Black & White Fine Art Photography Magazine

ADORE NOIR
Second Skin Deterioration
LAURENCE PILE
GARÇON DIVLJE

Fine Art Nudes

MARC
KOEGEL
Ghosts and
Empties
LARRY
From The Sea BLACKWOOD
DEB
SCHWEDHELM

ALAN ROSS’ Baltimore

MASTERFUL PERRY
IMAGES MANUK
By Timothy B. Anderson

1 ISSUE 19 • APRIL • 2014 ISSN 1925-5160

 CONTENTS
LAURENCE GARÇON 8 PILE DIVLJE 70

MARC KOEGEL 20 PERRY MANUK 88

DEB SCHWEDHELM 36 LARRY BLACKWOOD 108

ALAN ROSS’
MASTERFUL IMAGES
By Timothy B. Anderson 51

BACKSTAGE

CHRIS KOVACS Publisher: Chris Kovacs, Floze Press

Editor
Online: adorenoir.com
SANDRA DJAK KOVACS
Executive Editor Email: chriskovacs@adorenoir.com

TIM ANDERSON Adore Noir Magazine

Editor at Large 1202 West Pender Street
PO Box 17514
Vancouver, BC
LESLIE HILTS
V6E 2S8
Editor at Large
Adore Noir online magazine is published bimonthly.

All images are © copyright of their respective artists and may not be
KATHLEEN HAY copied or distributed. All rights reserved.

Contributor ISSN 1925-5160

 Editor’s Notes
From the abandoned amusement park captured your subject it will show in your work.” Marc Koe-
through Larry Blackwood’s lense to the deserted gel’s nudes are beautiful in their play between light
buildings of Perry Manuk’s Baltimore, we, as hu- and dark.
mans are driven to document the remnants of where
we have been. At a certain point the lights go out, When the darkness falls sometimes you need to find
but as Pile Divlje says in his interview, “There is your way back to what roots you and hang out there
a beauty in darkness, if you open your eyes wide for awhile. Deb Schwedhelm and her family, as
enough.” Divlje’s Deterioration series alludes to the she tells us, have lived a nomadic life, and moving
internal struggles faced by humanity when darkness, from place to place has led her to find roots in photo-
both inner and outer, descends. graphing water where, she says, she finds “a sense of
peace and rootedness.”
Allan Ross, as interviewed by Tim Anderson, tells us
to “let your enthusiasm guide you,” when producing We, at Adore Noir, wish all of our readers a sense of
your art. Laurence Garcon guides us through Paris peace and play as you peruse this issue.
and says, “Paris and its life is my principal inspira-
tion…” Our inspirations lead us to our connections, So...Dim the lights, go to your favourite place, sit
where we visit the past, the present and the future back, relax and enjoy.
through our art, and as artists inspiration is a must,
but connection to our subjects is also a must, as Marc Sandra Djak Kovacs
Koegel tells us, “if you cannot build a connection to

Ansel Adams, Photograph By Alan Ross

 ON THE COVER

LAURENCE GARÇON

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 FEATURED
LAURENCE GARÇON

“Paris and its life is my principal inspiration for documentary and

fine art photographs.”
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 SECOND SKIN Interview with Laurence Garçon

AN: Please introduce yourself. Where do you it down. I’ve worked as a journalist, as an
live and work? advertising executive, and mostly as an
outdoor travel designer for the last fifteen
LG: I’ve lived in Paris since I was twenty. years. During this long and fabulous period
Paris and its life is my principal inspiration for of my life, I had to report with photographs
documentary and fine art photographs. I spent all my inspirations of travels to convince
ten years walking many miles in the sun, rain enterprises to invest in them. I did it in more
and snow to capture glimpses of its particular then 20 different countries, capturing desert
mood. landscapes from Sahara to Spitzberg. In 2003
at the end of this part of my life I began to be
AN: How did you get into photography? inspired by the exact opposite of those deserts,
but with the same search of poetry, but now in
LG: My father is a good photographer and the ceaseless movement of the urban life.
was also my teacher when I was a teenager.
I did my first professional photographs when AN: We are featuring works from your Second
I was 18, in the United States, working for Skin series. Please tell us about this work and
the luxury department store Neiman Marcus what inspired you to create it.
in Washington DC. After that, I never put

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LG: Creation is a story of mood. At the ing except contrast and light if necessary. The
beginning of 2011 I needed to take a mental same goes for my impressionist or abstract
break, after 8 years of documentary and street work. It’s made up of only light, speed and
work I wanted to make connections between movement. This is not “old school” type work,
different elements of sense to create, for the but my personal pleasure and challenge.
first time something real, but also unreal.
The first skin of the series is, for most of the AN: Your website shows that you enjoy a va-
photographs, a particular shot of a cityscape, riety of styles ranging from street photography
the Koudelka. I learned with Alfred to express to fine art. What is your favourite and why?
who I was at the beginning of my street work
in Paris. LG: I agree that it is easier for intermediaries
in the world of art to be able to define the work
AN: How do you capture and process your im- of an artist in a few words. Such as style and
ages? types of subjects. I have long hidden my Im-
pressionist work in colour for this reason, just
LG: With the exception of only a few series, like my other series in black and white is very
I work directly in digital black and white. All conceptual. It was easier for others to introduce
my photographs are unstaged scenes, done in myself as a black and white documentary pho-
one shot, not refocused and without process- tographer. And then as time passes and you get

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back your freedom of expression. of medium pieces on fine art paper but I have
to explore larger sizes and frame styles. Most
I have no favourite, I actually separate my doc- of the life and investments of an artist, author
umentary observations in urban areas of most or photographer consist of printing and selling
artistic series. I photograph on the basis of my the work. So, after many years of creating, this
inspirations, following extensive technical re- is my goal for months to come.
search. It takes me sometimes several months,
or even several years to complete a certain AN: What is your final say?
collection, such as Frontière Nuit, for example.
My two books Instants Sensibles Vol. I & II LG: Follow your inspirations and emotions,
demanded nearly ten years of shooting in Paris work hard on making images and focus on cre-
before publishing. ating a strong series–also print as much as you
can. ♥

