Richard Vanek - Black and White Photography

Some time ago my friend ask me to print for him few shots I made in Prague. He had a plan to give it as a gift to his friends who were opening bar in south of Spain. I believe somewhere close to Portugal border.

Yesterday my friend send me few photos from that bar and here I can let you see my pictures on the wall of the Spanish bar.
BTW: If you ever bought and got print for me, why you do not take picture where you have it and I will place it here. I think it is a great idea. I even can make separate page something like My prints around the world.

Just a small node. Five prints from my Night Mood portfolio for very nice price is ending in less than 10 hours now on eBay. Take a look. They are printed at Epson Premium semi gloss paper, in a way I do not use often, with some text on them. They are unique as I printed them only once except the bigger version which was on exhibition last year in April.

Scream to the night!
Last sixty second for my Night Mood portfolio on eBay...

Even my Night Mood portfolio didn't sell just few minutes ago, at the same time I have received great feedback from person who won two of my prints on eBay last week. This is what I have received:

I received my prints today Richard - I love them! I can't wait to get them matted and displayed. They are amazing.

It is such a good feeling to hear this from somebody who invest money and who really likes my work.

I am focusing on eBay these days more and more. It is like a drug, but a lot of fun. I shouldn't forget that we have new month so new free print should be available. I will make it available tonight and I have some interesting ideas about that as well. But about that later when all free prints are gone. :-)

If you are watching my eBay blog you may already know that I am buys last few days with creating my own ACEO cards. If you do not know what it is, don't be. I didn't know few days ago as well.
ACEO = Art Cards, Editions and Originals.

I was really amazed by the ones you can find at eBay. Really great variety of material, motives and quality as well. So I decided that I will make some based on my photographs.

First I needed to choose which photos I will use. I decide on lights from old city of Stockholm. GamlaStan. I made those pictures back in 2003, but I need to rescan and rework two quite a lot, one was easier.
Second I went for not so good paper, they were rolling a bit and not that dark black as I wish.

Well all and all it went really great and I produce pure carbon series in two prints with great light sepia tone. And I also made two series in neutral black. Here you can see the pure carbon once.

And by the way they are now for sale at eBay.

You can check new free print for March. I hope that this crazy activity will bring also some real sales. Unfortunately it didn't happen yet.

Today I feel like doing something special. To create something different that normally. Maybe it was from yesterday, when I made those very nice ACEO cards. Still jumping when looking at them as a kid.

I was printing free prints for March today and I really like that photo. I though maybe I can do something even more different. As you may know I have made this month free print on Premium semigloss paper. from Epson. That paper I use normally when somebody liked to have little less mat surface and deeper blacks. I like that also very much on certain images. Especially big prints look very nice.
But I though this image deserve something even more special. It has that kind of old look. We used to play a lot on an Old Carousel. So I though print it wit carbon only to get little warm tone. Looked good but still I was something missing. Than I add those old paper edges to it. And as a last I use my old great Ilford Smooth Fine Art Paper. Bloody expensive but with very raw surface, almost like canvas. And that was IT.
Now I have two great prints. I had only last two papers on this kind I bought when I was experimenting on different papers about four years ago. Now I finally found a great use for it. Well what I should write more take a look on it:

I am sorry, I must be writing bit more here. I am really busy on eBay these days. It is mainly because I just start the whole thing there from ground. Therefore I have decided that Sunday I will do all that basic stuff there. I have created my page, eBay blog and created new template for my sale listing. They all have similar design to these pages and I like it.
I use this new template to list "Old Carousel" photo in special edition there. You know this image is now offered as free print for month March in edition of three prints. Saturday when I made that edition I was looking at prints and had kind of feeling that this image deserves something slightly different. And I have spent over four hour to finding what it is. Now you know, I wrote about it in last blog entry here. So that print you can buy on eBay until Friday or so.
So basic design stuff is done there.
Now I can focus bit more here.

For you who likes to have something special I really suggest that one is great. Read on eBay listing more how it looks. Shortly it is on different paper (raw, canvas like surface), in slight warm tone (pure carbon) and has lower contrast than free print of this month.

