[link]

so i've been traveling since 22 hours after a couple of almost sleepless days - having worked 5 days through, completely on meds because of a cold and on top of it all i realized around midnight that i'm flying on the 23rd not the 24th.. and had to arrange most things during the night.

..but i arrived in Los Angeles, the city where deviantart has its roots i guess!

so logging in here after a while again i realized my message box was totally flooded!

totally thanks for giving me a DD to ~fuxs and !bdwfh i can only support the idea of pushing street here on DA (and there i talk about what's really street.. in my opinion)

now>bed

[link]

I don't have much time to use this site as a communication platform. Life doesn't really leave much time to spend hours on browsing and commenting on deviantart.

I thought I'd use this place as a platform for publishing some photos that I want to highlight for whatever reasons. Also I just can't sympathize with Flickr...

So beside my personal blog at www.severinkoller.at/blog and my webiste www.severinkoller.com i will try to use this site again for some photos I feel like to share.

Maybe I'll change my mind again and delete it all and leave.. we'll see.. in the end it really doesn't matter. It's just another way to spend some time i guess.

exhibition info see blog: [link]

thanks for looking !

Added a selection of works from New York to my website. You can view them here

Submitted some more prints to the gallery. More or less random. Beside a couple of commissions, i'll do some prints for an exhibition on the 12th of May. More details soon.

[link]

I've posted my first blog on the group #street

There will be a series of posts published on the group, so if you're interested, you can just watch our group.

I want to thank !kyle28 for taking his time to tell us about his life and thoughts on Street Photography.

I hope it is an interesting read, not just for the Street-geeks out there.

to the blog

leave comments there please!

..because then it'd be funny. for a moment though.

anyway, make this douchbag get out of my avatar again please !

just posted:

[link]

First off all thank you all for the feedback!

The changes that were needed have been done. Also a lot of images, orders, titles and categories got changed.
Of course there is a contact now - i just wasn't sure about the design that's all. A link to the Blog got installed as well.
Maybe it's something personal but i realized that i didn't like the classic categories i used at first. Of course i can't really change Portrait and Reportage - it is what it is.

I've changed one important thing though, naimly "street". It's now "captures" because i thought of this whole definition in art. Don't we all do our own thing ? Is street something Winogrand has invented or was it Henry Cartier Bresson ? Does it matter in the end ? I can say i like both of their ways of capturing life, or how chris named it the "human condition".

I was thinking about my own definition and giving it my own stamp - but i came to the conclusion that these are just snapshots. Good snapshots but because the word snapshot is overused it sounds cheap. I went for captures. I think it really sums it up. In the end i capture moments and the capture can be seen as a booty as well. Street photography can be like hunting - hunting for snapshots and moments. It's just like Susan Sontag said.

You can visit my site here

By the way, this has nothing to do with the DA group #street. Not reffering to that at all here.

I've also just blogged if you're interested. Just go here

On a sidenote: I'm going to New York City on the 26th and will stay until the 13th march. If you're interested in meeting, send me a note.

severinkoller.com

please report any bugs and give feedback if you wish
thanks

so i'm again wasting my time on websites like facebook or DA. you know it's that shitty time of the year, especially for those who don't live on an island near the equator (except haiti). it's all fucking grey..



i had a funny conversation lately here on DA. funny because it reminds me of where i am. i don't mind if people think i'm being jealous or arrogant. that really doesn't bother me, because it just shows how much they know about the things i'm talking about.
sometimes it feels like offering a good bottle of red wine and watch people drinking the coke instead. maybe it's most important to find the right people to show your work to. maybe that's the only thing that can save you in the long term.

if i was a drummer, i'd talk about drumming. but i'm not a drummer so i'm not talking about it. it's that simple. i'm a photographer so i talk about photography. if you think that's being arrogant, then i can't help you. just because i know what i'm talking about should i be sorry about it ? it's not that i criticise music, because i can't. i wouldn't dare to, it would be embarrassing !

i really love that quote of `photonig

"you usually only have to visit the author's page to realise that the descriptions under their own work are worded such as to explain to the world that they are very technically adept, use techniques that many at dA would eschew, and are, therefore, on a higher, more elite plane than the rest of us"

he's of course referring to me.

sorry mister that i share my knowledge about photographic techniques and let the pictures talk for themselfs instead of inveting some stupid stories to make them seem more "art" than just "plain" photography.

this is what i like the most. people who talk about such things without knowing anything. it's like me criticising the drummer, i think it's just embarrassing.

sorry folks to bother you, that's why i called this "escapism". i'm just in a usual winter depression trying to waste my time on something.

