Richard Vanek - Black and White Photography

My friend Roman Harvan on the side of Danube river in hot summer afternoon. I must admit we were slightly drunk, but in perfect mood for out endless discussions about music, photography and art all together. We meet very rarely once in few years, but I always like it. I made few shots with him that evening. I like this one the most.

I have scanned first roll from my development job yesterday. It is Fuji Across 100. It was developed for 12 minutes and it was developed nicely full tones. Negative for little bit too dense than is usual from y development, but scanner has no problem to get all data from it. You can see one example out of this roll, portrait of my friend harry.

It is interesting how different films behave under the same conditions differently. Well, it seems to be normal to expect that, until you know what I am talking about. I for example experience with some films, Fomapan or Fuji Across (not other Fuji) drying marks from wetting agent. I have tried two different types of wetting agent, but I always got those drying marks on edge of the films. Why is that? Why on some yes and on some not?
Same is it with marks on edge of the film. This time, they can't be removed they are from foam, I suspect. Also only certain films happen to be sensitive to it. I always get them with Maco 100up and sometimes with some of Ilford films.

When I was about twenty I made a photo of tree alone on a meadow. It was nice sad shot. Last summer I was biking in Orava and in certain moment I realize how nicely is this tree placed alone on this meadow. I took few shots. Later on I realize how similar these two pictures are. Ina distance of almost twenty years I made very similar shots. But not only shots, also my mood road and all surroundings are very similar. Isn't that interesting that when you feel the same you tend to make same shots? I think this is very true and somehow I feel it from this picture. Simple but powerful, at least to me.

Today morning is very similar, in sense of how I feel, to yesterday's evening, when I have put Alone tree picture on-line. Similar, but different. I woke up today, and in contrast with weather forecast, it is cloudy, dark and was snowing. And you know, in The Netherlands, this is not very common. At least not in past six years I am living here. This winter, in general, is much more stronger than anything I remember here. So, morning dark, with a little pounder two centimeters of dry snow on road and grass. Very beautiful. I used to went out with camera twenty five (Oh gosh) years ago and took shots in such a weather. I used 50ASA fomapan film (not in production anymore) and was shooting white fields, trees, roads leading to white land. Cool and nostalgic feelings. And those feelings I am sharing now as well.

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Maybe you know last.fm and Pandora systems. Shortly, it is cool way to discover new music by listening sound stream which is customized for you based on your choice and what have you listen in the past. I like it, I have found a huge amount of music I never heard about, for example band Moloko :-). Today slahsdot brought link to interesting article, comparing both of these systems. So Take a look what it is and how last.fm compares to Pandora.

I am doing almost every day small modification on web, mostly it is fixing small cosmetic problems. Like today I try to fix some problems which are visible with Internet Explorer. I have also replaced header image with image without text and using written text instead. It is always better. Faster and more search engine friendly.
I also signed myself to banner exchange program so soon you will see banner son my site. A lot of you will be probably surprised as you know I am very against this approach. I must say I never really try it out. I will do try now and will see. I think if it is done well it will be not very annoying. And that I shall see if it will bring any traffic to site.

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All this technical babbling is mostly not interesting to anybody except the few people who maybe try the same as I do. Catch attention.

When you in teenage, often you like to be alone. You do not need others views and opinions. You have got enough of yours and I mean, a lot. You are full of yourself often being surprised with things you think. Often, you find the best solution to not fight, but leave, and let other wonder. You have your opinion and that is enough and you are proud of it.

Valentine's day is almost here. I do not have really very many of that kind of pictures which would fit Valentien's day. Anyway I have selected six prints and gave them 20% discount until comming Friday. So if you from Europe it would be (I hope) still possible to deliver before 14th of february.
I also added one new print to limited editions section. It is very much related to love and Valentine's day than as well. For this print there is also 20% discount.

