Richard Vanek - Black and White Photography

Now I am not sure, first and for some time now, I was sure there were from Denmark. The reason was that we saw them in brewery in Belgium, where quite big group of Danish tourists were enjoying discovery trip of Belgium beers. Than today when I worked on this picture I saw some dutch text on his shirt. So maybe they were at the end Dutch or Belgium. Who knows. In any case I really enjoy to photograph them. They didn't move a inch looking to me white a little smile and enjoying food and good bear.

One day in Belgium, while walking across the street I have got in this position, behind traveling cap. Later that day, I have learned its whole history from Israel where it was born from love until its time in Germany. Later its path get blurred, but luckily it pop up again in Belgium for a moment, before it when on road back to Israel.

First day of the year. Receiving SMSs, emails,phone calls. Chats with friends over some IM services or voiceIP. All those electronic stuff. Packets are floating, bringing memories to friends one didn't see for month or years. All those ASCII letter or colorful HTMLs. It is nice, but I am missing and I must say really missing just seeing people and sitting in front of them. Missing quiet moments, sitting somewhere on terrs. Just being with them. Where all those life traces are heading. It feels like universe expanding and all known starts and planets expanding to infinity. Ment to never come together again. It is sad, don't you think?

I am updating my web site under the hood. Making it easier to travel for web search engines and bots. I am hoping that this way will be easier to find my web site. More people will than discover it and hopefully they will find it interesting enough to stay and return.

I am member of www.photo.net almost five years. I use it mostly for discussions and source of information. In first year I try to also upload some pictures, but than, after very bad experience, I have removed all my pictures from there.
Today in attempt to bring more visitors to my web site I uploaded few pictures there. You can see my black and white prints. I realize, that when you type my name in Google first link which you will get is actually my photo.net member page. So that was a main reason why I also placed few pictures there today.

You probably guess that I like photographs of HCB (Henri Cartier Bresson). He has one picture where boys are playing soccer in front of huge wall with small windows. When I saw this wall in Portugal it reminds me that wall of his. I couldn't resist and take picture of it. Only one. And even after more than year I still like it.

I think I will take a little break from all this web tweaking stuff. I did make a lot of changes on all my pages. Modified titles, meta tags, keywords. I did verify html on most of the pages and fix small bugs which were found. Hopefully this will lead to increase traffic and rating and all that web stuff.
I will probably do few more things like adding link page and site map. The second one I have planed to do for long time already, but somehow didn't managed. I wanted to have some dynamic automatic way to generate that kind of map. So it will be all the time up to date and doesn't require any manual maintenance. maybe I just need to start with it. First simple and than improve it.
Similar stuff I try to do on top page. Something which will show latest stuff. Not only last new pictures put also news in projects, experiments and articles. So people can find them easier. I have noticed that only first about 10 pictures in each gallery have higher rating. My project page for example seems to be not visited very much. Articles are quite ok, most of the traffic there is coming from photo.net and search engines. I guess that is thanks to more text informations there.

Maybe all this web technical stuff is not interesting to you. I guess not, but I am busy with it in last few days. I will develop more films today and put some more recent pictures soon. And as you maybe remember I was promising some style change which didn't really happen yet. Frankly I didn't make anything what I would like. Anything what was in a way I had imagine. Yes I did try some stuff, but mostly it turns not good. But do not worry I am not giving up.

This is how south of Portugal look mostly in the summer of the 2004. Majority of the forests were burn down. Only from place to place you can find a little island in this moon land. We where driving in this burned countryside for over hour. It was very depressive. I do not know what is true on the fact which I have read later in Portugal newspaper. They wrote that most of the time, reason for those fires is cigarette thrown out of the car window. In temperatures above 34C I can imagine that everything is dry and only little spark is needed.

Once a while you meet interesting people on Internet. It is not very often, it is actual as rare as it happen in real life if not less. While ago I was part of yahoo group about black and white photography. As you know my view on groups you are not surprised that I left the group. There were very few activity. One person who tries to make group more active and was in mine tie there writing long and interesting articles was Jeff.
From time to time we exchange some emails. Today he wrote me nice email with new year wish and also with a note that he wrote few lines about my work at his web page. I really appreciate that. He has also page where he pick up, from time to time picture from other photographer and write a little review about it. It is interesting thing. Jeff is writing very well. I was thinking maybe he could made his website kind of photo critic place. I think he would be very good in it. Should him write about it. Hm, maybe Jeff you reading this?

I have added new page containing site map. Mostly reason is to make it even easier for spiders to travel around my photography site. Can be also sometimes handy for visitors as well. I still think that my site has no difficult navigation and everybody can find everything.
I need to make better links to web shop. I have no power to do it today, is late and I like to read some book.