AN: Do you have any projects currently in the See more at:
works? http://laurencegarcon.zenfolio.com/

LG: A photograph becomes a photograph when

it’s printed. I have produced a large collection

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 FEATURED
MARC KOEGEL

“From portraits to implied nudes, to classical figure study and even

more explicit work, there really are very little boundaries as long as
both you and the model agree to it.”
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 FINE ART NUDES Interview with Marc Koegel

AN: How did you get into photography? immerse myself full-time into photography.
This decision brought me to Vancouver where I
MK: I remember admiring the large obtained a diploma in professional commercial
photographic prints my father had displayed photography––I am glad that I made this career
in the basement of my childhood home. They switch. I love the continued creative challenges
were images from far away worlds, and I loved photography provides me with and I have
imagining myself traveling to these places been able to use at least some of my economic
when I grew up. When I turned twelve I was education when it comes to running a business
given a simple darkroom setup––making in this very competitive industry.
my own prints really got me hooked on
photography. To this day I don’t consider my AN: Please tell us about this body of work and
images to be finished unless I have made a what inspired you to create it.
print.
MK: I consider my fine art nude work to
After graduating with an honors degree in be intensely personal, as well as intensely
economics, I decided to take a year off and experimental. In contrast to some of my

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long exposure work, I am less concerned to to exercise my photographic creativity––all I

photograph with a consistent style and intent. needed was a camera and a willing model.
Instead, I let myself be inspired by the model
I am working with, by the location I am From portraits to implied nudes, to classical
working in, and even by the particular camera figure study and even more explicit work, there
equipment I happen to use. I set very little really are very little boundaries as long as both
boundaries, and aim to explore new ideas and you and the model agree to it. And the fact that
challenge myself with every shoot I do. One most models have great ideas, creativity, and
of the only similarities to my other work is my other skills can really make for a great shoot.
love for black and white. Although I do have It’s a team effort, and I make sure there is
some colour images in my collection, the great enough time to chat, relax and share ideas.
majority of my nude work is photographed in
black and white. AN: You produce a wide range of works
rom portraits to architecture and even long
I clearly remember the day I photographed exposure sea and landscapes. What is your
my first nude––I was hooked instantly. What favourite subject?
inspired me was the sheer endless opportunity

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MK: This is hard question to answer! I like AN: Tell us about some of the challenges you
them all for different reasons, and they all face while photographing nudes.
challenge me in their own unique ways. I enjoy
the team effort that goes into every single MK: I think the biggest challenge is to build
nude photograph, and I also love the fact that a rapport with the model as well as trust
my long exposure landscape and architecture and confidence. You can be a highly skilled
photography takes me around the globe in photographer, have the best cameras and
search of the next ‘great’ location. I believe lenses, but if you cannot build a connection
that as a photographer you are only as good to your subject it will show in your work. I
as your next photograph, and inspiration can remember being on shoots where the model
come from a great variety of photographic was both beautiful and experienced, but
subjects. A long exposure landscape image because our personalities didn’t ‘click’ I knew
I capture today, can inform the work I do on I wouldn’t walk away with great images.
the next nude shoot, and vice versa. That is
why I try to keep myself busy, not only behind Another challenge is to come up with a
the lens but also when it comes to picking concept and plan for the shoot, but still remain
photographic subjects. open for new ideas and spontaneous twists and

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turns that might present themselves. I typically Ralph’s command of the medium, camera
meet with the model well before the shoot energy, ability to see in black and white, and
to discuss ideas, inspirations, and any other virtually endless excitement for photographing
particulars about the shoot. It gets both of us the nude is infectious. In fact, it’s truly
better prepared, and increases the likelihood humbling to see him work. Reviewing his
of good images being made. During the shoot, images made me realize the power of black
however, I do my best to remain open to new and white, and I strive to create compositions
ideas as well. Some of my best images have that have a similar feeling of simplicity and
been made when a concept (despite being minimalism. Other than Ralph’s work I’m also
strong and agreed upon beforehand with influenced by the great masters such as Robert
the model) was abandoned in favour of an Mapplethorpe, Helmut Newton, Edward
impromptu creative inspiration during the Weston, and Greg Gorman.
actual shoot.
AN: How do you capture and process your
AN: What are your influences? images?

MK: My earliest influence, which holds strong MK: For my nude work, I use a plethora of
until today, is the work by Ralph Gibson. camera equipment, ranging from vintage film

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cameras to the latest digital cameras including AN: Besides the work we are featuring here,
medium format digital backs by Phase One you are well known for your long exposure
and Hasselblad. Lately, I have shot a few series work and the workshops you host. Do you
using just my iPhone. Each camera system have any upcoming workshops or shows?
brings its own challenges and opportunities,
but despite the great variety of equipment MK: I run a large variety of workshops all year
I use, in the end all I care about is the final round through my company called “Vancouver
image, not the particular camera and lens I Photo Workshops,” subjects range from nude
used to create it. and figure, fine art printing, long exposure
photography, photoshop post-production
Film images are captured on Fuji 1600 or Delta techniques, architecture, to travel and photo
3200 stock––I love the grain. Negatives are tours. A new offering, which I am particularly
scanned and processed in Photoshop. Digital excited about, is a virtual workshop where I
images are captured in RAW, and processed to will travel to Iceland with a camera that will
black and white in Photoshop. I strongly prefer allow me to broadcast as I travel to various
to work on location using natural light, but I shooting locations each day. By being part
always make sure to bring a few strobes just in of a private online community, participants
case I need them. can follow me along my journey and interact
with me as well as each other, they can ask

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questions and see daily video postings showing a lot of time planning each shoot, whichever
how I create images from original capture in subject it might be, all in an effort to answer
the field all the way to the final look after post- that big question. ♥
production. To find out more about what I am
up to, visit my blog at www.bulbexposures. See more at:
com marckoegel.com
bulbexposures.com
AN: What is your final say?

