Pentaprism magazine #4

PENTAPRISM N째4 June 2014

reportage The

Philharmony

Luxembourg

BY KLAUS-PETER KUBIK (KPK)

m a g a z i n e

INTERVIEW

Sergey

Smirnov

Pentaprism-showcase

www.pentaprismcommunity.org

ABOUT US

N°4 June 2014

Pentaprism was born about one year ago from an idea CONTRIBUTORS:

of a group of friends and photography lovers; after a setback the new site is coming back again. We are still

RICCARDO ROSSINI ROBERTO BON AMEDEO FRAGIACOMO ELENA BOVO URSULA ABRESCH MARCO NOSIGLIA MIHAI FLOREA DAVIDE GIONGO KLAUS-PETER KUBIK ROMOLO MIGOTTI STEFANO RONCHI MAŁGORZATA FOBER GRAPHIC DESIGN : ELENA BOVO

pentaprismphcommunity@gmail.com

working hard to offer you , as soon as possible, the same high-quality and easy-to-use platform where show your best photos. Our passion is inalterated. This magazine continues to be the natural extension of the activities in Pentaprism to highlight and give a deeper insight of the photographer’s vision. This issue and the following one will consist of pictures posted on the old site, already selected and with an authorization granted by the users. According to our philosophy , also the new Pentaprism will be and will remain available free of charge for everyone , free from advertising banners and any kind of advertising. But the new platform, as you can easily imagine, has its costs, so, also a small contribution by everyone would be a great help to provide you what you’re expecting from Pentaprism.

Support us with a donation free of constraints, your contribute will be used exclusively to built and maintain the new Pentaprism site, soon again on the web.

Thanks

index

6 INTERVIEW WITH SERGEY SMIRNOV 24 BLACK&WHITE 34 THE ART OF PORTRAIT 50 FINE ART NUDE 60 FASHION&GLAMOUR 74 CREATIVE EDIT 86 CONCEPTUAL&ABSTRACT 100 STREET 114 REPORTAGE 128 ARCHITECTURE 140 LANDSCAPE 1 52 WILDLIFE&NATURE 166 MACROWORLD 1 78 REPORTAGE: THE PHILHARMONY LUXEMBOURG 19 2 PENTAPRISM CONTEST WINNERS 200 EMERGENCY

interview SERGEY SMIRNOV

My name is Sergey Smirnov and I am a professional photographer. I live and work in Russia, more precisely in St. Petersburg.

My passion for photography started in a photo course during schooldays, but only five years ago this hobby became a profession.

The main focus of my works is the conceptual photography.

To me, it is very important to express the approach I had in mind regarding a specific photographic theme. Sometimes my images can hurt the feelings of someone, but this could be necessary to explain the meaning of the pictures.

Protagonists of my photos are people: sometimes professional models, sometimes common people, told in an holistic way.

Painting had a great influence on me , I sometimes dedicate myself to oil painting and I feel very close the the work of Kazemir Malevich and all the general avant-garde of his time.

My photos participated in various exhibitions, the next one will be in fall 2014 in the Russian Museum.

In 2013, I was the winner of the contest “ BEST OF RUSSIA’13” in the section “Style”.

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How did you get started with photography?

Getting familiar with photography began by attending a photo course during my schooldays. My first camera was a “Change 8M” - it’s a very simple film camera. Formerly you had to take photos first in order to learn and understand what is shutter speed and aperture, now some things become easier to perform, but the principle remains the same.

What are the ingredients for a good photo?

Interesting ideas promise good photos, but it’s important to be able to realize it. But the idea remains the basis of photographs, and the light and composition will make the finish.

How would you describe your photographic style and how it has developed over the years?

The style can be called “ conceptual art “. I’m working in this style about one year now.

What inspires your work?

I was very influenced by Kazimir Malevich and Soviet avant-garde art and contemporary artists. Many of my photographs are very similar to the work of Malevich. Minimalism attracts me very much.

