Richard Vanek - Black and White Photography

I went today with Viera to city close by, its name is Breda. There is a photo exposition which is ending last week. I was planning to go there much earlier as it is open about month now. But as things go I didn't find a time and even today we had only little so we went only to the two exposition. One in Keizer straat and the main one on Breda's museum.

In the Keizer hotel, was exposition of my friend Els. She was exposing and color prints from her Hotel series. Those shots are made in hotel over the world. They are done from unusual angles, from ground or from close by. Normally sterile hotels corridors looks in her little boosted colors suddenly very interesting. The light from open doors or side window is falling to the used carpet. The old wooden table with chess board on it is standing in reception hall.
I have to say that these shots, especially with this little boosted colors gave me nostalgic feeling. You do not see people on here, you see used things, tables, shoes, hangers and carpet in long hotel corridors with dozen of doors. And all and all, yes I liked them. As the Dave Beckerman says, very nice living room pictures, but these has nice mood and little tension in them which makes possible to see them on wall also next month. I mean it very positive, I liked them very much, Els congratulations!

We than went to main exposition in Breda's museum. Oh I forgot to mention the them of this five weeks show. I would translated as "Not usual beauty". Maybe it is not exact or correct translation, but that is how I understand it.
So we went there and comparing to free entrance to Els's exposition here we need to pay and it was also much bigger instead of 10-15 prints we could see a lot more. First what strikes me was that a lot, if not majority pf prints where rather old. Forty and more years old prints. Second was that the selection which was made was heavily made in the erotic direction. I am not a critic or anybody who should judge art, but I know what I like and what not. And I really do not like the selection which is made in Breda's museum. But I am not going to tell about what I do not like, let's see what catch my attention.
Few prints from Alain Fleischer, especially two which were expressing reflection of womens body in fork and spoon. I was surprised that after I saw untasteful prints from some Dutch photographers I have found something which was of a different taste Ruud de Brouwer.
I have to mentioned it, I really didn't get shots of skeleton Harve Bohnert, sorry.
I saw big color prints from Jean-Claude Bélégou, which caught my attention, but not dramatically. Than after we saw all I have found book from him for sale. I like it extremely. Shots of every day things in great light and creating of interesting atmosphere. I didn't bought it and it is a pity, maybe I do it later. Those pictures of usual daily situation of cutting bread, making tea are made such a way that they become full of feelings and one can see other meanings in them.

But back to bread photo. I think I am not going to name all which I didn't like or like. I would like to mentioned my final feeling from this part in Breda's museum. Somehow I have got feeling that if anybody wants to create attention by photography here in this country (maybe in other as well) it has to be done by shock, and the best is used erotic and nudity. Tell me why is it like that? Why we try to sell everything? Why things just can't be itself? Why we need to push them to become something else than they are in reality?
Under theme of this exposition I could imagine totally different selection, which would shock little less but maybe it would create nicer and better feeling in observers, maybe it wouldn't want to be just salable but something little deeper. Maybe it would be expressing expressing something and not selling.
Very much the same feeling I have from some presentations in Naarden photo festival few month back. I am disappointed. Next week Saturday and Sunday I will be back and will see some other exposition and maybe I will change my view, but what I saw in Breda's museum today was in major part extreme disappointment for me.

Yesterday I did more or less first time shots in the night. And I must tell you I wasn't technically prepared as I wished, more what I was I had clear view on what I like to take picture of. I went with Viera on bicycles in near by location. It was full moon and some lights on the street. I took flash and small battery light to try some light effects. We did few shots with bike passing and some strange composition with chair in the middle of the field. That we did some portrait like shots with copper plates background from a statue standing next to the road.
After we come back home I also did made some testing shots for composition I have though before in our garden with candle lights.

What I mean by not being technically prepared, is that I had no idea what kind of exposure I should use. With candles was quite ok as I could measure light and than do some extension to overcome reciprocity effect. But with shooting in field and bicycle path it was little bit more difficult. I have use Fomapan 100 film and exposure from 8 to 30 sec with f5.6.
I will be developing roll tonight so result should be known than and some picture, if anything turns out interesting Monday evening.

I believe you can see people watching photographs as three different group of people. The one who likes to have nice picture in their living room wall. Those who makes pictures and see what is behind it and those who saw it all and want something different.

I guess there is not strict border between those people, one can be in more groups, but from mine point of view it is like this:
I have quite a bunch of pictures which are nice in sense of living room wall. Those picture I do not like very much because their are just nice and have not much of anything else. After years I just got tired of them. They are technically very close to perfection, but they miss depth.
Than I have pictures which have some idea or action or story, whatever you call it. Those I like, but they are still quite much tied to objective view captured by camera, even you can see little behind what is on picture itself.
Next group are shots, which I am trying to do now. Not much done yest but a lot of thinking happened and last evening I did some. Those should be pictures which are not reflecting things like your eye is seeing them, but like your soul, mind feels them and your brain imagine them. Those kind of photographs are mostly not reflecting world by what can be seen but with symbols, tension and fantasies.
Those are the pictures I like to try now.