Just one thing i've realized by looking at streetshots or documentary of people. There are photographers who think because they took a photo of someone, they can tell their story.
I think you should be careful with that. If you take photos of strangers, then leave it with that. I'm not saying that it's not interesting to interprete and let your mind imagine possible stories of people. That's a good thing. Just don't give someone a story or judge how someone feels as an author, just because he/she is in your frame.

Sometimes it just seems that the photographer tries hard to make a bland photorgaph more striking and the situaton seem more important and special by inventing a story or emotionalize by using strong words to make the viewer connect with the person  - but for me that's just distressing.
I've seen a lot of people doing this and getting good feedback for their way of interpreting things and capturing life, which is obviously good feedback for judging foreigners and putting these in different contexts and stories.

Of course it's not something we only find in photography. It's in all of us but it just shows when we talk about foreigners like that. It's a sensitive topic.

Taking photos of strangers doesn't give anyone the power or position to judge and when you have a boring photo, inventing stories and using strong words to emotionalize are signs for weak photographic qualities and overestimation of one's own capabilities.

here

just some thoughts.

you know. i see a lot of great portraits out there.. and then when i go into details, i often realize that most portraits that are considered to be great, are taken with a nice lens and film or sensor. someone knows their tools, be it the lens, camera or photoshop or all together..

but can you ever say you took a good portrait ? isn't it just a moment you capture, not the person. just a thin slice of life, not the whole story.

i think i'm still too young and not experienced enough in life to concider myself a portrait photographer. maybe i'll never be, maybe it's impossible. still, as long as i can walk and shoot in all conditions, i'll stick to shooting street and documentary. these moments out there is what interests me. i'm not one of those who says i'm shooting people. i don't believe that you can walk up to strangers, take their "portrait" and capture their story. there is much more behind than that. even when i think of my girlfriend, who i captured a thousand of times already - i couldn't pick one that is "her".

so i'm saving portrait for my retirement, when i'm too old and weak to shoot a roll a day all the time, develope, scan and print whenever i've got the time.

maybe i'll be able to take these "portraits" when i'm grandpa.

So i'm getting a lot of print requests lately. Is it because christmas is coming ?

I'm in a little dilemma here. To be honest, i'm not interested in selling hundreds of machine printed DA prints or other lab prints from digital photos (or negative scans). I'm intersted in selling original pieces. Handmade darkroom prints on all kind of fiber based papers of all sizes, tonings and finishes.

I think that's a much better product to offer. Those prints are a lot of work too. I limit the number of each to about 50, larger sizes to 25 or 15. I sign them, because i made them by hand. A print takes some time. First off all, i need to get to the darkroom. Then set up everything. Adjust the negative in the enlarger and the printing frame. Have to build up all the baths. That process takes 15-20min.
Then the first teststripes that take about 10min. Then the first paper that takes another 5-10min. Even if the first one is perfect, you will always do another one, to have a second copy and often a third, because A: you never know if you ruin one of the prints in the process and you have the neg in the enlarger so you just do another copy or 2 because it's just work not a mouseclick.

So now the 2nd or 3rd enlargement of that negative is in the fixer. I got to the darkroom, i set up everything, i printed - so all together spend about an hour of time on it already.

Next step is washing. A fiber print or baryt needs about an hour to wash - in running water. So you can't really leave the place for a coffee. You need to stay in the darkroom. So it doesn't make much sense to print a single negative to watch 3 papers getting washed for at least an hour.

So you do more prints of more negatives. Again time consuming. I usually print 5-15 negatives in a session - depending on my physical state.

So after you washed a print (you can quicken this by using hypo, so it only takes half an hour... but then i need to stay with the prints and can't print more negatives... so i just wash it an hour), well after i washed the print i can decide to A: dry them, B: tone them and C: give them a finish.

If I decide for A: which means i am more or less happy with the tones and actual papercharacteristics, i need to prepare to dry the prints. I need some glass plates and a special mounting tape that drys with the paper and get's really sticky when it's fully dried. So you basicly stick the paper on the glass so that when it drys, it stays flat.