MK: The best advice I got when I decided to

become more serious about my work was from
Ralph Gibson. Ralph said: “Remember that the
biggest question in photography is not ‘how’ to
photograph, but ‘what’ to photograph.” I spend

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 FEATURED
DEB SCHWEDHELM

“This body of work started with my desire to explore something new and
challenge myself. I began photographing in my backyard pool, capturing
the everyday chaos of my children and their friends.”
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 FROM THE SEA Interview with Deb Schwedhelm

AN: Please introduce yourself. Where do you months after moving into our San Diego
live and work? military house, we discovered that there were
rats in our inaccessible attic space. Shortly
DS: My name is Deb Schwedhelm. I am a thereafter, maggots began to fall from our
former Air Force Nurse, who is very proud celling vents and well…that led to thousands
of my ten years spent in the military. I am of flies. This terrible ordeal spanned a period
currently a photographer, military spouse and of two months, during which time I kept great
the mother to three amazing children (16, 10 documentation with regular ‘you’re not going
and 9 years old), who are often the subjects of to believe this’ email updates to my friends. I
my work. I currently live in Tampa, Florida; eventually contacted the housing management
however, in September, I will be moving to company regarding the fact that no family
Yokosuka, Japan for two years. should have to endure such a housing situation.
Late in December 2005, we received a refund
AN: How did you get into photography? for two months rent. Out of the blue, I asked
my husband what he thought about me using
DS: In a roundabout way, I kind of owe the this unexpected money to pursue photography
start of my photography to rats, maggots and and without hesitation, he said, “Go for it.”
flies. Let me explain. In 2005, about three In January 2006, I purchased a camera, a

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couple lenses, a few books and began teaching AN: Please tell us about this body of work and
myself photography––and I’ve never looked what inspired you to create it.
back! So I guess I really owe the start of
my photography career to my husband, who DS: This body of work started with my desire
believed in and supported me from the very to explore something new and challenge
beginning. myself. I began photographing in my backyard
pool, capturing the everyday chaos of my
AN: Why did you decide to include water in children and their friends. Then one day, I
your work? entered the ocean with my camera and that’s
when the magic began to unfold. That is when
DS: I am very much a person that does my the photographs began to reveal themselves,
best to embrace opportunities, especially with one by one––shimmering fragments, dark
relocating every couple years, as my family profiles, murky truths. Poetic whispers. And I
does. So when we moved to Tampa in 2010, I listened.
thought that if there was ever a time to explore
underwater photography, this was the time as This series, From the Sea, is a story––my story.
we had a pool in our backyard and numerous Grounded in my past. Inspired by the present.
bodies of water less than an hour away. Being in the military system and having to
relocate every few years, my family often lives

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in a world of uncertainty––untethered, without blessed to have the opportunity to relocate

an anchor. But photographing in the waters has every couple years. When I do face bumps
offered me a sense of peace and rootedness. in the road, I do my best to evolve and adapt
The images in this series are an exploration so that ultimately, each event becomes it’s
of a sense of place, being and belonging. own learning experience and opportunity for
While I am photographing my children and growth.
their friends, I am also photographing myself,
moving in and out of focus, allowing the liquid As I stepped away and thought more about
world to welcome me home. this question, I would have to say that one of
the greatest challenges are those days when
AN: What would you say are some of your I’m in a funk. Those days when I think I suck.
greatest challenges when photographing? When I tell myself to pick up the camera
and keep pushing through because there’s
DS: That’s an interesting question. I think something great waiting on the other side. Or
that moving can sometimes be a challenge, those days when I recognize the need to set
but it’s also been one the greatest gifts in my the camera down and simply take a break for a
photography journey. All in all, I feel very while. Those days are tough; however, I also

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recognize that they are a natural and necessary the work and words of Henri Cartier-Bresson.
part of the ongoing artistic process. Lastly, my children inspire me to the core––
how could they not?!
AN: What are your influences? (This could
be a photographer, artist or material items as AN: How do you capture and process your
well.) images?

DS: Since the very beginning of my DS: For my in-the-water photography, I use
photography journey, I have so greatly a digital Nikon D700 and SPL underwater
admired the work of Sally Mann, Jock Sturges housing. As I go through the editing process,
and Mary Ellen Mark. This admiration and if the photograph speaks to me and fills a
inspiration has held strong and true through gap in the story, it will typically make the cut
the years. I am incredibly blessed and grateful and become part of the series. Each image
to have attended a Mary Ellen Mark workshop is individually processed in Lightroom and
and have been mentored by Jock Sturges for Photoshop.
the past couple years. I am also inspired by

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easy one, but it is an absolutely amazing one.

AN: What is your final say? Be authentic and make genuine connections.
Remember to be grateful, kind and giving. Do
DS: First, I would like to thank you so much your best and don’t ever give up! ♥
for this interview and the opportunity to share
my photographs. See more at: debschwedhelm.com

In closing, I’d like to share a few thoughts for

photographers who are just starting out: Work
to master your technique––and your artistry.
Work really hard. And then work a bit harder.
Be dedicated, committed and determined.
Challenge yourself regularly. Never stop
exploring, reflecting, learning and growing.
Have patience. Lots of patience. Know that
the journey of photography is not always an

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 ALAN ROSS’
MASTERFUL IMAGES
By Timothy B. Anderson

A
s an internationally respected master As a photographic educator, he specializes in helping
photographer and educator who worked photographers at any level; using all formats and
side by side with Ansel Adams as his styles to realize and express their photographic
photographic assistant, Alan Ross knows Adams’ vision through one on one sessions or in workshops
approach and technique, perhaps better than any that he hosts around the world.
other photographer today. He is the exclusive
printer of the Yosemite Special Edition negatives, Alan lives in Santa Fe, where he pursues his own
an assignment Adams selected him for personally in work, teaches one on one workshops in the art of
1975. Ross makes each print from Adams’ original seeing and master printing, and also writes articles
negatives using traditional darkroom techniques. and blogs sharing his vast knowledge of the art and
craft of photography.
As an artist, Alan Ross is best known for his tonally
exquisite black-and-white photographs of the Alan Ross is represented by many galleries and has
American west, his photographs hang in collections his work collected by several museums.
and galleries around the world.

