The Eye of Photography – Photography Art news and events

I’ve been spending some time on loeildelaphotographie.com a lot lately and decided I should share it – great site with lots of information about current and historical photographers, shows, events, workshops, etc.  You can see a lot without signing up, but you can view more by doing so.   [:fr]Le journal quotidien de référence dans l’art photographique. Un regard unique sur les événements photo dans le monde, les photographes et leurs oeuvres.[:en]Your daily magazine in photographic art. An independant lookRead more

Lippmann Colour Photography – AlternativePhotography.com

Source: Lippmann Colour Photography – AlternativePhotography.com TL/DR  – 1) Interesting technical discussion of one of the earliest color photography methods and 2) a great website that covers alternative photography. Mr. Lippmann won a nobel prize for developing a color photography technique in 1908.  He used a interference of light technique where light coming into the glass plate film was also bounced off a mirror behind the plate and thus the image recorded was the resulting combination of incoming light andRead more

Afghan Box Camera / Kamra-e-Faoree

Afghan Box Camera Project Today I viewed a post on Reddit from someone who built their own “Afghan Box” and was really intrigued.  What is it?  Basically the Afghan box is a camera inside a box with two dark sleeves on rear and side, developing trays,  and a peep viewer that allow internal development of prints.   I’ve seen such boxes for tin types before.  What’s different about this is the peep hole on the top for watching the prints develop. Read more

Narciss: a 16mm film SLR Soviet camera

Source: Narciss Soviet KMZ 16mm camera I’ve been reading about older KMZ products since I’m importing their new lenses and cameras to the US.   This site USSRphoto.com is a great resource btw. I just stumbled across this really cool camera, the Narciss, which is a small stylish SLR that shoots 16mm movie film.  The camera was originally supplied with spools to allow you to load movie film onto, and even a small developing tank was included.  It has a detachable viewfinderRead more

Ricoh 500 – Experiences

I recently acquired a Ricoh 500 triggermatic rangefinder camera and will be posting my experiences with it here soon. These seem to be well built cameras – mine is from 1958 or so and still functions properly.  Fits nicely in the hand and has lever arms on the focus throw and a fast film winding lever that unfolds at the base. For now this post will be a holding page for the research I’m doing on it as well. FromRead more

A secret stash of hundreds of Soviet cameras found in a Kazakh warehouse – Kosmo Foto

A secret stash of hundreds of Soviet cameras found in a Kazakh warehouse Source: A secret stash of hundreds of Soviet cameras found in a Kazakh warehouse – Kosmo Foto This was a pretty amazing to learn that warehouses of new cameras and lenses may be out there waiting to be discovered!   And I have a Smena that looks new that I bought on ebay last year… maybe one of them?  I bought it because I read an article whereRead more

Rolleiflex Buying Guide | Colton Allen | Film Shooters Collective

As the US Rolleiflex importer and dealer since 2013, I get a lot of questions about the older TLR’s and I think this is a pretty nicely put together buyer’s guide.  Seems everyone has their favorite – I’ve even seen photographer’s go to huge expense to have a digital back added to their Rolleicords (which aren’t reviewed in the linked article) but just goes to show even the lower cost TLR’s were capable of producing amazing images.  Most people don’tRead more

Zenit-E review – Kosmo Foto

Here’s a great review of perhaps the best selling SLR camera in the last century that maybe you never heard about?  Definitely worth a read. These days these cameras are really inexpensive on Ebay and you even can get more modern versions with motor drive for about $140 with a f/2.0 lens Kosmo Foto review of the Soviet Zenit-E SLR camera, one of the cheapest M42-mount SLRs available. Source: Zenit-E review – Kosmo FotoRead more

Andre Kertesz’s Photos From His Window

I’ve always enjoyed Andre Kertesz work particularly his polaroid shots and also the ones from his apartment window.  Here’s an interesting article in the NY Times about him that details the shots from his apartment on Fifth Ave. The photographer’s images of Washington Square Park revealed, with affection and longing, a Hungarian émigré who was an outsider in his adopted land. Source: Andre Kertesz’s Photos From His WindowRead more

Reblogged from Lensrentals / Roger Cicala: The Heights and Depths of Nadar: TL;DR Version 

I’ve seen references to Nadar in lot’s of photography books, and recently I decided to google him to learn more and that’s how I came upon Roger Cicala’s post on Nadar. I do occasionally read his very informative articles, but hadn’t seen this one on Nadar. He was quite a character and among other things also a very good photographer!   This rotating self portrait gives one a glimpse into his character.    Roger’s article will tell you a lot moreRead more

Amazing still life from 1860 by Roger Fenton who worked to promote photography as art.

Wet plate collodion photography seems to be having a bit of a revival these days, and I have a number of friends working with that media. I’ve tried it, taking a workshop from Alan Barnes, and there’s a lot of skill required. Beyond getting good chemistry, there’s an art to the pouring and exposure that can only be mastered by few. It’s rare to see a complete plate without flaws, and getting good dynamic range is hard. That’s why IRead more