gabriel biderman ~ fine art photography

Inspired by dear friends Stacy and Andy’s 2010 resolution to take an inspirational Photo of the day, I’m reinstating my photo of the week blog. Hopefully this will inspire us all to carry our camera, shoot and share more! The inaugural photo of the week was taken in New Orleans at the Sazerac club. We were all imbibing in some wonderful beverages when I noticed servers coming in and out of a surreally lit kitchen. I grabbed my camera and stood near the entranceway hoping not to get hit by the opening door and captured this.

Looking for more inspiration and access to one of the coolest locations to capture images of Lost Americana?
Joe and Troy have a few spots open to their Pearsonville Junkyard Workshops in March and April. I took this workshop last year and had an amazing time, plus I significantly built up my night photography portfolio. You have 3 full moon nights of access to amazing old cars from the 1930′s-70′s, within the backdrop of the Mojave Desert mountains. My light painting techniques became much more refined as Joe and Troy shared their knowledge and took a lot of the guesswork out of using flashes and flashlights in night photography. Check out my previous blog and images from last year.
For more information and to see Troy and Joe’s amazing images check out the Pearsonville Junkyard Night Photography/Light Painting Workshops.

The f295 kickoff last weekend was a huge success!  Thanks to the over 150 people who came out to Saturday night’s 21st Century Photography opening!  The work and vibe must have been reminiscent of Stieglitz‘s old Camera Club openings!  Thanks  also to all that helped put the show together:  the artists who shared their work, The Camera Club of NY who gave their 500 square feet, David, Jennifer, and Amy on the B&H organizational end ~ as well as serving up a record amount of kosher wine!  And finally, Tom Persinger, who brought us all together and had one heck of a time trying to make letters stick on walls.

Wondering what camera to document the gallery opening with, I finally settled on using my trusty Panasonic LX-3, which is an advanced digital point and shoot.  The pioneering Panasonic has a little throwback feature, it has a pinhole scene mode!  See, I told you that pinholes were enjoying a renaissance!  For some reason the pinhole mode is limited to 3MP images while applying a vignette and desaturating the image.   I know it would have been better if the lens could have come off to reveal a real pinhole over the digital sensor but hey, I wasn’t going to get everyone to stand still for 5 hours for the group shot! All the images on the left were taken in this “pinhole mode” while the right hand side shows the packed house for Sunday’s presentation at the B&H Event Space.  For the second straight year over 80 people showed up to listen and learn about new ways to use older technology.

We all struggle with keeping our art and life fresh and new.  For photographers the terms wedding, portrait, landscape, pinhole, or even alt process can all pigeonhole and limit our vision.  Tom Persinger asks us to look beyond these stereotypes and empower the 21st Century Photography:

The 21st Century Photographer remains open to the exploration and use of a variety of processes, techniques, and technologies so long as the chosen method(s) most concisely articulate their creative vision. A net result of this paradigm shift is not only complete artistic freedom but also a palpable sense of empowerment. Historically photography has marched down the long path of process obsolescence – one in which new techniques replace old in a continual cycle of progress. In a 21st Century approach, however, control is wrestled from profit driven agencies -corporations, advertisers, and the marketplace all promoting a consumptive photographic model- and given to the artist/photographer. By virtue of taking the responsibility of control, photographers allow themselves to use a pastiche of tools and materials to make pictures. It is this freedom -which is new for many- that empowers and fuels the 21st Century Photographer.

Photography is a toolbox with many means to express your vision.  Some people choose one, others need multiple instruments to complete the vision.  This weekend I saw art that was in jars, painted on, waxed, dyed, and printed on anything from the latest digital technology to handmade emulsions on a variety of surfaces from tin, glass, and paper.  The photograph that I submitted in the show was originally a 6×9 slide.  I was deciding between two basic ways to present my print:
1.  Drop it off at a lab and have them make a negative copy of my positive slide and then a C-print
2.   Scan the slide and print at home on inkjet.
Now, my good friend and constant conscience, David Brommer, stood aghast when I told him that I  I was leaning towards the lab option;  mainly for convenience as I am still not 100% confident in my inkjet printing.  I’m still most at home in the B&W darkroom.  But he reminded me that I had to control the final outcome of my image.

And really, it is all about the process ~ from start to finish.

Now did I enjoy spending close to an hour digitally removing dust from my image?
No.
Is the excitement the same as flipping over the black and white image in the developer under the red light?
Nope.
But, seeing a project from start to finish is still pretty damn fulfilling.

Today marks the 2nd anniversary of marriage to my lovely Nancy. I’ve only known her 1/4 of her life but can’t wait to reach the halfway mark! We were married under an arbor and when I came upon this one right outside the Woodstock area I knew I had to capture it. I used a combination of a zone plate and pinhole to take this image. My Zero Image 4×5 camera comes with a turret of 3 zone plates and 3 pinholes I can choose from for exposing. By combining the two “lenses” I was able to get the “glow” from the zone plate while retaining the sharpness of the framework with the pinhole. How much did I pre-visualize? Well a pinhole camera has no viewfinder but I’m used to “seeing” with this camera. I shot low to the ground and towards the sun and knew there would be flare, but the red and green light pouring forth is the most beautiful light I could have asked for.
Happy anniversary Nancy!

June 24th is also Nancy’s 1st anniversary of turning 40. Yes, she did put all her eggs in one basket but she’s a summer solstice baby and we both have strong feelings about midsummer eve. We celebrated the longest day of the year not at a baseball park, but in Upstate New York close to where we were married. During the summer solstice the sun appears to stand still facing the Northern Hemisphere. It’s a powerful day for telling the future as well as discovering true love, which we both are lucky to have. So the second picture featured is a reflection of Nancy taking the plunge! I know they say 40 is the new 30 but in Nancy’s case I’d have to say it’s the new 25! Happy Birthday my muse! You continue to inspire and understand me like no other. Let the summer good times begin!