Thodoris Markou 12/31/13 Thodoris Markou 12/31/13

thirteen film portraits for 2013

a series of portraits taken during 2013, using analog cameras and film.

13 portraits taken during 2013, using analog media.

the images follow a timeline - first portrait was shot in february, last one in december. the hardest part was to choose the best (as in "most representative") portraits of the year, while also trying to include images that I hadn't posted in the blog before (or anywhere else, for that matter). keeping the number to 13 was also quite difficult, I had to remove a lot of good images. I also couldn't show a number of portraits that are yet to be published.

[ alkistis | pentax 67 | 105mm/f2.4 | kodak portra 400 ]

[ vinyl love | pentax 67 | 105mm/f2.4 | kodak portra 400 ]

[ nafsika lalioti | pentax 67 | 105mm/f2.4 | kodak portra 400 ]

[ magda | speed graphic | aero ektar 178mm/f2.5 | kodak vericolor III s 160 ]

[ theodoros chliapas | speed graphic | aero ektar 178mm/f2.5 | kodak ektachrome 6121 4x5 x-pro ]

[ sophie | pentax 67 | 105mm/f2.4 | kodak portra 400 ]

rolleiflex t | rollei retro 400s [ mary retsina | rolleiflex t | fomapan 200 ]

rolleiflex t | fomapan 200 [ fou mal | rolleiflex t | rollei retro 400s ]

[ fiona | pentax 67 | 105mm/f2.4 | kodak portra 400 ]

[ tamta | rolleiflex t | kodak portra 400 ]

Thodoris Markou 11/22/13 Thodoris Markou 11/22/13

Isabel Marant pour H&M: the polaroids

a polaroid large format session: using the Speed Graphic & Aero Ektar combo on a fashion editorial for Isabel Marant and H&M.

two weeks ago, H&M Greece and Ozon Magazine gave me an opportunity to shoot a fashion editorial with the Isabel Marant line before its worldwide launch. I did it the analog way: on large format, using medium format film as a backup. yes, there was a digital camera on set - I brought along the new Sony A7, which I used as a lightmeter.

I used the Speed Graphic / Aero Ektar combo, shooting polaroids for the sake of speed and convenience, as we needed to have part of the editorial online three days later. I also shot 4x5 film, b/w as well as color, and a couple of medium format rolls with the Pentax 67 as a backup.

there will be two more posts about this photoshoot, one showcasing the large format shots and one with the 6x7 results, after they've been published. the results are quite different, especially on the color large format shots.

it was hot and I didn't have enough brains to pay more attention to the backstage, so here are some smartphone photos with the setup:

Graflex Speed Graphic | Kodak Aero Ektar 178mm/f2.5

Graflex Speed Graphic | Kodak Aero Ektar 178mm/f2.5 | Fuji FP-100c

Graflex Speed Graphic | Kodak Aero Ektar 178mm/f2.5 | Polaroid 669 and film holders

you can see more backstage shots over at OzonWeb, where this polaroid "webditorial" was first published.

there was half a pack of Fuji FP-100c in the polaroid holder, so I finished it up, before switching to expired Polaroid 669 film. the difference between the two films is huge. it's a big shame you can't get a negative out of the polaroid 669 (which you can do with the fuji film) and an even bigger shame that you can't find this film any more.

I shot a total of 25 polaroid frames. all images presented below are a straight scan from the positive print. the first three images are Fuji FP-100c, the rest are Polaroid 669. you can see where the Polaroid 669 didn't like going against the sun. the double exposure was deliberate.

