Ten Eyes : Five Countries

The headstones, which I had been staring at for hours, were now barely visible as dusk slowly transformed into night. Sitting in the grass, I was entranced by the increasingly altered state of the stones, which were now illuminated only by the moon. My eyes slowly adjusted to the eerie glow, as the entire cemetery now bathed in moonlight, seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, for now it could rest.

Next to the birth of my child, this was the most beautiful scene I had ever laid eyes on. Most people are uncomfortable in a cemetery during the day, and would not even give a second thought to venturing out at night, but I am not most people, and for that I am grateful.

Since my earliest childhood memory, I have always been drawn to the “darker” side of life. Although looked down upon by family and peers, it is this very thought process that introduced me to the world of black & white photography, and ignited my imagination which is made evident in my writing and music.

This month I have decided to showcase five extremely talented photographers from France, Poland, Portugal, Thailand, and Bangladesh.

They have agreed to share their work, techniques, and inspiration with the readers of Zero Saturation, and although the photographs are not all “dark,” in the sense of “gloomy” or “unnatural”, they portray their work from a perspective that most of us will never comprehend, which is still a form of dark photography.

Below each biography are links to the photographer pages and social networks, to which I implore you to visit, as you will not find this caliber of work and imagination elsewhere.

“La mare aux fées” by Bloody Countess (Sylvain)

This photo was taken in the forest of Fontainebleau, near Paris, France, where Sylvain calls home. When translated, La mare aux fée means “The Pond Fairy.” Sylvain, or “Bloody Countess” as he is known on Deviant Art has always had a passion for photography and is influenced by the works of Doisneau, Arbus, Caron and Marsden.

“I love the thought of being transported beyond the image, and freeing my imagination and emotion much like that of a painter,” expressed Sylvain.

The photograph was taken during a walk in the forest using an Olympus Reflex with an objective 14:42mm lens. The photo went through very minimal light and color adjustments in Photoshop, so what you see is very true to the original photograph.

If you would like to learn more about Bloody Countess, or Sylvain as we know him, please take the time to visit his Deviant Art site, as well as his MySpace page where he works artistically with many bands.

“The Place of the Devil” by by Maciek Mutwil

This photo was taken in the city of Bytom, Poland at an old workers area. Maciek or “breathofindustry” as he is know on Deviant Art was born In Katowice, Poland, which is an industrialized area. He has been interested in photography since the age of four, however, in 2009  Maciek decided to take it up a few notches and pursue it on a more serious level. His focus is industrial landscapes and anything closely related such as workers settlements, cities, and urbanization in general. A secondary interest is photographing people, and his work can be divided into two groups, Reportage and Turpizm.

The photograph was taken two and a half years ago in a section of the city typically known for abandoned industrial buildings. He noticed a stray dog walking by, however, the movement made it a difficult capture due to the camera setup. Maciek could have easily tossed the photograph due to the blurred dog, but instead decided to remove the color, add some texture, adjust the channels, and add a pinch of gray. This became “The Place of the Devil,” and in the photographers own words, “When I look into the picture, I see this as a place that the devil could manifest or perhaps take up residence.” A Minolta Z5 was used for this and many other photos, however, Maciek’s choice of camera is the Canon 30D with an array of lenses for different effects.

Maciek is going to create his own website this summer, however, in the mean time you can find his photography at Deviant Art. He is also a musician, and describes his music as “Ambient sounds which compliment his photography.” If you are interested in checking out his music, you can visit his Myspace page.

“Rossio” by João Neves

This photo was taken in “Praça D. Pedro IV” (usually known as Rossio) in Lisboa, Portugal. João or jpgmn as he is known on Deviant Art was born in 1975, and is a professional software developer. His first camera was a basic “point and shoot,” however, nowadays he wields a Nikon D80 as his camera of choice. If we were to peek inside his camera bag, we would see a Nikkor 18-70, 50mm, 1.8D, 70-300VR and Sigma 10-20, as well as a SB600 flash, a Slik Pro 340DX tripod and some square Hitech filters. João considers his style of photography to be “urban.”

The photograph was taken in April of 2009 when his wife’s parents came to visit and wanted to visit Lisboa. A few weeks before, he had purchased a new filter and been eager to try it in an urban scenario. The filter was a 10 stop ND (neutral density) filter, which is known for long exposure in broad daylight. This type of exposures would allow him to capture the clouds movement for example. He packed up his gear and headed to Lisboa. The objective was to capture the cloud movement and “erase” the people from the street. João admits The 10 stop filter is a bit tricky to use and admits that he is still learning how to use it, however, the picture turned out better than expected. To read the entire story behind this photo, head over to http://thestorybehindmyphotos.blogspot.com/2009/12/rossio.html

This particular photograph was shot with a Nikon D80 / Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC /  Hitech 85 ND 3.0 filter / Shutter Speed: 30/1 second / Aperture: F/22.0 / Focal Length: 12 mm and an ISO Speed of100.

