Richard Vanek - Black and White Photography

Sunday, I took it easy. I wanted to look on the places I liked last year in Stockholm. So after breakfast I went to Stockholm island named Södermalm. Last year I liked placed around Sofia church there. It was later in march and people went on the streets when Sun jumped a little out, from behind a clouds.
This year I did similar walk over it as last year. Just maybe I have chosen little different streets. mostly I again trying to catch feeling I have from B.Pasternak book. When I arrived close to Sofia church I find again that interesting café, were morning you can find young couples with very small children taking their brunch. I went in and stays for almost two hours. Great time. I wrote my feelings about it on paper. I never did that but somehow I felt good there and I wrote over five pages. One things about this place. I always saw it Sunday morning and it was great. Today went there once more in the evening and feeling was quite different, so different that I moved out and choose different place for my dinner. Anyhow if ever I will be back in Stockholm Sunday morning, I will be here for my breakfast!

Than I walked further, until I reach Sofia Church. And there were people, mostly kids sliding on snow. It was a lot of fun and I run out of the film rolls very soon. Actually too soon for what I would like to take picture of. So seven rolls was not enough for this day.

I am having discussion with Dave Beckerman (btw: great photographs from New York), about web design and how that is effecting, among the other things, the way search engines see and index web site. I have found that Google, for example see only about 5% of my pages. This is thanks to dynamically generating pages which are passing arguments in URL. Google see only first page of my journal and only first pages from each gallery. No photo page is indexed and none of further gallery pages. This strikes me and I am looking for a way to improve this.
Maybe you know what is the trick, let me know!

So now I know what to do, A.K. has a great idea (once more thank you a lot) to use kind of fixed script and faked path approach. I like that a lot, now only problem is if I am going to change all site I only need to find a decent way to redirect all links to new ones. But anyway not that many people where linking directly to images or journal. so maybe that is not a big deal.
Today I am leaving Stockholm and than I will start working on that. Hopefully soon together with new pictures! I am curious as probably you are. So please watch out that will be load of pictures in coming weeks :-)

I just developed two new rolls. Both Fuji Neopan 400 in Paterson Auculux 2 diluted 1:14. I knew those rolls are little overexposed so I did 9:00 with minimal agitation. I did only 1x each 60sec. Negatives turns out not so dense and with low contrast, all as expected. Let see tomorrow how they will scan. Both contains shots from France. That was a time when I woke up early to see some fisher mans going on the see, in August last year...

Yesterday I made new web version (the one making my web indexable by search engines) running at my home copy of PiskoFtak. Looks very good. I was really surprised how easy it was to change it.
Only menu structure is bit damaged now. I need to take a little different approach, it was build up dynamically, now I need to drive it differently, maybe I go for XML description. This could allow me to make automatic site map as well.
Next step will be making upload of new pictures finally working directly from IMatch.

Today I made new menu system based on XML definition. It is working nicely on my home copy of PiskoFtak. Soon I will be finished with last part, which is better navigation through my journal on separate page. I hope, you will all like it and I hope Google will like it too!
This playing with site is nice, time consuming thing. I believe it will bring me something back. Thanks to not putting new photographs on page, number of hits to my site drops dramatically. This is really interesting phenomenon to observe. Reaction of the Internet on one web page construction, updates and contents.

Time is flying! My home copy of PiskoFtak is not completely finished, yet. I have now Journal running in separate page and only adding new way of navigating. When that is done I will move it to the Inet.
In a mean time I developed next two rolls from France last year. Now I know how to get them so results are much better, but what I have noticed is that films really need to be developed as soon as possible especially the ones which are show in very low light conditions. One can see how they are effected already after six month.

Today I finished at three o'clock morning. But I have functioning archive and calendar for browsing my journal. This is still on my home copy of PiskoFtak.
But there is only small step to go, to make a front page! After this new PiskoFtak will be published on-line. I hope it will be very soon (today?). Let's see.

As you can see new improved and hopefully more Google friendly web design is in place now. I believe it has still few things to improve and I would appreciate your suggestions and comments. But I am quite satisfied and I am going now to focus on next two important items. One is direct publishing my pictures from IMatch and the second is developed rest of exposed rolls and select about four photographs for exhibition in April.

When I finished my web I went to sleep as I was quite tired from previous night. I only sen e-mail to Dave Beckerman as we were discussing few days ago issues about search engine friendly web design.
When I wake up today morning I had incredible useful e-mail from him in my mail box. Thank you very much Dave!

More and more my friends write me with suggestions, A.K. showed me how to extend background also below floating div. I had no idea how that can be done. Now is solved, nice!

Today is a beautiful day, unfortunately, I have to go to work. Quite cold -3C for this time, but very dry and clear. That's the weather I like.
I spent evening with coding script for IMatch and adjusting a little my XML-RPC server. I did important step, I am able to import complete photo DB from web into IMatch. Now the opposite way.