Isabel Marant pour H&M editorial | Speed Graphic & Aero Ektar 178mm/f2/5 | Fuji FP-100C film

Isabel Marant pour H&M editorial | Speed Graphic & Aero Ektar 178mm/f2/5 | Polaroid 669 film

Thodoris Markou 5/15/12 Thodoris Markou 5/15/12

mariane

...a sunday morning photoshoot at zappeio.

it had been a really long time since I last did a "proper" portrait session, so when x-ray model agency asked me to do a test with mariane, I immediately agreed. sunday was coming up and I had nothing arranged, so we decided for a morning shoot. dear liz was happy to provide make-up and hair styling, and we set out on sunday morning for zappeio. I was expecting the place to be empty on such an early time and I was planning to set up mariane in front of zappeio hall and let the speed graphic work its magic... but, surprise surprise, the leader of a political party had arranged a gathering there and the place was teeming with politicians, voters and police officers. so, plan b, we headed straight into the trees.

the time frame was quite tight, we had less than two hours before mariane had to go, and I settled with getting simple, natural portraits. straight on, I loaded up the bronica sq-a with a roll of kodak tri-x 400 and tried to catch the light that was filtering through the trees.

...then on to some against-the-light portraits...

...and as the tri-x roll came to an end (I was out of b/w film, too, just two rolls with me) I set up the speed graphic, paired it with the leitz hektor 150/f2.5 and looked around for some background that begged to get creamcheesed... I had some film holders loaded up with fomapan 400 and a couple loaded with expired kodak epn 6122 color duplicating film...

...it took me some days before I decided to develop the color films (always bored of heating up the chemicals), but the result was well worth it - expired cross-processed slide film, cheap as hell, kinda unpredictable but not without its merits...

...we'd already spent one and a half hour, what with the extra time needed for each large format shot, so I figured out it was time to pack up the speed graphic and go back to the bronica. the second b/w roll I had with me was kodak t-max 100 - two stops slower than tri-x but sporting a lot more of detail in the midtones....

...and that was it, we packed up and left just as that bloody politician was starting his speech. in total, 24 frames of medium format and 8 frames of large format were shot in the course of two hours. next time it's gonna be longer, with more large format shots, which are a pain in the ass to set up but quite wonderful if they come out as planned.

Thodoris Markou 2/21/12 Thodoris Markou 2/21/12

speed graphic

...the easiest way of using barrel lenses, which are a godsend for large format portraits.

I sent my speed graphic to jo lommen in the netherlands for a shutter service... I have been trying to make a decent post about the speed graphic for a long time - I never managed it because I always wanted to take some good clean backstage photos of a shoot and I never did invest the time in it, since I much preferred trying to get a good photograph with the speed graphic, instead of getting a good photograph of it. so, I will have to make a post about my favourite large format camera using a picture of my previous speed graphic, the anniversary model, and hoping to update the post when my current pacemaker model comes back.

the lens fitted on the anniversary is the leitz hektor 150mm/f2.5, a projection lens meant to be used with the leitz pradovit medium format projectors. its image circle barely covers 4x5, but I like the vignetting and the really soft corners it produces. you could actually say that I choose to destroy all the potential of the large format film surface by using such a low resolution funky lens, and you would be right. however, it's the final image that matters, not its resolution or its sharpness. I consider technical perfection the most boring aspect of photography, if it can't capture atmosphere.

and boy, can it capture atmosphere... this camera/lens combination is ideal for open space full body portraits (it is considered wide-angle in large format, after all), which I tend to do a lot, always using horizontal framing (photojournalistic habits die hard)...

speed graphic portrait

...it can also do tighter frames, where it still retains the vignetting/soft corners combo. it's easier to focus properly when moving closer because you get to see a bigger image of your subject - proper ground glass focusing needs a dark-cloth, a loupe and patience and I only have two out of three...

speed graphic portrait

...and then you have other barrel lenses, then ones considered "short portrait lenses", in the >200mm range, losing a bit of light due to smaller apertures but gaining in sharpness and resolution. my most used ones are the leitz diaron 250mm/f4 and the industar-51 210mm/f4.5 (this one actually has a aperture diaphragm, as opposed to the leitz lenses which you can only use at their maximum aperture). they are both great performers for close-ups and, since they have a much bigger image circle than the hektor, you also lose the vignetting and the soft corners...

speed graphic portrait

Thodoris Markou 1/3/12 Thodoris Markou 1/3/12

one hour of sunlight

...a quick large format photoshoot from last november.

