Inspiration

Rangefinder cameras.

2013, Favourite, Inspiration, Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4, Leica M9(P)/M-E (CCD Lives!), Portrait, Teaching point

Rangefinder

Life is too short, to have never experienced a rangefinder camera.

If you’re a photography enthusiast, and you’ve never had the pleasure, do yourself a favour and shoot with a rangefinder (Leica, Zeiss, Mamiya, Voigtländer, Contax, Nikon, Epson, Fuji, Yashica, or whatever).

It will change you.

—Peter.

Voigtlander Color Skopar F2.5/35mm Pancake II.

Inspiration, Q&A, Teaching point, Voigtländer 35mm f/2.5 Color Skopar Pancake II, Voigtländer 40mm f/1.4 Nokton

Voigtlander Color Skopar F2.5:35mm P II

Introducing the Voigtländer Color Skopar F2.5/35mm P II.

I’ve been experimenting with this lens for the last 24 hrs and, so far, I like it.  Small, sharp, smooth.  Its strength is in daylight shooting, not just because it is limited to a maximum aperture of f/2.5, but because of the way it holds highlights.

Images will follow — maybe in a few days — so you can judge for yourself.

Voigtländer always delivers great lenses, so I shouldn’t be surprised at the results.

In the meantime, feel free to re-visit my report on one of my favourite lenses, the Voigtländer Nokton 40mm f/1.4.

—Peter.

Socrates & Eminem.

Inspiration, Teaching point

“Well I am certainly wiser than this man. It is only too likely that neither of us has any knowledge to boast of; but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance. At any rate it seems that I am wiser than he is to this small extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know.”

—Socrates  (470 – 399 BC)

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“At least I know that I don’t know

Question is are you bozos smart enough to feel stupid…”

—Eminem, Berzerk (2013)

Featured Photographer: Tibor Budai.

Film, Guest Post, Inspiration

Tibor Budai

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“What I want is to capture the natural, something quirky, insignificant or ordinary in the eyes of everyone, but something that eventually becomes emotional or surreal once transcribed to a photo.”

—Tibor Budai.–

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Tibor Budai

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About.

35 yrs old, originally from Budapest, Hungary.  Moved to Switzerland as a child, where he currently resides.  Works for Philip Morris.

Cameras and lenses.

“A Leica M7 with my 35mm Zeiss Biogon. I also have a Nikon FM2 as a backup solution in case my main camera breaks down!”

What’s important.

“We only live once, but if you play it right it is enough. ”

Interesting fact.

“I was in the army in Switzerland, and security was at a maximum during the 9/11 era.  Part of my duties included patrolling the US embassy and many others in the capital of Bern. Nowadays, I much prefer to patrol the streets with a camera hanging around my neck rather than a machine gun.”

 

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Today I am very pleased to present the work of Tibor Budai, whose photography I’ve enjoyed for several years.

Mr. Budai has an uncanny ability to “see”, and a gift for pressing the camera shutter at precisely the most interesting/poignant moment.

His seemingly quirky compositions belie a masterful photographer at work, whose intelligence is both playful and incisive.  Moreover, he accomplishes all of this within the challenging medium of film.

Simply put, Tibor is one of the purest photographers I know, and I admire his talents tremendously.
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—Peter.
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Q&A with Tibor.

What motivated (and still motivates) you to pick up a camera?

“The motivation for me is to record an instant which will disappear forever as quickly as it has appeared, just a moment ago.  It’s my life’s passion I think, discovered late, but as we say: “better late then never!” I just love taking pictures with the imagination process that begins soon after having taken it and this same process continuing on until the film development, with the gradual excitement going with it. And I simply like to look and appreciate the result of the successful photos after all the effort made. ”

 

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What do your images “say” about you?

“We say that pictures reflect one’s personality. Perhaps this is true. What I want is to capture the natural, something quirky, insignificant or ordinary in the eyes of everyone, but something that eventually becomes emotional or surreal once transcribed to a photo.  To say the least, this is not an obvious thing to do!“

 

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How have you evolved as a photographer/artist over the years?

“[I’ve evolved] a lot if I look back when I started 3-4 years ago.  I’ve learned from others’ work in forums or social media, and turning the pages of grand master’s photo books countless times, over and over again .”

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Any further comments about your work you’d like to share?

“I started doing mostly street photography. But now I tend to run some personal projects. I think change can bring benefits especially when one feels that particular subjects may have been overdone. It also allows me to come back to previous subjects, but with a different refreshed perspective. ”

 

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Images courtesy of Tibor Budai.

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Tibor-1

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Tibor-2

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Tibor-3

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Tibor-4

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Tibor-5

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Tibor-6

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Tibor-7

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Tibor-8

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Tibor-9

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Tibor-10

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Tibor-11

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Tibor-12

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Tibor-13

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Tibor-14

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Once again, I wish to convey my gratitude to Tibor for participating in this series.

If you’d like to see more of his work, please visit Tibor’s website here.

—Peter.

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Past Featured Photographers on Prosophos.com include:

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And the winner is…

Film, Inspiration, Q&A

I am pleased to announce that Kevin Ng is the winner of the Prosophos Film Contest.

Mr. Ng created this beautiful image using a Mamiya 645AFD II loaded with Tri-X 400 120 film:

Prosophos Film Contest 3

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Kevin, I can post mail you the 50 rolls of Tri-X 400, or I can deliver them in person (Toronto) with a cup of coffee :), as promised.

Congratulations!

A sincere thank you to everybody who participated, and congratulations again to the Top 10 Finalists.

—Peter.

The most popular post this month on Prosophos.com?

Inspiration, Q&A, Teaching point

Leica M9 vs. M240 (CCD vs. CMOS)

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I was surprised to see that above is still the most popular post on Prosophos.com, given I posted it three months ago.

Leica M9 vs. M240

Yes my friends, I guess the CCD vs. CMOS sensor debate rages on… for many.

Not for me though.

—Peter.

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Related posts:

M240: More Thoughts

Leica M240: Final Verdict

Leica M9 sharpness vs. Sony RX1R, Nikon D800E, Fuji X100s

Prosophos Film Contest: 10 Finalists.

Film, Inspiration

Just over a month ago, I announced my little Film Contest.

Many beautiful and diverse images were submitted, and for the last couple of days I’ve been reviewing them.

As you may recall, I asked each contestant to show me, in a single image, why he/she loves the medium of film.  Almost all of the entrants fulfilled that request, but — alas! — I can only choose one winner for the 50 rolls of Tri-X 400.

Before I do that, however, I wanted to honour the 10 Finalists by displaying their images below:

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#1

Prosophos Film Contest 1

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#2

Prosophos Film Contest 2

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#3

Prosophos Film Contest 3

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#4

Prosophos Film Contest 4

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#5

Prosophos Film Contest 5

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#6

Prosophos Film Contest 6

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#7

Prosophos Film Contest 7

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#8

Prosophos Film Contest 8

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#9

Prosophos Film Contest 9

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#10

–Prosophos Film Contest 10

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Please join me in thanking the talented photographers who created these 10 images.

The winner will be announced at some point this weekend.

I also would like to sincerely thank all of the individuals who participated in the contest.

—Peter.