If you would like to see more of João’s work, his main galley can be found at http://jpgmn.deviantart.com. “The Story Behind The Photos” can be found at http://TheStoryBehindMyPhotos.blogspot.com

“Shattered” by Sa’ad Abd Ar Rafie

This photo was taken on the photographers study desk in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Sa’ad Abd Ar Rafie or “sarboom” as he is known on Deviant Art is 16 years old, and has been shooting for two years. He is currently preparing to finish his GCE A level examinations.

The photograph was a result of “fiddling with my camera” according to Sa’ad. He goes on to explain that he was in the living room one day when he noticed this blue colored flower vase on the coffee table. It is one of his mother’s favorites and was of the contemporary glass look with the shatter or crack as part of the piece. Sa’ad  thought it would be good for a still life photo so he took it to his desk and shot a few random stills. He then changed the settings on his camera to black and white and placed a table lamp at the neck of the vase so that the interior was illuminated. At that same moment his sister turned off the room lights giving the vase a completely different look. He took a few shots with the camera set on black & white, which became the photo “Shattered” that you see above. The photo was a series of events he was not planning on, however, it gave him a beautiful photograph that wold have never happened had it not been for the events that tok place.

Sa’ad Abd shot this photo with a SONY DCS-W120 5mm / Shutter speed 10/1 second / Aperture F/7.1 and an ISO speed of 125. He made some minor adjustments to the contrast/brightness and saturation, but nothing more.

You can find out more about Sa’ad and his photography by visiting him on Facebook, Deviant Art, or on his personal portfolio located at http://saadabdarrafie.daportfolio.com/

“The Orchestra” by Pansa Sunavee

This photo was taken at Baray (huge pond) at the front of Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia on 30 December 2006. Pansa Sunavee or PansaSunavee as he is known on Deviant Art was born in Saraburi, Thailand, and has participated in five solo exhibitions and more than 40 group exhibitions. Educational accomplishments include Faculty of Art, Lopburi Technical College, and Diploma of Thai Art, Poh-Chang Institute. B.A. Philosophy, Ramkhamhaeng University.

The photograph as described by Pansa:

It was my second visit to Angkor Wat because of the magnificent architecture which was honored as one of the World’s man-made seven wonders. Everything was so fabulous. All the travelers stared to the buildings, regardless of the environment around Angkor Wat. On that day, I woke up in the early morning with the determination to see the sunrise on the top of the palace.

I took a rest under a huge tree besides the Baray. The atmosphere was unusually calm and serene despite the amount of travelers walking nearby, so I took advantage of the quietness and closed my eyes to meditate. When I photograph, I normally calm myself down with meditation which ultimately leads me to see hidden beauty all around.

When I opened my eyes and looked at the surface of the pond, it appeared to be waving in a circle shape as leaves and branches fell around the circles. The meditation had emptied my mind of distractions, and I could now hear sounds coming from the pond. The circles were waving and harmoniously making a melody like an orchestra. The pond was the musician while the surrounding branches were the audience. I felt an unexplainable happiness and couldn’t help taking photos of what was happening in front of me.

I took 5-6 shots with Olympus E-500 and 14-54 mm., ISO 100, and 1/60s F.4.5 as I did not need much in depth of field. I changed the photo to B/W with Gradient Map command in Photoshop CS3 that I normally use because of its contrast level. I like adding the vignette to the photo but, for this one, I decided not to do it as I wanted it to be as much natural as it could be. I selected the most two favorite photos for combining. I did not consider merging the photos  initially, however, using only one photo would not convey the feelings I felt that day so I merged it with another in the series. I was both surprised and amazed, when the two photos merged perfectly without any adjustment.

The reason I decided to make it black & white was due in part to the color photo not staying true to what I actually felt and saw. The black & white also entices the audience to use their imagination when viewing the photograph. When we see the color photo, we may not challenge ourselves to ask questions, however, as a black and white, the photo arouses our thoughts to ponder the photograph, which is why I love creating conceptual photographs in black & white.

For me, photography is a way to bring reality to life through my eyes. It’s so much fun to seek for the hidden beauty and not limit myself to any specific “form” of shooting. All of my work has been created naturally, depending on what message I am trying to relate to the viewer.

You can find out more about Pansa by visiting his personal portfolio at www.pansa-art.com, http://pansasunavee.deviantart.com, or http://photo.net/photos/Pansa