by the canal (Utrecht)
photos:Ulla Larsson
23 February 2007
22 February 2007
Tri-X - anything else needed...?
Dateline 1940: “The fastest film in the world is the new Tri-X, with
twice the speed of Super-XX.” If you want the numbers, the British
Journal of Photography Almanac for 1940 (actually written in 1939)
reckoned it was 7000 H&D.
Tri-X processed in ID11 plusSometimes I am contemplating if any other film than Tri-X is needed?
The classic which was introduced as early as 1939-40 as sheet film,
and 1954 as roll film 135 and 120 formats. The most recent version
packs a few years and it is my impression that the grain has become
even more appealing, and that tonality has improved. Tri-X is fantastic.
It stretches the tonal curve in shadows like no other film.
Tri-X precessed in X-tolTri-X and D-76 is a well proven combination of film/developer, but now I have
begun using X-tol which works equally well, and in addition is less hazardous
to the environment. If however you want the smallest grain and maximum
resolution, it can be a good idea to make your own D76, and in this case
replace the metolen with fenidon, with the strength of 0,3 g/liter.
This will give you Ilfords late ID11 plus, which has been discontinued.
D76 and ID11 are known to be basically the same developers, only Ilford
made a special version named ID11 plus. More expensive, but by what I can
see from my Tri-X negatives from this time, it renders a clearly finer grain
and a delightful tone/resloution of detail. With this developer the following
question is brought to life:
Is there any need for more than Tri-X?
---
Pictures and text by Nils Bergqvist who kindly translated his article to English.
See the original text (in Swedish) here. -urbano
invited guest: Peter de Ru (part two)
Rotterdam Maas River
Tank cleaning. Pause. Peter de Ru´s pictures from the port of Rotterdam, are captured on three
different occasions 1979, 1994 and 2006. I am impressed by how Peter finds
the people, the workers, the bargirls in a place with such huge dimensions, with
so much tonnage being loaded and unloaded.
Right now Peter de Ru is working on a documentation of the beautiful Villa San
Michele in Capri, Italy. He is also working on a new book that we hope to hear
more about at the F Blog later on.
Peter has a long experience of exhibiting his work. Let me just mention his
participation at the Spring Salon which is a featured event at
Liljevalchs Konstmuseum in Stockholm. The same year (2000) Peter de Ru
also exhibited his work at Galleri Maneten in Gothenburg.
peter.gerrit.jouke.de.ru@gmail
Tattoo Cannon
Sailors on Greek
Animal food in Botlek
Pigeon in Botlek
Tank cleaning
Rotterdam Docks
21 February 2007
Gruppo F inbox: Werner Heyckendorff
Bus 306...little to say...lesser to carry.....none in sight
....do you hear it too?
Werner Heyckendorff was our invited guest 21 January 2007
hello, hello, i'm at a place called vertigo...
lights go down. it's dark. the jungle is your head can't rule your heart. i'm feeling so much stronger than i thought.
your eyes are wide and though your soul it can't be bought.
your mind can wander. hello, hello, i'm at a place called vertigo...
vertigo - u2 /@warsaw.pl.2003/
vertigo - u2 /@warsaw.pl.2003/
Invited guest: Peter de Ru
Boatsman in WaalhavenPeter de Ru benutzt die Kamera als ein Instrument, um die Vorposten
der Welt zu erkunden. Es ist eine der Eigenheiten der magischen Linse
und der Emulsion, solche Spuren sammeln und sichern zu können.
- Peter Cornell
I first met Peter about four or five years ago. There was not much time
to talk about photography, but I remember him showing me the book
with pictures from Rotterdam. I was struck by the great quality of
Peter´s work and his pictures stayed with me a long time. So, by pure
accident, we happened to meet in Stockholm the other day. I told
Peter about The F Blog and he agreed to participate with a series
of pictures.
I am glad to be able to show some of his work here.
Peter was a student at the almost legendary Christer Strömholm´s
Photo School (Fotoskolan) from 1971-73.
At the exhibition "Christer Strömholm - Lebenswerk und Fotoschule"
in Berlin 2003 Peter de Ru was one the former students at Fotoskolan
who exhibited their work along with Strömholms pictures. The others
were Anders Petersen, Gunnar Smoliansky, Dawid, Kenneth Gustavsson
and Ulla Lemberg.
The exhibition was a great success and the newpaper Tagesspiegel called
it the most important in Berlin during the spring of 2003.
Back to the pictures from Rotterdam. And back to a text by Peter Cornell
translated to German.