I can stop writing these here, but I am really glad when I receive notes like this:

Paul wrote to me:

"Thanks so much for my free print in February. It really surprised me, what a great paper and the tones are gorgeous! I plan to buy a print soon..."

This is a second image showing my work at somebody's else wall. This time it is from Prague. If I receive the third shot, than I am going to make that special page for these images. Thank you all who submited your photo!

At high school every summer we went to work in summer. One of such summers I was working at farm. Every day early morning we were walking half sleepy around old farm buildings to the fields. This image I took in 2006, but reminds me a lot the way I walked more than fifteen years earlier.

From those two weeks ago, when I start more activity in eBay load on piskoftak.com is increasing quite a lot. In last two days I am having 200% of normal level page served. And the same two days first time in history the site who refer most to me is not the Google, but it is eBay.
Interesting on it is that my Google PR rating went down and also Alexa rating is decreasing. This is very interesting as I notice direct connection between decreasing these indexes and time when I open my web shop again.
Would Google and others have some kind of filter not preferring shops or at least that kind of sites?

Just for your information my site serves weekly around 12000 pages Which is close to 40000 hits every week.

Well, I didn't know until few days ago I saw some on eBay. Those are (as I wrote few days ago) small art creations. They are same size as trading cards, (pokemon as well). But they are, mostly!, hand made originals. People are creating them using, drawing pencils, oil, acrylic colors. Also often using mixed media.

There is huge offer of them on eBay and also quite a lot of demant. I decided last week create some myself. I create them based on my photographs. And I decided to make them in series and so sell it. As it is quite a work with them I will be making really limited editions. So far I made series called Lights of GamlaStan. I made two sets in pure carbon (very light sepia) and two in neutral black tone. And that is. I have planes to make some other series.

I believe, even it is quite time consuming to produce them, their serve as great way to see how my images look and allows people feel more how bigger prints could look. And that is why I will surely make more of them. Now I have in mind at leats two new series.

If you want to give it a try, my first ever ACEO series is ending on eBay in less than five hours. Here they are:

Yep, now I have to really create that page. These are two pictures from me hanging on wall of Rudo and Iva home in Prague.

This is a doorway of one of the empty houses in village called Doel in Belgium. In this village as far as I know people were more or less force to leave their homes because of plan for extending harbor. I visited it for few hours. They are still people living but majority of houses are empty and not a one public service is open. No shops. Nothing!

I do not have great espresso with friends from my previous job anymore, so I need to flush it all here :-)
I am extremely tired, work load at my job is rather high, it is better now, but week before and first days of this week where pretty hard. Also the eBay thing is taking enormous amount of time. SO I have cut sleep time. Not a good idea. Headache which I have today is quite hard.
> I need to change something. I guess plan is to put on eBay every day one print to invest what I have earn and try to make more out of it. Than do not go in bad later than 22:00. And I really need to finish that "Remembering Childhood" portfolio.
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If I go back to eBay (yes I can't help it sorry) it is rather interesting that I sell there. In each of last two or three weeks I sold at least two prints. Prices are very low, but at least I am getting some exposure.
And there is still no interests about the free print of March.

I was just wondering, who is watching my del.icio.us links on front page of www.piskoftak.com? Write a comment, so I know that it has some sense.
I do not include them in my RSS feed, but they contains links to excellent work of other photographers. Please take a look!

This is few years ago. I was with my camera on kids playground. Kids were already gone, was later summer evening, still light, but Sun was very low. I was taking some shots when suddenly I saw girl in pajamas walking slowly on the street. She looked completely lost.

I just realize I didn't write anything over the weekend. It was rather busy time. Now after driving to work today morning I feel I need to share with you the beauty I saw.
After extremely nice and rather warm Sunday this morning had dark blue sky and low fog in fields. That kind of fog which is up top 40cm. As a landscapes rise or fall the fog is thicker or thiner. Beauty of wooden fences rising from white milk of fog.

Just great!

