B&W Blog

A very cool, very photographic commercial

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 19:18:56 -0400

Of course, because these are small, scale-model cars, shot in super close up, the depth of field is extremely minimal. And it just looks so cool, sort of a hyper bokeh effect (bokeh is the Japanese term for the attractive look of an out-of-focus background in a photo). There’s even a reference to the work of the great contemporary art photographer David Levinthal in the shot of the fan figurine in the stands (Levinthal shoots mainly small figurines in super-close-ups, thus exaggerating the already shallow depth of field of the 20x24” Polaroid for an entrancingly dreamy and expressive look: http://www.davidlevinthal.com/works.html). The spot also pays tribute to the narrow depth-of-field swing-and-tilt look currently popular in photography. Of course, this great spot looks just OK in this low-def online mode, so look for it on real TV, especially in HD (on ESPN & elsewhere). If you love photography, you’ll dig this spot. And if you ever enjoyed slot-car racing, you’ll dig it even more. Of course, this has nothing to do with B&W, but we love it anyway!

Master Retoucher...a must read

Mon, 5 May 2008 20:35:05 -0400

Anyone interested in photography at all should read this New Yorker article about Pascal Dangin, master photo retoucher.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/12/080512fa_fact_collins
In the March 2008 issue of Vogue Dangin is said to have retouched 144 images: 107 ads, the cover and 36 fashion photos. He makes the merely great looking look stunning, the article says. Christy Turlington needs his help the least, it is noted. This is a fascinating piece, even if you find fashion photography to be sleep inducing (as do I).

Irving Penn at Morgan Museum

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:17:32 -0500

Saw the Irving Penn Close Encounters Portraits of Artists and Writers at the Morgan Museum and Library in NYC. It runs through April 13, 2008 and if you love B&W and especially 2-1/4x2-1/4” square format, this is highly recommended. This is not an upbeat display of happy people; there is much post-war seriousness and angst on display here. But the work is gorgeous and the prints are great. Penn’s use of the square composition for portraits is ingenious and the lighting is dramatic. The nonagenarian photographer is still active; the first image you see is a powerful image of Jasper Johns made in 2007.

Pop Photo sees winners, in B&W!

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 16:31:18 -0500

I love Popular Photography (I’ve written for the magazine often), so I was glad to see the prominence of B&W images in the January 2008 issue, including a great 2-page spread on Bud Green, a B&W film and Leica M-system photographer. His work is terrific (see it at www.flickr.com/photos/bud_green). And Green has pithy things to say about not going digital and the choice of/pleasure of the Leica M. Bud Green is an amateur and a family man who is shooting B&W film and developing it at home, and he’s doing great work. But wait, that’s not all! The Grand Prize winner of their Annual Reader’s Photo Contest is a B&W image (photo by Kenneth Mucke), as is the First Place winner in their Action/Sports (photo by Kathryn Obermaier; www.kathrynobermaier.com) and Nature (photo by Jeff Rayner) categories. Congratulations to Bud Green and to the contest winners, and to Popular Photography’s editors for showcasing the extraordinary power of B&W. (www.popphoto.com)

The Genius of Photography on Ovation

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:31:08 -0500

If you missed it, try to catch The Genius of Photography, a 6-hour BBC series that ran Thanksgiving week on cable outlet Ovation. It was terrific: an authentic and smart education in photography. Check Ovation’s website for re-airings (non appear to be scheduled yet), and when we hear that it is out on DVD we’ll let you know. Also see the link to the BBC web site on the show, below. (http://www.ovationtv.com/)
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/photography/genius/)