Viewfinders Newsletter October & November 2022

#290 & #291 OCTOBER & NOVEMBER / 2022

Photo by Peter Tulp

What's inside? Intro W

ith more than just a hint of autumn in the air, despite the sometimes “Indian Summer” temperatures, we rush headlong towards our November meeting – the third of the year already! As mentioned before, we’ve already got a number of photographically interesting activities in the pipe: several trips, opportunities for members to show photographs at meetings (like we did at the October meeting), and – importantly – two exhibitions. We are finally moving forward to finish and open our “Views on Time” exhibition at the Women’s Club of Brussels in January next year, as well as progressing with the set-up of a major all-club exhibition in March, at the “GH Market” in Woluwe Saint-Lambert / SintLambrechts Woluwe. The latter offers an enormous space, so no limitations on the number of people presenting. The theme, too, has been chosen to be maximally attractive to all members: “Collective”, where we will compare and contrast the breadth and depth of photographic expression with each participant showing a series of own work on a topic of their choice. Setting up an exhibition of this size takes quite some effort and all help will be gratefully accepted: look out for details on this soon!

Some unforeseen circumstances, and the short gap between the October and November issues of this newsletter, mean that we’ve combined them into one, bumper edition for you. Hope you enjoy it!

Photo by Sabine Posdziech

Preview of the November 2022 meeting

Come join us at our next Viewfinders club meeting on the evening of Wednesday, 9 November, starting at 20:00. The meeting will be held at the church and will also be streamed live via Zoom. The login information will be sent to all members by e-mail several days prior to the club meeting. After Alun’s announcements, there will be a special “Bring Your Camera Bag” session where members will have the opportunity to show their bag(s) and their contents.

The main event of the evening will be our external speaker, Antoine Rose. Antoine is a self-taught Belgian photographer who started acquir ing the necessary skills to capture and model the light coming through the lens of his camera at the age of 8 years. Over time, he developed an ardent passion for photography, travel, and the sea. He has been the official photographer of the Kitesurfing World Cup and has traveled around the globe, from South Africa to Istanbul. Antoine is a published artist with major international brands having commissioned his work for worldwide advertising campaigns. In his latest series, his approach to photography has become more minimalist, trying to convert ordinary scenes, landscapes, or objects into pieces of art.

You can get much more information about Antoine on his website here.

Looking forward to seeing you at the club meeting on 9 November.

Richard Sylvester

Photo by Kaim Merali

Photo by Kaim Merali

Summary of the September 2022 Meeting

In the first meeting after the summer break, Alun wel comed back to the church those members who were present and those who were attending via Zoom.

In his announcements at the start of the meeting, Alun mentioned the activities that are planned in the new sea son, which include the “Colour Vibes” Challenge in Decem ber, the “Faceless Portraits” Challenge in April, photo proj ects in January (Bring a Print), February (Make a Triptych) and May (Portraits in the Park), several upcoming photo walks and a major club exhibition in Brussels next March. He also reminded members to pay their yearly member ship fee and send in their holiday photos to the Newsletter.

upsizing which is technically more difficult (prints may re quire more pixels). He concluded that downsizing is good to master while upsizing is optional.

The main event of the evening was our external speaker, Karel Uyttendaele, a Belgian concert photographer from Aalst. He is the house photographer at Ancienne Belgique and Greenhouse Talent and the photography coordinator and photographer at daMusic.be. Karel presented the DO’S and the DONT’s of the practical aspects of concert photog raphy. He discussed his equipment, camera settings and shooting techniques along the challenges of getting good

Alun then presented a short tutorial on “Resizing Photos”: what it is, how to do it, and why you (might) need it. It is all about making copies of your photos that are best suited for your purpose. This concerned both downsizing (some applications such as screens require fewer pixels) and

https://karel-uyttendaele.squarespace.com/ https://www.facebook.com/KarelUyttendaelePhotography https://www.instagram.com/karelu/?hl=en

shots of artists performing on stage without getting killed by the fans. After the break, there was a highly interactive session with Karel while he was navigating his web site.

Richard Sylvester

Photo by Karel Uyttendaele

Photos by Karel Uyttendaele

Summary of the October 2022 Meeting

Alun welcomed those members who were present at the church and those who were attending via Zoom.

