by Matthias Pfau
Trying to show my youngest one how to make something ordinary look interesting with light we took a look at Edward Weston’s pepper no 30. He didn’t even recognize it as a pepper. Of course you can’t blame the kid, Monsanto and Co have made sure that all peppers arriving on super market shelves look pretty and picture perfect and […]
Another trip out to Diablo canyon followed by a little experiment in the non existent dark room. So all development happens in a tank over the sink. Calibrating the water temperature to the required 102F and keep it there is a little tricky. So I checked online and developed using Cinestill C-41 the Kodak Portra 160 for 13min at room […]
Another uninspiring morning with rather dull light. But, this is merely a testing phase, so who cares? I went out and tried my hands at 4×5 in color. Back home I quickly set up the chemicals. Maintaining a constant temperature proved to be a challenge. Another mishap had two negatives on top of each other in the development tank. In […]
Returning to analog photography
This will be a short post. North west of Santa Fe is Diablo Canyon, you reach it on Rt 77, passing through some ranch land and finally stopping at a dramatic gorge. It is the entry way to a nice hike down to the Rio Grande. I headed out there on a grey day but towards evening the sun came […]
This is a bit of a personal journey back in my own history. Some 25 years ago I spent a year in Strasbourg France, the year and place where my oldest son was born. From my parents I had learned a little bit of black and white darkroom technique using two old folding cameras, one of them a Zeiss Ikon […]
Over the past two weeks I got a lucky break and was able to take some quick morning trips, while kids where still sleeping, and an evening trip to do a little shooting in medium format. Of course whenever you leave home the first thing that you encounter are these never ending roads. Along the road you run into some […]
As you can see I am taking a short break from my Greek travel posts, to create a post from my morning drive. Usually I get up before sunrise, kids are still sleeping, and for an hour or two I can practice some photography . This morning I headed south on HWY 285. This route takes you immediately away from […]
Leaving Kos by ferry we headed to Rhodes, the largest of the Dodecanese islands. The benefit of travelling by boat, you get to see other islands along the way. In our case the ferry had one stop over in Symi. Symi harbor is a sight to behold. All buildings in the small harbor are painted in warm, red and orange […]
Before covid, when travel was still a low risk proposition, I spent a summer touring some of the Greek islands with my boys. We started in Kos and continued by ferry to other destinations. I was interested how much of the Greece, which I came to know as a child, was still out there and could it still be found. […]
Eldorado, a small community, south of Santa Fe was my home for the past 2 years. So it is about time that I put together a small collection celebrating its colors. Here I decided to focus on its pueblo revival style architecture. The neighborhood is quiet to be sure and with Covid the sense of silence and emptiness grew even […]
This post is a series of black and white images of boulders and rocks only. Clearly black and white is the obvious choice and with it texture becomes the dominant theme. Texture means detail and detail requires large size to be appreciated, which explains why I opted for large images even though I run the risk of making all flaws […]
A few days ago I came across the newly released photo book “Sam Shepard: New Mexico”. Much like many road pictures taken along route 66 most images where in black and white celebrating the vast landscapes of New Mexico. In general pop culture focuses on the barren landscape with its impoverished looking pueblos. Ansel Adams “Moon rise over Hernandez, New […]
So I had a prior post showing you the sugar coated, candy side of Chicago. Yes I plead guilty to this charge. To redeem myself I promise you, this post will be different. The photography style is inspired by the Japanese photo magazine “Provoke” (プロヴォーク) from the late 1960s. I suppose “Provoke” intended to use style in support of a […]
Chicago, due to its location, was and remains the industrial hub for the mid west. Accordingly there are many active and abandoned industrial sights to be found. Most industries have been pushed out of the city. In my time the meat packers were expelled to make place for gentrification just west of the loop. I am sure some developers pushed […]
Architecture is one of the most important legacies of Chicago. Walking through town you are treated to a history tour or you can just book a tour with the Chicago Architectual Society. Here are some samples of images I took in my almost ten years in Chicago. But don’t be mistaken, this is the glossy side of Chicago and we […]
