Eugene Oregon Wedding and Family Documentary Photographer
What Inspires Me: Neighborly Portraits in Mexico
The New Yor Times Photo-blog “Lens” has a visually stunning posting today of available light b/w portraits shot by photographer Russell Monk.
The exquisite light comes from overhead north light it seems and the use of his skills with a minimalist equipment setup only shows more that skills, not tools make the image.
Each image is a fantastic moment in time captured to reflect the uniqueness of each subject.
The idea of resetting my priorities as a photographer has had me looking at shooting b/w portraits in Real-RAW on a 4×5. To me, there is something meditative, organic, and unique with handling a camera like this to shoot images of a person.
This portrait was one of a set of images I was commissioned by the subject back in the late 90’s – she wanted a unique feel to her portrait.
Using a Zone VI 4×5, I shot with a Schneider Symmar 210 f/5.6 with a single light source inside a 24×32 softbox.
Shot on Tri-X at ISO 200 with N-1 development in Kodak HC110 – this is a contact print scanned on a crappy flatbed scanner.