LFI Magazine 4/2017 E

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L E I C A F O T O G R A F I E I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Corentin Fohlen

Jesse Marlow

Federico Rios Escobar

Olaf Heine

Winner of the TIPA Award

‘Best Photo Lab Worldwide’ Selected by the Editors of 28 International Photography Magazines

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PER FEC tI Lfi 4. 2017

LEICA. DAS WESENTLICHE.

p o rt f o l i o

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76 | N o c t i l u x 5 0 m m

How does the high-speed lens fare on the M10 and, with the help of the M adapter L, on the SL? We asked photographer Jürgen Holzenleuchter to try out the lens on both cameras

94 | L f i . G a l l e ry Over 20 000 photographers present over 300 000 images at the LFI Gallery. On this occasion: smoke rising from Bromo on Java, and impressions of India’s Kumbh Mela Festival

Ph oto

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The colour reproduction set by a camera manufacturer can easily be adapted to one’s own preferences and desires

Jesse Marlow: from the Don’t Just Tell Them, Show Them series

88 | P10 Plus

A Dual Camera with SummiluxH lenses, image stabilisation and a high-resolution display: the latest Huawei model from the collaboration with Leica 90 | cinelenses

With the M 0.8 and the Thalia lenses, Leica’s sister company, CW Sonderoptic presents two further series for using on set

Corentin Fohlen 6 | H a i t i K a r n ava l

Colourful costumes and body painting: a photographic stage set leading up to Mardi Gras in Haiti

Olaf Heine

2 0 | Th e s p e e d P r o j e c t

550 kilometres, a total of 4500 metres in altitude, over 150 runners: the ultra L.A. to Las Vegas relay race!

Jesse Marlow

3 2 | D o n ’ t j u s t t e l l t h e m , Sh o w Th e m

The Australian heads out every day, looking and finding street motifs laden with graphic tension

The Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 Asph: still good for a surprise

LEica M10 The Camera.

Florian Bachmeier

4 4 | a t r av e l d i a r y o f Ch i n a

Close to 200 pictures a day: an exciting black and white series emerges from a plethora of impressions

Federico Rios Escobar

104 | exhibitions Photographers’ Gallery, London: Gregory Crewdson’s Cathedral of the Pines

NEW

106 | Leica Galleries An overview of Leica Galleries around the world, including Tyler Shields among others 1 0 8 | f e s t i va l s MAP in Toulouse, with a birthday party for Noor, and imageSingulières in Sète 1 1 0 | I n t e rv i e w On the occasion of the Magnum Manifesto exhibition at the ICP, LFI spoke with the curator, Clément Chéroux, and the photography historian, Clara Bouveresse 112 | books New books from Nancy Borowick, James Baldwin, Steve Schapiro and Giulio Piscitelli.

In addition: Everyday Africa 114 | my picture Anthony Suau took a photo of a sleeping cyclist 27 years ago – still a touching image 114 | imprint

5 4 | wa r and P eperfect a c e craftsmanship. 60 years of Discover how we have once again redefined our devotion to quality and Daily life during a time of resistance: visiting a guerilla rangefinder expertise, 11 years of digital M-Camera development, and invaluable feedback from dedicated campthe in slimmest the middle of the M-Photographers have inspired us to create digital M ofColombian all time: thejungle Leica M10. With an improved rangefinder, increased performance, and now featuring an ISO setting dial on the top plate, this latest addition to the Leica M-System – the world’s most compact, full-frame digital camera system – embodies the essence of M-Photography. Find out more at m10.leica-camera.com or ask your Leica dealer.

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68 | a significant moment

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Cover photo: Corentin Fohlen, from the Karnaval series, Haiti 2016

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LFI W o r k s h o p

o f c o lo u r a n d l i g h t I n s t r u c t o r : F u lv i o B u g a n i

Colourful Cuba: Bugani considers colours important to convey emotions

The interplay of colour and light is a main feature of Fulvio Bugani’s longterm project. Since 2009, the Italian photographer has returned time and again to Cuba to work on his series.

His personal approach to reality, use of light and shadow and complexity of composition are some of the themes under discussion when he shares his experiences at a workshop in Hamburg from 21–23 July. Going out to take pictures is part of the plan, as are follow-up editing and analysis of the resulting images – including his own.

Interested in photography since childhood, Bugani turned his hobby into a profession. He has been running the Fotostudio Image in Bologna since 1999. Bugani works together with Amnesty International and Doctors without Borders, among others.

In 2015, one of his photos earned him third place at the World Press Photo Award. In 2016 he was a Leica Oskar Barnack Award finalist with his Cuba series. lfi-online.com/workshops

Contributors

The documentary photographer has visited Haiti twenty times since 2010. “I like to change my way of working and I increasingly use portraits to tell stories.”

His preference for colour remains.

“I only take colour pictures. But sometimes, I decide to translate my pictures into black and white for aesthetic reasons. I don’t want to intellectualise like many photographers do. Only because sometimes it’s more graphic and aesthetic; no other reason is needed.”

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je s s e M a r low Timing is everything. The Australian photographer frequently passed by a construction site, where a yellow, slat wooden fence caught his attention. At some point he said to himself that he just had to take a picture of it. One afternoon when passing by yet again, he saw with dismay that workers were pulling down the fence. He immediately stopped on the other side of the road, trying to be discreet and avoid being seen.

The outcome was quite a charming image (see page 34).

Fe d e r i c o r i o s E s c o b a r

“I spent many weeks in the camps of Colombia’s revolutionary fighters (FARC) over the six years I’ve been working on the subject. With time, staying in the camps became safer, though the danger of land mines or having an encounter with a paramilitary troop was still there. But the real danger was to be accused of being a FARC member or collaborator. Colombian society has difficulty understanding the role of the press in this conflict. I really hope that everything will turn out well.”

Photos: © Romain Kuhn, © Kristian Dowling, © Charlie Cordero

Corentin Fohlen

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Corentin Fohlen

Haiti Kar nAval 6 |

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Corentin Fohlen has created pluralistic statements against the common image of Haiti as a sad, problemladen corner of the world. For this project, the documentary photographer turned into a dramatic director, offering the protagonists a stage at the centre of the action. His photographs are an expression of spiritual magic and joie de vivre.

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The carnival held in the western part of the island of Hispaniola where Haiti is located, is over 200 years old: it was first documented in 1804. Every year, between the end of January and Mardi Gras, thousands of people parade through the streets accompanied by traditional bands. The event has only been cancelled once as a result of a serious accident during the 2015 parade that killed 18 people and injured 78. In 2017, the celebration took place once again, despite the destruction caused in October 2016 when Hurricane Matthew swept through the island

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A number of religious influences mix together in Haiti: an estimated 80 per cent of the population is Roman Catholic, 15 per cent Protestant; three quarters of the population practice Vodou: a polytheistic religion with dance rituals and songs that defines the island’s colourful festivities. Haitian culture includes African, French and Spanish elements, and traces of the Taíno: the island’s indigenous people succumbed to illnesses brought by the Spaniards and slave labour and by 1600 were mostly wiped out

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Many of the buildings in Jacmel date from the early 19th century and are in serious need of restoration.

Fohlen erected a temporary studio on the main street in the town of 40 000

Corentin Fohlen Born in Quimper, France, in 1981, Fohlen wanted to become a comic strip artist, before discovering photography. He has been published in The New York Times, Paris Match, Libération, Stern, Le Monde and Die Zeit.

Fohlen has received a number of awards. He turned his extended stays in Haiti into the book, Haïti, which was published in January 2017 by Editions Light Motiv.

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Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, often portrayed by the media as a crowded, water-logged slum. On 12 January 2010, one of the world’s worst recorded earthquakes caused the death of over 300 000 people in the southern part of the country and destroyed the centre of the capital, Port-au-Prince. “We talk about Haiti always in terms of poverty,” Corentin Fohlen says, “but for me this island is one of the richest. Not with money, but with human creativity.

This project shows another vision of Haiti.” After many visits, the photographer has discovered, in addition to Vodou, numerous other, less-known facets and has now focussed on one: Kanaval, the Haitian carnival.

Kanaval is considered Haiti’s most important cultural event where African rites merge with French and Spanish influences and Vodou secret rituals. Costumes worn by the Haitians are hair-raising, surprising and spectacular: people dance in fantastical costumes wearing enormous animal masks made of paper maché, or in uniforms decorated with fictitious insignias, with colourful hair made of sisal and dyed horse’s tail, chalk body painting using coloured pigments or powder, and real snakes as accessories. Kanaval starts in January with small activities held on Sundays and culminates with the main festivity, Mardi Gras, on Shrove Tuesday.

Many Haitian cities have been celebrating for more than two hundred years. What is celebrated are behaviours that local Christians traditionally judge as inappropriate: sexually provocative dancing, play-acting enriched with obscenities, and, last but not least, Vodou, a nature religion with intimidating magic.

Increasingly promoted as a tourist high-light, the island state’s cultural identity is expressed within the framework of the festival. The diversity turns into a complete work of art.

Roots of Kanaval stem from Catholic European customs in the Middle Ages merged with African traditions that arrived with the slave trade. Until 1803, Haiti was a French colony named Saint Dominique, where until 1776, an estimated 800 000 slaves were transported to work the island’s sugar cane, coffee, cocoa and cotton plantations.

The slave uprising of 1791 began the founding of Haiti, the first independent country in Latin America.

Fohlen has been visiting Haiti on assignment since 2010, and soon developed ideas for his own long-term project about the country. “I decided not to cover this like a photo-journalist, with classic vision.” In his previous reportages and visual essays, Fohlen’s excellent framing is in evidence.

“I compose all the time. A picture is a composition, like a painting, like a drawing, like a sentence in a text.

Sometimes a picture is just an opportunity, but to catch this lucky opportunity I must always be ready: to be thinking about my picture at all times.

It’s like a theatre stage. The difference is I can’t direct the characters. I must move around to compose my photo.”

His talent for composition became evident when he worked as a comicstrip artist. Fohlen first studied art and drawing in Belgium, before discovering photography. Bringing as much information as possible into a rectangle is something that both disciplines share in common.

In this case, the photographer changed his work approach radically compared to former personal projects.

From being an observational documentary photographer who avoids any staging, he turned into a director who does not photograph his protagonists as an ensemble, but rather gives each one as much room for a solo performance as possible. The authentic backdrop is only relevant as a meta-text for the approach. “I like to change my way of working and I increasingly use portraits to tell stories.” Fohlen portrayed his costumed subjects free standing, isolated from their cultural context and in front of a neutral,

black background. He quickly set up his temporary studio on the main street of Jacmel, a town on Haiti’s south coast: it was nothing more than a lamp and a roll of cloth draped over a house wall. This minimalism created the ideal framework for the opulence of the hand-made costumes. “Costumes are very heavy and very warm to wear, and the most crazy costumes are worn by men. Women are in the parade for sure, but they wear different costumes, more colorful dresses, different from men who wear more traditional, meaningful and symbolic costumes,” Fohlen observes. “This could be because many historical characters are men.”

The series was taken on just one day – 31 January 2016. Fohlen opted for the studio-like working situation, not least because of the difficult lighting conditions. “The light in Haiti during the day is strong, because of the tropical sun and the lack of clouds to filter it. This tropical light destroys the colours and throws shadows onto people’s faces.