In his announcements at the start of the meeting, Alun mentioned the upcoming activities that are being organized, which include the “Colour Vibes” Challenge in December, the “Faceless Portraits” Challenge in April, photo projects in January (Bring a Print), February (Make a Triptych) and May (Portraits in the Park), a photo trip to Le Soir, and club exhibitions in January and March. He also gave a short introduction to the November club meeting and reminded members to pay their yearly membership fee and to send in their holiday photos to the Newsletter.

Milton Fanfa then presented a short tutorial on “Composing with Light and Colour”, i.e. using light and colour to create contrast. The role of the colour wheel in creating contrast was explained along with how we can control contrast both when shooting (angle of the light source, picking colours, shooting from different spots, using artificial light, and picking the best time) and when editing (adjusting basics, the use of light curves and tone curves, colour grading, select mode/brushes). He then talked about creating contrast in black and white photos (shoot in colour and convert in post processing) and provided illustrative examples in both colour and black and white.

The main event of the evening was the viewing of photos from 9 members: Marko’s concert photos, black and white food photos from Marci, Kathy’s abstract prints, Brazilian wildlife photos from Karina, Piotr’s night photos, Paula’s selection of two images from Italian monuments, Moncho’s colour (cross processing) and black and white street photos, photos showing street life in Columbia from Janet, and Virginia’s beach photos from Ancona, Italy.

Alun then thanked the participants and closed the meeting.

Richard Sylvester

Photo by Kathy Moran

Photo by Marko Saynekoski

Photos by Karina Robin

Photo by Janet Wishnetsky

Photo by Paula Cagli

Photo by Adrian Cornwell

The joy of a 365 Project

By Adrian Cornwell

A365 Photography Project (a photo a day for a year) is a fantastic way to improve your skills as a photographer as the dedication, practice and perseverance required can really pay massive dividends in both discipline and vision.

The most important point to be aware of before you start is the project must be fun. If it becomes a chore then it is going to be very difficult to continue.

The most important point to be aware of before you start is the project must be fun. If it becomes a chore then it is going to be very difficult to continue.

Initially, I delayed starting a 365 project because I was thinking that I do not carry a camera around every day and even if I did, I did not fancy having to process a photo every day. It all felt like a lot of work for little gain.

The compromise for me was to use my phone, I always have it with me and the camera is pretty good. Additionally, I decided to limit post-processing to what I could do on the phone (with a couple of exceptions). In my case this was mainly flipping to black and white and adjusting the contrast.

The next consideration was what to photograph. Do I stick to a theme or just take random pictures ? For this I decided that I would take a picture each day that was different than any of the pictures that I had taken previously within the project with no specific theme or direction.

I was now ready to start. I had some bad days when inspiration was lacking or I wasn't feeling in the mood, but continued anyway, even on occasions tucked up in bed and suddenly remembering that I had not taken the days snap, then leaping out of bed and wandering around in the middle of the night trying to find something to photograph.

This exercise of trying to find something to photograph was the most useful part of the project as it forced me to look at familiar objects in a different way and take shots that I would not have given a moment's thought to previously.

When, a year later, I took the last photo, their was a sense of relief and achievement. I was pleased with the end result and was surprised by how much I had learnt doing this project even if some of the photos are not so interesting (spot the bad days ;)).

If you are considering doing a 365 project, then you might find the following tips helpful.

Photos by Adrian Cornwell

1It does not matter which day to start, it also does not matter if you skip the odd day, although I found that this increases the risk of aborting the project. That's no big deal as the project is supposed to be fun and not a chore, but I found forcing myself to take a picture on a bad day helped, as I felt I had maintained continuity, but that is just my personal view.

2Keeping it simple (for example, just using phone and in phone editing). Again a personal view, but a really ambitious project might become a bit of a chore.

3Backups... Cannot stress this one enough... losing all your pictures 3 or 4 months into the project does not bear thinking about.

4Consider posting your daily picture onto social media, you might get some positive feedback which again can help with motivation on the bad days.