One early morning in summer 2006 I went to drive around the country in South part of Czech Republic. After first few kilometers I saw this bridge next to the main road. It was almost all in a fog. I made few shots and only now, after I realized, that I had light yellow filter on camera. This filtered out, most of the fog. So this bridge almost lead somewhere even that mooning it looks like way to heaven.

This picture was taken in France, close to the city La Baule, known as 'Pointe du Castelli'. I went there one day when was raining almost all day. I did quite a few shots there. I really like atmosphere of this picture. Heavy clouds still onthe sky with Sun trying to break in. I used Ilford HP5+ and developed in in Ilfotec LC29.

One of my favorite pictures Charle's Cat ends on eBay in few minutes for funny US$ 9.99.
Maybe you ever wanted to buy it, now is your chance.

So it seems, that everybody is fishing for my photos on eBay and nobody here. Even the free print is still available in all three exemplars. Well do not you worry, when end of moth will be here I will put them on eBay and than you can buy there for US$ 9.99 :-D

The day after day is flowing, each of them very much the same as the other. Only sometimes you have little excitement or some other nicer moments. Most of the time they are not created by yourself. And if than they are nice but two three days later you do not recognize them anymore as such a big things. When you are really out of the floating from day to day it is always by action or issue which happen outside of you. Which you are effected, but you are not creating it. Such a things one remembers for very long time.
Yesterday we get phone call that my wife's father had accident and his two fingers are partly amputated. You feel powerless and too far and on wrong place.

You will remember this.

Today I was ordering my new business cards from vista print. I decided to give it a try. What really surprised me in the process of ordering was, how they offer you other handy products. All these products they fit with what I was ordering even with design I was making. Even at the end after I already confirm order they offer me for 10 minutes additional discounts on other products.
It was actually very nice as I didn't know that they have such a products. On other hand they lost me as they raised postage without telling me. If I didn't look properly than I wouldn't save anything as the postage was increased almost by saving amounts.

I must admit that strategy of offering products which fits the style of product you order is great strategy. I may try this myself.

This week is my first teaching week of my new job. So I am giving whole week lesson. I must say yesterday it was rather tense. Especially first two hours. That I become more relax and things start rolling easier.
It is going now very well and I really enjoying it. I am just terribly tired. I have no time for any extra activity. I am on foot from 5:30 morning until 17:30 evening, when I come home. From 8:45 morning I am talking explaining. With some breaks.
It is very nice to do different thing and working with people, seeing how do they react to you as teacher and also to you as person. How do they react on a way you present things.

So take this as my excuse for not posting very much here. And do not worry, I will be back :-D

Just a short note that eBay auction for this photograph is ending in one hour. Maybe you like it, you can get it cheap on eBay now. This photo is not offered in my web shop.

Some time ago I was visiting open air museum and took picture of this kind of wood tool hanged on the side of very old house. I have no idea what it is, do you know?

This week was my first in the new job I have started from December last year, when I teach. I was giving one week lesson to the Philip's Engineers servicing medical viewing station. It was very interesting and nice experience. But it was very tiering.
I have now four weeks to prepare for next this time it will be even more demanding as next one is new course which I have created myself.
I also find out today that the date for my travel to Tokyo in Japan is fixed. They expecting me there to give course from 23rd of July. As I never been there I will come Thursday week before to accommodate a bit.

Those were my last news and I feel bit guilty that I wasn't as active on this site as I use to. I will fix it in the next few days.
And not to forget: Free print for March is still available for one week and you can get my prints cheap at eBay. Look at front page there are links to actual auctions.

Back in October 2006 I have send four of my prints of bigger size (approx: 11x17). There where not between the chosen once. Doesn't really matter. I already had experience with how do they handle your work. How don't they care and do not value. So I print images on not the best and most expensive paper I have. Still, they look good just paper was only 190g so it feels bit light especially in that size.
Well I have received the print back now! More than three month after the exhibition ends. And how? Well In a simple paper wrap. Unfortunately nothing terrible happens to them. I had another experience when I send to other exhibition before this one. I was actually chosen one, so my prints where exhibited. But I have received them banded on two places, they where soak from fixer, so they where totally destroyed. That was my first post to FIAP exhibitions and I said myself: never again I am going to use this expensive paper, print of these sizes I am selling from 60-100 US$ and they just destroyed them. What piss me off is the do not care about your work.This time I was more lucky, but still I decided already long time ago that I am not going to send anything anywhere to FIAP.