What is the creative process that leads to the creation of your works?

Ideas are not born in a vacuum, you need to go to museums, cinemas, exhibitions, study the works of other masters. Creativity develops over the time, the more time you give for this work, the better it will turn out.

What is your favorite studio set-up?

In autumn and winter St. Petersburg are very few sunny days and generally changeable weather, therefore I often have to shoot in the studio with professional light where it is easier for the preparation and organization of the shooting process. I use different lighting schemes, everything will depend on the ideas which sometimes need depth in the pictures, and sometimes need to create a flat image .

What about post-processing.

It’s like the development of film, only now other technologies. Treatment should be an improvement, but not to replace the entire image.

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How do you build your own images?

Nearly every shot begins with a sketch, then I search for a model, styling and decor. Depending on the idea makeup artist and hair stylist are invited, because I like to work in a team. When in each phase of the work a master of his craft is working, the result will be adequate.

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Black&white “It has always been my desire to receive, from an observer, the big question: “Why?”. It implies an interest to my mind, to my way of thinking and interpreting photography, life, and reality. It raises a question of artistic nature and demands profound answers that leads to debate or simple exchanges of opinion. Unfortunately, the recurring question I hear is “How?”, which is much more obvious and relegated to mere technical choices. As an artist I am inexorably degraded, with a simple word, to the status of a artisan. An equally worthy profession but without the faintest ambition. The few times that this wish has come true, I remember that my choice was determined by the technique of using black and white.”

Max Ferrero

A happy world | Mariano Belmar Torrecilla

Photography in black and white cannot be improvised. When working directly in monochrome or converting a colour image into B&W, you exclude one aspect of reality. In doing so, greater attention is given to the content, form and use of light. Light and shadows have more influence in adding or removing “importance” to the image. It is no longer just a reproduction of reality, but an immersion in creativity and search for artistic expression.

The world of reality, as Ralph Gibson said “exists in three dimensions, 100% scale and in living color. A black and white photograph reduces the world into two dimensions, considerably reduces the scale of reality down to the size of a print and also subtracts color. The Color, being only two steps abstracted from reality.”

There is something nostalgic, emotive and dramatic in B&W photography. Many photographers choose to work exclusively in B&W for this reason and because it strips the image down to its pure essence of form and light.

Here a few images taken from Pentaprism gallery.

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El final de un viaje | Jose Conceptes

Robedamaschi...... | Roberto Bon

Cube | Davide Giongo

Venetian Job | Livio D’appollonia

THE ART OF PORTRAIT

A look, an expression, the light, a concept. The capability to merge all these elements and obtain a synthesis of them can make an image of a visage more than a simple photograph.

A portrait should create a relationship between the subject and the observer, so you can see the point of view of the photographer, his way of interpreting the moment in actuality. By doing so, he becomes the hidden subject of the image and his presence should be tangible.

Here you will find a selection of our best portrait images which tributes to the human feelings.

Albino 1 | Kavak Agir

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Untitled | Curly

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Iris | Rafael Scheidle

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Vilfrida | Aleksey Gor

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Woman | Katarzyna Kocur-K-Ă–dzierska

Lena | Anton Rothmund

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Ella | Dmitry Nevlad

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Spirit of black eyes | Peter Allert

fine art nude

Since ancient times, artists have used the representation of the nude to express ideas and feelings. Although history has changed the ideas and expressions, the nude must appear respectfully, must merge the form and the beauty as natural as possible to not cross the thin threshold that conduces to eroticism.

“Art is never chaste” Pablo Picasso said “when it is chaste is not art anymore”.

The secret of a good nude image is the simplicity.

A concept not easy to achieve.

