Richard Vanek - Black and White Photography

When we were last time for short trip in Belgium parts of Ardene, we also visited few castles. Even earlier I was thinking to take kind of still life shots combined with nice light and possibly some person. I took this like a training to find interesting shapes and lights.

I really enjoy walking in old castles in France or in south of Belgium. They are preserved mostly in a way I like it. Minimal effort and maximal effect of capturing old times. In this castle in Ardene in Belgium every room was full of sound which normally would be present in daily live some hundreds years ago. So you walk into young lady room and there was a bucket with water and harp . You heard washing hands than walking to harp and start playing music after while she start singing, that walk to window and open it. You as a visitor just sit and listen and imagine how it was than. Beautiful!

I have just added two new shots from a week ago when we visited Arden in Belgium. Both of them, pipes and old music, where exposed in low light on Fuji Neopan 1600 and developed using Paterson Aculux 2. I like them quite a lot. Grain is minimal and only underlines a fact of low light shot. The contrast is fine and there is enough details in shadow areas.