The sun at midday is the worst light for a photographer,” he explains. The series also represents a milestone for Fohlen in relation to his former work.

“Virtually all my stories are political, or make a social, political statement.

In the case of Karnaval (a combination of the French ‘carnaval’ and the Haitian ‘kanaval’) there is no political statement, except that I wanted to show a different perspective of Haiti.” Fohlen has produced a typology that sends a clear message: the people in his pictures are representatives of a culture defined by joie de vivre, who do not allow poverty and earthquakes to unsettle them. Carla Susanne Erdmann

coren tin fohlen .com LFI-On lin e.DE /B log: Slideshow with additional Images Equipment: M240 and M-P240 with Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 Asph.

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Olaf Heine The s p E e d P r o jec t

Running for the pure fun of running: without frills, noncommercialised, no medals, no winning. Instead of all that, purely the amazing stretch from Los Angeles to Las Vegas: this is the Speed Project, which is being held this year for the third time.

One trial in the Speed Project ultra relay race: the desert stretch under a burning hot sun

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Olaf Heine used the Leica S for the team portraits at the start and at the finishing line; he photographed the race itself with the SL. The race began at 5am on 10 March at the Santa Monica Pier – with 550 kilometres to go to reach Las Vegas

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To start with, the route goes through urban terrain but that quickly changes – the landscape becomes increasingly sparse with rare traces of civilisation

A loosened shoe-lace is likely one of least of the runners’ problems

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At times the only chance of shade along the way: the team’s escort vehicle when the imaginary relay baton is passed on – high fives are also acceptable

Pneumatic recovery boots somewhat ease the pain in a runner’s legs. A total of 4500 metres in altitude differences are part of the 550 kilometre stretch: shortly before the end there is a four percent incline up to the final altitude of 1678 metres

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Done! In Las Vegas the team is welcomed by a dancer and an Elvis lookalike

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The pure joy of having reached the goal remains well into the night hours when the portrait session takes place. Painful legs and all the other trials seem long forgotten, but the hard-won images of the grandiose landscapes will surely remain for a lifetime

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O l a f he i n e Born in Hanover in 1968, the photographer and film maker got his first assignments even before finishing his training in Berlin, initially with cover photography in the German and international music scene. Later it became above all portraits of sportsmen and women, actors, musicians and other celebrities.

Heine prefers to photograph in black and white.

o la fhei ne .co m LFI -O nl i n e . D E/ B lo g : one picture, One Story

Equipment: Leica S007 with Summarit-S

70mm f/2.5 Asph and Vario-Elmar-S 30–90mm f/3.5–5.6 Asph; Leica SL with VarioElmarit-SL 24–90mm f/2.8–4 Asph and ApoVario-Elmarit-SL 90–280mm f/2.8–4

The 550-kilometre relay race from Los Angeles to Las Vegas starts at the Santa Monica Pier, passes through the San Bernadino Mountains, crosses the Mojave Desert and Death Valley, then travels upwards to 1678 metres until the goal finally comes into view. Who masterminded such an idea? Nils Arend. Born in Germany, the 36 year-old ran his first marathon ten years ago, shortly before moving to the USA to work for the Optimist Creative Agency. On his first New Year’s Eve in California, he joined with another runner to complete a 56-kilometre route from Long Beach to Manhattan Beach. The following year they ran through the hills and canyons of Los Angeles County to the big Hollywood sign (including a stop for vodka). Arend was always on the lookout for new running challenges, which soon lead to the idea for the Speed Project, developed in collaboration with Blue Benadum, who started the Malibu Marathon.

The Speed Project began in 2013, when a team of six runners – two women and four men – ran the ultra relay race with the goal of completing the 550-kilometre course in under 50 hours.

Each runner covered a stretch of ten kilometres before passing the imaginary relay baton to the next. By the end, this represented over 90 kilometres for each runner, more than twice the length of a marathon. Running breaks were taken in the camper van designated to transport the enormous amounts of water needed to cope with the 40-degree (Celsius) temperatures of the Mojave Desert. The race went better than expected, with the team reaching Las Vegas after 41 hours. Speed Project 2.0 was held three years later with the challenge to break the previous speed: six teams left the starting line – a total of 50 runners.

With more legs to carry the burden the race went faster, reaching Las Vegas after 36 hours and 53 minutes.

On 10 March, portrait and celebrity photographer Olaf Heine was at the starting line of Speed Project 3.0. Known for his portraits of sportsmen and women, Heine is a friend of Arend. “I was interested in the obsession of the runners – it says a lot about the times we live in. The power of the runners, the power of the desert: the convergence of two elemental forces.” Heine was well prepared for his photography stint: in addition to his own equipment his good connections at Leica put all the 35mm and medium-format cameras from Wetzlar at his disposal. To capture running and movement, he found the S and SL worked best.

“I wanted it to be compact,” he says, “especially composing the runners and the mountain landscape together while the race went through the desert.” He wanted to cover the race from beginning to end. “You can approach such a project in a number of different ways. You can follow a team or one individual runner. I wanted to document the race as a whole. I searched out certain points that show the route, the sunset in Hollywood, the mountains, and I was particularly interested in the race going through the desert region. It becomes increasingly sparse,” Heine explains. “At first you still see a couple of aeroplane cemeteries and the odd Joshua tree, but at some point there’s simply nothing.”

Speed Project 3.0 ended in Las Vegas on 11 March. The race is now an example for similar formats in the independent, noncommercial racing scene: twenty teams with over 150 runners took part. The previous race record was broken once again – and by a good half hour. bernd luxa

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Jesse Marlow D o n ’ t j u s t t e l l t he m ,

Sh ow Them

Australian photographer Jesse Marlow has turned nine years of roaming the streets with his M6 into a book – proving that even in the most commonplace environments, a vibrancy of colours, tension and poetic moments are just waiting to be discovered. Taken from an advertising slogan that once caught his eye in one of his own pictures, the title says it all: Don’t just tell them, show them!

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Left page: stop, Melbourne 2011; right page: head over heels, Melbourne 2012; previous page: orange hat, Melbourne 2012

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Clockwise from top left: lunch time, Sydney 2005; paint job, Melbourne 2010; box head, Melbourne 2008; box face, Milan 2008

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Clockwise from top left: red bricks, Melbourne 2009; Sunday morning, Melbourne 2009; Daisy, Melbourne 2006; Lal Lal, Victoria 2012

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Top: lines and legs, Melbourne 2009; right: woodsmen, Melbourne 2007

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Clockwise from top: white cat, Melbourne 2011; green light, Melbourne 2010; Pegasus, Bologna 2007

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J e s s e M A r low Born 1978 in Melbourne, ­ Australia. Since 2001: member of the In-Public street photographers collective. 2006: selected to ­participate in the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass. 2011: I­ nternational Street Photographer of the Year. 2012: MGA Bowness Photography Prize. Marlow is represented by M.33, Melbourne, and his works are held in various Australian museum collections, including the ­National Gallery of Victoria.

He also leads Street Photo­ graphy workshops at the Leica Akademie Australia.

je s s em a r low.co m Do n’ t Just Te l l Them, Show Them

112 pages, 50 colour images, 24 × 33 cm, M.33 (www.m33.net.au) LFI -O nl i n e .D E / B log : Slideshow with further images Equipment: Leica M6 with Summicron-M 35mm f/2 Asph and Fuji Superia 400

There are two images in this portfolio which Jesse Marlow took in Italy.

Can you identify them without looking at the captions? The answer is sure to be no. The ambiguity of place and complete absence of topographical reference points are immediately noticeable traits of the photographer’s work, who was born in Australia in 1978. On the rare occasions that his images include people, it tends to be in the form of singular figures, often captured in strange poses, or showing simply isolated sections of a body.

Yet there are three elements that are omnipresent in all of his recent work: colour, light, and form.

Marlow was just eight years old when he first discovered his love for photography. His uncle had given him a book on New York’s subway graffiti scene, and Marlow spent several years documenting the artworks that were spray-painted on the walls of Melbourne – often with the help of his mother driving him around the city. After high-school, he trained as a ­photographer. There was never a question of doing anything else.

An enthusiastic teacher inspired his admiration for the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Joseph Koudelka and Robert Frank. Part of the s­ yllabus was for the students to roam the streets of Melbourne with a few black and white films in their pocket, and just keep their eyes open – and with that, Marlow was hooked. For a while he dedicated himself to topic-driven, documentary-style monochrome series, with themes such as football games in outback communities, or a project on passers-by with v­ isible impairments such as plaster-casts or crutches – an idea that arose when he himself had an injured arm.

Then, in 2003, a journey to Italy prompted him to start working in colour. He explains that it was the Italian light which inspired this pivotal change: luminous and at the same time full of hard shadows, almost like on a theatre stage. He returned to Melbourne with a fresh eye, and newly-inspired by the work of William Eggleston, among others.

While continuing to work as an inhouse photographer for the Australian Financial Review, he also began to collate the material that would later culminate in the photo book Don’t Just Tell Them, Show Them, published in 2014. By now his focus had shifted from the sequential narrative to the single image which contains a story in itself – conveyed in intense colour compositions and strikingly distilled shapes.

Marlow did not actually set out to create a book. The plan gradually evolved during the nine years in which he took his M6, 35mm Summicron and a roll of Superia 400 film everywhere he went, determined to be prepared for anything that caught his attention: a contrast of colours, a correlation of shapes, a geometric constellation in which one disruptive element, such as a person, creates a degree of visual tension. Over the years, this evolved into a style that was increasingly focused on form-based abstraction, and became ever more obscure in terms of an identifiable location – giving rise to an enticing sense of surrealism.

Throughout this process, Marlow allowed himself to be led entirely by chance. If a day or two passed by ­without yielding a picture, then so be it. At the same time, it is clear that there was a complex matrix of artistic references in his mind, which con­tinuously channelled his attention. Yet Marlow’s influences are not res­tric­ted to photographers, but also include his mother – a clothing ­designer who trained his eye for col­our and form – as well as Australian painter Jeffrey Smart, whose bold in­terpretations of deserted urban lands­capes significantly impacted Marlow’s aesthetic perception of the world around him.

His images cer­tain­­ly show that there is much to be said for the conscious study of classic works in order to further the evolution of your own ­personal style. olaf stefanus

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Florian Bachmeier a t r av e l d i a r y o f ch i n a

The world’s most populated country is grappling with the consequences of its radical industrialisation policies.

The beneficiaries are rubbing their hands with glee, while the disadvantaged fall by the wayside. A journey through a world between modernity and tradition.

China‘s economic miracle: a migrant worker at Chongqing Harbour. Through the fog, the megacity seems like the backdrop of a stage. The photographer has enhanced the contrast in his images

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Porters, an indoor market, a demolished district: Chongqing is a city of contradictions – old and new, poverty and wealth. A reflection of the entire country. Bachmeier says his pictures are borne out of a visual impulse. With the Leica Q he was able to shoot quietly, unobtrusively and fast

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A new build, designed to become the tallest in Chongqing. Its splendour stands in sharp contrast to the careworn face of the migrant worker, marked by the hardships of his past.