5Keep the photos of this project in a separate folder/ album than your other photos, this will give you a cleaner overview of the project, especially as the year goes on.

6Printing. Rather fun to print the completed project. I printed mine in a contact sheet format on some nice metallic A3+ Paper, (nearly 30 sheets), but it was worth the effort and is very rewarding seeing the hardcopy from time to time (and hanging the odd one on the wall).

7And of course the first and last rule... have FUN !!

If you would like to see the full set of photos from this project they are on my website at adrianc.photos

Photos by Adrian Cornwell

Masters of Portraiture

Arnold Newman: “The environmental Portrait”

Part 1: The Oeuvre

Uninspired by plain studio backdrops, Newman photographed his sitters in surroundings representative of their professions, aiming to capture the essence of an individual’s life and work. This was highly unconventional in the 30s when he began shooting. He was one of the earliest photographers to incorporate different objects in the photographic canvas to support the subject, including backgrounds, props, and even graphic design elements.

Newman believed that to create a truly insightful portrait, every aspect of the image had to be considered. “Photography is 1% inspiration and 99% moving furniture.”

Newman found the label “Environmental Portraits” too restrictive: “the moment you put a label on something, there is no room to move. It is whatever you want to call it, I am just looking for each time to go on out there and find a new way of expressing it, for the fun of it.” Yet the majority op his portraits did show people in their usual setting and even if Stravinsky was sitting at a borrowed piano, the instrument was still a very real part of his world.

No one else in his time has made so many fine portrait studies of famous people as we know of more than 8000 portraits. His Environmental Portraits paved the way for modern portrait photography.

Arnold Newman

Alfried Krupp, 1963

“You don't take pictures with your camera. You take pictures with your mind and your heart.”

WHY?

Newman recalled a formative moment when he chanced upon two picture of Teddy Roosevelt in a book. One was a stiff official portrait, while the other showed him “with a foot on a rhino he had just shot, grinning like hell, his hands on his hip with a gun. Suddenly the man came alive. I knew what pictures I wanted to do.”

His colleagues were photographing artists or their studios, but seldom the artists in their studios. Such photographs missed a vital dimension. There was no conscious effort to show where they lived, where they worked.

“With only a close-up of a face or a head, you are not saying a bloody thing except showing what a man or woman looked like. But every artist is a different human being, a different kind of person, a different kind of personality, a different kind of psyche, and all this the photographer should reflect. The surroundings have to add to the composition and the un derstanding of the person. Just to simply do a portrait of a famous person doesn't mean a thing.”

NEWMAN AND THE SITTER

Arnold worked in the personal space of his subject and he entered with the respectful attitude of a guest. A supremely skilled observer, Arnold quickly assessed the room and the person, taking in the light, the scale and configuration of the space, the objects in the room that might be useful, as well as the body language and gestures, and the expressions of the

individual. He had generally taken ample time to research the person’s life and work. From this mix of information he could begin to conceptualize and manipulate the scene and the subject. Newman understood it was important to estab lish trust, and just as importantly, respect.

A portrait could all too easily be an image deliberately dis torted and altered to flatter a subject’s ego and to cater to his or her fantasies. Portraitists deal with “the mask” – the face we wear in public to reveal our strengths and conceal our weaknesses. The conventional concept of a “good” por trait is when we feel it reveals something the subject is try ing to hide, or at least reveals something about his or her character or personality that he or she may not recognize in themselves. Newman questioned this assumption: “I never think of the face as a mask. I just think of it as something very self-conscious about being photographed.”

Part of Newman’s tactics was to somehow let the person know, with expressions and actions, that he was “on their side”.

Newman defended the art of portraiture as something very complex, the synthesis of many factors. “You work primarily from instinct, but what is instinct? It is a lifetime accumula tion of influence: experience, knowledge, seeing and hearing. There is little time for reflexion in taking a photograph. All your experiences come to a peak and you work on two levels: conscious and unconscious.”

Written by Philip Houtekier

“You don't take pictures with your camera. You take pictures with your mind and your heart.”