this entry should have been posted six weeks ago, since most of the films were developed straight after the photoshoot, but I had shot some large format colour frames and I wanted to be able to see the "big picture" before I posted anything. finally, after waiting one month for the colour chemicals to arrive and postponing the development process due to lack of available time, I developed the colour 4x5 frames on the first day of 2012 - best way to start the new year, really. the result was a bit mixed, since these frames were long expired and some of them were slides that I chose to cross-process. moreover, all the frames spent the last months in room temperature, since it did not occur to me to return them to the fridge after loading them in the holders. turns out that some months in room temperature may indeed damage a 10-year-old film that's been kept frozen for most of its life - so, a note to self: always load the film holders on the day before the shoot and always unload them after the shoot.

the b/w frames were fresh fomapan 100 film, no trouble there, and the medium format ektachrome 64t slide film which, although expired, was developed a couple of days after the shoot so it kept its character as much as possible (it went through a cross-process, too). another note to self: stop using cross-processing and stop buying up any weird film that comes along.

so, what about the actual photoshoot? well, let's see... it was a sunny day during november and nicky was into the mood for photos, so we met near panathinaiko stadium and and walked in the woods above it. we only had one hour until sunset so we settled for some simple portraits, using the speed graphic and a leitz diaron 250mm/f4 projection lens. first, a kickstart b/w shot...

...next comes the cross-processed ektachrome 6122, a very old slide film...

...I'm guessing that the oversaturated yellow and red channels are a result of the cross-process, but since this is an 15-year-old film, I can't really be sure...

...back to black & white, and the trusty fomapan 100...

...and seeing that such close-up portraits were a bit "stiff", a change of clothes and style, and a little bit of colour - this time it's kodak ektacolor gold 100, also a 10-year-old negative film, but since it was processed normally, the colours are mostly fine...

...no more colour film in large format, so back to fomapan...

...and then we're totally out of large format film but we still got a bit of sunlight left, so why not try some experimental stuff? load the 6x7 back with some medium format ektachrome 64 tungsten film, bring out the leitz hektor 150mm/f2.5, a change of clothes again (in order to remove the striking red colour from the set) and let's try double exposures...

...and that's it. one hour of sunlight shining through the woods, enough time to shoot 12 frames of large format film plus 10 frames with the 6x7 roll film back and be a bit disappointed with the result - you just can't rush these things.

the new year will see me moving back to medium format for a bit - its portability and speed are quite welcome during the winter - large format works better when your hands and your model are not freezing.

Thodoris Markou 11/7/11 Thodoris Markou 11/7/11

motocrossing

...motocross, bike jumps and large format.

this post is a tribute to loukas mexis, who broke his ankle in a motorbike accident a week after we did these photographs. our intention was to re-do the motocross theme with a little more preparation than "-I've got free time. -I'm going motocrossing. -perfect, I'm coming along to try large format on action photos". this is not going to happen for a while, so I decided to post these photos, although they are a bit monotonous. the equipment I carried along was the usual stuff: the speed graphic, six 4x5" film holders loaded with fomapan 100 and the bronica sq-a which had half a roll of fuji pro 400h 220 that I wanted to finish up. the funny part was that I had to ride the motorbike along with loukas to get to the motocross field - you can imagine the sight of two people on a single-seater ktm bike, the one fully dressed for motocross and the other carrying two photographic bags and a tripod.

we arrived at the field and sought for a nice spot to try and capture a jump, which worked out quite well (although even the speed graphic's 1/1000 top shutter speed is not enough to "freeze" a motorbike that's flying through the air next to you), but I didn't give a lot of thought to the trees in the background - the resulting image would be a lot better if I had stayed clear of the trees, thus allowing the bike and the rider to stand out against a clear sky...

...then I tried the same framing with the medium format bronica sq-a (top shutter speed: 1/500) and the wide angle 50mm lens, choosing a lower angle and getting as close to the bike as I dared to...

...I spent a number of frames there (they came out identical, and I was pleased to see that I didn't miss the bike on any photo) and moved on to some portraits, first with the speed graphic...

...then with the bronica, still using the wide-angle 50mm lens...