Homework time for the country’s future generation

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China’s former head of state, Mao Zedong, established an arms factory in Zhangjiajie. Today the site seems like a relic from a long-lost past, and serves as a shelter for the destitute

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FLORIAN B AC H M E I E R Bachmeier studied photography in Spain as well as history in Munich, writing his dissertation on the Spanish Civil War. He maintains that you must be an avid reader to create good photographs. He has spent considerable time working on the long-term project Black Sea Kaleidoscope. An excerpt of images on the Danube delta is soon to be published in Geo magazine. Bachmeier is a member of the n-ost agency, and also takes on corporate commissions.

flo r i a nbachmei e r .co m LFI -O nl i n e .D E / B log : One Photo, one story Equipment: Leica Q, Summilux 28mm f/1.7 Asph

A magnificent symbol of power: running a length of 6380 kilometres, the Yangtze is the third-largest river in the world. It has been the setting of key historical and political events, divides China’s north from the south, and carries ships at high speeds with goods worth millions. The Yangtze is formidable, perilous and unpredictable – a place shrouded in stories and myths that are passed down time and again.

Florian Bachmeier has been fascinated by expansive rivers ever since he was a child. He was taught about the Yangtze at school – and the wish to one day travel there always prevailed.

When he won in the Leica category of the Bavarian Press Photo award for the second time in December 2016, he received not only a great deal of attention, but also a Leica Q. In January he set out together with his wife on a three-week journey through the People’s Republic, covering thousands of kilometres and using his new camera to shoot almost 200 images a day.

A Travel Diary of China is the title of the resulting photo series which, in contrast to his previous projects, does not follow a precise theme.“I had never been to China, so this journey was an exploration, a kind of reconnaissance,” he explains. “I took pictures which capture the multi-faceted impressions that come with travelling in a new country.” The couple set out in Chongqing, a megacity with around 30 million inhabitants in the south-west of China – located on the Yangtze river and surrounded by mountains.

As if this natural topography was a metaphor for social standing, the higher parts of the city are built up with modern tower blocks reminiscent of a futuristic movie set. Each building seems to contain a city of its own – theatres, cinemas, shopping centres.

Down in the valley, at the foot of the Three Gorges Dam, half-finished warehouses line the streets that lead on to this glittering, faraway world. This is where the lower classes trade their goods: chickens, electrical appliances, shoes. Proctologists reside side-by-side with charlatans and dentists. It is an

intermediary world between heaven and hell, summit and abyss. And amidst the bustle is its most distinctive group of inhabitants: the legion of Bangbangjun, porters who carry goods for travellers and the middle classes.

Their name is taken from their working tool, a bamboo pole (‘bang’) which is laid across their shoulders. The men often carry extremely heavy loads – sacks of cement, furniture, iron parts.

The customer is king, and the Bangbangjun is his slave.

Bachmeier’s black and white images depict the porters as tough and burly men, but also as haggard and careworn labourers. As a group, they represent the lowest part of society.

The photographer sees China as the epitome of rapid modernisation and industrialisation, with all the distortions and contradictions this entails.

While girls in school uniforms sip their caramel coffee at Starbucks, dogs are clubbed to death in the market with baseball bats. While old districts are demolished and replaced with new builds, the former residents are digging for bricks they might be able to reuse. This country, which prides itself in its strong economy, also seems to bring forth the most desperately disadvantaged.

One of them is sitting in a small shop in Zhangjiajie, smoking beneath a portrait of Mao Zedong. His skin is leathery, his gaze lowered towards the floor. He sells rice-cakes and hell money on the grounds of a former arms factory, trying to survive. The image cannot tell his full story, but it conveys a sense of what that story might be.

His face looks weary and devoid of yearning, mournful of the years left behind. Bachmann particularly likes this photograph, as it captures a special moment for future times. 3000 people once lived on the arms factory’s compound – now the site has turned into a wasteland. As though nature was gradually erasing any legacy of Communism. katja hübner

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LeicA M

Federico Rios Escobar wa r a n d p e a ce

After more than fifty years of civil war, FARC guerillas and the Colombian government have signed a peace agreement. The fighters have left the years of hope and anxiety behind them. Federico Rios Escobar was the first photographer to visit the elite Front 34 unit before their demobilisation.

Fighter Aristides guides a boat to the Front 34 camp. Never before had a journalist been invited there – but the times are changing

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Everyday life in camp: men and women cook and wash together. Peace will also stir up the sense of equality between them. Vanessa (below right) became a mother a few days ago. Pregnancies were rare among FARC fighters, because the women had hormone implants. If it did happen, however, the babies had to be given away when they were forty days old. Peace will spare Vanessa and her daughter Manuela this fate – many men and women before them did not have the same luck

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Milena is furious that the Colombian people rejected the peace agreement in a referendum. Will there still be peace?

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The FARC rebel camp stools are witness to the tense atmosphere of waiting, to exhausting marches through the Colombian rainforest, and to long hours remaining in the same position. The guerilla fighters have few personal possessions. They have carefully decorated and personalised their stools

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Brenda and Ledys have invited two civilians into the camp to help them do their hair. All of a sudden external appearance plays a role, and daily life rather than war is part of the agenda – the fighters will soon be able to exchange uniforms for jeans, and pull down their tents. In the jungle, malaria, yellow fever and other tropical illnesses are part of life. Tablets and special diets give relief. Many fighters joined FARC when they were young – until now the party took care of them and made decisions for them

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Manuela has tried to turn her temporary tent into something homely. A laptop lies on her bed – the rebels have stepped into the present

Fe d e r i c o RI o s E s c o b a r Colombian-born Federico Rios Escobar has been working as a photo journalist in Latin America for over ten years.

His emphasis is on social issues.

His first photo book, The Path of the Condor appeared in 2012, and Fiestas de San Pacho, Quibdo in 2013. In 2014 he took part in an Eddie Adams workshop in New York. He posts pictures regularly on the instagram project @everydaymacondo. f edericorios.n et LFI-On lin e.DE /B log: Slide-show with further pictures Equipment: Leica M240, Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 Asph and Summicron-M 50mm f/2 Asph

From top to bottom: FARC member James at a conference of guerillas.

Front 34’s well-filled storage space for supplies. Need is the mother of invention: cut up rubber boots can also be worn in the river

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Following the Atrato River tributaries it is a long trip to the middle of the jungle. Till now, no civilians or journalists, have visited Camp 34 of Colombia’s revolutionary forces (FARC).

For more than fifty years, guerillas fought for the revolution, until the government and FARC party leaders negotiated a peace agreement, which the people then rejected in a referendum: however, both parties agreed to it again, then signed the document.

Federico Rios Escobar visited the camp after the initial failure of the agreement. He found a troop in a state of uncertainty – is peace coming and, if yes, what will it bring? We talked with Rios about trust, journalistic responsibility and a clear position.

How did you manage to gain the trust of the guerillas and be invited into the Front 34 camp?

Federico Rios: The most important thing was to see the fighters as human beings and not as killing machines. I tried to understand their dreams and goals. Of course, at first it wasn’t easy to gain their trust, but once you’re there it’s as simple as a handshake, sharing food and talking. My body of work speaks of the respect with which I treat the guerillas.

How long have you been dealing with the topic of the guerilla war?

For the last six years: I began documenting the battles between the FARC and the Colombian Army in 2011, and from then on I’ve gone from one camp to the next, in the middle of the jungle, travelling on horses, in canoes, Jeeps, long days walking in the mountains and crossing mine fields. This project allowed me to see Colombia in a new way. The signing of a peace agreement, its rejection, photographing the president Juan Manuel Santos when he got the Nobel Peace Prize, and many other situations: it’s been six years full of emotions and deep reflection.

Things have been unsteady in recent months – how has life changed for the guerillas?

Their world is changing fast. Two years ago they were afraid, there was no ceasefire and fighting was part of daily life. There were bombings and ambushes by the Colombian army.

The guerillas gathered in small groups in the middle of the jungle: no lights, no noise, no traces for the enemy to track. Today is different. They’re scared of what’s coming next, but also hopeful about the negotiations. They have dreams and goals that can appear simple, but they’re moving ahead and away from war.

It’s noticeable that there are many women in your pictures – what role do they play in the camp?

Women are very important in FARC ranks and their role is no different to that of the men. They are equals, working, cooking and doing laundry together in the river. I’ve met very brave women on the front line: women commanders, combat nurses and women who support the party politically. They stand equal to men.

Were there things during your stay there that surprised you?

I was surprised to see FARC members helping the community, doctors and nurses treating patients in remote villages. Then there was one moment when I was stunned: several indigenous communities invited FARC leaders from the area to have a meeting, and I was invited to join in. The indigenous leaders spoke with one voice: “Please, stop the negotiations in Havana. If you leave this territory, the paramilitary will come to kill us. We already know that, so please, don’t go; but if you must go, leave us weapons to defend ourselves.” It was enlightening for me to see the necessity of a rebel army to protect the indigenous communities, when it’s supposed to be the Colombian army doing that, but they don’t go that far. I’m still scared. Last week, over 300 indigenous people were displaced by paramilitary armies in the region: they knew it would happen.

How was your work seen in Colombia? Did you have any trouble?

The Colombian media always tells the story of FARC from the government’s perspective – all propaganda. It’s important for me to tell what is really going on including what is happening outside of the war. The work did cause me problems. I was threatened and accused of being a FARC member, and the Colombian media even called me ‘the FARC photographer’, which put my life in danger. It’s hard to understand why media workers don’t understand the responsibilities and duties of a journalist.

How important is it to take a clear position when working on a politically relevant reportage?

I consider myself neutral. I’ve seen and worked with the Colombian army, with the victims, and also with FARC. To be honest, if you walk in the fields of Colombia, you understand that FARC is an answer, not the problem.

The origin of the problem happened 50 years ago; with corruption and with paramilitary forces trying to kill and displace the indigenous communities in order to steal their lands. Being neutral means being on the side of the communities: that’s where I am and that’s how I came to understand the Colombian conflict.

Do you think that photography can change the world for the better?

I think photography can open people’s eyes and give them discussion points.

In my particular case, there are many people who have no idea about the daily life of FARC. They would never believe it if someone told them that FARC has a medical unit, and that they attend communities for free. I’ve got the pictures. It is hard for people in Colombia to believe it, but the photos are undeniable. For me, a better world is one that is well informed.

Interview: katrin iwanczuk

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LeicA Classics

Yevgeny Khaldei A SIGNIFI C ANT M O M E NT

The red flag raised over the Reichstag in Berlin: a dramatic moment in history which has lost none of its symbolic power, despite the fact that the scene itself was entirely staged.

It was this image which made the Soviet photographer Khaldei, who would have turned 100 this year, world famous.

An earlier version of the famous image, still depicting the supporting soldier with a watch on each wrist. The victory flag atop Berlin’s Reichstag, 2 May 1945

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Life Goes On; Berlin, May 1945 (left). The poet Yevgeniy Aronovich Dolmatovsky (1915–1994) was a Red Army lieutenant at the liberation of Berlin. After the German troops surrendered on 2 May 1945, he recited poems at the Brandenburg Gate. This picture, taken on the same day, made him widely known

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Photos: © Collection Ernst Volland/Heinz Krimmer/Yevgeny Khaldei; all quotes from: Der bedeutende Augenblick (ed. Ernst Volland and Heinz Krimmer), Leipzig 2008

In 1941 Khaldei accompanied the 1944 advance of the 3rd Ukrainian Front from Sofia via Bucharest, Budapest and Belgrade to Vienna. He was stationed in Berlin as of April 1945. Jewish couple in the Budapest ghetto, 1945 (top).