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TA: Much has been written and discussed cake was that the department had just landed
about your early years with Ansel Adams’, a new Chairman in the person of William
as his assistant. Now the question is what Garnett––a recipient of three Guggenheim
was your photographer life like before your grants for his amazing aerial photography.
association with Adams? In the ensuing couple of years Bill became a
friend and mentor. As part of our class studies
AR: Well I have to say I think it was pretty with Bill, he took us on a field trip to visit the
rich. After transient majors in mechanical studio of a noted San Francisco advertising
engineering and forestry (there was no such photographer, Milton Halberstadt. It was the
thing as Environmental Studies in the mid- first time I had ever seen an 8x10 transparency
‘60s) I wound up in the design department and I was blown away. Just as I had finished
at UC Berkeley. They had a photography my studies at Berkeley I happened to be in my
course that could be repeated for credit and usual photo store and overheard a clerk telling
I wound up wrangling an independent major someone that there was a photographer named
in Design/photography. The real icing on that Halberstadt looking for an assistant. I stopped

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in my tracks and drove to Hal’s studio. We they had on and off shared an assistant, Gerry
chatted for a bit, I showed him some prints. Sharpe. Like Garnett and Adams, Hal was a
He nodded and said the Sinar needed putting stickler for quality and attention to detail. What
away, the floor needed mopping, he was a foundation!
going out and would see me later! I wound
up as Hal’s assistant for the next three years. TA: Was there anything about your association
My world suddenly expanded from 4x5 and with Adams that might have offered some clue
35mm black-and white to include 35mm to his future stature in photography?
Kodachrome and loading 8x10 transparency
film, and a crash course in studio lighting. Hal AR: When I started full time in 1974 the
was no slouch in terms of creativity. He had groundwork for Ansel’s “future” was pretty
been Moholy Nagy’s darkroom assistant at the well established. During my tenure in Carmel,
School of Design in Chicago, and invented photography in the broad sense pretty much
the photographic technique known as Tone- catapulted from being a generally well
Line. He was also a friend of Ansel Adams and respected “craft” to full-blown ”art”. In 1974

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a 16x20 Moonrise, Hernandez was $350. At and the New Mexico skies. I had inherited
the end of 1975 it was $800. After that it was my childhood home in Sausalito and while
a dealer’s market and prices were running we had a great view of the Bay, our location
into the thousands. In an article on Ansel gave us nothing in the way of peace and quiet.
and photography, the Wall Street Journal Busses roaring by the house at five or six in
ran its very first news photograph, Ansel’s the morning, cars slamming fenders into the
Monolith, the Face of Half Dome; Ansel was pavement as they rushed up or down our hill.
on the cover of Time magazine, and awarded On one trip to Santa Fe my wife was looking
the honor of Commander of the Legion of at the Santa Fe paper, The New Mexican, and
Honor of France. But it was Ansel’s earlier commented about how great the real estate
dedication to photography and commitment prices were. We thought, “let’s sell our house
to the preservation of the environment that and move to Santa Fe”! Ha ha. Well, we
really set the stage for the accolades. He was got home and thought “why not”! In 1993
a gregarious “people-person” and thrived on we purchased our lot in Eldorado and were
regular contacts with big and small names in living in our home a year later. We have a fine
the Arts, Politics and the Environment, yet at view of the Sangre de Cristos, we don’t hear
the same time he never lost the ability to laughany cars, and there aren’t any streetlights.
at himself and kept himself listed in the CarmelIt’s gotten a lot more built-up in the last 20
phone book, including his address. years, but the culture here is rich and so is
the landscape and architecture. I can get to
TA: After all the years you spent in California Chaco in three hours, Moab in seven. Great
what influenced your move to New Mexico? It Sand Dunes in three and White Sands National
couldn’t have been the “incredible light” that Monument in four. And there are seasons. We
many artists, including Adams and Georgia love it.
O’Keeffe talked about… could it have been?
TA: I have read that you eschew the Zone
AR: I grew up in “before-the-tourists” System in favor of the Ross Rules: “It’s
Sausalito and loved California’s North perfectly all right to make your own rules.”
Coast. Up until I started working with Ansel Talk to us about the Zone System and why you
I had always thought of myself as sort of a moved to the “other side”.
“mountain” person for vacations, but despite
his undying love for Yosemite and the High AR: I don’t eschew the Zone System at all! I
Sierra, Ansel’s house was chock full of items just don’t regard it as some sort of dogma. The
and art from the southwest and New Mexico. only thing that is pretty absolute in exposure
There were Navajo rugs throughout the house, and development is effective film speed. It
Kachinas and pots on shelves. Virginia loved takes a very specific amount of light before the
her Navajo jewelry and Ansel was partial to molecules in the emulsion or sensor get rattled
bolo ties. On vacations I found myself more around enough to start forming an image. The
and more frequently south of Colorado’s San rest is pretty much like cooking. You are the
Juan Mountains, exploring Arizona and the only one who can decide when something is
Four Corners. In the early 1990s my wife done to your liking. For me, the Zone System
and I started visiting Santa Fe and loved it is simply a very simple way of understanding
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what kind of final tones I am going to wind up the film can easily hold tonal separation up to
with if I expose and develop the film a certain XIII or XIV, and the sky and clouds are so easy
way. I then decide whether any adjustment to to simply burn down in printing.
exposure or development is called for. It’s my
choice. Let’s say I am faced with a landscape TA: Unlike many photographers we both
with some deep, but rich shadows and some know, instead of focusing your creative efforts
very bright New Mexico cumulus clouds. I in one direction you seem to be somewhat of
place the shadows on a Zone III so I will have a photographic gypsy. On your site you have
solid densities to work with there, but with that galleries, for People, Yosemite, Southwest,
exposure the clouds fall on Zone XII. Dogma Architecture and Abstract, etc. Do you work
might call for a Minus-3 development to bring from project to project or simply, maybe,
the clouds down to Zone IX – but that will consider yourself a generalist?
flatten the curve (lower the internal contrast)
for all the lower zones! Instead, I’ll go ahead AR: I don’t think of myself as any sort of “…
and give the scene normal development since ist.” When I was just starting out with my