One more think I planning to add is link page. This page will be containing interesting links about photography

I do not know how should I write about it. Our every day live and all our problems seems now so small, so unimportant. People mostly see only their own little problems and needs. I think we all, these days, here, have no idea what some other people could been and are through. How is our normal life different and small comparing to experiences and struggling of others.
Yes I have seen a movie, movie about life of twins. Life in a times when it was not easy for ordinary people. We are also ordinary people, but our time gave as such a protection that we can not see behind our curtains. It is terrible what is going on. How people can be like this, to each other? What is a problem in us? Why this is going on, still further and further.
I do not know, you probably have no idea what I am talking about. That is maybe what I need to do, show to all of us, like books and movies did to me. Show to us that we can be better. By making images, the way that everybody see what is wrong, what is a problem. Not by making images which are cut out of connections, images which are served in media. Images where one see only results of hate and ignorance. But by making images from places and lives which are close to us where one can identify what is wrong.

I have developed six rolls of films Monday in Paterson Development tanks. They are still hanging and are not cutted. Why you may ask? Well every time I came home from work I am so tired that I can not convince myself to do almost anything except some necessary things for family and home.
Today I have plan to break this and cut and scan those films. I would also like to post another photo.

Now is this soccer field under the snow, but only few month ago it was nice and green. There was a time, few years ago when I was playing with my son on it. Just two of us having fun trying to take ball from each other. In one moment in the swing of the game I was running after him and felt on him. I thought I have broke his back. Me twice as heavy as him. I was shocked. Well at the end nothing happen, I was so happy, it looked really very serious. I will never forget that.

It is last few hours of today, the Friday of 13rd. I think I have survived :-) Yep when I was small boy and following school, this was always my disaster day. It was probably because I knew that the Friday of 13rd is not from somebody else and I create all those disasters myself, but who knows.
Today was ok, quite a busy day at work but at least interesting. And after I have come back home and we had a dinner and but kids into bad I have started to put my last scans in order. I didn't made any notes and any categorization for last about fifteen films. Now I am finish and scanning as well is going to the end. Last twelve shots. Those two films at the end of scanning are two years old expired Ilford FP4+. Roy gave it to me and they turn very well. It seems like I am becoming frequent user of expired films and gaining some extra knowledge for them. Well it is not true, they are just not bad at all.
But let's come back to these two films. I have exposed them in two hours we were with kids in park near by. I have done one in contrast light and specifically in back light situations. I have used spot metering and they turn incredible nice. The other roll I have exposed just after it but Sun was gone. Those have nice texture and full details in shadows. This combination of Ilford FP4+ and Paterson Aculux 2 seems to be very good. I hope I will have a time to but some shots over the weekend on line.

One of the simple pictures which can create deep emotions and nice feelings. I like those images, they are not complicated and gave a feel of beauty. I always loved frozen leafs, trees or in general anything which has that nice icy cover on. My mama use to say that ice queen was near by. And as a small boy I was always imagining how she is walking around and drawing all those icy flowers on our windows.

So I couldn't resist no more. I put new picture from last roll I have scanned. It is Ilford FP4+ developed in Paterson Aculux 2. It's name is frozen leaf. The tonality is beautiful, you should see the print, amazing. I like ti very much. As I wrote simple print, which can start nice emotions. I wish you nice weekend!

Last days before Christmass I have made few portraits shots at work. It was just shooting around :-) Some of them I find quite nice. Probably it is because I know the people. Portraits are quite classical I would definitely like to make some different one if I ever would have a model and time for it. Seems like I never can really manage all necessary things in the same time.

I believe, lately, I am putting kind of crappy pictures on this site. I am recently, really often, looking to the pictures I have made previously and picking up some of them. Maybe I should actually make some plan, take camera and made some new pictures. Somehow I am not able to get myself into the mood in which I am able to create images. From time to time, especially late in night I have ideas how picture should look like, but than I am lazy to get up and make it. And yes it is not always possible. In the night it is for some pictures just too dark :-)
But back to the point. I surely have feeling that I need to improve the pictures I am putting on the web, maybe to slow down a bit but publish only really good ones. At least those, which I think are the good ones. And maybe make those daily shots only to the journal but not to the galleries.

I always have feeling that there is something very specific, something what is very characteristic for Slovak culture. Culture in a sense of that specific approach which doesn't create stories, action or hype. Culture which creates mood and specific feeling. At least for me, when I hear Collegium Musicum or Prudy or when I saw movie Zahrada, all those and similar style creates that kind of specific mood, feeling.
I have saw few last minutes of some documentary on Slovak Television. It was about poets around city of Zvolen. There where few situations, few, more visual than documentary moments which creates same feeling inside myself.
All this let me think. This would be nice to create here in the middle of heavily calculated and planned Dutch society. Creation of art which will force you to stop, think and feel.

Yesterday I knew I have this meeting of the portfolio club. You know I mentioned it before, group of people discussing they own work and giving each other mostly honest opinion. We always bring some work we like to discus of we think it is interesting and we speak about it. It was a second time I didn't have any prints. So, yesterday I was doubting should I go or not. Last time I stayed home. This time also persuaded by Viera I have decided to join a group.
Good I did. Even I didn't have anything of mine own work, I saw quite a few nice shots and I saw people interested and totally involved in photography. That helps a lot. Afterwards I went for cup of coffee with our leader Hans Zoete. He was very nice and suggested that we can have chat after our group meeting ends. We had and I was talking about what I like to make and how I feel a bit lost and uncertain and so. In our discussion I have also mentioned name of Czechoslovak photographer Taras Kuscynskyj. When I have started to take photography a bit more serious (about 15-20 years ago) he was my idol. I like his work very much. Unfortunately he is not well known in Western Europe, but he was very popular in Japan. You can see selection of his work on World Web photo Gallery. You maybe surprised that I like work of nude photos, but I love his style, romantic and very poetic. I believe that his work is just marvelous. You can see also few picture made as postcards. And isn't this a wonderful portrait.