Today I have worked half day on creating of banner for my site. I must say it is not easy. If one like to do it right and to satisfaction, than there is no short way. Using certain tools for creation of animation, than realizing that I am overdoing it a bit. And than starting again. Finally after very long time I have something I like. Than I save it in format I can't continue further. So I have to start again if I like to change anything. Well at least I have got a training.
The other time of the day I have spent with fixing problem which after few years is a first I have with IMatch. The software I am using for managing my photographs. It property database add about 4000 same items for different (seems randomly chosen) images. all this situation happen when IMatch was running while I was adding new images. Than IMatch hanged and when even after 20 minutes it doesn't look to start moving I kill it. After restart property DB was corrupted after fixing that one I have got those 4000 overwritten items. Well I have backup so no big deal just there was no easy way to get rid of those unwanted items. Now it is solved but still property DB is bigger than necessary.
So that was my Sunday, boring hm? Should take some pictures instead!

As you can see I have added banner to almost every page on my web site. For now they are on bottom of each page. I will see how this will turn on and will adjust according. As I saw at least I am not getting some porn or any xxx rated banners. If you will ever see such a banner from my site let me know. The company serving them has written that they do not use that kind of stuff.
I hope it is not bothering you too much, but I need to increase of site exposure as I like to sell little bit more prints. Maybe this is not the right way, but for the moment I will give it a try. I need some money to support my photography otherwise I need to focus too much for earning them other way. That would result in having less time for photo and therefore making less photographs and prints.
Hopefully you come here because you like my pictures and even if you do not buy anything maybe you can click on some banner from time to time :-)

I am really curious how this goes...

Well so far, it is not really interesting for my site. My banners seems to be not showed anywhere. This is based on statistics I am getting from the banner network I have joined. Anyway, I have first created nice animated banner which of course was not accepted as it was bigger than 12kB limit they have for free banner exchange. Here you can see all my simple banners I made afterwards. No animation at all still in average 10kB big :-)


If you like to support my site you can take this banner and but it on your site. I would appreciate that very much.

I was extremely busy with family things in last week so haven't much time for writing, even I have shoot few rolls and develop some. Soon I will post new images. I also was monitoring how this banner experiment is continuing. Well even I explicitly request not to use pop-ups they are happening from banners. I showed for past week 3000 banners and my banner was showed 2000 on other sites. At least according to statistics I am getting. From those 2000 exposures two times people come to my site click on banner. I do not know what to think about it. Is that ok? I think if the banner are not generating pop-ups (I have complained already) I will keep them for little longer. OK let them just few more days.
And if banners are annoying to you let me know. So far I have got only one email about it.

I have add long awaited link page. For the moment there is about dozen links, but I will extend them. I have also add text to each link, mostly from site itself. My plan is replace this temporary text with two, or so, lines of my own view on site. I hope you find other interesting places and photographs.

Huge parking places, behind even bigger super markets had always very depressive effect on me. One feels like piece in a game, not like independent person with free will. Hey I am here not because I need to buy and pay, I am here because I like to have something nice for dinner! How often you have that feeling that you only unimportant piece in machine?

I hope you can still bear with me. I am trying those different banner exchange programs. I cancel the one on bottom of the page because they were generated pop ups even I explicitly choose to not have them, when opening my account there. Now I have moved to other company and their require to have banner in first 400px. That is why I have them now above my page. They also guarantee some better results. Well I will see how this goes.

Working in corporate world has a lot of similarities with other worlds. Worlds we would not like to be. When you think a little longer, and you look at reality from different angle, you realize that having a smoke break is not far from airing prisoners.

Space is divided into unequal parts, one contains a leaf. We stay and observe, waiting for the moment when leaf will dissolve into particles and will move to other, bigger part of the space. We know it will happen once, just not close our eyes. Be ready and watch...

For the moment banner odyssey is over. I have in mind few other things, but it will take a little while I guess. Well my thoughts are about google way. Put some advert on my site and also create own one and pay for it to get it on other sites. But after looking at all the help pages of google about it, I have feeling it is little too complicated. I need to take distance and trying to understand it all. What I like on it so far, that I have more control over how do advert will look and also what it will be about.