Untitled | FrĂŠdĂŠric Leschallier

Dorka Schlauch | Gerhard Figl

Alina | Dmitry Laudin

Equilibrium | Andrey Putilin

The 2 worlds | Bogdan Grigore

fashion&glamour

Two photographic genres can be considered interwoven: Fashion, more settled on the outward appearance, dedicated to fashion clothes or what the model is wearing or showing, and Glamour which is based more on the most intimate emotions of a pose or a look of the model, stimulating the most sensual and even erotic imagination of the observer. In both cases high demand of photographic technique is necessary as well as careful study of locations and lights. All details are important and must be well thought-out to provide a high quality image.

Opposing Sides | Allison Kortokrax

Command | Aria Barò

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Inhale, Exhale | Efacts Photography-Frank Lassak

Sensual Beauty | Martin Krystýnek

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Inside a girl | Mira Nedyalkova

Berengaria of Navarre | Louis Loizides Mitsu

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Untitled | Margie Kusuma

CREATIVE EDIT

Elements and ideas of Romanticism blend to a dreamlike vision of reality to generate surreal locations. A genre in continuous evolution that opens the door to research, experimentation, new perspectives on the representation of man and his environment. The man changed in appearance from its spiritual content and the space becomes anthropomorphic opening a dialogue with those who inhabit it.

The feeling of grandeur that nature arouses in its human viewers. The imagery of Friedrich and deformations of De Chirico. Romanticism and Symbolism condensed into images so far removed from reality as to be faithful portrait of its essence.

Caperucita | Ruben

Sowing the Seeds of Love I. - The First Drop | Martin Ksinan

Witch | Marco Barchesi

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Freedom | Helena Georgiou

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Dreamer I | Francesco Sambo

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Shiva | Gonzalo Villar

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Conceptual & abstract

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A dream | Sarah Martinet

“In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.”

Sol LeWitt, 1967

Conceptual photography has its birthplace in Conceptual art of the 60s. Its primary method is a staged or preconceived photograph representing the photographer’s idea, concept and vision. Modern photo editing software has opened up the world of possibilities in terms of manipulating images and combining layers of different elements both from abstract and reality to create the final desired image or ‘concept.

The essence of Conceptual photography is capturing a story with meaning and using various techniques to create the mood, emotions and overall message of the work, which might be a political or social statement, or a work of fine art with a personal message to create a psychological impact with the viewer.

Abstract photography is a way of seeing, not a technique.

Abstract photography is often defined as images in which the subject is not immediately apparent. It uses the visual language of line, shape, and colour to create images that function outside of references to an obvious subject. It removes recognizable detail and instead focuses on intuitive recognition.

Abstract combines reason and intuition to come up with work that exhilarates both the photographer and the viewer. They appeal to the viewer’s mind as well as the emotions. They work when the viewer becomes intrigued and curious and yet also allow the viewer to come up with their own interpretation or fantasy.

The best abstract images are also, of course, beautiful.

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Cold shoulder | Radovan Ĺ kohel

1 2 3 4 | Hans-Martin Dรถlz

Giano | Tiziano Ornaghi

Let go..... | Bubbersbb Bubbers

Les ailes | Mรถri Emilie

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Self-portrait | Anver A

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STREET

Untitled | Speedy

Gentleman | Simona Capriani

To talk about street photography is like talking about the birth of photography and at the same time of the desire to document or freeze a significant moment. A concept which Henri CartierBresson, the father of modern photojournalism called ‘The Decisive Moment’; that there is a creative fraction of a second when taking a picture where your eye must see a composition or an expression that life offers you and you must know with intuition when to press the shutter and how it is at that moment the photographer is truly creative. Street photography must be unstaged.

Capturing a moment in time in a public place where you can find a person, a group of people or a scene bereft of people, capturing just the urban environment alone with the aim of representing a static or dynamic elements of a specific time and place and the events and drama that unfold there.

So many great photographers of the genre have left an indelible mark on the history of photography, examples that can only give a cue but never copied due to the fact that the basic characteristic of the street is to be unique , having its essence in the unique moment. It is hard to define what makes a good street photograph but the ability to see, and better yet, to feel and anticipate situations is the essence of a good street photograph.