After injection of photo flu I have exposed Saturday and developed today another roll of Fuji Neopan 1600. I exposed it in night trying to catch moving light and shadows on the wall. Sort of thing I remember to seeing when I was young boy and visiting my grandmother.
On technical line, I used again my old tanks. No I do not have anything against Paterson but I notice that the way how liquid flows back down to the tank create huge flow on liquid which creates small marks on negative. You know those flow marks of fresh developer from wholes of 35mm film. This is particularly visible on high sensitive film. So I try to avoid it last time but only using rotating and not inverting approach for agitating liquid in tank and today I went back to my almost 30 years old tanks :-)
Scans tomorrow... If any :-)

Light from night street to dark room in the middle of the night. Behind the curtain is glass bottle which makes this shadow on the curtain. Exposed on Fuji Neopan 1600 with Olympus OM-2n and developer in Ilford Ilfotec DD-X.

Shot from inside, curtain is lit by passing car. Exposed on Fuji Neopan 1600 with Olympus OM-2n and developer in Ilford Ilfotec DD-X.

Doorway from inside. Shot in the middle of the night only with light from street lamp. Exposed on Fuji Neopan 1600 with Olympus OM-2n and developer in Ilford Ilfotec DD-X.

I use to call this last roll, than rename it to Experiment page. Well, whatever is the name but I put three new shots here and not to gallery. I wasn't sure if that is good enough to go there. Well Night mood is going to be container for my night shots try outs. It is for a while now, that I am trying to make photos which would underline little bit of magic feelings which night could had when you have been child. Little scary and little secret. You do not know what each shadow is, but your imagination works full speed. Well, I am curious what do you think. Let me know. Next two shots for tomorrow!

Lights on the wall in our kitchen. Lights coming from outside. Shot was done in the middle of the night. Exposed on Fuji Neopan 1600 with Olympus OM-2n and developer in Ilford Ilfotec DD-X.

You can see my shadow there but not me what a trick. And I am not hanging outside in front of the window :-) Exposed on Fuji Neopan 1600 with Olympus OM-2n and developer in Ilford Ilfotec DD-X.

I have add two other shots from my night tryout last weekend. So you can see whole new experiment. And specially my auto portrait, quite a funny one. I am not going to tell anybody how did I managed to have my shadow but not myself on the picture. You tell me :-)

I was getting crazy about this. Maybe you remember there was a time somewhere in last year November when I put two prints on eBay Charle's cat and Cross. Both were sold. The first one was bought by famous New York photographer Dave Beckerman. He choose for economy delivery. Well it was close to Christmas and as time goes there it pass those 28 days what TPG Post promises. Today I have got notice from Dave that print arrived. Just few days after I print another one for him. This new one is waiting in my room to be put into envelope and being send. So it tooks two month about sixty days to get to New York.
Good news is that print even after such a long journey arrived in perfect shape. At least this was good on this long journey. Packing is good :-)
Anyway I have now extra print, maybe I just put it on web. And I am proud that my print is now hanging on the wall of Dave Beckerman.

It was around 5.A.M., about -15C and almost three years ago, when I was walking in small streets of Gamla Stan. Old part of Stockholm. I was passing this window and I can't walk just like that next to it. It reminds me my grandmother's window. Winter early morning, with light on. Difficult to fall a sleep, whole nigh awake, doing small things next to old vacuum tube radio. I was, at that time, small boy sleeping in her huge soft bed.

I have fixed few small problems on my web and add new picture. Last pictures are quite dark. Well they all made in night, but still I have fix two of them, after looking with distance of few days.

After a long sleep you wake up so early that you observe first light coming to the room. And you stay in bad even light becomes stronger, putting extra curtains over the window and flipping sun-blinds.

Over weekend I have borrowed mine Olympus OM2sp with 28mm lens to my son. He was very persistent to see his pictures as soon as possible so I developed his film together with three of my old films tonight.
I have just finished and all four rolls are drying. What was my surprise when I saw what was on those old films of mine. Pictures I was looking for and wonder where they are, pop ups today after I took film out of tank. The beautiful tree on edge of steep meadow I took last summer in Slovakia. Than some other shots from Slovakia's summer last year. Portraits of Kamila and some nice shots of drying grass on meadows. Well there are more shots, which were hiding from me in last half year. I am happy I have developed them today. It was bit crazy as I combined in the same tank Ilford HP5+ with Fuji Across and in second tank Fomapan 200 Creative with MacoPhot 100up. All of them turns quite well. Last test is for tomorrow when scanning will be done.
I am nicely surprised!