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shiny new Nikkormat FT in about 1965 it was and tonality in the things I see. My catalog
not unusual for me to have a single roll of film in the last couple of years includes a man
with some pictures of the Bay or the Pacific leading a burro on the isle of Hydra, Greece,
and a few sort of abstract details or a picture of some Texas Oaks, Yosemite scenes and Tuscan
a lettuce leaf. I’m kind of shy in a way, and my architectural details. I’ve never been project
friends kept saying “get that thing out of my oriented, but my professional work in the post
face” so while I have made some really strong Ansel years included projects that were the
portraits, it’s never been a specialty. When I drive for me to have made some of my finest
was working for Ansel, it was a rather natural images, or things that were wonderfully fun to
thing to begin being associated with some do. Getting paid to photograph in Big Sur and
galleries and selling prints. At one point in the Yosemite or the Great Sand Dunes. But I also
Ansel years my three most popular images did the Golden Gate Bridge and Julia Child!
were a Yosemite storm, a still life of an onion,
and a nude. The storm and the onion are still TA: I have also read that your 8x10-inch
my two top images, but nude just doesn’t get camera is “getting bigger and heavier every
shown much. I just love to respond to design day.” Does that mean that the day for Alan

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Ross’ switch to digital is at hand? negative film; and there is nothing permanent
about a digital image. I’ve written a couple of
AR: I’m already working digitally, but it’s blogs on digital, and digital and Ansel on my
not any kind of “switch”. I firmly believe site.
that cameras are only tools, and none are best
suited for all tasks. I like to point out that you TA: You do a lot of traveling, in the U.S. and
can drive a screw with a hammer, but it likely abroad, for your workshops. Do you have a
will not produce the ideal results. There are favourite location and what is it about that
lots of things digital can do that film cameras location that continues to draw you in?
can’t – like change ISO from frame to frame,
leave most filter effects to post-processing AR: I love traveling and experiencing new and
RAW images instead of having to deal with favourite environments. I’ve been to China
that at the moment. On the down side, digital five times since 1981 and have come back with
has a tonal range not so different from old something I love every time. I’m definitely
Kodachrome and nothing even remotely not done there. Most of my family roots are
approaching the range of black-and-white in Scotland––the Isle of Skye, and Islay, and

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while I have visited a few times I need to trailer full of equipment?

go back to do more. I have a show in Split,
Croatia this coming June, and had thought AR: In most of my recent travels I have been
about doing a workshop there, but I need toting my 4x5 Arca F-Field and a Canon 5D
more lead time so I will probably do a smallMkII. For the Arca my usual kit in a rolling
workshop in southern Italy in the first week of
backpack is the camera, extension rail, six
July. In the US I particularly like New Mexico,
lenses 90, 120, 150, 210, 250 and 300mm.I
Utah and Arizona for landscape work and I’d also have seven glass filters with adapters,
love to get back to the Tetons and Northern Pentax digital and PocketSpot meters, shutter
Rockies. For landscape work I tend to like releases, magnifiers and a darkcloth. Also a
expansive views ––maybe because I love to befew sundries such as lens cleaner and small
in those kinds of places! For my abstracts and
first-aid kit. For the Canon I just have the 24-
architectural studies I can be anywhere. 105 lens, polarizer, extra battery and shutter
release. My tripod is an Induro carbon-fiber. If
TA: When you are on location what equipment wind or mobility is an issue I might have my
do you bring with you? Do you need to bring Mamiya RZ with three lenses, 65, 90, 140mm.

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It has been a couple of years since I got the I think the operative word in your question is
8x10 out––I’d better dust it off. “beloved”. This can mean anything you want
it to be! I’m happy to say that the amazing
TA: I know you have worked very hard to photojournalist, David Kennerly is a good
get where you are in your career, and have friend, and his whole world is action, and of-
also been very fortunate in being able to the-moment. He has made incredibly creative
lay a foundation of associations with some and important images (including the portrait
of photography’s greatest practitioners. of Ansel on the Time cover), but the likes of
What would you say to those just entering anything larger than a 35mm/digital would
the field about how and where to start their ruin his technique. He uses the right tool. My
photographic careers? own world, through its various incarnations,
seems to always have been more about “art”.
AR: Let your enthusiasm guide you. This Form and tone have always been important to
has served me well and is probably the main me and I don’t feel at all threatened by recent
reason Garnett took me under his wing and changes. While silver imaging is falling into
why Hal and Ansel hired me. My first “show” a “specialty” medium with fewer and fewer
was in a book store and my first published choices, I don’t think it is going to go away
shot was a portrait of a columnist for a local any time soon. It doesn’t bother me if silver
newspaper. It was because I was interested in is morphing into an “alternative” process. If
photography, that was the only reason I was in silver does go the way of audio vinyl, I will
the camera store and overheard the comment somehow adapt.
about Hal looking for an assistant––I wasn’t
there to buy anything. Who you know. Right TA: This last question is one I ask most of
place, right time. A little nerve. Work hard. those whom I interview: What gets you “up”
in the morning and enables you to continue
TA: What do you see when you look in the photographing the world around you?
“captured image” crystal ball about where our
beloved pursuit of photography is headed? AR: My wife. And the love of sharing the
beauty in things I see. ♥
AR: The digital technology advancements
have changed the entire world, not just See more at: alanrossphotography.com
photography. Now, anyone with a cell phone
can be a “photographer”. With the internet,
they really don’t even need a printer. But that’s
just one kind of photography. I have often
likened photography to be akin to the written
word. Words can be instructions for warming a
can of beans or they can be Haiku, existential
philosophy to a government questionnaire.