Until the print is dry some more hours will pass. So i rarely take a print home with me on the day i printed.

This is the "usual" way to print, process and dry the fiber print. Well that's how i work. I don't have industrial machines that make things faster - because they cost a fortune and are rare.

If i tone a print (depending on the toner) i will need another hour of washing. so an extra hour of work.

A ferrotype glossy finish for example goes rather quick but is a tricky thing to pull off. You roll the print on a clean, scratchfree metalplate (a ferrotype plate) and press the paper on the coated side so that there is no air, dust or anything between the paper and the plate. then you put it in a drying machine. This takes 10min but to have a perfectly glossed print it takes perfection in any way... you can also ruin prints when the gelatine stays on the plate and you tear your print in two (one of the best feelings ever!). So you better have 1 or 2 more perfect copies you can gloss.

--

If you think that's a lot of work - you're right. Each print takes about 3 hours of work minimum and often i need to go to the darkroom twice to get the prints and cut off the tape that is left. So either way, it's hours of concentration and physical work (and all that in a tiny dark room).

But i'm NOT moaning here. I love to do it, just as much as i love shooting... still, when you hire me for 3 hours shooting, you'll pay and when you hire me for 3 hours retouching, you'll pay for it - because this is my profession. So is the darkroom.

Why am i telling you all this ? Well it's easy. I claim money for my prints - the same amount of money i'd ask for a shoot that takes the same amount of time. Then i add some bucks for the paper and chemistry, so i end up having fixed prices for differntly sized prints.

And you know.. all that "artistic" value shit... whatever.. if i'd add that (how to calcualte this anyway)... then i won't find many buyers for my work... and i'm not interested in selling to rich art-collectors only.

So if you're intersted in purchasing a fiber print of mine, please have all this in mind and don't be shocked when i charge for it. This is not a DA print you can get for 20 bucks.


One last thing i want to add is that i wrote all this not to sound pissed or elitest... i'm just trying to put things into perspective and explain why these prints have these prices - and if you're intersted in a print, you can mail or note me anytime.

ît's here:

[link]

I did my first video (recording, cutting and editing on my own)

As DA doesn't accept music videos, i can't post it here.

You can view it here: [link] or visit the band's webiste at www.thewhothewhattheyeah.com

honest votes are welcome here: [link]

technical details:
Cameras: Canon EOS 5dMKII and EOS 7D

Lenses: 12-24mm 4.5-5.6 sigma, 24mm 1.4L, 24mm ts/e, 35/1.4, 50 1.2

7d only with ts/e and 12-24 in the slow motion parts. 50fps and 60fps

the band and singer had to play the song 20% faster when recording at 30fps with the MKII and double when recording at 50fps with the 7D (bass close ups and some drumming close ups)

cut in premiere, posted in after effects.
analogue elements are selfmade with negatives and a nikon coolscan V ED.

any ideas and criticism is welcome - i learned the most in the process it self so far but i appreciate your input.

It's a german song - i don't know how that influences non german speakers but i'd like to know.

I've also updated my blog with some photostories: [link]

.. did you ?

everytime i hit the "submit art" button, i've to smirk a little. this button gets clicked a thousand times a day and probably one time there might be art submitted.

i also wonder why there is no option to hide the amount of views, favs and comments of a deviation. it'd solve the whole stupid challenge thing on DA. i'd hide it immediately. people automatically judge by the amount of attention the deviation has - which is nonsense.

if you want to see how many ignorant people are out there, just check the comments at `Gonzale's DDs. if there was a block button for these users, so that they can't unload their unqualified shit noone asked for anymore, i'd use it immediately.

i'm not asking or demanding any comments when i post something, but i'm still wondering why some works get hundreds of comments and favs and others less than 5. i'm just wondering what makes the difference. maybe i'm the only one who sees what the photo is about and anyone else is too ignorant or i see something that isn't really there and it's boring shit.. or it just lacks funny colours.. whatever - i'm not using DA as a evaluation of my work.

also DA puts a submission into scraps when you put it into photorgaphy>snapshots. it's funny, i think snapshots is one of the most interesting genre. i think there is some misunderstanding. also why is there no fashion category on its own ? why must it be under portraits ? and how can glamour portrait be an own category ?

weird stuff.