Here are some wonderful photos on Pentaprism sections, urban, street.

Running man | Feliks Sivakov

Untitled | Gustavo Osmar Santos

Scenes from the NATO Protests (My Kind of Town) | Jim Watkins

Havanna Vieja| Johannes Barthelmes

Untitled | Mats Alfredsson

reportage

A reportage tipically consists of multiple images, which the author collects and recounts his experience of a journey or a social situation or event. This is a selection of photographs of condensed meaning, with immediate emotion ... windows on the world.

Four pairs | L’usage du monde

AllĂŠe des baobabs Madagascar | Alex Photos du Monde

Hija y Madre II, Havanna | Johannes Barthelmes

Burmese fisherman | Etienne Bossot

The Market | Marianna Mosconi

Untitled | Giuseppe Bartuccio

Madrasa | Massimo Piconcelli

ARCHITECTURE

Some might ask why photographing architecture?

At the end of the day, it’s just steel, glass and stones, it’s not natural. Most people can connect with a tree, an animal and people, but not with a building or a bridge.

As the great Le Corbusier said once: “Architecture is a thing of art, a phenomenon of the emotions, lying outside questions of construction and beyond them.

The purpose of construction is to make things hold together; of architecture to move us”.

It takes a special kind of photographer to perfectly capture that emotional intensity which is the soul of all great architecture and to evoke the true character of a building. The images selected here are perfect examples of architectural dream like visions created by some of the best fine art photographers.

Molten II ~ Lake Point | Mabry Campbell

Tempodrom | Andreas

Ombre al museo | Antonella Asacconi

The window | Gilbert Claes

Hamburger Welle | Marcos

Study III | Wolfgang Mothes

landscape

Baikal Treasures Sapphire sky, Emerald ice | Alexey Trofimov

“The whole world is, to me, very much “alive” - all the little growing things, even the rocks. I can’t look at a swell bit of grass and earth, for instance, without feeling the essential life - the things going on within them. The same goes for a mountain, or a bit of the ocean, or a magnificent piece of old wood.

Ansel Adams

Atardece en el valle | Alberto Garcia

Fog over Tide | Michael A Blanchette

Escape the sun | Gustavo Tavio

Jรถkulsรกrlรณn Glacier Lagoon | Javier Olmedo

House | Oscar Sim贸n Navarrete

wildlife & nature

Oops! Did I scare you? | Pedro Jarque Krebs

This two genres refer to a wide range of photography taken outdoors, the author is moved by the energy of the nature and takes his images as well as they appeared, without any manipulation that alters the truth of the photographic statement. Photographer is a mere story teller, who describes with his light the magic of the animal world.

Authentic wildlife is defined as one or more organisms living free and unrestrained in a natural or adopted habitat, so, wildlife photographer is often also a traveller and explorer of the wild nature.

Here a short selection of photos that belong to this two photographic genres.

Baby seal | Peter Krejzl

Monkey | Kunito Imai

Untitled | Georgi Kocakov

Tenderness | Stefano Ronchi

I See You! | Nick Kalathas

Me and my Mum | Hans Overduin

macroworld

By exploring the world starting from the its smallest elements we become a minuscule observer of the power of nature, discovering the fascinating, almost visible things that exist all around us and under our often careless looks. Macrophotography shows the beauty of what is not usually visible. It highlights details that our eyes can’t see in our field of vision, revealing a parallel reality filled with an extraordinary richness of life and organisms of things that are part of the apparently infinite greatness of this world called Earth.

In the following pages some great examples of macro photographs from our community gallery.