A photograph can be a simple depiction of a

gathering of friends or it can rattle the senses.
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 FEATURED
PILE DIVLJE

“My favourite part after the shoot is postproduction. Sometimes it’s just
adjusting the basic things like levels, curves, contrasts and sometimes it
goes to a whole new direction like painting with digital brushes.”
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 DETERIORATION Interview with Pile Divlje

AN: Please introduce yourself. Where do you I haven’t had much time to practice my
live and work? photography here, but have done some street
and architecture work along with photo shoots
PD: My name is Pile Divlje. This is not my for friends.
real name, but an artistic pseudonym that I
started to use many years ago as a joke when AN: How did you get into photography?
I first started publishing my work, and it still
remains to this day. I started photographing PD: I was a singer in an indie post-punk band.
five years ago, and have received awards like I wrote lyrics, prose and short stories. I also
“editor’s choice”, “photo of the day”, “daily worked with graphic and web design. I was
inspiration”, and “inspirational photo” on always taking snap shots with the point-and-
many curated and non-curated web galleries click cameras that I had at the time. When
like 1x, Pentaprism, ARTFreeLife, deviantART, the band broke up, I started to work in the IT
Fotoblur, Shadowness.com, Stark Magazine industry and stopped doing art related work
and others. I will also have a photo in the due to the demanding nature of my job.
1X Tutorial Photobook this year. I am from
Croatia, Europe, where I lived until six I went through a dark period of time where,
months ago when I moved to Toronto Canada. after briefly returning to writing and running

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a successful blog, I struggled personally and what inspired you to create it.
felt the urge to express myself again, to create
something and let it out of me. I started with PD: I am inspired to create emotional and
photography as a kind of therapy. I decided thought provoking storytelling art photography
to buy an entry level DSLR (Pentax K200D with my own mix of photos and digital art. To
with 2 kit lenses, I still use this today) and take
answer what inspired me to create this specific
a photography course in the oldest and first body of work is a little bit harder. Sometimes
photo club in Zagreb, Croatia, where I lived at an idea just comes out of nowhere. I see a
the time. scene in my head and then think about how to
realize it. Sometimes this scene comes from
I met many interesting people at the photo music or by life experiences. It’s never the
club and I started to dive deeper into the world same.
of photography. I participated in a group of
exhibitions in Zagreb photo clubs, I started to AN: Most of your images are fairly dark in
go to different photo events and I met a lot of nature. What is the story behind that?
photographers, models, makeup artists and the
opportunities started to appear by themselves. PD: I had many dark periods in life,
depression, many personal tragedies and
AN: Please tell us about this body of work and traumas. I lived in two different political

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systems and in the age of transition between PD: When I first started photographing I didn’t
them, lived in the time of war in my country, know much about well known photographers
in an age of economic crisis, in an age of and was influenced mostly by the pictures I
corruption, greed and injustice. I survived was taking. I came upon the painterly style
many soul-torturing experiences. Much of spontaneously one day when I found myself
what I do is just an expression from my in an abandoned factory with a model during
experience and the experience of others who the golden hour of light. After that I started to
have gone through difficult times. create my photographs instead of just taking
them.
AN: What feelings are you wanting to evoke to
those who view your images? I later discovered the work of other
photographers that I really enjoyed, like Jan
PD: I want the viewer to interpret the images Saudek, Francesca Woodman, Henri Cartier-
in their own way, because every one of us Bresson, Daria Endresen and Ansel Adams. I
sees and feels something different. There is a also admire Johannes Vermeer for the way he
beauty in darkness, if you open your eyes wide handled light, his paintings look almost like
enough. photographs.

AN: What are your influences? AN: How do you capture and process your

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images? my own, created and captured by me.

PD: First I look at the light and I talk to the AN: Do you have any projects currently in the
model about different poses and expressions. works?
This is not easy as I don’t normally work with
professional models. Then I start shooting. I PD: I’m currently working on my website and
don’t shoot a lot when I’m creating artwork, preparing my portfolio for spring and summer.
I always say to my model that our goal is to I plan on doing some art festivals in the spring
create one good photo. and summer and I am preparing everything that
I will need like high quality prints and other
My favourite part after the shoot is organizational infrastructural stuff.
postproduction. Sometimes it’s just adjusting
the basic things like levels, curves, contrasts I plan on doing more new work and even
and sometimes it goes to a whole new direction though I’ve been doing mostly black and
like painting with digital brushes over some white, which I really love, some pictures are
parts of the photo, painting textures over really better in colour, especially the ones
some other parts and using some other photo where I’m trying to achieve that painterly
manipulation techniques. I never use stock look. Currently, besides the financials, one
photography, all parts of my photographs are of my biggest problems is finding the right

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location, so far I haven’t been able to find an photography too. You don’t want to waste your
old abandoned place like a house, warehouse shutter on absolutely everything around you.
or factory. Hopefully I’ll find something in the Always look for the motives or scenes you like
spring. and one of the most important factors––the
light. Then try to capture them in your own
AN: What is your final say? way. ♥

PD: I don’t have enough time and resources to See more at: divljepile.com
shoot as much as I want, and I always wish to
do it more, because that’s how you get better
and better. To people who are just starting in
photography I say shoot as much as you can,
because that’s how you keep progress in your
style and work.

If you’re interested in creating art photography

learn the esthetic and also the technical side of

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 FEATURED
PERRY MANUK

“I was able to walk right into the textile factory through a back door that
had been left, unusually, open.”