Arnold Newman Woody Allen, 1996

Arnold Newman Pablo Picasso, 1954

Arnold Newman Andy Warhol, 1973

Arnold Newman Salvador Dali, 1951

Meet Jason Kravitz

Country of origin: United States

In Belgium since: 2006

Member of Viewfinders since: April 2013

Shooting with: Panasonic G9 & Various Canon EOS Preferred lens(es): Panasonic / Leica 50-200mm 2.8-4.0

Despite being around photography my whole life, it didn't immediately catch my interest. My Dad always had a camera in-hand, but it took me a while to fully embrace photography. While he lovingly labored over vats of chemicals in our basement turned darkroom, I spent my youth in front of the computer playing games and learning to code.

Music was my primary creative outlet for most of those years but I started getting into graphic design and photoshop even before I seriously picked up a camera.

My professional career has been in the Cybersecurity industry, and it was not until the emergence of digital photography that I started to see the potential.

I am an avid dreamer and it was a "Big Dream" that led me to the creation of Aminus3.com, an "image a day" photography community website where thousands of photographers from over 100 countries have come together to connect through their images.

I've tried lots of different photography genres but settle somewhere in the realm of street and travel, or often just capturing what catches my eye. I also enjoy being outdoors photographing nature and wildlife.

It was through Aminus3 that I first began exploring concepts around "Intro spective Photography" or "IndividUography" as I've come to call these tech niques.

The idea is to consider what our photos say about ourselves. If every photo captures a unique moment frozen in time, that moment also features you, the photographer who is part of the experience. What can we discover about ourselves from our images?

Building on these ideas, my wife Leslie and I founded an organization called Zoom In Reach Out to teach photography, creativity and story telling to youth. We lead photo walks and teach the essentials of photography. We have done several of these walks in the US, and are starting to connect with schools here in Belgium.

One recent project that I am proud of was creating a deck of "Learn Photography" cards that feature my own photos and teach 50 different lessons. I am in the process of developing a companion app as well. I am also writing a book that explains IndividUography with lots of projects to try out the techniques.

If any Viewfinders would like to learn more about these initiatives, or be a beta tester for photography apps, please let me know.

Belgium's 'Pays Noir': an Urbex expedition

by Sabine Posdziech and Kathy Moran

Charleroi might not be the first city in Belgium you will be thinking of when you think about Belgium's most photogenic places. Unless you are into urban explora tion, often referred to as Urbex. Usually photographers would seek abandoned urban sites, heavy industry production sites, ancient coal mines or whatever place that relates to urban mostly industrial settings. And for that, Charleroi is a real trea sure!

You can do guided tours, as it was mentioned in a previous Viewfinders newsletter article. Those tours will bring you to abandoned places which might be dangerous to explore on your own. But to get a glimpse of the urban landscape of plac es like Charleroi, a walk along the Sambre river will give you plenty of opportunities to capture the spirit of the city's in dustrial soul.

Photo by Sabine Posdziech

Leaving the train station Charleroi Sud and heading to the left, there is a footpath called Charleroi – Marchienne au Pont that follows the Sambre river. In front of the sluice of Marci nelle, just on the other side of the river, the Thy Marcinelle steel plant is collecting scrap metal. You can watch from out side, like on the stage of a Broadway show, how the pieces of metal are picked up by a hoist before disappearing in a kind of witches' cauldron. It's dark, so bring a lens with a big aperture. Walking along the Sambre river until the Château Bilquin de Cartier is a distance of around 3,5 km where you will have plenty of possibilities to get amazing pictures of abandoned industrial sites and others which are still active. If you are lucky, a rainy day will add some supplementary flair to it ;-)

If there is enough interest, such a visit to Charleroi could be organised by the club soon.

Photo by Kathy Moran

Photo by Sabine Posdziech

Photo by Sabine Posdziech

Photo by Kathy Moran

by Philippe Clabots

Martin Parr & The Anonymous Project

by Philippe Clabots

In September 2022 I’ve visited the outdoor exhibition “Martin Parr & The Anonymous Project “ on the beach of Malo-Les-Bains in Dunkerque, near the Belgian border.

The exhibition was organised in partnership with Magnum Photos and The Anonymous Project, based on the publication "Déjà View" by Martin Parr and Lee Shulman, published by Textuel in 2021.

