Chris Kovacs is a dedicated and serious B&W digital photographer from  Vancouver, B.C. His compelling work is strongly influenced by the great Michael Kenna, and he also draws inspiration from Ansel Adams. Kovacs has good taste.

Many of his images are composites made up of dozens of shots.  See more of his work here.

Are you a professional photographer/student/serious amateur?

I might fall into a bit of each, but serious amateur would be the main category. I also like to think of myself as a student, not as student in a classroom studying photography but in that I am always looking to learn new things. For example, new processing techniques or a different approach to printing or how to effectively use a wide-angle lens. My website is broken down into the last six years. You would notice that each year’s photos are a bit different. This is the result of learning and trying different things all the time. And finally I might fall into the professional, or perhaps "part time professional" category because I do sell my prints and folios, but still require a day job to make ends meet.

 

How much of your work in is B&W? 

About 99% of my work is B&W I did dabble in color a bit with some images from Rovinj, Croatia in 2008. But to me they just didn't seem right. It felt as if I had no control over the process. The technical aspects were all good, but to me they just seemed distracting and flat. When I photograph I visualize the final image in black and white. And therefore I see in black and white. (thanks Ansel). Which would most likely explain why the color work didn't turn out for me.

What does working in B&W mean to you?

When I first laid eyes on Ansel Adams work I was amazed. It had a dreamlike quality, like it was real but not real at the same time. It spoke to me in a way that no color image ever could. And that’s when I knew I wanted to photograph in black and white. To me black and white exudes a certain pureness, like it's been stripped of distractions and focuses directly on the subject through the very basics. 

 

Where do you find inspiration? Who are you photo heroes?

Inspiration comes mostly from mother nature. The weather is usually what inspires me to shoot a certain way. I love clouds, rain, snow and fog. I suppose living in Vancouver is a bonus for those reasons. When the weather is hot with blue skies I shoot mainly architecture or subjects that don't include the sky. A good example would be most of the images from 2008 because most of the time there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Resulting in non-favorable lighting for my style. 

I view Ansel Adams as a hero and teacher. l also love the works of Michael Kenna, Josef Hoflehner and David Burdeny.

 

Technical: camera, lenses, film, darkroom/digital approach & materials.

All of my images are taken with Nikon D80 and since 2009 a D90. I used the Nikkor 18-70mm for most of my images, Nikkor 70-200mm for some and my most recent work has been with the Sigma 10-20mm. I started taking photography seriously in 2005, so the logical thing for me was to go all digital. I use Photoshop CS4 and do most of my editing using curves and Silver Effects Pro. I print exclusively with an Epson 9800 printer using Epson HDR Ultrachrome inks on Canson Arches Velin Museum Rag 250gsm.

Do you have your own darkroom?

With regret no. I say with regret because my grandfather was a pro photographer and growing up I used to watch him in the darkroom. He showed me a few things like dodging and burning and how different chemicals produced different results, etc. I was 21 when he passed away (before I had seriously begun photography) and my grandmother and I sold all of his equipment: darkroom, cameras, lenses etc... to a bargain hunter who got one heck of a deal. We were in a hurry to sell and we certainly didn't know the value of all of that stuff. Of course now I truly wish I had kept it all.