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 BALTIMORE Interview with Perry Manuk

AN: Please introduce yourself. Where do you earliest Celtic and Paleolithic sites along with
live and work? a long shipping history and a very early rise of
a merchant class that led to a rich arts culture
PM: I live in Ludwigshafen, Germany. It is that is still going on today. I’ve been here
on the Rhine River and close to Mannheim, for almost a year now by way of Baltimore,
Heidelberg and the French border. The entire Maryland and originating from Santa Barbara,
region is historically rich as it has some of the California.

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The majority of my work tends to be done in AN: How did you get into photography?
or within a day’s drive to where I am living.
Relocating every five years or so has allowed PM: I took a trip to Rome, Athens, Pompeii,
me to live in some really different places and a few other places when I was seventeen,
and provided me enough time to really know and was lent a 35mm SLR to take with me. I’d
these places, their surroundings, and history. always been interested in Greek and Roman
Of course, I also travel whenever I get the history and had taken several classes relating
opportunity, with camera in tow. to them along with reading many of the literary

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classics associated with the period. I even wanting to capture that in some way to take
brought Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations with back home for myself. The camera and some
me. I had also recently taken an interest in journals were what I was convinced could do
American photography from the 1920s to the this best.
1950s. This all boiled down to, my being really
excited about getting to experience the places AN: We are featuring works from your
where all of this literature, philosophy, art and Baltimore series. Please tell us about this work
countless other things had come from, and and what inspired you to create it.

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PM: I had just finished working on the Salton I learned more about the history of the town,
Sea, this work looked at a developing desert I started to realize that a lot of things along
resort town through the structures left behind the continual state of disrepair were historical
after the sea’s instability had engulfed and markers. There were remnants from when
receded leaving them to be preserved by the it was a mill town, a part of town that had
desert. When I moved to Baltimore, I saw, been untouched since the 1968 MLK riots,
what, at first, seemed like a hodgepodge of an abandoned factory from the previously
buildings in a continual state of disrepair. As booming textile industry and numerous others.

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But, unlike being in an abandoned desert, it

was isolation within sections of a big city. example, the western series by examining my
environment’s impact on me, the Salton Sea
I really enjoyed my time in Baltimore. The through traces of the environment rejecting
work was a way for me to connect to the development, and finally Baltimore where
town while learning my way through it the people have rejected the environment.
geographically and historically. I’ve always Baltimore was a natural transition from my
enjoyed being able to transcribe the interplay earlier work.
between people and their environments, for

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AN: What were some of the challenges you door that had been left, unusually, open. This
faced while photographing the interiors of the is where the easy bit ended, though, as there
abandoned buildings? was leaking water throughout, softening up the
wooden floor boards and in some places entire
PM: Access is always a big issue. A lot of sections had fallen through. The stairs were
these buildings are boarded up or fenced in, moderately trustworthy and there was little, to
and some will have guards. I was able to walk no light, throughout. It did, however, present
right into the textile factory through a back an opportunity for a treasure trove of images.

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AN: What are your influences? of the natural world; Eugene Smith because
he saw that photography was only as truthful
PM: I use landscapes to depict spaces that are as its photographer and used this notion to
markers left from the interactions between manipulate his negatives to achieve a more
people and place. Photographically, there desirable effect; Michael Kenna because
are numerous people who have influenced he came from a small industrial town and
my work from photographers themselves, turned photographs of industrial things into
like Ansel Adams because of his sheer love beautiful landscapes, and in turn has lent some

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of those industrial qualities to his natural way. All of the above for their magnificent
subjects, and also Irving Penn, August Sandler, print quality. I love a well crafted print, and
Yousuf Karsh and Avedon for their work with I’ve had the good fortune to see a lot of
portraiture. Hiroshi Sugimoto for his images original works of all of these people and more
of the ocean, I have a deep love of the ocean, in person, which I really can’t recommend
specifically the pacific but spreading to other enough for any lover of photography. The best
large bodies of water as well, and he captures way to experience anything is in person.
its essence of permanence in such an elegant

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AN: How do you capture and process your over ten years now and really have a hard time
images? seeing myself using something else. There is
something about the way the square format
PM: I’ll always start with a healthy dose of makes you constantly break compositional
hitting the pavement. I like to spend a solid rules, forcing you to see things differently,
bit of time walking around until I can get a additionally I enjoy the size, grain, resolution
good feel for what I’m seeing. As to the actual and other aspects of the medium format film.
shooting, I’ve been using my Hasselblad for

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Up until two years ago I was still printing printing workflow, happy with my results, I
everything in the darkroom. However, I’ve started using this printing method so that I
always been a Photoshop fan and I had been could take advantage of Photoshop. I still use
looking for a printing process that could, it in a mostly darkroom manner with dodging,
if not match, at least rival the silver gelatin burning, contrast controls and not much else,
prints. I was shown some prints a friend had but am able to apply them more intricately than
done using Fujichrome prints in a Diasec under an enlarger.
mount. I decided to try my own hand at it, and
found something that allowed me to make a AN: Do you have any projects currently in the
transition from darkroom work to a digital works?

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PM: I’ve been looking into and visited a few AN: What is your final say?
Celtic sites here in Germany as archeologists
are currently finding more evidence of them, PM: Really get to know yourself. The more
and I just happen to live in the region where you understand about yourself, the easier it
they originated, making a lot of the sites easily will be to convey those things in your work.
accessible. I’ll be spending a week in Tel Aviv Also, work hard and work a lot, there is just no
in April for a photo festival and am hoping to substitute for either. ♥
get a chance to do a good bit of shooting there
as well as some surrounding areas. I would See more at: perrymanuk.com
also like to go back to Rome and Greece.