Images I sent to France in November last year, never arrived or at least i didn't hear anything from there and the same probably happen to Spain as I didn't heard from them for more than four month.

I spent today some time with calculating how I was doing last four week on eBay. I calculate how much money I received, how much I payed to eBay how much to PayPal. What costs me packing and postage. The results is shocking. I am on lost. I received around 180 US$ and all costs together were 210US$ !!!
So I am going to change strategy. In following points:

• I am going to list bigger prints
• Starting price for A4 (8x10") prints will be 25$
• Starting price for A3 (11x14") prints will be 50$
• Possibly to pen ebay store

It was one of the last warm autumn days in Stockholm. I was walking in park under Sofia Kirka. I love that place in anytime of the year. It has been long three years I was there last time. I wish to come back there.

After little break I am again adding new link and my comments to interesting work I have found while looking at images of other photographers. For me this is great way of discovering unseen and getting extra inspiration. Take a look on top page under the current image.

As a small boy I had very often feeling that I want to be alone. Those days I went to fields behind city, mostly on bike. Than I claim either to tree or I lie into filed between the tall grass. Than I was looking to the sky watching moving clouds. I love it, especially in colder autumn afternoons.

I have received email today. First I though it is just another spam which gets through (getting very few these days). Than I said hey this is not generic one seems like very custom for me for my site. He, author, wrote there that he find my images and that he would like to link them to his travel site. It let me think. If he has a customers who like to travel to places which I have photographed, it can be also interesting for me. Maybe those people would like to have little present from those places, maybe they would find some other of my images interesting as well.
So I have wrote him back. I will see how it goes, but it is possible that you could see more links from pages with images pointing to travel sites. Those are simple text links, just next to the comment link.
I must say I am curious, this would be nice way for both sides.

Yesterday I was listening another podcast from Brooks Jensen (LensWork magazine). He was talking about Tony Bennett's comments on Count Basie. He says that "music of Count Basie lifts the human spirit, which is the essence of Art".

And that is great isn't it. That how it should be. Not as we see mostly in these days that Art is showing us dark side of life. Showing us what kind of terrible things are happening. I fully agree with Brooks Jensen that that in majority of photography published these days is expressing how life is terrible and tragic.

I try something else with my photographs I try to recreate in you, observer, the good memories, good feelings from your mind.
I have received today simple three words comment from person older than me. He was writing how he remembers a situation when he was five. This happened when he was looking on this photograph.
Isn't it great? I am glad that I can do that. I hope I will be able to do simillar things even better...

This is very special, I believe it indicates something. In whole this month I didn't sell a single print over my site. I sold 12 in eBay. And what is even more surprising nobody ordered free print for March. Well there is still 12 hours until midnight of today in CET. Anybody? -richo-

Tom Chambers, the photographer whose work I like very much is exposing in five person photography exhibition at the Mark Woolley Gallery in Portland, Oregon from April 5 to 28, 2007.
If you around you should go and see it. It is the other kind of photography. It is different and very nice!

Maybe you remember my item on this blog from not that long time ago. I was complaining how bad they handles work on FIAP expositions. My work always come totally damaged and I was happy that I did use cheaper paper.
Yesterday I have received my work return from FIAP exposition in SPAIN. And I was nice surprised. It came perfectly packed in good condition. And what was even more interesting was that level of work of accepted photographers was rather high and interesting. Surely better that those previous ones. Catalog I have received confirmed that and it was also nicely made. Very nice after all those disappointments before. Maybe there are some good ones in FIAP world :-)

Do you see those crosses? Do you see that old shape and dark wood? Looks like from some kind of Russian village from hundred years ago. I found this almost in the middle of the Prague. Later I have find out that those were made for movie...