After I have changed cartridge in my Epson 890 I printed new picture. It was just a little test and photo was prepared already before. It turns out quite OK. It belongs to my, kind of, project I am try to work for few month. It is about childhood. I try to make series of photographs which will remind childhood, memories when you were young. It is rather challenging I must say, but I like it a lot. It is a little different way of working that that I did before. That time I just took pictures of things which I have found interesting. Now I have story in mind, feelings I like to create. I even sometime see exact pictures I like to make. This all was started by Caroline Schröder. The photographer which I have met few month ago. I am grateful for discussions with her and helping me to realised what I want and like in photography.

I have just received new issue of my favorite magazine Black & White Photography and I have found web site review of my friend from few years ago, Martin Klima.

Finally at the end of the day I am working on script for IMatch. And it is very productive and successful. I have all data from web updated in IMatch and now working on script for publishing from IMatch to the Inet.
This visual basic scripting language of IMatch giving me headache. I am just not use to this kind of language. I much more like C, C++, java. So things are not called here as I am use to and they are not at places I am looking to. When I get error from interpreter it takes my while to understand what does it mean. But slowly I am creating my scripts and slowly I am getting there.

More and more I feel troubled with things which they have very little to do with my goal, good photograph. I need to limit these things and focus on what is important. Sometimes is quite difficult and I can't easily prioritize. Hopefully after these scripts are running and I can update web again, I will have more time to invest into creating photographs.

Is the end of the day. My Imatch is backuping now. It is only few steps when you would be able to see new photographs on-line!

Today I woke up and find frozen morning with a little bit of snow. This is quite exceptional for The Netherlands. It reminds me a lot my childhood. How many time I was walking as a small boy to the school when was freezing and sharp snow flakes was falling into face? Or bright sharp sun trying to get into my eyes? I love it! When I have these feelings I know this is exactly what I like to capture in my Childhood project.

Yesterday I have almost finished script for IMatch to publish my black and white photographs to the Internet. I hope today I will come with first new photographs published directly from IMatch.

Saturday is close and I still didn't finalise my set of photographs for exhibition at the end of April. I like to have set of four or five photographs. I still have few rolls not developed and I do not feel like I really make my time to select. But isn't this always?

This was in France. We went into big shoping centre. While wondering around I saw this little girl in changing room. I can't resist. I really liked ligh there.

Yes yes!!! It is working! My first version of script for publishing photographs directly from IMatch using XML-RPC to my web site is working. Now it is easy, just select images in IMatch, assign them to gallery categories and click "put on web" and it is there.
So be prepared! New pictures are coming. First is there, next will come sooooooon!

Today when I went into work, I was shocked! About 7cm of snow everywhere! This didn't happen in The Netherlands for last five years! Radio reports 750km of traffic jams. 7cm and it is almost national catastrophe. Back in country of my origin, CzechSlovakia, this was, and is, nothing. Troubles starts from 40cm :-)
Anyway it is very nice, country is white and quieter.

This photograph was taken in Lesconil in Bretagne, France. I developed it in times of my experiments with different developer. I used Tetenal Emofin on Fuji Neopan 400. I love the results, it really completely underlines mood of that day. Under heavy clouds we went on wall which hide port from open Ocean.

I added next photograph. I like it very much very high contrast is completely describing the mood of that afternoon when we visited a port of Lasconil in Breatgne, France. We walked on wall which deliminates port from open Ocean. There were few fisher mans waiting for fish. I used this Tetenal Emofin developer only on two films. I do not know why I really like the result. Tonality and contrast is great. Grain is bigger, comparing with all others I used. As you maybe now now I settled down on Paterson Aculux 2.

Two freshly developed rolls are now hanging to dry. They contain shots from Slovakia, which I did at the end of the last year. There is about eight more to develop. I hope I can manage them in few next days.
Today I was presenting about twelve of my photographs with a theme childhood. In a exposition and the beginning of April I like to present about four or five photographs from this theme. I do not considered it closed as I still feel there is a lot of possible what I would like to catch. Even I feel there are some nice ones on undeveloped rolls from Slovakia and Sweden.
I only miss possibility to print bigger than 20x30. At least double or even 40x60 would be nice.
I have to order new developer I am running out of mine stock. My friend, will bring me Monday bunch of Fuji Neopan rolls.

I have some kind of problem with my scanner. When using vuescan it is not responding and vuescan reports Busy, for ever. It is very annoying. It start appearing from time I switch to WinXP. Previously with Win2k it was quite all right. I believe it has something to do with IRQ sharing and maybe with SCSI driver for its card under WinXP.
Anyway I developed next two rolls today and if everything will go good, maybe I menage next two afternoon. That would be record 6 rolls in two days.
When my scanner will be more productive again I will publish some new stuff in Last roll page.

It is evening and I really develop six rolls this weekend. Last one I did in Paterson FX-50 as I run out of my favorite Aculux 2 (I already already ordered next two liters). And now I know for sure FX-50 is not my choice. Negatives looks terribly undeveloped.
Well that's all for today.