It is very very hot, sun is beaming to your head. Step are more and more difficult to make. You are thirsty and you do not know what is behind a next turn. Only one think you know, you need to go further until the Sun set down and cooler air will fresh your head. until than you need to walk!

Even you do not realize you sit in the passenger seat of driving car. You looking forward, but you have back mirror as well. From time to time, you eyes are tired to looking into the grey future and they lean to-wards back mirror. What do you see there? What you would like to see is nice time and beautiful places from past. Instead you see yourself from present time looking back-wards. So do not look back, you will never see what you dreaming of, or what you remembering. Just make your today as best as possible so tomorrow it is something to remember from past!

So how do you feel, tonight? Sunday evening and next working week in front of you? You had some plans and ideas you like to make. Unfortunately all things turn differently and you sitting now with little cloudy mind in front of computer reading these lines. You plan to do different, but end up here. You will go shortly in a bed to take a few hours to sleep to repair your body. That body which is tired now and mind which is surfing around wanted but unrealized dreams and plans.
So how it is with you. Will you tomorrow end up here again, waiting for something to move you to right track. I can tell you here you will not find it. I only making my own drive here. You can join me for few kilometers, but please realize this is not public transport line. This is my drive and I will steer it my way, I hope.

Creating of images, by which I like to show you streets I pass in my way through the space, is not easy. Images which one consider just click of button and another do not know what that means and third says it is rubbish. Why would anybody do that. Does he feels alone and he like to share? Searching for light from somebody else?
In a few years ago I used to run BBS station. I guess you do not know what it was. It was computer with modem where people dial in. Only one at the time was able to connect. The name was "The C Station" in FIDO network. What I love to was watching people going through the pages and from time to time chat with them. You know it was easy. I had a very small room at campus and computer was running day night. Even in the middle of the night when I from dream heard those specific tones of modem connecting I knew, somebody is here. And I went out of the bed, sit in a chair and watch.

Now when you read this I feel very similar. Even I can't really do the same and talk to you I feel rather similar. Well I hope you like what do you find here and if not let me know. Let me know what do you expect to see in back mirror!

The small prints in my web shop, become recently very popular. Maybe people miss it before and now discover.
Yes I am selling prints of my black and white photographs also in lower priced open editions. So almost every print in my shop you can get in bigger 20x30cm size as limited edition print or in 15x20cm size as open edition. Both prints are made using same high quality materials and are matted using pass partout.
Take a look, you can find Limited edition prints

• Landscapes
• People
• Objects

and almost every print also in Open edition section:

• Landscapes
• People
• Objects

Today, first time in history of my site, The Google rating has raised to level five. Maybe, at the end. all the changes I am making on these pages are useful. This way my site will become more visited and more known.
It is quite a scary how position in search engine can have effect. Anyhow I am glad it is going this well. I am preparing new face for my front page. This change will bring more information and will gave little bit more overview what you can find inside. The reason why I like to do it is the simple fact I observe from statistics of my site. Almost 20% of visitors (not search engines or any other bots) is leaving after seeing first page. I like to drop that amount to minimum by providing the most complete overview on this first page. Hopefully it will have positive effect.

Summer time, time of long holiday fresh fruit and crazy games. Time when days are long and you can stay awake all the time you like. When you small you do all games which you will remember for long time. Even the small things, like where did you hide when you play "seek and hide". What apples from tree taste like and more, much more...