I was seduced by the concordance between the photos of Martin Parr, a British photographer giving a realistic but often offbeat vision of our world, and the vernacular photos from "The Anonymous Project".

The preparation work was certainly careful and intense to find photos taken by the average person that could match those of the Magnum photographer. It was of course a good reason to (re)discover the work of Martin Parr and to have a look at the wonderful “Anonymous Project”.

More pictures of this visit are available on my website photos.philippec.be

Photo

“An unusual and playful visual conversation between two rich bodies of photographic work, Déjà View combines the photographs of the whimsical and cult Martin Parr with images from The Anonymous Project, which brings together colour slides taken by amateurs from all over the world. Mirrored compositions, striking symmetry of bodies and postures, dialogue of colour captured with flash on one side and saturated with Kodachrome on the other electrify the viewer's pleasure and distil a delicious taste of déjà vu.”

Clabots

Photos by Philippe

What's up ?

In autumn 2022 the Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf will be showing a comprehensive exhibition on the oeuvre of Evelyn Richter. Rich ter, who died in Dresden in October 2021 at the age of 91, ranks among the most eminent photographers in Germany.

In her working life spanning more than 50 years, Richter document ed eastern Germany life both critically and empathically, invariably directing the focus on the human being.

Recaptioning Congo at FOMU, Antwerp 16/09/2022 – 15/01/2023

The exhibition presents photographic images of colonial Congo spanning nearly 100 years from two contrasting perspectives: African and European photographers.

‘Recaptioning Congo is the result of years of international research by curator Sandrine Colard and represents the first extensive exhibition to tackle the multilayered history of photography in the Belgian Congo. With works ranging from propaganda to amateur and studio photography, Recaptioning Congo is a chronological journey through the various media, historical events and communities that shaped the development of photography in colonial Congo’.

Evelyn Richter at Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany 22/09/2022 – 08/01/2023

Discovery

Eaux Fortes, Christophe Jacrot, Hemeria

Eaux Fortes is a new dive, at the time when the world was confined, into the heart of a world frozen doubly – by the climate and by the pandemic. It deploys the quintessence of what he has produced over the last two years, always in the four corners of the world.

With this exceptional monograph, Christophe Jacrot gathers a selection of his most intense shots since 2019 (and some older ones): shimmering or immacu late colors of hills and mountains, lonely houses lost in the twirling snow, beings stiffened by the cold and silhouettes vanishing under the rain or snow in meg alopolises, shores almost submerged by the waves… Are the contours of reality fading away at the same time as the world is being swept away in uncertainty?

Annie Leibovitz, Taschen

The coveted Annie Leibovitz SUMO is now available in an unlimited XXL edition. Drawing on more than 40 years of work, including photojournalism made for Rolling Stone magazine in the 1970s and conceptual portraits for Vanity Fair and Vogue, Leibovitz selected iconic images and also photographs that have rarely, if ever, been seen before.

Viewfinders photo uploader service

As a photography club, we often ask for – and indeed are spontaneously offered – digital photographs for use in our meetings, Challenges, or in the newsletter (like all the delightful ones you see in this marvellous publication: congratulations to our newsletter team for that!)

Sometimes, photos can be too large or difficult to send reliably by email, so we developed a special web page that allows you to send in photos very easily.

Using the tool has other advantages. As photographers and creators ourselves, we are very aware of the importance of correctly crediting the authors of photographic works when published. The tool therefore asks you to provide your full name, which is added automatically to the photo’s filename and also embedded into the image “metadata” for you. This way, we can always see who sent in the photo and provide the correct accreditation if we publish it, for example in the newsletter or on the website.

Instructions to access the uploader via website are sent regularly by email to members, usually after every activity organized by the club. You can always contact someone in the committee for that information.

We encourage everyone to contribute pictures to the club, but we prefer that you use this system, rather than sending them by email.

Any items from members for publication are welcome. Images are particularly welcome. Pleasesend them in as separate attachments (not embedded in emails or documents) in JPEG format, with no less than 2000px on the long side and minimal compression. Please be aware that, in accordance with the layout, some cropping may occur. Please send submissions to newsletter@viewfinders.be.

Photo by Marci Bayona