...a change of view and a lower angle in order to emphasize the bike...

...and then we moved on to a different spot, trying to find a higher "jumping point". the sun was getting low and I wasn't really trying to get the best out of the whole situation (thinking this was a warm-up session), so we didn't search for a long time - we found the next jump and I readied the speed graphic again...

at that point I decided to switch from the hektor 150mm/f2.5 projector lens I was using to a proper lens, complete with an aperture diaphragm (the hektor doesn't have any) and full 4x5inch frame coverage: the industar n-51 210mm/f4.5. this lens is a russian copy of the classic carl zeiss tessar design, originally used in russian 5x7inch view cameras, and cost me about 30€ including postage. I mounted it on the speed graphic, focused, closed down, set the shutter speed but when the time came to release the shutter, my cable release got stuck and only fired on the second try...

I thought that I never got the bike in the frame, so I reckoned I could re-do the shot on the same film sheet, essentially creating a double exposure. turns out I got the bike both times, the first time on the edge of the frame, the second time bang in the center. the image frame is exactly the same (since the camera stayed in the exact same place during both exposures) but the two captures of the bike are ghost-like, since it was the only object that changed its position during the double exposure...

time was running out and we both wanted to pack up and leave, so I decided to spend the remaining frames on portraiture. I got loukas against the setting sun and loaded the speed graphic with my last large format film sheet...

the industar 210mm/f4.5 is a normal photographic lens and has a bigger image cirle than the hektor 150mm/f2.5, thus explaining the absence of vignetting in these two frames, as well as the more conventional rendering of the out-of-focus areas.

finally, I finished the film in the bronica, still using the wide-angle lens...

we left the motocross field with a lot of discussion on how and when to do a proper motocross photo-session, but it wasn't meant to be. next session I'm making with loukas will be named "spending two months with your ankle in a plaster cast". have a swift recovery, man..!

Thodoris Markou 10/18/11 Thodoris Markou 10/18/11

ten instant photographs

two days, one large format camera, one pack of instant film, ten instant photographs, lots of fun.

...I've had this photoshoot in my mind since the middle of september, when I first met gunner wright during the athens international film festival. we both wanted to do a proper shoot back then, but the festival's schedule was so tight (and our nights out so long) that we missed our chance. luckily, gunner returned to athens a month later, so this time we agreed it would be a shame if we didn't take out the speed graphic for some shots. the schedule was still tight, what with gunner having to do another photoshoot and an interview for a magazine, the weather being mixed and unpredictable and all kinds of strikes and demonstrations paralyzing downtown athens.

in the end we settled for a casual weekend evening shoot, and we ended up at the park next to gazi along with loukas mexis, while later on we were joined by anna rezan kritseli.

I only had two loaded large format film holders with me, so I decided to do instant film, polaroids. I loaded up the polaroid holder with fuji fp-100c 3.25x4.25" color film and we had a blast going through the 10-frame pack.

along with the instant film I was also shooting medium format with the bronica, but that will take a while to develop and scan. moreover, I need to bleach-clean the instant film negatives, which will give me a much better scan than the original positives. as opposed to all this process, it was easy enough to scan the instant film positives - let's see what a 10-frame pack of instant film shot through a large format camera can get you.

first frame was over-exposed by one stop...

...then I corrected my exposure and the good stuff was here...

...both gunner and loukas wanted me to pose for a shot, so I explained to loukas how to focus, how to remove the ground glass and replace it with the film back, how to cock the shutter and operate it... at the same time gunner was acting as a hair stylist, trying to get my hair out of my face while I was sitting immobile (the slightest movement would have resulted in me getting out of focus), which in the end didn't really happen...

...we changed location and moved along to a bridge above the railway. then anna came along and, of course, I asked her to do her bit. sadly, I misjudged focus for this shot, which is something a 150mm/f2.5 lens does not forgive...

...then loukas wanted me to pose with anna, and I obliged him. he said he remembered everything, but he forgot that he had to cock the shutter before removing the darkslide from the polaroid back, so he ended up destroying one frame, although it seems that with instant film you can't really go wrong whatever you do...