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Pure Emotions | Joanna Rzeźnikowska

Drosera | Marcel van Oostrom

The purple and prey | Andy Ubex

Dew | Ursula Abresh

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Treefrogs | Jimmy Hoffman

Le Rendez Vous | Fabien Bravin

The

Philharmony

Luxembourg

BY KLAUS-PETER KUBIK (KPK)

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Columns & Lines The building of the Philharmony Luxemburg is an aesthetic striking construction, located in the Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg city, surrounded by a number of other modern architecture constructions like the golden double towers of the European Council of Justice, the European Court of Auditors and more. The Philharmony was constructed by the French architect Christian de Portzamparc, and built from 1997 – 2005. The vision of the architect was to create a building where the visitor was separated from the neighborhood while entering the part of the building where music is the leading part. This was achieved by 827 columns, which cover the main building with the Grand Auditorium like a ring of white trees. A smaller Chamber Music Hall, constructed like a winding petal is attached to one side of the building.

The Philharmony Luxemburg was and still is a most attractive photographic subject for numerous photographers. With my photographs I had the intention to show the building and specific parts of the building in a way that attracts the viewer with a special image composition on the one hand, and on the other hand gives an attractive impression of the wonderful architecture work of Christian de Portzamparc. The followers of my work know my special preference for composing images by using geometric or graphic elements of the subject, so the Philharmony building was a very fruitful place to shoot.

I called this article Columns & Lines because two of my own favorite images are titled the same (‘Columns & Lines’ and ‘Columns & Lines II’) and because the large white and slim columns surrounding the main building are the most noticeable architectural details of the outer part of the building. From the distance as well as at close range, the visitor is fascinated by the visual effect and impact of these construction elements.

This visual impact and the graphical, geometrical structures, lines and patterns combined with an undisturbed and clear composition without human presence generate the main components for my images.

After shooting the images received individual post processing treatments to achieve the specific outcome enhancing the impression of the whole image composition.

All the images shown here are photographed

by Klaus-Peter Kubik with Olympus cameras and lenses. For post processing on the computer Photoshop CS6, Lightroom 4 and the Nik Efex Filter Collection were the main tools.

More information on the photographer can be found here: http://kpk-photography.de

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PENTA

APRISM CONTEST

URBAN GEOMETRIES

IN THE FOLLOWING PAGES THE WINNERS PHOTOS OF OUR LATEST CONTESTS CHOSEN BY OUR MEMBERS

Bamboo | Fran Ros 1st Classified contest: Urban Geometries

Geometries | Ivan Bertusi 2nd Classified contest: Urban Geometries

Bilbao | Pedro Jarque Krebs 3rd Classified contest: Urban Geometries

Dear friends, EMERGENCY is going to be twenty years old.

If these two decades were a box, it would be full of memories of the sixteen countries where we gave help.

Inside there would be a spearhead: it comes from Rwanda 1994, the first intervention of EMERGENCY. We entered in the abandoned hospital of Kigali.

We reopened the department of obstetrics, where 2,500 women received assistance and we helped their babies to see the light, also the department of emergency surgery, treating 600 war wounded humans.

We found the spearhead once entered in the hospital. It was close to a patient who was killed in his bed.

This is war.

Then we saw it again in many other countries: different weapons, different colored skins, but tragically always the same civil victims.

It should be a very large box, in order to contain thousands of designs that our young patients colored, maybe lying on the ground in the game rooms of the hospitals; maybe the box would contain the oranges from our hospital in Palermo, the sun that burns over the surgery center in Sierra Leone, the snow under the feet of our midwives and nurses, who crossed mountains in places with no raoads just to give assistance to pregnant womens and infants.

If these two decades were a box, for sure inside there would be a red shirt with the logo EMERGENCY: our t-shirts that have been worn, given away, consumed, bought, sold. Those shirts represent a concrete way to help people.

Inside this box there would be an idea, the idea that human rights should be simply guaranteed to all.

What are we going to put into that box in the next twenty years? All toghether we will continue to fill it with medicine and rights.

Cecilia Strada, Emergency

www.emergency.it

Gianluca Panella

IN THE NEXT ISSUE INTERVIEW WITH

DENNIS RAMOS