The Way to Vienna, 1945 (below). The Französische Straße in Berlin, April 1945 (top right)

s

Khaldei in 1937 with his first Russian Leica, the FED – named after Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky (1877–1926), founder of the secret police agency Cheka. The camera was manufactured in the Dzerzhinsky Commune for homeless youths in Kharkiv (Ukraine). After acquiring the licence, the commune produced Leica copies from 1932 on

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The scene is one the most emblematic portrayals of the Nazi regime’s defeat in May 1945: a Red Army soldier, poised on a soot-blackened pinnacle of the crumbling Reichstag building, raises the Soviet flag in a gesture of heroic victory. Without a doubt the image depicts a precarious endeavour; yet the photographer’s description reveals that capturing this dramatic moment was far from incidental. “It was early morning when I entered the Reichstag on 2 May 1945. There was noise and shouting everywhere, and the building was burning. A young, friendly looking soldier approached me. I was carrying a red flag. He initially suggested we should take it up to the dome, but I disagreed: ‘We’ll breathe in the smoke and burn.’ We found a long pole for the flag, and I spent quite some time looking for possible compositions.

I wanted to get a section of Berlin into the frame. In the end I shot the entire film – 36 pictures – and flew out to Moscow that night.” The offensive on the Reichstag had begun on 30 April, but it was only on 2 May that Khaldei had the opportunity to create his iconic image of three Red Army soldiers.

Despite its inauthentic nature, it remains one of the most symbolically charged and widely recognised photographs of World War II. Khaldei also went on to enhance the picture in the darkroom – adding plumes of smoke and removing a wristwatch from the arm of a soldier who was originally depicted wearing two.

The suggestion that the victors might be helping themselves to personal spoils of war was less than desirable.

On 13 May, four days after Germany had officially surrendered, the edited image was featured in Ogoniok magazine, followed by a continuous stream of other publications.

While the Reichstag photograph brought Khaldei the greatest degree of recognition, his documentation of World War II dates back to his official

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accreditation in 1941. The photographer himself once estimated that during the 1148 days of war he must have covered close to 30 000 kilometres. As the Soviet Army advanced into Germany, Khaldei witnessed the most atrocious war crimes of the Nazi regime. Like all Soviet war photographers, he simultaneously served as an armed soldier, usually fighting on the front line. Yet despite his service, his Jewish heritage made him the target of antisemitic discrimination not long after his return to the Soviet Union.

In 1948 he was let go from the press agency TASS, for which he had been working since 1936. Antisemitism had wiped out almost his entire family, and still remained a perilous part of everyday life in the Soviet Union.

In spite of his world-famous wartime images, Khaldei was largely forgotten until the mid-nineties, when his work was rediscovered by predominantly Western media. His photographs were curated into exhibitions, while Khaldei was interviewed as an eye-witness to history. In this context he was also faced with continuous questions regarding the authenticity of his most famous picture. In reality, however, the image’s symbolic power holds its very own relevance. By the time the photograph was taken in 1945, the Reichstag building no longer served a governing purpose, but had in fact been a mostly empty ruin ever since the famous arson attack of 1933. This meant that the red flag was hoisted not atop a powerful monument of the vanquished Nazi dictatorship, but the already obliterated symbol of German democracy. And yet the true validity of Khaldei’s visual orchestration is dependent neither on its exact historical accuracy nor the detailed intricacies of Germany’s politics.

At one of the most pivotal moments in history, Yevgeny Khaldei found an image whose symbolism could be understood by everyone. This is reflected in the vast number of times the photograph has been published ever since – turning it into an inherent part of the collective memory of the 20th century. Ulrich Rüter

Y E VG E N Y K H ALD E I

Born on 10 March 1917 in Yuzovka (now Donetsk, Ukraine) to a Jewish family.

His mother was killed in a pogrom massacre in 1918, Khaldei was severely injured.

His father and three sisters were murdered by German Nazis in the early 40s.

1936 Khaldei was delegated to Moscow, becoming a photo correspondent for the press agency TASS until 1948. In 1941 Khaldei became a Red Army photographer, in 1946 official photographer at the Nuremberg Trials and the Paris Peace Conference. Dismissed from TASS in 1948 due to his Jewish heritage. From 1956 to 1971 newspaper photographer at the Pravda and later the Sowetskaya Kultura.

1945 marriage to Svetlana, birth of Anna (1947) and Leonid (1956). Yevgeny Khaldei died in Moscow on 6 October 1997.

LFI-On lin e.Com/B log: Interview with Ernst Volland, curator and connoisseur of Khaldei’s work B ook: Witness to History: The Photographs of Yevgeny Khaldei

(Aperture, New York 1997)

f/ s top – l e i c a m – h uaw e i p 1 0 p l u s – M 0 . 8 Le n s e s –

E v e ryb o dy ’s Da r l i n g : C O M B INING T H E 5 0 M M NO C TILUX- M WIT H T H E L E I C A M 1 0 AND T H E L E I C A SL

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b lu r r i n g t he b o u n da r i e s Noctilux

When it comes to composing images with the Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 Asph, could there be a better camera than the Leica M? Perhaps the Leica SL? We asked photographer Jürgen Holzenleuchter to try out the lens on both cameras.

Imagine if money was no object, and the only prerogative was to get the best performance out of one of Leica’s most alluring lenses: the Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 Asph. The immediate answer would be to combine it with the M10 – the finest rangefinder camera Leica ever made. And yet the world of Leica offers another and indeed no less obvious alternative: the SL together with the M-Adaptor L. At a time when the availability of native SL lenses is still rather limited, the adaptor allows SL owners to expand their options, particularly in the extreme wide-angle and high-aperture range. Equally, anyone who is intrigued by the Noctilux but has yet to decide on a camera system, might well find themselves considering the SL as a viable option. And while we are hypothesis­ing about having access to endless funds, the same can be applied 76 |

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to M photographers, whether or not they already have a Noctilux in their current portfolio.

QUESTIONING T HE ­SYSTEM . But why, then,

would the question of choosing a system become relevant? Particularly as one of the M system’s most distinctive traits is its inherent consolidation of contrasts: the rangefinder camera with all its attractions and tactile advantages has essentially remained unchanged for over 60 years, while its lenses, on the other hand, are the continuous subject of rapid and ever more ambitious technological advancements. With sophisticated asphere technology, the introduction of unusual, difficult to process glass types to the optical design, and the construction of the finest adjustment mechanisms, Leica have created a camera system whose high-performance, high-speed lenses,

compact construction and easy handling can be said to be unparalleled by any other 35mm system. Of course, the exclusively manual focus adds to this unique status – and is a vital prerequisite for its compact size.

The question is, are these extremely advanced lenses still a fitting match for the tradition-steeped rangefinder mechanism – especially considering the exacting standards applied to the production and evaluation of digital images? The answer is yes – provided there is no mechanical misalignment, and that the detail you wish to have in focus is at the centre of your image.

This inherent rangefinder characteristic is one of its greatest drawbacks. Moving the camera to set the focus, then shifting it back again to determine the frame inevitably interferes with achieving an accurate focus.

Even more so in the case of the Noctilux, which –

being designed to be used wide-open – is one of the most challenging lenses in the M portfolio. It makes little sense to simply stop it down like an arbitrary 50mm lens, as this would mean carrying around this rather bulky lens for no justifiable reason.

So why carry it around at all? For the pure privilege of achieving a focal plane that is genuinely razor-thin, and the ability to combine it with the most harmonious blur. This gives rise to a myriad of creative possibilities – from emphasising a specific detail, to conjuring up the vivid illusion of spaciousness or a paintinglike abstraction. The only requirement is mastering the manual focus without succumbing to frustration: if you wish to utilise the focal plane, then it had better be in focus. Photographer J ­ ürgen Holzenleuchter has worked with the M system for years – though

never with a Noctilux. We asked him to try the lens on both the M10 and the SL, and summarise his experience.

PAIRED WIT H THE M10.

Finding number one: with the M, the photographer initially ended up shooting a fair few rejects. Number two: matters considerably improved when utilising the Visoflex electronic viewfinder. And thirdly: he actually did fare even better with the Leica SL. Leica are obviously aware that a lens like the Noctilux almost pushes the rangefinder principle to the limit – hence the Visoflex with its two-step magnification, and Focus Peaking with its coloured highlighting of the most contrast-rich edges. By showing exactly what the sensor sees, the Visoflex renders any mechanical maladjustment irrelevant.

In addition, c­ omposition becomes much easier given that the focal plane can now be placed anywhere in the frame. However, the Visoflex is an external component – and one which does not look p ­ articularly elegant on the body of the M. With its 2.4 million pixels and slight time lag, it can seem like →

Even the frontal view shows that the SL (below) could practically have been made for the Noctilux. And indeed, the camera and the speed-giant combine into an ergonomically very wellbalanced ensemble

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Leica M10, N oc ti lux-M 50 mm F/0.95 ASPH Shooting with the wide-open Noctilux on the M becomes especially challenging when the detail that is intended to be in focus is outside the image centre – as this requires you to pan, focus and re-compose

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Le i c a SL, N o c t i lux- M 5 0 mm F/0.95 AS PH

Photos: JĂźrgen Holzenleuchter

What you see is what you get: the SL offers an intuitive workflow and immediate appraisal of the distribution of focus and blur, with a viewfinder that is bright enough to achieve accurate focus even without focusing aids

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something of a makeshift aid, which stands in clear contrast to the rangefinder view.

Added to that is the brief black-out that follows the release of the shutter, which is hardly in the spirit of the classic M experience. What Holzenleuchter noticed in particular was the extent to which the Visoflex reduced the M10’s already quite limited battery-runtime. In the lead-up to the M10’s launch, there were speculations that the Visoflex functionality might be integrated into the camera in some form in order to address this problem.

Instead, however, the M10 was revealed as a steadfast commitment to the classic Leica M virtues.

PAIRED WIT H T HE SL . This

brings us to the SL, whose attributes include a shutter speed of 1/8000s, and even an electronically produced 1/16 000s. It also offers the option of shooting at ISO 50, so that, even without a grey filter, the unique aesthetic of the Noctilux can be applied across the board – including in lighting situations which would not normally warrant a fully open aperture. This

trait alone makes the SL a perfect Noctilux partner.

Most importantly the bright, 4.4 million-pixel Eye-Res electronic viewfinder allows for a fairly accurate assessment of the focus even at aperture 0.95 and without Focus Peaking. As for ergonomics, the SL seems as if it had been made to counterbalance a hefty lens such as the Noctilux, which always appears a little top-heavy on the M. The one thing that inevitably irked our established M photographer was the sense of a double tunnelvision: the SL displays the

image exactly as it will be recorded – as opposed to the M viewfinder, which serves as a ‘window to the world’ by also showing a section of the scene beyond the brightline frame. This has always been a greatly valued compositional aid among M photographers. Another difference is that, with the SL, only what is in focus is clearly visible, while the rangefinder makes no such distinction. Conversely this means that on the SL the effective distribution of focus and blur is immediately apparent, while M photographers have to envision it themselves.

