the computerised perfection of pixel-based photography, and older photographers who never fully gave it up in the first place. This week’s issue is dedicated to all things analogue and we have brought together a wide variety of inspiration, approaches and ideas. From pinhole photography using home-made or artisan cameras, to stereoscopic photography, to wet-plate photography, to 35mm photography that uses the whole film, including the sprocket holes. Finally, don’t miss our tribute to film-era legend Roger Bamber. Our cover image is a portrait of Nikon India ambassador and film-photography fan Ankita Asthana. It was taken by Matt Parry (www.mattparryphoto) who…

Zeiss has quashed reports on the Fred Miranda photography forums that it is leaving the photography industry. A forum poster claimed that that Zeiss’s Australian distributor had confirmed that the company was discontinuing its lenses and filters. In a statement, Zeiss points to its website and Amazon as proof that it is still promoting and selling camera lenses. ‘In the first months of the pandemic, the global market declined significantly and irreversibly,’ it said. ‘And companies have to adapt… we are bringing our unique expertise to mobile imaging. Because it is also clear that consumers, as well as professional photographers, increasingly prefer their smartphones for all-day photography.’ Zeiss has not introduced a new camera lens since the Zeiss Batis 40mm f/2 CF in 2018, and recently discontinued its ZX1 compact…

Reader Portfolio winners receive a one-year subscription to a Gold Portfolio Series website worth £300. UK domain name included. Amazing Internet designs, builds and hosts amazing websites for creative people and companies. It has specialised in creating websites for photographers since 1999 and has services to suit all budgets. Whether you need a simple template-based site for £60 per year or a fully bespoke site, they’ve got you covered. www.amazinginternet.com NOTE: PRIZE APPLIES TO UK AND EU RESIDENTS ONLY An Di Prima, Greenock About An An is a full-time office worker, and part-time photographer. See more of her work at thefaithfulhoundphotography.com Favourite subjects Dogs! They are an amazing source of inspiration and creativity. Sometimes they can be a huge challenge to capture, but they’re always fun. How did you get…

There are a lot of things I like about Kelsey Dillow’s photographs. That she shoots tintypes is enough to get me interested, but not enough on its own to keep me looking – a whole lot of people shoot wet plate these days. What keeps me coming back is the way she uses the process, but also the way she has lifted it out of the darkroom, out of the mysterious realms of abstract and ancient science and into the midst of the everyday. Kelsey shoots ordinary people, often in a pop-up studio at markets and fayres, with a modern camera and a modern lens. And with a process that carefully avoids all the flaking emulsion, uneven-coating, contamination gimmicks we see so often hailed as the ‘unique properties’ of the…

MATT PARRY The pro travel photographer shows how to include distinctive sprocket holes in your prints HOLLIE LATHAM HUCKER Technique Editor Hollie gathers tips from six photographers who are wedded to film AILSA McWHINNIE Ailsa speaks to the late Roger Bamber’s wife, and learns what made him so special JOSHUA WALLER Online Editor Fancy replicating the film look in your digital images? Josh shows you how JESSICA MILLER Dep. Online Editor Jess finds out how the Courtauld Institution of Art digitised a million of its images AMY DAVIES Features Editor Amy talks to Helen Bovill, chair of the Stereoscopic Society, about the magic of 3D…

Hasselblad has announced the X2D 100C Lightweight Portrait Kit, aimed at portrait pros and well-heeled enthusiasts. It features the firm’s flagship mirrorless medium format camera, the Hasselblad X2D 100C, along with the XCD 1,9/80 and the XCD 4/45P lenses. Both have an integral central shutter, offering exposure times ranging from 68 minutes to 1/2000s with full flash synchronisation. The kit is available to order now for £11,799. See www.hasselblad.com…

7 daysA week in photography AP picture of the week Any Day Now, Any Day Now by Ben Jason Tolkin Sony A6000, Sony FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G OSS at 300mm, 1/320sec at f/5.6, ISO 125 ‘The alliums in our garden this year have been amazing, but this one was lagging behind, when I noticed the tiny tear. I don’t have lots of expensive kit, but I love to experiment. This was shot handheld using the last of the day’s light, with a smidge of Lightroom editing.’ Instagram: @benjamin._.jason #appicoftheweek Win! The AP Pic of the Week winner currently wins an annual subscription to Skylum Luminar Neo, worth £99. Designed for photographers of all skill levels, Luminar Neo is an advanced but fun-to-use photo editor for Mac and PC, available also…