Ein Foto aus dem Rotterdamer Hafen zeigt eine Kompaßnadel, die das
Aussehen einer abgenutzten Rotunde oder militärischen Abschußrampe
hat. Ehe die Erzschiffe auf den Atlantik hinaus entschwinden, korrigieren
sie ihre Kompasse, indem sie diesen einsamen Vorposten umkreisen, der
gleichermaßen Hilfe wie Mangel bedeutet.
In the second part of this presentation of Peter de Ru´s work, I will tell
you more about him and his current projects.
peter.gerrit.jouke.de.ru@gmail
invited by ulf fagelhammar
Compass Dukdalf in Waalhaven
Ape in bar
Bargirl Café Maashaven
Late Afternoon
The Black Swan
Car
whats that fuzz about gloomy days?
I need the winter to get a perspective, I bloody hate it, but I need it.
Somehow I feel that it is essential.
One of those things that are incorporated, an integrated part of me.
Like that feeling of getting snow inside the collar in december.
Like that feeling of getting beat up by the schools worst maniac in snowy january.
From here it can only get better.
So whats the fuzz, this is not the end, it is the beginning.
20 February 2007
could you take my picture?
Awake on my airplane. My skin is bare. My skin is theirs. I feel like a newborn. And I feel like a newborn.
Awake on my airplane. I feel so real.
Could you take my picture?
Could you take my picture?
Cause I won't remember...
take my picture - filter
19 February 2007
happy hour
sei gia' dentro l'happy hour vivere vivere costa la meta'!
dicono che nasci solo per soffrire
ma se soffri bene vinci il premio...
you're right now in happy hour.
living, living costs you just half!
they say you're born just to suffer.
but if you suffer well you'll win the discount.
happy hour - ligabue
i'm not sure about the translation, more or less it goes like this
the gazebo, belvedere...lusthuset!
It´s hard to translate the word lusthus, well gazebo sounds nice. Pictures
by Benny Persson. He tells us that this "lusthus" is situated very close to
the shores of the Baltic sea in the Swedish province of Blekinge.
Motiv #10, illegal
As reported earlier on the F blog a new issue of the interesting photo-magazine Motiv has been released. Now we are proud to present the introduction and an interesting article from the issue on the F blog. For more information about the magazine, please look a Motiv's homepage or our earlier presentation of this excellent not-for-profit venture! 
Motiv #10. Theme: illegal. Introduction.
What is illegal? Perhaps one should also ask: Where is illegal?
It is lawful to urinate, as long as you don’t piss in a doorway. Brothels are illegal in Stockholm but not in Berlin. A book of photographs disseminated anonymously in the street and underground is unlawful littering in one place and visual poetry somewhere else.
Every phenomenon, and especially photography, changes its meaning according to its intention or the perspective from which it is viewed. The Bertillonage, or mug shot as it is called now, emerged at a time when the bourgeoisie portrait – brooches, handlebar moustaches and grave facial expressions – was synonymous with the phenomenon of portraits. The photographic depiction of faces was suddenly lent a degrading function. In this issue of Motiv we tell the story of two originals created by the inventor of this pragmatic photo genre: Alphonse Bertillon.
We are also very pleased to be able to print images from Lukas Moodysson’s book of photographs/litter, Contectoplasmos, with texts from his latest collection of poetry Apo kryp hos. And to show a selection of photographic works centred on the illegal, not least Carl von Platen’s models, more or less comfortably posing in daylight from a window at Sturegatan in Stockholm around 1900.
Many thanks to all participants.
The theme of the next issue is HOME. It will be published in June. Please submit your proposals before April 1.
The editorial staff of Motiv, February 2007
Forbidden Eroticism (article in Motiv #10)
In the autumn of 1903, a wealthy member of a well-known aristocratic family from Stockholm, Carl von Platen, known in certain circles as the Baron Photographer, was called in for questioning by the police. Three of his photo albums were confiscated as evidence in a case of suspected indecency.
In the 19th century, a male homosexual subculture started to emerge in Stockholm, as in other European cities. Homosexuality was illegal and would remain so until the law was abolished in 1944. The 1865 penal code prescribed a sentence of up to two years imprisonment for “unnatural fornication”.
At this time, homoerotic images started to be disseminated in secret. Since the pictures implied a forbidden inclination, they could be dangerous, which is why strategies were developed in which the photographs in an ingenious way often disguised precisely that which they wished to depict. The staged tableaux were charged with coded messages, innuendos aiming at evoking desire. The implicit eroticism was supposed to be lost on the uninitiated viewer: A portrait of a young cavalryman – could that be risqué? These were the questions facing the police as they sifted through von Platen’s photo albums. 