CONCLUSION . Holzen-

leuchter’s verdict was that the M10 would be his camera of choice, simply because he is not keen to be out in the field with a larger-sized camera. Having said that, he was so impressed by the combination of Noctilux and SL that he would in fact change his mind should the Noctilux ever become a crucial part of his work. The beauty of it is that even those reluctant to embrace the challenges of rangefinder focusing can easily and intuitively incorporate the fantastic characteristics of the Noctilux into their work – by pairing it with the SL. olaf stefanus

As these comparison shots suggest, the SL’s ability to record at 1/8000s and ISO 50 opens up a more versatile range of applications for the wide-open ­Noctilux.

To create this image with the M10 (at 1/4000s and ISO 100), we had to stop down to f/2

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MS Optics imported in Europe

by Taos Photographic

h ow to be f u n n y p ic t u r e c o m p o si t i o n

Th e r e i s a g r e at d i f f e r e n c e between photographing humour and a humorous photograph.

Handmade in Japan for Leica cameras

by Miyazaki Sadayasu Limited Edition

MS Optics Perar-R 17 mm f/4.5 MC Retro Focus Ultra Wide Ultra Thin

Photo: Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos/Agentur Focus

It’s easy to take a picture of something funny. It’s much harder to take a funny picture. You see, taking a funny picture requires you to create the joke with observation, framing, composition and timing.

Elliott Erwitt is the master of the photographic one-liner. Take this photograph. In real life, there’s no joke here. Erwitt has created it by connecting two unconnected elements within a single composition.

The frame isolates the bride from the wedding party and shows her standing in front of a covered car.

The lines in her dress and the car-cover appear similar, as if somehow their fates are oddly intertwined; at some point soon, both will ‘have their covers ripped off before being taken for a spin’.

A degree of luck does, of course, play a role when looking for moments like these. But to be a true comedian with your camera you need to create that luck, by honing your eye and your technique. Start by looking for connections between the foreground and background, and use composition to link these layers – whether by overlapping them or placing them side-by-side.

Also create a clean, single-minded frame so the viewer doesn’t have to work too hard to ‘get it’. And finally, don’t forget to leave a little to the imagination. What you choose to exclude from your frame is just as important as what you choose to include.

He nry C a rro l l is the author of the bestselling

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www.taos-photographic.com contact@taos-photographic.com

Read This If You Want To Take Great Photographs series of books published by Laurence King.

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yo u r p r i vat e c o lo u r s m Colours

The standard way in which a camera handles colour does not have to be accepted as a given. When the profiles supplied by Leica and Adobe do not match your preferences, you are free to create your own.

After importing DNG files into Lightroom, the photographer faces a choice between two alternatives of rendering colour – Leica’s own profile, which is embedded into the file, and Adobe’s Standard profile supplied with Lightroom. But one is not limited by these options as any number of custom DNG profiles can be created. Also the choice of a DNG profile is just the start for raw development: Lightroom features many more ways of controlling colour rendition.

Wh at ’s in a profil e?

But for the moment, let us return to the choice between the embedded and the Adobe Standard profile. These two profiles are not created equal. As explained in the 82 |

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first instalment of this series (LFI 3/2017, page 80), the embedded profile only comprises two matrices for converting colours from the sensor’s idiosyncratic colour space to a standard colour space. One matrix is for daylight while the other is for incandescent lighting, and

Profiling your camera requires a suitable target like the X-Rite ColorChecker (in front) or the Datacolor SpyderCheckr (behind).

The targets feature a range of colours with skin tones given a special emphasis, and also a range of grays

Lightroom interpolates between these extremes to match the colour temperature of the image to be developed.

The Adobe Standard profile, on the other hand, is a full-blown profile using nearly every feature the DNG specification offers.

By the way, a DNG profile owes its name to being specified as part of the DNG standard. Such a profile can be applied to any proprietary raw file format and not just DNG files.

A 3-by-3 matrix for converting colour spaces is just the beginning. DNG profiles also allow for spot colour corrections with look-up tables. Let’s say you want to change the rendering of skin tones without also affecting similar colours.

The coefficients of a colourconversion matrix affect a broad range of colours, so more focused adjustments are not possible. A look-up table may specify any number of colours as defined by their hue, saturation, and brightness and define how its hue, saturation, and brightness should be adjusted. Just like the colour conversion matrices there can be different lookup tables for two different colour temperatures.

The DNG specification also supports a third table called the ‘LookTable’ that is applied after the other tables. As its name implies, it is intended to change the look of the image after all the colour-temperaturedependant corrections have been applied. A DNG profile may also specify a gamma curve, but the Adobe Standard profiles typically do not make use of this feature.

Adobe’s use of the features available has not always been consistent. The standard profile for the Leica M9, for example, is missing a LookTable while some other profiles are relying on the LookTable alone, eschewing the possibility of dealing with different colour temperatures by specifying look-up tables for sunlight and incandescent lighting. →

A custom DNG profile for the M10 contains a look-up table describing the required corrections. The visualisation shows how each colour (the small circles) is shifted to adjust its hue and saturation (the small squares)

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A profile created fo r a Leica M 1 0 ca n be used w i t h a ny M 1 0, bu t fo r the most acc urate re su lts yo u s ho ul d create pro fil e s for each ind ivid ual ca mera.

Creating a DNG prof i le. Calibrating a camera

so it accurately reproduces colour requires a target comprising a range of coloured squares – typically 24 or 48 – that encompass specimens from all parts of the visible spectrum. Naturally occurring colours like skin tones, the green of foliage, and the blue of the sky are prominently featured. The ColorChecker Passport Photo from X-Rite (xritephoto.com) is a good choice for photographers as it is small and also comes with a white balance target.

For creating a profile you take a shot of the target, taking care to avoid clipping in any colour channel. You can shoot the target under the same lighting you use for the intended photographs, but for a profile applicable in a wide range of settings you should take two shots of the target, one with daylight (6500 K) and the other with incandescent lighting. Then you need a software for

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analysing the DNG pictures of the target, comparing the actual colours to the target colours, and creating a profile comprising the matrices and look-up tables for an accurate colour rendition.

After the profile is saved in the ‘~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/CameraProfiles’ folder and Lightroom is restarted, it will be offered as an additional option for converting raw images taken with the same type of camera. A profile created for, say, a Leica M10 can be used with any M10, but for the most accurate results you should create profiles for each individual camera. As a sensor’s colour rendition slowly changes over time, this procedure should be repeated when necessary.

While X-Rite provide their own software, one can also use Adobe’s free DNG Profile Editor that is available for download from the DNG format help page (helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/digital-negative. html#resources). Profile creation is straightforward: you open a DNG file with a shot of the ColorChecker target, move four reference points to the corresponding squares of the target so the software knows its location in the image, and start the analysis. For a dual illuminant profile you repeat this with a second DNG file shot under a different kind of lighting – the typical choices are the standard illuminants A (about 2850 K) and D65 (6500 K). The profile applied is interpolated between the two to match the colour temperature of the lighting used for the actual shot. →

Le i c a M 1 0

The custom DNG profile created by the Adobe DNG Profile Editor enhances the saturation of most hues with the exception of skin tones; also the contrast is increased, resulting in some added punch

D n g p r o fil e

Leica M10

A d ob e standard p ro file

datac o lo r p r o fil e

Strangely the Datacolor software opted for reducing the saturation of the colours red, green, and blue, in this case resulting in a generally less saturated image. The corrections suggested can easily be adjusted to one’s taste though

Photos: Markus Tedeskino

The Adobe Standard profile keeps the middle ground; it generally enhances the saturation, even including skin tones, but leaves the gamma curve and thus the contrast untouched.

The differentiation of red and green hues is increased

Le i c a M 1 0

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Fi n e-tuning. The cam-

era calibration panel in Lightroom offers more choices than just selecting a profile. If the supposedly accurate colour rendition provided by a custom profile is not to your liking, you can adjust the hue and saturation of each primary colour to suit your taste.

Another often overlooked option is a slider for adjusting the white balance in the shadows (between green and magenta). This way you can have different white balance settings for the highlights and shadows. All these settings can then be defined as standard (so they get applied automatically), either for every picture taken with the individual camera or with every

copy of that model. Moreover you can define standard settings for different ISO values, so if the colour is off only for high ISO shots this can be specifically corrected.

A d if f eren t a p p roac h .

DNG profiles are the standard way of customising a camera’s colour rendition in Lightroom but it is not the only choice. Datacolor (www.datacolor.com) employs a different approach.

Their SpyderCheckr targets – there is a simple version with 24 colours and a more rugged one with 48 colours – are quite similar to the ColorChecker Passport and feature almost the same colours, but unfortunately the targets from Datacolor and X-Rite cannot be used

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interchangeably. With the Datacolor target, profile creation requires an additional step as the raw file of a shot of the target must first be converted to a TIFF file – the SpyderCheckr software describes which development and export setting must be used. Dual illuminant profiles are not supported; the software can average different shots of the target but the profile created is always for a specific illuminant. The profile can either attempt to create accurate colour, enhance the saturation, or create a pleasing rendition of skin tones.

SpyderCheckr does not create DNG profiles but makes use of the HSL controls in the development module of Adobe Lightroom

(or the similar controls in Adobe CameraRaw). The HSL panel comprises twentyfour sliders for adjusting the hue, saturation, and luminance of eight colours (red, orange, yellow, green, aqua, blue, purple, and magenta) and SpyderCheckr exports a pre-sets file.

Selecting the pre-set applies the correction.

While the HSL sliders cannot match the extremely specific corrections that are possible with look-up tables, these by comparison coarser controls usually suffice to achieve the intended effect. Compared to the blackbox of a DNG profile the pre-sets created by SpyderCheckr make it obvious which changes are applied.

If you are not satisfied

Apart from X-Rite’s own app Adobe’s free DNG Profile Editor can create profiles with ColorChecker

with the result, it is easy to adjust individual slider settings and save the modified profile as another pre-set.

As dual illuminant profiles are not an option, one could create different pre-sets for various illuminants. Like

DNG profiles, the HSL settings can be defined as standard settings for the camera, optionally tied to the specific copy of that model and/or the ISO setting.

Some people cherish specific ‘Leica colours’,

The Datacolor software can profile for a neutral, colorimetric rendition, enhance the saturation, or optimise skin tones. The required HSL adjustments are saved as a Lightroom preset

but as colour is a matter of taste, you should explore the various methods of achieving either accurate colours or a rendition that, while deviating from the original, conforms to your artistic style. michael j. hussmann

Call us at 312-642-2255 to inquire, or e-mail at info@tamarkinauctions.com

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n o n p lu s u lt ra?

H u aw e i P 1 0 P l u s

Two Summilux-H lenses, image stabilisation and the high-resolution display of the Porsche Design Mate 9: how does the third Huawei model with Leica cameras perform out in the field?

Like all Huawei models developed in collaboration with Leica, the P10 Plus features two rear cameras – a 12-MP RGB camera, and a 20-MP monochrome camera

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In the previous issue of LFI we introduced the latest flagship models released by smartphone manufacturer Huawei – the P10 and P10 Plus with Dual Lens Camera.

While the smaller model’s camera is already familiar from Huawei’s Mate 9 phablet, the P10 Plus has been equipped with new front and rear cameras, as well as a high-resolution 2k display.