Located at The Courtauld Institute of Art at Somerset House in London, the Conway Library contains over one million images dating from the inception of photography to the present day. Founded by journalist, mountaineer, politician and art historian Lord Conway of Allington, the Conway Library collection was bestowed to The Courtauld when it was founded in 1932. Since then, the collection has continuously developed as a teaching and research collection with gifts from photographers and collectors. Having ceased any new acquisitions in 2009, the library collection includes rarely seen photographs and cuttings of world architecture, sculpture, paintings, and decorative objects. It includes 160,000 prints by Britain’s leading architectural photographer of the 20th century, Anthony Kersting – he is best known for his photographs of British architecture, but the collection also…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Small cameras A few weeks ago, AP raised the issue of camera body sizes. I use Micro Four Thirds cameras, including the Lumix GM1, which your review described as ‘barely bigger than a pack of playing cards’. Yes, the GM1 is fiddly at times, because it is too small. But, it fits inside a pocket, goes to places where I wouldn’t carry a larger camera, and does take some cracking pictures. I’d agree that the G9 is probably the best stills camera that Panasonic has ever produced. But I tried one at the NEC, and it was simply too large for me. So, I’m unlikely to ever buy one. In some ways, the best Micro Four Thirds camera was the very first one, the G1. I…

Mike Crawford Mike is a London-based photographer and specialist printer working in urban landscape and portraiture. His work has been exhibited widely in the UK and abroad. For over 25 years he has run Lighthouse Darkroom, one of the UK’s premier photographic labs, working for many leading photographers on numerous exhibitions and publications. www.mike-crawford.co.uk, http://www.lighthousedarkroom.com In recent years, the continual growth in analogue photography has seen an increase in smaller companies producing bespoke products, materials and equipment. While the leading manufacturers of cameras have yet to re-enter this expectant market (although Ricoh has announced plans for a possible new Pentax 35mm camera), there are many producers worldwide making specialist film cameras and accessories. I first met and interviewed Elvis Halilović, founder of Ondu, in Slovenia ten years ago, when…

Tech Talk It’s not hard to see why the Argus C3 is nicknamed The Brick. But this epithet belies a reasonably specified, if somewhat heavy and chunky camera. They were made in vast numbers by the Argus Camera Company in Ann Arbor, Michigan, over a period of nearly three decades. Aimed squarely at the domestic US market, few of them made their way to Europe. The first Argus C appeared in 1938, and quickly evolved into the C3, which itself had several minor variants during its long period in production, which ended in 1966. Its respectable specs include a coupled rangefinder and useful spread of shutter speeds. I was surprised to find that the Argus also takes interchangeable lenses, something you usually associate with more professional kit. In addition to…

Cameras Cameras come in three types: DSLRs with optical viewfinders, mirrorless models with electronic viewing, and compact cameras with non-interchangeable lenses Handgrip DSLRs traditionally have relatively large handgrips, while many mirrorless models have much smaller grips to keep the size down. However, some can accept accessory grips to improve handling with larger lenses. Lens mount Each camera brand uses its own lens mount, and mirrorless cameras use different lenses to DSLRs even from the same brand. However, mirrorless models can often use DSLR lenses via a mount adapter. Controls Entry-level cameras tend to have simple, easy-to-understand controls, while more expensive models add lots of buttons and dials to give quick access to settings. Viewfinder The biggest difference between DSLRs and mirrorless cameras is that the latter use electronic, rather than…

7 daysA week in photography There are many reasons to shoot film and why you could say it beats digital. It’s fun, the colours are amazing, you get to attach the photos to your wall and it really makes you think about the pictures you’re taking. For me, all these reasons have driven me to try to continue shooting on film, but the most important of all is probably the imperfections of the medium. I’m a perfectionist, and have been since high school – a time when my recurring nightmares were of academic failure and toads chasing me. As a photographer, this has translated into doing everything I could to get the elusive “decisive moment”, punching numbers in Lightroom to find a perfect post-production formula for my photos and cropping…

Paula Smith Paula is a London-based freelance photographer. She shoots film daily to capture personal projects, family life and the world around her. See more of her work at www.paulasmith.co.uk, @paulasmithphoto I started photography when film was the only option. Despite embracing the digital revolution, film photography never left me. I find it more creatively satisfying. I’m in charge of the whole process from deciding on what film stock to use, to loading the camera, holding it to my eye and knowing I’ve got limited shots to take and no chance to check if I got it ‘right’ in an instant. This makes me more focused in the moment and I’ve learnt to trust my own camera skills. My first camera was a plastic 110 affair; this led to a…

Photo Critique A short while ago I wrote a feature for AP on the importance of snapshot photography in social history. It led me to a couple of thoughts. The first was that it’s not just snappers with simple cameras who take snapshots. Professionals take them too when they shoot pictures that are more about social history than creating artistic masterpieces. The other thought was that sometimes a snapshot only comes to life when you hear the story behind it. Which brings me to this picture. A group of children surrounds a woman with a box camera. What’s so special? The answer is the woman and the camera. The woman is Frances Benjamin Johnston, possibly the first American female professional photographer. She was born in 1864 to parents whose wealth…