Artisans

Thiago Sigrist

Hi again, friends!

Here are three shots I got at a local artisan's fair.

#1: This man here recognized my camera ("It's a classic!") and we chatted for a long time. I definitely made a new friend. He was showcasing his work with wood, but he told me he also loves taking a few snaps occasionally, with his old Konica rangefinder and B&W film.




#2: This lady here was doing beautiful crochet, and we also talked a lot. She told me a great deal about her life, which wasn't really easy, to begin with... still, lives goes on, and there she was, in a really calm and talkative mood, on a nice Saturday afternoon.




#3: This other lady had very nice work to showcase as well. She makes tapestries, among other things, and those beautiful little dolls depicting baianas (women from the state of Bahia, Brazil). The dolls were really, interesting, they really caught my eye, as much as her stories caught my ear. She appears to have lived all over Brazil, but decided to settle down at my town!




So that's it, folks. My little story on how I met three most interesting people last Saturday afternoon. Hope you enjoy it, and hope you don't mind the really low quality scans from my negs.

Thanks again for all the attention!
Take care!

-- thiago

System

the 'low quality scan of your negs' is causing a nice effect of grain with the photos, to which I'm very partial-

may I ask what you are shooting with-

the commentary you provide adds so much more to the photos, and I for one would wish that you would add more when you post like this if there is more-

thanks for posting-

rundadar

Hi,

Not a huge fan of no. 1 (too busy) - makes what could have been a very good portrait look like a snapshot.

Like a lot #2 - pity it's not in B&W (to me - it SCREAMS B&W).

No. 3 - I want more DOF and slightly tighter crop.

Thanks for sharing!

Thiago Sigrist

gefillmore wrote:

the 'low quality scan of your negs' is causing a nice effect of grain with the photos, to which I'm very partial-

may I ask what you are shooting with-

the commentary you provide adds so much more to the photos, and I for one would wish that you would add more when you post like this if there is more-

thanks for posting-

Hi George!

You know, the grain was indeed exaggerated by the scanner, but I don't think that's a problem, I think it's a nice effect, as much as you do. The problem is I dunno, there's something bizarre about the tones in those pics, they come out saturated but at the same time a bit lifeless, the scanner sometimes blows tones and stuff like that. It's a low-quality minilab scanner, which is just enough for showing the pics to friends over the web.

I got some high-quality scans from some other photos and they're much better, bringing out the life off the negs!

You ask me about my camera, it's a 1956 Rolleiflex 3.5E with Carl Zeiss Planar 75mm f/3.5 taking lens. It's a medium format camera, producing beautiful 6x6cm (2 1/4x2 1/4") images on ordinary 120 film. It's in excellent shape, lookie:



Guess that's it... I'll comment on the whole experience a bit more later!

Thanks so much for your comments!
Take care!

-- thiago

System

thanks for responding re camera-

neat!-

urbanaries

I like the first shot and story best...

the shot of your camera though is just gorgeous, a work of art in and of itself, that camera!

Thiago Sigrist

Lots of comments!

So I'm glad I have a little time to comment right now!

First, rundadar, your comments are nice! I agree with you #1 is a little busy, and it is, in a sense, a snapshot. On #2, I'll definitely try B&W when I get a better scan! And #3, the photo is a bit weird... the framing is a bit off from what I envisioned at the time, I should have framed it more to the right, and the focus is a bit off or I got camera shake, I dunno!

And Lynne, I think I can see why you like #1. IMHO the man's expression is great, it mirrors his personality somewhat, and this makes me really happy. It's all about the people, after all, right?

The camera, of course, is wonderful... it's really beautiful, in a great shape, and it's fantastically well-built, producing great images. Some of the greatest photographers of all time used a Rolleiflex too (Diane Arbus and Helmut Newton, to name a couple), so I have absolutely no excuse for producing bad images now!

Thanks so much for your attention and, especially, comments!
Take care!

-- thiago