The rear camera has been upgraded with faster lenses, the Summilux-H 27mm f/1.8 Asph – making it all the more intriguing to put the photography features of this trailblazing smartphone to the test.

In bright sunshine, the P10 Plus unsurprisingly delivers even better images than its predecessor, characterised by a crisp focus and strong but well-balanced colour rendition. In daylight shots the blue and yellow tones appeared more saturated, giving some of the images a more vibrant look compared to shots of the same scene taken with the Mate 9. The interpretation of red tones is also more balanced in the new camera, with less of a tendency to veer into purple hues.

We did detect subtle signs of noise in some of the JPEG files – especially in compositions that contained larger areas of one homogenous colour, such as a clear blue sky. In general, however, you cannot go wrong with the P10 Plus on a sunny day.

In bad lighting conditions and given the absence of a flash, the superiority of the Summilux-H lenses really comes to the fore, and noticeably sets the P10 Plus apart from the Summarit-H lenses of the P10 and Mate 9.

At aperture f/1.8, the automatically calculated values of 640 ISO and 1/15s were sufficient for a noise-free image under adverse conditions (top picture). This was when the optical image stabiliser (OIS) proved particularly useful, enabling shake-free pictures at long exposure times. It only seems a shame that the feature has not been extended to the monochrome camera.

The OIS is also of great benefit when using the zoom function. The zoom capacity of the P10 Plus has been increased from the 6× magnification of the Mate 9 to up to 10× – thereby offering the full-frame equivalent of an approximately 150mm focal length. This improvement is certainly a very nice touch, enabling the photographer to capture far-away details and explore the full scope of the camera’s optical abilities at the upper end of the magnification scale. In fact photographs taken with the zoom function are of better quality than the corresponding cropped image sections of the identical scene. Subjects with a clear geometric composition can happily be captured at a 4–5× mag-

Our wish-list for the next model? A waterproof body, less image noise, image stabilisation in the monochrome camera, and the ability to create monochrome DNGs

nification. For moving subjects, on the other hand, it is best not to exceed the lossless 2× zoom.

Yet the most impressive highlight of photographing with the P10 Plus is its 2kresolution display, which can only be described as truly brilliant. Some may consider the colour rendition slightly over-saturated, though we simply found the pictures to look very vibrant.

The identical scenes recorded on older Huawei devices or models by other brands seemed rather dull and milky by comparison. This high recording quality, combined with great JPEG results and a choice of postprocessing tools will probably prompt many P10 Plus users to skip image processing on their main computer, and go straight to their smartphone’s editing tools and direct-sharing functions.

David Rojkowski

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They ’ v e g ot t he lo o k m 0.8 lenses

The Leica M 0.8 lenses by CW Sonderoptic are a curious proposition – M mount lenses that are not primarily designed to be used with an M, but with a cine camera.

And yet it all makes sense.

When CW Sonderoptic introduced the Leica M 0.8 lenses prior to last year’s Photokina, the announcement left some people baffled. This set did comprise the fastest M lenses with focal lengths of 21, 24, 28, 35, and 50mm – four Summilux lenses and one Noctilux –, but in a version optimised for cinematography. Cine lenses usually sport the Arri PL mount that is the industry standard, but the Leica M 0.8 lenses do retain the M mount. This would recommend their use on an M240 or an M Monochrom246, so it came as a surprise that the new M10 does not even have a movie mode anymore. Had CW and Leica’s M division been talking at cross-purposes? There are actually valid reasons for this perceived mismatch, but why exactly are the M 0.8 lenses designed the way they are?

The initial motivation prompting CW to explore ways of redesigning M lenses for cinematic purposes 90 |

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came from the field of cinematography. Cameramen familiar with the M system and the rendering of its lenses, had specifically been asking for cine versions. The characteristic look captured

by M lenses has become ingrained in our collective memory, and cinematographers wanted to capitalise on that. A sensor, be it of the CCD or CMOS variety, cannot confer a certain look; it is the lens that makes the difference. That these lenses are even smaller and lighter than regular cine lenses only adds to their attraction.

The engineers started with the 50mm Noctilux and it soon became apparent that a PL mount variant would not be a practical proposition. Its flange distance, i.e. the distance between the mount and the sensor plane, measures 52 mm whereas for the M mount it is just 27.8 mm.

Now the flange distance as such is just a mechanical parameter, and there is nothing preventing a PL

mount Noctilux in principle.

Mechanically, a relocation of the mount by 24.2 mm might have been possible but optical considerations dictate that the back focal length, i.e. the distance between sensor and rear lens, must stay the same. In other words, the lens would need to protrude nearly an inch beyond the PL mount.

Depending on the camera, this might just work but it is safer to avoid it.

But a PL mount was not even required. If the lens mount cannot be made to fit the camera, the camera must be made to fit the lens.

RED cine cameras feature interchangeable mounts and an M mount is among the options available. Some Arri cameras like the Alexa Mini and the Amira support M lenses as well, and the Sony Alpha 7 series can use these lenses with an adapter bridging the 10.8mm gap between the flange distances of the M and E mounts. In cinematography, manual focus and manual exposure

are the norm, and there are no special requirements as to exchanging data between camera and lens; the M mount thus fits the bill just nicely. But what about the obvious alternative, namely using the lenses on an M? While this is perfectly possible, the Leica SL with its much more extensive video support is arguably the best choice among Leica cameras, even if this combination requires an adapter.

F ro m M to M 0.8. Given that the mount could stay the same, what was required for turning an M lens into a cine lens? CW have decided to eschew a complete mechanical redesign. The focus throw is the same →

The M 0.8 lenses retain the M mount that is also available as an option for RED cameras (bottom). Thanks to the standard 0.8 module gear rings, the focus can be controlled by a follow focus mechanism (top)

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The Thalia series is a complete mechanical redesign of lenses originally developed for the Leica S system, with a PL instead of the S mount

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as in the original version, while for cine lenses, 270 to 320 degrees are usually deemed optimal. The lenses also feature the traditional f-stops rather than t-stops as is customary for cine lenses. ‘t’ is for transmission – t-stops measure the actual amount of light passing through the lens, taking into account not just the diameter of the entry pupil but also the light loss due to absorption and reflection within the lens. But as is required for cinematic purposes, the iris diaphragm closes continuously rather than in discrete stops.

The shutter speed is effectively fixed when recording movies, so any exposure adjustment is achieved by opening or closing the

diaphragm, and to avoid jumps in brightness this must be continuous.

Cine cameras are usually mounted in a rig, with focus and aperture rings coupled to gears allowing for pulling the focus and adjusting the f-stop smoothly. Instead of focus and aperture rings designed to be operated manually, cine lenses sport gear rings, typically with a 0.8 module pitch – hence the name M 0.8 that refers to those gear rings. For a first proof-of-concept design, CW Sonderoptic used 3D printed plastic gear rings fitted to the lenses; in the actual product these are milled from metal, of course.

When changing lenses, ideally nothing should change but the focal length. All the

lenses from the Leica M 0.8 set share the same 80mm front diameter and 77mm filter thread. All the tolerances are tightened so, for example, there is little variation between the focal lengths of each copy of a lens. The focus scale is even more precise than with a standard M lens, and the lenses in a set are especially selected so their colour characteristics are an exact match. While the glass and its optical qualities are essentially the same, not every M lens can become an M 0.8 lens, accounting for the latter’s higher price tag.

ranging from 24 to 180mm is based on the lenses of the Leica S system. The image circle of the M 0.8 lenses covers 35mm and Super 35 sensors, but the Thalia lenses with their 60mm image circle also support larger sensor sizes like that of the Arri Alexa 65. With the Thalia series, CW went the whole way in the transformation from still photography to cine lenses.

Mechanically, the lenses are a complete redesign and the 55mm lens is even a new optical design. The focus throw is 270 degrees for all 9 lenses and the focus and t-stop locations are matched between the different focal lengths. Needless to say, the lenses share both the same front diameter (95 mm)

Th a lia len s e s. When the

M 0.8 are M lenses turned cine lenses, the recently announced Thalia series

and the filter thread (92 mm).

The flange distance of the S system is close to that of the PL mount (53 vs. 52 mm), so fitting a PL mount was the logical choice. Through electrical contacts in the mount, the lenses support the transmission of ‘/i Technology’ meta-data to the camera.

N e w use s fo r p rove n l e nse s. Leica has always been famous for their lenses for still photography, even with cinematographers who can eventually join the game.

With the M 0.8 and Thalia lenses, CW Sonderoptic leverages Leica’s expertise so movies can now share the look we are familiar with from photographs shot with a Leica M or a Leica S. Michael j. hussmann

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be s t o f LFI . G a l l e r y

O n g ua r d “This picture was taken at Bromo, a volcano on the Indonesian island of Java. The explosive eruption and loud rumbling scared the horse, making it rear onto its hind legs.

The rare combination of a volcanic eruption, a horse and its rider – all three conspired to turn it into a perfect moment.”

Riksa Dewantara Leica M240 with Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 Asph

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l ig h t box

A feast of colours “While travelling in India I experienced the Kumbh Mela Festival. Hindus celebrate it every three years, always alternating between Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik.

They bathe in holy waters to cleanse themselves from sin. In the photo, pilgrims are hanging up wet clothing.“ Sebastien Pipo Leica M6 TTL with Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 Asph

f ly i n g c row “I took this picture in Woollahra in New South Wales, Australia.

The natural environment there is in balance, and birds are unafraid of people; consequently, I was able to photograph this crow from quite close with a 50mm lens, without it having to change its course.”

Haoming Wang Leica M9 with Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 Asph

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t he o l d f i s he r m a n Cormorant fishing is a method which involves the use of tame predatory birds. They dive after the fish, but a cord or ring around their necks stops them from swallowing their catch – meaning that the fisherman gets to keep it. The picture was taken on the Li river in Yangshuo, China.

Nuttapong Peanchalangake Leica SL with Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm f/2.8-4 Asph

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ov e r t he shoulder “I was meeting Cap Verde workers who had migrated to São Tomé and Príncipe, to interview them for a photo book project. After one interview I noticed this young boy. The monkey was startled when I pressed the trigger, whereas the boy was delighted.”

Pedro Matos Leica M240 with Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 Asph

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T r i n i da d, Cuba “During a trip to Cuba, I wanted to catch all the colours of the island state.

In general, I like it when the viewer gets to learn something about the place where a picture was taken. In this case, it’s the colours and the silhouettes that tell something about this special place.”

Christian Kasper Leica M240 with Summicron-M 35mm f/2 Asph

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low t i d e “We had to travel by boat for an hour before reaching the Malaysian island of Pulau Omadal. This is where the Bajau, an indigenous ethnic group, live. They were once sea nomads, but nowadays they build houses over the water and live from fishing.