...after pulling out the destroyed frame (and before we were able to see the astounding result of a 10 second exposure on a photograph that actually needed 1/500 of a second to be exposed properly), loukas got the next one right, though he got us framed a bit to the right... (this wasn't his fault, the 3.25x4.25" polaroid back is not center-aligned, for some obscure reason).,.

...then we went for some really tight portraits...

...and we called it a day.

this was not the end, though, because next day we had a couple of hours before gunner had to get to his flight back to los angeles, so we went for a walk at zappeio megaro...

...and then one of the guards shooed us away, saying "you can't do that here, you need a permit", to which we replied "we're just doing photos for fun, this is not a professional thing", to which he said "who's he, then?", and we said "he's a friend and we're just taking some photos of him", and he gave the ultimate response: "he can't be your friend. I could be your friend if you wanted to photograph me, but he, he's too handsome and stylish to be your friend". at that point we decided to pack up and hunt for food, there's no arguing with that kind of common sense.

that was it... two days, one large format camera, one pack of instant film, ten instant photographs, lots of fun. stay tuned for the next post, which will include the negative scans of these photographs as well as the other shots we did on normal film.

Thodoris Markou 8/19/11 Thodoris Markou 8/19/11

a field portraiture day

...portrait session with miss eliza.

...backtrack to the end of july. the 2010/11 season is ending and I daresay it has been very good for me - "good" as in "busy" and "doing new stuff", what with teaching and exhibitions and more commissioned analog-only assignments. however, my personal photography pursuits are suffering, ideas being born and then dying fast due to absence of time, a whole project being postponed for at least one year and, of course, less and less personal portraiture sessions. the latter is quite unsettling since I am addicted to portraits and I need a steady flow of them to keep my spirits up. moreover, I am painfully trying to master large format portraiture, which is a quite different beast than medium format, a lot less flexible, totally tripod-bound and requiring extreme patience and composure from the model and the photographer alike.

so, it's summertime, the concerts are over, I have extra free time and a need to get my speed graphic out on the field for a proper, calm and composed portraiture session.

enter miss eliza. she's a dream, a muse, a girl who understands my driving need and can keep still when I ask her to, while she's a most enjoyable personality when not posing. it's a hot sunday evening and we go up to a favourite location of mine: hotel xenia on top of parnitha. it's an old building that started as a sanatorium 90 years ago, became a hotel in the mid-60s and now lies abandoned and defaced.

I had four cameras with me - the speed graphic fitted with the hektor 150mm/f2.5 for large format, the medium format bronica sq-a fitted with the zenzanon 80mm/f2.8, the polaroid land camera 250 and a 35mm minolta xd-7 that I intended to use as a lightmeter.

before setting up the tripod for the speed graphic, I took a couple of frames with the polaroid - the positives are good but they cannot be compared with the negatives, which acquire a lot of random "textures" during the bleaching process.

...then I put the speed graphic on the tripod and spent 5 minutes trying to arrange the framing. tripod photography is even more time-consuming if you have to frame and focus through an upside-down ground glass image. took two identical frames (better safe than sorry) and then decided to take out the bronica.

...on medium format everything is so much easier, framing, changing the angle of view, moving closer or further, catching momentary expressions or even the wind. and the ilford fp4+ does a very good job against the light, keeping a lot of detail in the shadows.

...with the 12-frame roll finished, it's time to go back to the speed graphic... and the first picture is an example of how you can lose your framing if you spend a long enough time on correctly focusing the razor thin depth of field of a f2.5 lens on large format.

...while the second picture really shows you the 3D effect of this particular lens/format combination. on both the images the fomapan 100 film holds up very well against the sun. very good large format film, especially considering its low price.

....and that's it. all in all we shot 22 frames in two hours: a medium format film, 8 large format sheets and 2 polaroid peel-apart frames. the only post-processing that was applied to the above images was burning/dodging and of course manual scratch and dust removal - I've yet to find a scanner that cleans itself as well as the negatives before scanning.