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 FEATURED
LARRY BLACKWOOD

“The wide range of photographic work I produce is a result of my very

eclectic interests in art, music, books, and culture.”
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 GHOSTS and EMPTIES Interview with Larry Blackwood

AN: Please introduce yourself. Where do you circular pieces of black-and-white film (about
live and work? 2” in diameter). Developing the film and
getting prints of the images required special
LB: I live in Bozeman, Montana where my processing that I could not really afford, so my
wife and I have had a home for thirty years father showed me how to use his old darkroom
now. I grew up in Kansas, and have also lived equipment to produce contact prints. Later I
in Arizona, Alaska, Alabama and Idaho. bought an old enlarger to make bigger prints.

AN: How did you get into photography? At some point, on a trip to the camera store to
buy developer and paper, I discovered some
LB: As teenager in the 1960s, like a lot of Edward Weston prints hanging on the wall. In
other kids, I was big into following the space particular I remember his famous nautilus shell
program. I was fascinated by the whole thing, photo. That was pretty inspiring, and since I
in particular the photos taken from space. was having so much fun in the darkroom, I
Eventually, I started building model rockets borrowed my dad’s camera and went out taking
that actually shot several hundred feet in the photos of just about anything that looked
air. When they came out with a model that interesting to me. I don’t know if I thought it
had a camera, I bought one. It used small was art at the time, but it was challenging and

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fun. Within a couple of years I had an abstract imparted and thought it would be a great
photo that I still like a lot today published in a subject for a photographic essay. But because
Kodak sponsored photography contest in the I was traveling with family, I wasn’t able to
local newspaper. That pretty much validated spend time exploring that possibility.
photography as an art form for me.
As these things tend to do, it bugged me for
AN: Please tell us about this body of work and several years that I had not taken advantage of
what inspired you to create it. that opportunity at the amusement park, that
day. So, in 2008 after an art show in Wichita,
LB: A number of years ago, on a trip across KS, I swung down to Oklahoma to finally
Oklahoma with my parents and younger photograph it. By that time the owner of the
brother, we stopped to see Quanah Parker’s property had died and his nephew was quite
home. (Quanah Parker was the last chief of the unsympathetic to my interest in the park, but
Comanche Indians, but that’s not relevant to I was finally able to convince him to let me
this story.) On the land adjacent to his house, roam freely in the park for an hour while he
there was a small, old amusement park, long did something else.
closed down and overgrown in weeds and
trees. I was intrigued by the feelings the place The time restriction did not give me much

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opportunity to settle into the place and imagining all those years. The result is a set
absorb what it had to offer photographically. of ghostly impressions of the remnants of the
In addition, I was disappointed in how the past that exist in this old amusement park.
place looked when I arrived. It had grown so Symbolically the images represent nostalgic
magically interesting in my mind over the memories of childhood escapism, but also the
years that it couldn’t live up to my expectations intrusive realities of real life and the relentless
when I finally got back there. I found it very effects of time. They are comforting as well
difficult to find interesting compositions to as to a degree disconcerting, invoking both
photograph and the lighting and time of day nostalgia and a sense of loss.
I was there did not reflect the moody scenes I
had imagined in my mind at all. AN: Where were these images taken?

To overcome the limitations of the conditions LB: Just outside of Cache, Oklahoma.
under which I was shooting and to better match
the reality to my dreams of the place, when AN: You have created a great body of work
I returned home I used extensive computer within numerous portfolios. What would you
manipulations to create the kind of dreamy, say is your greatest achievement?
surreal look in the photographs that I had been

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LB: My greatest achievement? Boy, I’ve never for themselves is to have a unifying style in
really thought about my work in those terms. all their work that is clearly recognizable. Call
One thing that distinguishes me from a lot of me flighty, but I have such a wide variety of
photographers is that I’ve been able to produce interest in both subjects and styles, to limit
successful portfolios covering a wide spectrum myself in that way is just unthinkable.
of subjects and styles of photography.
AN: What are your influences?
My exhibits and publications have covered
subjects as far ranging as grain elevators, LB: The wide range of photographic work
crows and ravens, American flags, trees, street I produce is a result of my very eclectic
photography, and of course, this amusement interests in art, music, books, and culture.
park series. I have no formal training or education in
either photography or art. In a way the whole
The styles of these portfolios run the whole world is my influence. I go to museums and
gamut between straight photography and art shows whenever I get a chance and view
pictorialism and, in addition to black and white all the art, not just the photography exhibits.
work I also frequently work in colour. They I read books by other photographers, but
say the way for an artist to best make a name also find inspiration in novels and even non-

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fiction books. I have a PhD in Biostatistics will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable;

and worked in that field for 30 years. I believe originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother
my mathematical and scientific background concealing your thievery – celebrate it if you
(particularly my data analytic skills) have feel like it. In any case, always remember what
influenced my approach to photography. Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you
take things from – it’s where you take them to.”
The film producer and director Jim Jarmusch
once said: I couldn’t agree more. An artist’s true work,
i.e. that which is not just simply derivative of
Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere another’s, is always the unavoidable product
that resonates with inspiration or fuels your of the inseparable mesh of everything they’ve
imagination. Devour old films, new films, ever experienced.
music, books, paintings, photographs, poems,
dreams, random conversations, architecture, AN: How do you capture and process your
bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of images?
water, light and shadows. Select only things
to steal from that speak directly to your LB: I follow a pretty standard digital workflow.
soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) I shoot images either with a DSLR or a digital

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pocket camera (almost never with a tripod). personal commentary on the world around me,
I download them to my computer, do initial but am pleased when others appreciate my
work with Adobe Light room and then pass work. My mantra is “don’t think, photograph”
them on to Photoshop for additional work which rarely gets me in trouble and the results
using layers etc. I do conversions to black of which, reveal a view of the world dominated
and white using the standard tools either in by shape, form, tension and balance. ♥
Lightroom or Photoshop and do toning using
hue and saturation layers in Photoshop. Except See more at: larryblackwood.com
for series such as this one, I rarely do more in
terms of adjustment other than apply contrast
curves (often quite a number of such curves
using complicated masks to target the specific
effects). For this series I used blur filters,
vignette, and grain effects as well.

AN: What is your final say?

LB: I view my photography simply as my

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