Their children can not go to school.�

Bob Chiu Leica M240 with Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 Asph

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p h oto

Chris Killip: Father and Son Watching a Parade, West End, Newcastle 1986

– b o o k s – e x h i b i t i o n s – f e s t i va l s – Awa r d s –

Chris Killip Getty museum, Los angele s

G r e g o ry C r e w d s o n

Photos: © Gregory Crewdson/Courtesy Gagosian Gallery, Nederlands Fotomuseum Rotterdam; © Chris Killip; © Ed van der Elsken/ Ed van der Elsken Estate, Courtesy Annet Gelink Gallery; © Gordon Parks/Courtesy The Gordon Parks Foundation; © Kent Klich

Th e Ph o t o g r a p h e r s ’ G a l l e r y, L o n d o n

The cathedral is a place of congregation, synonymous with sanctuary and belonging. Gregory Crewdson’s Cathedral of the Pines revolves around the search for this feeling, and the striving for a sense of home. The series takes its name from a hiking path in the rural town of Becket. “It was deep in the forests of Becket, Massachusetts, that I finally felt darkness lift, experienced a reconnection with my artistic process, and moved into a period of renewal and intense creative productivity.” This is where the photographer created his series, which is now presented for the first time in the UK. Crewdson knew the area from childhood, having spent time at his family’s holiday home. Along with a feeling of nostalgia, he was inspired by the question of man’s relationship to nature – and the psycholo­gical difference between the inside and the outside.

“It was important to me that the pictures have a kind of quiet, still sensitivity. To me, they are less cinematic and more painterly in terms of the approach, but it is definitely still psychological, with very little going on in terms of the literal narrative or storyline,” he explained in an interview with Time online. His subjects are enclosed either by surrounding forests or the walls of an interior space. The figures seem detached and isolated, lost in private thought – as though they were living not in their homes, but inside themselves. The themes and colours of Crewdon’s work are often reminiscent of 19th century paintings: turning the overtly visible into a facade that conceals a secret.

23 June — 8 October 2017 Photo: Gregory Crewdson, Mother and Daughter, 2014

In his book In Flagrante, Killip documented the devas­­tating impact of de-industri­a­­lisation on northern England’s working-class communities in the 70s/80s. The exhibition Now Then: Chris Killip and the Making of In Flagrante comprises 50 images from the Getty Museum’s collection, along with moquettes, contact sheets and work prints.

23 May — 13 August 2017 Photo: Chris Killip, Wearside 1985

G o r d o n Pa r k s Foa m , A m st e r da m

For Gordon Parks, the camera was his ‘weapon of choice’ to highlight issues of poverty and segregation. Foam presents his first retrospective in the Netherlands, combining his fashion and portrait work with images documenting the working classes and those abandoned by society.

16 June — 6 Sept. 2017; Photo: Gordon Parks: The Invisible Man, Harlem, New York 1952

E d va n d e r E l s ke n J e u d e Pa u m e , Pa r i s

On the urban streets of Paris, Amsterdam, Tokyo and Hong Kong, the ‘photographer of marginal figures’ found aesthetic form and vibrant sensuality in everyday reality.

This exhibition comprises a broad selection of the Dutch photographer’s best-known works from the 50s and 60s.

13 June — 24 September 2017 Photo: Ed van der Elsken, Beethovenstraat, Amsterdam 1967

K e n t K l i ch H a s s e l b l a d F o u n d at i o n , Gothenburg

The Gaza Strip: beach, sun, sea and military barriers. For the past decade, the Swedish photographer has created several series about the border region. Gaza Works reflects his long-term dedica­ tion and gives insight into life in this politically charged territory. A book accompanies the exhibition.

3 June — 17 September 2016 Photo: Kent Klich, Resistance, 2016

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Ty l e r Sh i e l d s , P r ovo c at e u r L e i ca Ga l l e ry Lo s A n g e l e s

Inspiration, irritation, provocation – Tyler Shields does not make it easy on himself or on his public. Titled a fearless artist, the photographer questions established design patterns and rules.

The artist and film maker is not interested in simply reproducing reality.

He does, in fact, examine the human condition, but translates what he finds into his own imagery; aesthetic staging and stylistic clarity are the foundations to do this. “I love to push myself and I love to push the people around me. People have been injured. People have had some crazy experiences doing this. Everything that we do is real. I push people so far,” he explains.

Tyler Shields was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1982. Today he lives and works in LA. He has been working 106 |

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Actor Nathan Fillion in Pan Am (above).

Actors Ana Mulvoy-Ten, Dylan and Ellery Sprayberry (below)

as a photographer for around twelve years, but his work does not fit easily into any established genre. “A lot of what I do are portraits and scenes from a one frame movie.” He began his career as a director of music videos.

Working with the skate-boarding icon, Tony Hawk, had a great influence on him. Even today he does not really see himself as a commercial photographer, even if he does work with stars and celebrities. That is why he focuses on exhibitions and books, organising four to six shows a year; his third book appeared in 2017.

The American has also been working with Leica cameras for a while – among the works on display are ones taken with the Leica S, SL, M240, MD, Monochrom and M7. “A camera is a time machine you can go anywhere and do anything with: to me that is a freedom I just can’t live without.”

11 May — 12 June 2017, Leica Gallery Los Angeles www.leicagalleryla.com

— S MAGAZINE — Le i c a G a l l e r i e s germany

polAnd

We t z l a r

wa r s aw

Jesse Diamond: White Noise

Paweł Żak

Am Leitz-Park 5, 35578 Wetzlar 13 June — 31 August 2017

Mysia 3, 00-496 Warsaw 31 March — 26 May 2017

Frankfurt

Jürgen Schadeberg

Portugal

Großer Hirschgraben 15, 60311 Frankfurt am Main 27 April — 15 July 2017

Porto

N u r embe r g

Rua de Sá da Bandeira, 48/52, 4000-427 Porto 8 April — 18 June 2017

Hermann Netz: Zen-Impressionen

Gérard Castello-Lopez: Photography 1966–2006

Obere Wörthstr. 8, 90403 Nuremberg 5 May — 1 July 2017

Turkey

Zingst

i s ta n b u l

York Hovest: One Hundred Days in the Amazon Am Bahnhof 1, 18374 Zingst 21 May — 31 August 2017

Thomas Hoepker: Sudden Glory Bomontiada – Merkez, A, Birahane Sk. No:1, 34381 Şişli/İstanbul 24 March — 10 June 2017

Austria USA

Salzburg

Ellen von Unwerth: Wild, Wild, West

Los Angeles

Gaisbergstr. 12, 5020 Salzburg 10 June — 5 August 2017

8783 Bever­ly Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90048, 11 May — 12 June 2017

Sch l o s s A r e n be r g

Peter Hellekalek: Zwei Orte, benachbart Arenbergstr. 10, 5020 Salzburg 7 May — 16 July 2017 Vienna

Current exhibition unknown at time of publication

Tyler Shields: Provocateur

Boston

EJ Camp: The Sea 74 Arlington Street, Boston, MA 02116, 4 May — 25 June 2017 Brazil

S ão Pau l o

Walfischgasse 1, 1010 Wien

Julian Lennon: Cycle

I ta lY

Rua Maranhão, 600 Higienópolis, 01240–000 São Paulo 26 April — 24 June 2017

Milan

PhotoVogue/inPortraits

Ja pa n

Via Mengoni, 4, 20121 Milan 16 May — 10 June 2017

T o ky o

czech Republic

Prague

Jaroslav Prokop: Portrait of a Music Festival (Pezinok 1976) Školská 28, 110 00 Prague 1 7 April — 18 June 207

Elliott Erwitt and Werner Bischof: Platinum Print exhibition 6-4-1 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 3 March — 4 June 2017 Kyoto

Anju: The Invisible Kyoto 570–120 Gionmachi Minamigawa, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto 11 March — 8 June 2017

ELLEN VON UNWERTH —

www.s-magazine.photography

I n F o c u s : t he C o n d i t i o n o f F r a n ce

Clockwise from the top: Yohanne Lamoulère, from the Des histoires d’amour à Marseille – Le mythe de Gyptis et Protis series; François Kollar, from the La France travaille series; Gabrielle Duplantier Noellyne, from the Que deviennent les enfants d’ici? series; Frédéric Stucin, from the Le prix de Diane series

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From 24 May to 11 June the city of Séte in the south of France will centre around the imageSingulières Photo Festival. This year, the organisers have decided that the content should focus on France and its most recent history.

This should not be seen as a limitation or as navel-gazing. It is rather an attempt to take stock at a time of Presidential elections in a politically insecure world. This year, the artist in residence is the American documentary photographer Anne Rearick.

For the on-going, over three-year project, La France Vue D’ici, more than thirty photographers and journalists have contributed perspectives and approaches, resulting in a multi-layered portrait of France. The Jeunes-Generations project, initiated and presented by the Ministry of Culture, shows among others Yohanne Lamoulère’s Des histoires d’amour à Marseille series (left).

In addition, Gilles Favier, the festival’s Artistic Director, is presenting little-known black and white portraits

by Denis Dailleux, the captivating work Face au silence by autodidact Christophe Agou who died in 2015, and the stirring Saisons noires series by Julien Coquenti. Pascal Dolémieux, will be present with an exhibition of wellknown classics alongside more recent works in colour. Thanks to the support of the Roger Viollet Agency, François Kollar’s factual documentation, La France travaille, from the early 1930s will also be shown, and finally, a comprehensive homage to the photographer Thibaut Cuisset, who passed away at the beginning of the year.

24 May to 11 June, www.imagesingulières.com

Photos: © Yohanne Lamoulère/Cnap; © Frédéric Stucin/La France Vue D’ici; © François Kollar/Roger Viollet; © Gabrielle Duplantier/Cnap

n i n Th e d i t i o n o f t h e p h o t o f e s t i va l i n S È TE

N o o r ce l eb r at e s i n To u lo u s e

Photo: © Pep Bonet/Agence Noor

F e s t i va l d e Ph o t o MAP

The Noor Agency will be celebrating its tenth anniversary during the MAP Toulouse festival. Photographers such as Pep Bonet, Stanley Greene and Jon Lowenstein will be exhibiting their work. As such, Pep Bonet’s HellBangers series presents the excessive lifestyle of a group of heavy metal fans in Botswana (above).

As well as an event for newcomer talent, the MAP Toulouse has always seen itself as a festival of encounters where, by charging no entry fee, the medium of photography becomes accessible to the general public. From 1 to

30 June there will be a total of 18 exhibitions that not only present works by renown photographers such as Elliott Erwitt, Martin Parr, Richard Dumas and Saul Leiter, but also give newcomer photographers the chance to present their first endeavours.

Ulrich Lebeuf, Artistic Director of the MAP Toulouse, has chosen histoires de familles (family stories) as the theme for this ninth edition of the festival: when thinking about the family, photography is never far behind. The way photographers approach the subject of family, is very varied: Sylvie Meunier

brings together photographic finds creating associative projections; the photography duo Théo Gosselin und Maud Chalard captivate viewers with their very personal Théo et Maud, à nu series, taking them on a road trip throughout the US; reportage photographer Olivier Jobard follows, among others, a Syrian refugee family to their new home in Sweden.

Photo: From the HellBangers series by Noor photographer Pep Bonet. The Noor Agency is celebrating its tenth anniversary 1 to 30 June 2017, www.map-photo.fr

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“ The r e i s a lo t o f d i a l ec t i c a l t e n s i o n .“ i n t e rv i e w

Clément Chéroux, Senior Curator at the MOMA San Francisco, examines Magnum Photos’ secret of success. We spoke with him and photography historian Clara Bouveresse about their work in the landmark exhibition Magnum Manifesto.