It is about year ago when I last time wrote you about my prints I let made in professional lab. I made those prints in early 2001 when I didn't have my own way of printing my black and white photographs. That time I prepare my pictures on CD and went to this lab and ask them to print them for me. They use Fuji FDI machine and Fuji Chrystal archival paper. The prints looks good, not perfect but good enough for used media. All and all, what I like to say is: They use the same process as they do for you to print you prints either from digital camera, or from negative. Difference was that mine where black and white and I can compare with other prints done year later with other technique.
What I have noticed already last year (four years after prints where made) and what is clearly visible now (five years after) is that color shift on these prints is enormous. They used to be black without nay tint, now they kind of dark brown with little purple/magenta tint. Maybe you do not notice it on your color prints as you have many colors and probably not really anything to compare, but for me looking at these prints on my wall (no direct sun) next to prints made by other technique, difference is huge. They say in lab fifty years without change. Well I can tell you know it is a non-sense. So please be aware, things are rather different than promised as most of the time.
And when I am talking about the other technique I mean my ink jet prints made by carbon pigment inks on Cotton Rag paper. They didn't change a bit. I still have my experiment made in 2003. That time I put non archival papers with different inks directly behind glass on south side for two weeks in summer. Well the results are still the same after 2.5 years.

Based on my previous note about archival value of lab prints, Jeff asked me how do I print. I refer him to my article about it. Than I read it through and I realize how much has changed from the time I wrote it. So here it is plan for tonight: Update the printing article to the current state. I gain more knowledge experience and try different things. I will put it all in.

As I have promised I have updated article about making my prints. It is now correct with the procedure I am using now. Maybe I need to extend it later or add new article better describing certain steps in image manipulation I am doing before print. But that will be for other evening. Now I am really tired and need some sleep.
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I am not Watching winter Olympics very much, but what I do pay attention to is Ice hockey. And Slovakia is doing very well, so far no loss. Today we play (we - Slovakia) :-) against Czech. That would be interesting, but it is rather late, not sure if I will stay until the end.

Recently, as you maybe noticed I am busy with taking pictures in rather dark environment. Shooting at the night inside of the house without any light. Using tripod and Fuji Neopan 1600 with exposures up to to 120 seconds. I published only few shot in the Night Mood experiment. I have few more rolls to develop, but before I do I planned to make some more. Yesterday while driving home over the night street I was looking more into the light and shadows close to house entrances. I do not know how it was with you, but when I was in teenage we use to meet with friends and later with girls just there. In half lighted places, mostly close to some lamp post or entrances to the houses. Well that inspires me to try shot something which would evoke that kind of mood I had years ago while dating with girls. That atmosphere of late nigh and seeing nothing else just the other person, without noticing how light went away and cold is coming with the night.
I do not know if it is good idea or not. I am also not sure if I should involved person in picture. Well actually I know I strongly feel I should, but people who saw following images suggested that these are even more intensive and better than images, where I do include person like on the last image in this blog entry. I do not know what to say, but somehow I feel that images with person works for me much better. Maybe you can tell me your opinion or use mail?

Few month ago when I have started with long night exposure I was using my Nikon F100 on tripod. For automatic exposure measurement this camera has mas time 32 seconds. I must say that in most cases it was not enough even with 1600ASA film. I really do deep night dark shots :-)
Than I took my Olympus OM2-n as I remember that it has very sophisticated measurement of the light even in time of exposure itself. So I put it on and I have got excellent results. Camera is keeping lens open as long as needed, I believe max is around 150 seconds, but I am sure it was more in some cases. When I was shooting some shadows in house and car was passing on street, light shortly flash in, Olympus immediately close open lens as there was suddenly enough light. Shot was done perfect not burn due to strong light flash from car's reflectors.

Isn't that cool how over 20 years old technology can still be perfectly usable and even better than latest?

This weekend including Friday afternoon was full of things. I bought car Friday, well it is second hand, but nice. Nissan Almera Tino. Than, Saturday I start painting my son's room. We needed to first clean it out and move all stuff to some other place. Today from morning, I am putting new wooden floor to the same room. It is finished now, but I am tired. That is why I didn't put single picture on line and didn't write much.
I am really tired and my hands a little hearting, so please excuse me that I will continue tomorrow. You know I am not really any handy man, but I am glad that I done these things and it feels good to do time from time some manual work. Now I can proudly look at room and say: nicely done!