In the course of the investigation, several of the men who had posed for von Platen were questioned by the police. The photographer had kept close to the limit of the permissible. He had not photographed anyone in the nude (although such images could be seen in the background or as attributes), neither did he appear to have violated any of his models or paid for their modelling. He had, however, made detailed notes of their names and titles, which made it easy for the police to find witnesses, except among the servicemen photographed in von Platen’s home, all of whom are anonymous, most likely in order to protect them and to protect von Platen himself. At the turn of the 19th century, it was quite common for young recruits in Stockholm to eke out their meagre income by prostitution. In other words, the depicted young men in uniform in von Platen’s collection could have been prostitutes. On the other hand, the military uniform could, by itself, point to this possibility, as an innuendo.
Other costumes used by von Platen for his photo sessions were the Neopolitan fisherman’s outfit, the Scottish shepherd’s outfit with a kilt, and the Arabian tunic shirt, the toaba. Also, silky cabaret dresses were to be found in the pictures. The female and the erotic were thus represented in the early homoerotic pictorial language. Clothes that suggested that the male model was naked underneath the loosely-fitted costume seemed to have titillated von Platen’s imagination.
Charges of indecency were brought against Carl von Platen at the Stockholm city court, based on the police investigation that was completed on December 19, 1903. But Carl von Platen’s father pre-empted the court by having his son pronounced insane due to his homosexual inclination, and thus declared incapacitated. We do not know if the intention was to save his son from prison or his family from disgrace, but his move was successful. The family escaped being pilloried in court and Carl escaped the Långholmen prison. The fact that von Platen was declared incapacitated did not have an adverse effect on his upper-class lifestyle. After a sojourn at a nursing home, he continued his travels and his activities as a poet and a writer. We do not know of any more photographs than those confiscated by the Stockholm police. Nevertheless, von Platen was arrested by the police a second time, 15 years later. This time in Malmö when he tried to kiss an elevator boy at the Kramer hotel.
Translation from Swedish: Hans Olsson.
Photographs: Carl von Platen
References:
Patrik Steorn, “Nakna män – Maskulinitet och kreativitet i svensk bildkultur [Male Nudes – Masculinity and Creativity in Swedish Image Culture] 1900-1915”, 2006
Göran Söderström, “Sympatiens hemlighetsfulla makt: Stockholms homosexuella [The Secret Power of Sympathy – Stockholm Homosexuals] 1860-1960”, 1999 .
18 February 2007
invited guest: Tiberio Fanti (part two)
Gothic Town
The place we went to live
The world is strange, but our lives can be even more. These images are
from Saronno, the place where we opted to live or, as I should better
write, "to survive". My opinion about this small town some twenty miles
north of Milan has indeed slightly changed since we got off the train, for
our first time here, seven years ago. Soon after settling, a close friend
of my father warned me about the ugliness of this place. He had lived
here during a massive migration of the sixties, coming from a rural
village of central Italy. I stiffly answered I had to wait and see before
deciding. Now I'm pretty sure he was right.
Saronno is a post industrial town which lately converted itself into
a rather good and convenient place to live for those working and
operating in that big furnace of Milan downtown. The remains of
its past splendor are facing everyone and summarized in a cleverly
organized museum where I like to spend some of my spare time
together with my son. There are no historical witnesses, here.
Nothing comparable to the splendid roman and renaissance ages
sites of the small town where I grew up. Old barns and farmer
houses are slowly being converted into extraordinary and expensive
real estates, for the enjoyment of few lucky and well-off professionals.
The ghostly – but maybe I’d better write “gothic” – aspect of this place
comes out when I stop looking at the images I’ve always taken around,
trying to discover its intimacy, as well some signs left by past generations.
If only there was a collective soul, a connecting tissue, some fertile humus
for growing and improving ourselves, then it must be well hidden behind
the walls of these buildings absent-mindedly placed side-by-side.
There is, I feel, a sense of sadness and, at the same time,
disconsolate admiration for a place which has nothing else to
offer than the vestiges of its recent industrial past. All those huge,
grey, empty productive structures with their tall brick-chimneys and
rusted machineries, inevitably destined to demolition or to the natural
destructive effect of time; all those industrial-design cult objects, so
carefully collected and exposed in the halls of that local museum and
the disheartening and bare ugliness of the meadows surrounding the
town itself don’t let me trust there’s a single good reason for keep living
here and growing up our sons.
I know I’ll go away from here one day. I can’t say when but, today
more than ever before, I keep warm a sense of gratitude for that
friend of ours, who tried to open wide my eyes before coming here.
It’s never too late.
pictures and text by Tiberio Fanti
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