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Photo left: © Chris Steele-Perkins/Magnum Photos; photo right: © Marc Riboud/Magnum Photos

Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, David ‘Chim’ Seymour and George Rodger founded Magnum Photos in May 1947. By showing the overview exhibition Magnum Manifesto, the International Center of Photography (ICP) of New York celebrates the 70th birthday of the renowned agency.

LFI: Mr Chéroux, preparing a retrospective exhibition about Magnum Photos is a great challenge. What was your starting point?

Clément Chéroux: The very first question I asked myself was ‘why are they so good and how did they do it?’

It was helpful to define what the spirit of Magnum was and still is. I tried to organise the exhibition around this.

I’ve been working with Clara Bouveresse, a photo historian. She was writing her PhD thesis on Magnum Photos.

She has done the archive research and I asked her to share the internal infos of Magnum Photos.

Clara Bouveresse: I spent several months in the Paris office, exploring archives and getting to know the agency. I interviewed over 60 former and current Magnum photographers, staff and partners. I also explored Magnum archives around the world.

LFI: What was your approach to the intellectual back bone of the exhibiton?

Chéroux: I tried to cross-correlate the history of photography, of Magnum Photos and of the world through the lens of Magnum photographers.

Bouveresse: We sought to create a fresh perspective and raise new questions, departing from the myth of MagnumPhotos. This exhibition offers a critical viewpoint, framing the evolution of the agency within a broader historical context.

LFI: Magnum has approximately one million prints and transparencies in the physical library, with over 500 000 images available online. How did you dig your way through this?

Definetely! There is a lot of dialectical tension in Magnum. If you take Robert Capa and Henri CartierBresson, Capa was in the action, was documenting the world, CartierBresson preferred to shoot from the distance, tried to be invisible; but this is not the only tension. There is tension between the individual and the collective, between the young and the old, between commercial work and art, between the USA and Europe.

Tension is their secret!

Chéroux:

Above: Marc Riboud: Girl with the American National Guard outside the Pentagon, Washington 1967; top: logo of the Magnum Manifesto exhibition; left: Chris Steele-Perkins: Young Teddy Boys, England 1976

Clara was much more involved in the pre-selection and I chose the photos that would represent the three aspects I have mentioned before. You look at the photographs for hours and hours, and you realise they show you a schematic. So I came up with three chapters.

Chéroux:

What are they?

Chéroux: The first part of the exhibition, Human Rights and Wrongs (1947– 1968), focuses on post-war humanist ideals, drawing parallels between the subjects explored by Magnum members and the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The second part, An Inventory of Differences, shows how the photographers focused on minorities, sub-cultures and outsiders during the years 1969– 1989. The third part, Stories About Endings (1990–today), deals with the ways in which they capture a world in flux and under threat.

LFI: The exhibition will also include books, magazines, videos, and rarely seen before archival documents. Why did you decide to also show these?

Chéroux: In the early period of its existence Magnum was earning money mainly through the dissimination of the photographs through the press.

At that time only a few photographers were doing exhibitions. To understand the whole history of Magnum, it’s important to consider photography not only as a work of art in a frame but also as something that was reproductible through magazines and books.

Bouveresse: These documents reveal the lives of pictures, and help to understand how they were used and sold. They bear witness to the various markets operated by Magnum, from magazine pages to gallery walls.

Interview: Carla Susanne Erdmann

LFI:

C lé me n t C hé roux Born 1970. Having

served as Chief Curator of the Department of Photography for the Musée National d’Art Moderne at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, he has been Senior Curator of Photography for the Department of Photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art since June, 2016.

C lara B ouvere s s e Born 1989. Bouveresse did four years of research to write her PhD, Inventing an ‘academy’. Magnum Photos, 1947– 2015. Her book Histoire de l’Agence Magnum was recently published by Flammarion.

Exhibition : Magnum Manifesto, 26 May until 3 September 2017; International Center of Photography, New York; www.icp.org

After doing this intense work, do you now know why Magnum is so good?

LFI:

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J a me s B a l d w i n S t e v e Sch a p i r o Th e F i r e N e x t T i m e

N a n cy B o r ow i ck Th e Fa m i ly I m p r i n t

Witnessing the death of a parent is among the most difficult realities of family life – even more so if tragedy strikes twice in a short space of time. The American photojournalist (*1985) was confronted by this fate at the age of 29, when she lost both parents to cancer within a year of each other.

Yet she experienced their final chapters not only as a daughter, but also as a photographer. When Howie and Laurel were diagnosed with terminal cancer, Borowick decided to create a record of their journey. For two years she accompanied the couple, who were beaten, but not broken, by their ordeal. The series shows daily life in all its facets – capturing courage and joy as well as moments of despair. Despite its unsparing nature, the book conveys the power of a family’s love. In the beginning, Borowick was unsure about her ability to document her parents in such an intimate manner.

Yet she was driven by the awareness of the limited time they had left. Only later did she realise that the intense experience helped her in her grieving process: “It was amazing to get to know my parents on a deeper level, and to start seeing them as more than the people who raised me.” The sensitive black and white photographs and accompanying texts are complemented by notes, letters and photographed mementos, creating a vivid insight into the family’s history. Initially financed through a Kickstarter campaign, this is a touching book about hope and loss, and an empathetic document of learning, love and life in the face of death.

192 pages, 200 images, 23 × 28 cm, Hatje Cantz

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Rediscovering an amazing collaboration: In 1963, James Baldwin (1924–1987), leading Civil Rights activist and one of the most influential AfroAmerican writers, caused a great stir with the publication of his essay The Fire Next Time, addressing 1960s race relations. This volume is a re-edition of the literary masterpiece, complemented by the works of photography legend Steve Schapiro (*1934), with whom Baldwin travelled throughout the Southern States of America for Life magazine in the early 1960s.

The photographer went on to have close ties with the Civil Rights movement, documenting landmark events such as the March on Washington, as well as the protagonists of this dramatic era. The reedition is made all the more poignant by the fact that racial equality remains elusive to this day. Indeed, neither the images nor the writing in this volume have lost their original relevance.

Giulio Piscitelli H a r raga

This volume distills the fate of thousands into tangible images – making visible those often described only in terms of vast numbers. The Italian photojournalist (*1981) has documented different refugee routes to Europe since 2010.

Harraga – ‘those who burn’ – is a Moroccan and Algerian term for migrants who set fire to their identity papers before their attempt to cross the borders into Europe. Piscitelli has documented the Spanish enclave of Melilla and the routes to Italy across the Mediterranean Sea; he has portrayed those who traverse African deserts, and those arriving on the Greek islands.

272 pages, 24 × 34 cm, Taschen, limited edition of 1963 copies

The immediacy of his images gives insight into the desperate determination with which people embark on these lifethreatening journeys, exposing themselves to unimaginable hardships and dangers. Even now, the book is already a historical document.

182 pages, 130 images, 20 × 26 cm, English or Italian, Contrasto

From social-media initiative to book publication: 288 000 people are currently following the Everyday Africa project on Instagram, where it was established by Peter DiCampo and Austin Merrill in 2012. The idea was to create a platform to showcase a different image of Africa – moving beyond the sensationalised clichés of poverty, disease and war, and shifting our perception to the continent’s multifaceted diversity. The project has already culminated in several exhibitions and extensive media attention.

E v e ry day A f r i c a 3 0 Ph o t o g r a p h e r s Re-Picturing a Continent

This book now presents an excerpt of 300 photographs by 30 contributors.

The spectrum of visual styles spans from documentary images and everyday moments to fashion shoots and artistic interpretations. Accompanying Instagram comments, ranging from supportive to ignorant, add a whole

new element to the presentation.

Images such as Andrew Esiebo’s Taking selfies in Lagos, Nigeria (top) perfectly represent the project – capturing the emergence of a modern-day autonomy as well as the sometimes self-referential nature of photography. Even without providing any overt structure, the book takes the viewer on a visual journey through Africa that is as exciting as it is illuminating.

440 pages, 267 colour + black and white images, 16.5 × 19.2 cm, Kehrer

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Winner of the TIPA Award

Leica Fotografie I n t e r n at i o n a l

‘Best Photo Lab Worldwide’ A n t h o n y S uau Selected by the Editors of 28 International Photography Magazines my Picture

A special moment captured in the early morning somewhere in rural Romania, impacts the photographer today as much as it did back then in 1990.

69th year | Issue 4. 2017

LFI PHOTOGR A PHIE GMBH Springeltwiete 4, 20095 Hamburg, Germany Phone: +49 / 40 / 2 26 21 12 80 Fax: +49 / 40 / 2 26 21 12 70 ISSN: 0937-3977 www.lfi-online.com, mail@lfi-online.com Editor-in-Chief Inas Fayed, Frank P. Lohstöter (V.i.S.d.P.) A rt Direction Brigitte Schaller

YOUREDITORIA PHOTO IN L OFFICE S. Erdmann,FRAME Michael J. Hußmann, A Carla GALLERY Katrin Iwanczuk, Bernd Luxa,

Edyta Pokrywka, David Rojkowski, Holger Sparr, Olaf Staaben, Simon Schwarzer, from Olaf Stefanus, Katrin Ullmann

£59.90

Photo Editor Reportage Carol Körting layout Thorsten Kirchhoff Translation, Sub-Editing Robin Appleton, Hope Caton, Anna Sauper, Osanna Vaughn CONTRIBUTORS to this issue Henry Carroll, Katja Hübner, Ulrich Rüter

Stephanie Kloss, from LUMAS.CO.UK

M anagement Board Frank P. Lohstöter, Anja Ulm

Sleeping cyclist, Romania 1990

As the morning mist lifts and rolls across the horizon, I seek out a visual aberration through the passenger window of a rustic Mercedes.

Momentarily, I glimpse the figure of a fallen man on the road’s grassy knoll, deeply asleep, his bicycle draped over his legs. Within seconds, I step gently from the idling car and enter into a rural Europe that vanished nearly a century ago. Navigating the slope, I draw near until I am standing at eye level with the sleeping cyclist. The silence is audible. Lifting the camera to my eye, the viewfinder reveals an astonishing image that both heightens and calms my senses. Today, 27 years later, the oddity and beauty of that moment lives on precisely as I felt it back then. It is also one of my most widely published photographs.

Media SA LES A nd M arketing Kirstin Ahrndt-Buchholz, Samira Holtorf Phone: +49 / 40 / 2 26 21 12 72 Fax: +49 / 40 / 2 26 21 12 70 E-Mail: buchholz@lfi-online.de holtorf@lfi-online.de REPRODUcTION: Alphabeta, Hamburg Printer: Optimal Media GmbH, Röbel/Müritz PA PER: Igepa Profimatt Distribution LFI (USPS no 0017912) is published 8 times per annum.

Subscription price per annum (including shipping) worldwide: 69 € LFI is also available as an app at the Apple iTunes store and at Google Play LFI Subscription Service P. O. Box 13 31, D-53335 Meckenheim Phone: +49 / 22 25 / 70 85-3 70 Fax: +49 / 22 25 / 70 85-3 99 E-Mail: lfi@aboteam.de All articles and illustrations contained in the magazine are subject to the laws of copyright. Any form of utilization beyond the narrow limits imposed by the laws of copyright and without the expressed permission of the publisher is forbidden and will be prosecuted. This applies particularly to reproduction, translation, microfilming or the storage and processing in electronic systems. Enquiries or material for publication are welcome. We accept no responsibility for unsolicited material.

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