Sergio Muscat Photography

Ghanafest is a folk music festival held annually, and this year, the organisers were kind enough to have me take a shot at it (no pun intended). When you’re under the stage with relatively static singers, while the 6-or-so cameras of the local TV station keep yelling to get out of the way, its not straight forward to produce something interesting. However, if the organisers wanted something unusual, then I should give it to them. So I slowed down the shutter, loaded the flash and introduced some motion. My view is that when going for motion, it has to be extreme, otherwise it seems like a mistake, apart from not achieving the desired effect. It verges into abstract, but I just love it when you can just about make out what’s going on. Takes some practice, and there’s still a long way ahead, but sometimes, I do get lucky too.

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Photo Shoot, Technical

Seems like 2009 is turning out to be a really good year! First the Modernist Architecture exhibition, then the Press & PR award and now this. I received an email yesterday evening notifying me that I gained a nomination in the Fine Art category of the International Photography Masters Cup, which is one of the largest competitions of its kind in the world. Thousands of images are submitted from over 90 countries, and the judging panel is made up of the “who’s who” of photography - and by that I mean the like of Christie’s, National Geographic, Fox Broadcasting Company and so on. I’m still digesting the news.

The nominated image is one of my first works to be exhibited, and is entitled “Beach Shop”. The image portrays the common and generally unnoticed as glamorous and imposing, creating an impact through the realisation that whilst most of us have seen this or similar scenes before, we never really gave it such importance. Beauty is also in the simple things, and it is up to the photographer to realise this and portray it.

Fine Art, Personal Art, beach shop, competition, international colour awards, nomination, Photography, photography masters cup

In the good ol’ days, serious photographers and especially artists, took pride in their print-making skills. Especially in black and white photography, it is in the darkroom that the tough guys distinguished themselves from the wannabies. Ansel Adams was the first to elevate the darkroom process to an artform, and countless others followed, refining the process throughout.

Today, everything has changed. Commercial labs have taken over the photographic printing business. I am not surprised by this, of course. This is all about economies of scale, and the fact that the photographic process has become more commercial than artistic, and it is not worth while for some photographers to do their own printing. It doesn’t pay, so they don’t do it, and rightly so. When I began my adventure in photography, I used to find the cheapest option to produce my prints, I used to order them from the UK or print them locally. I obviously had my reasons, which essentially was the fact that I wasn’t selling anything, so my actions were somehow justified.

Next up came the first exhibition. I realised this was now a totally different ball game. When participating in an exhibition, one has to produce something that is sellable, and that others will view as being of high enouh quality to buy. I realised that attention to detail and perfection were of the essence, and I needed as much control as possible on the final product. The simple fact is that I never got it. I spent days at the printer’s to try and get results which were identical to what I had designed originally,  but that never came. Having no alternative, I produced the best possible results I could achieve, and stuck to them. Thankfully the result was still pleasing and the exhibition was a success.

It was then that I realised that commercial laboratories would never be able to give me the results I needed. By this I do not mean that commercial labs are crap, but simply that the machines they use have their limitations in terms of resolution, and especially in terms of tonality depth. I wasn’t worried much about colour prints, because they can be reproduced relatively faithfully, but black and white is next to impossible to reproduce to a level which could rival hand-printed black and white.

It is now clear to me how important it is to have full control of the process, and the reason is very simple. In today’s world, photography is made of digital files. Negatives and slides are slowly fading away (and those that remain, still get scanned anyway). The raw file is not really tangible, and is certainly not something that can be purchased (in the sense of a unique entity, such as a negative). In painting, sculpture, etc, what you work on is what the client purchases, and it stops there. In photography, you work on something intangible, and then can only sell the “reproduction” of that work, which is the print. Therefore, the client, or viewer, is really only concerned with the final, tangible, sellable product, which is the print. It simply makes no sense to have full control over the entire process from capture to edit, and then relinquish it during the final stage, at the point where the intangible becomes tangible. This is where inkjet technology comes into play.

Today’s darkrooms have been converted into lightrooms, and the printing methodology has changed completely. I had already seen some work produced using fine art inkjet printers during the time spent helping my uncle set up his exhibition, and the results were astounding. Unfortunately, I had a very hard time finding somewhere or someone able to produce fine art inkjet (or, as I’ve seen it being mentioned, “pigment on paper”) prints, so I had to dig into my not-so-deep pockets and get myself a printer. Again, this turned out to be an incredible headache, as I had suspected. Very few companies import large format fine art printers here in Malta, since nobody had ever purchased them. I was initially looking towards the HP Z-Series, which gained very positive reviews and were only recently put on the market. These were way too expensive, though, and I could not afford the cost. I immediately ruled out the Epson printers, which at the time could only house either matte or glossy black, and one needed to swap inks at great cost and wastage. This issue has now been resolved with the next generation of printers, and I have read very positive reviews from pros that use them.

Finally, I opted for the Canon iPF6100 which had received very good reviews, and comes with the best support out of any of its competitors, here in Malta. I’ve been printing work on the printer for quite some time now, and I can say that it is brilliant. It takes experimentation to get things right, particularly for black and white, however now that I got used to it, I can say that it produces incredible results, with fantastic tonalities and incredible detail. Mind you, it has got its defects which are sometimes irritating and fustrating, however its good points definitely outweigh its bad ones.

I finally feel in control of the artistic process. I have the advantage of being able to print on a variety of papers, including fibre-based photo paper, art paper, cotton-rag, etc. The best papermills, such as Hahnemuehle and Museo, all produce a range of papers for fine art printing. These papers can be quite expensive, but they produce stunning results, and incredible light-fastness, which according to research institutes, can surpass that of traditional prints.

Today, most fine art photographers have moved into pigment-on-paper prints, since the technology has advanced enough to be able to compete with the results obtained through traditional darkroom printing. It is a natural match for the photographic artist working in the digital age, and it is well worth the trouble and cost it entails. I know I will never look back, because now I can stand firm by my work and say “I have produced these, from start to finish”.

Fine Art, Printing, Technical 14-bit, archival, Art, canon, digital, epson, hp, inkjet, ipf6100, paper, pigment, Printing, Technical

When we remove the recognisable, the unseen becomes visible.

I have recently been involved in a very interesting project, which I will not reveal details of as yet (suspense!). What I can say is that it was a challenge, since, like most other things, the theme has been visited quite often. In these cases (and not only), is way too easy to fall into cliches and two-dimensionality, when on the other hand we want to engage the viewers and invite them to delve into the photograph - to feel part of it.

Although the theme might be brimming with emotion, as is this case, it is still challenging to find a way to strip off the “excess”, leaving only the bare essentials in the image. I speak on a personal level, however I am pretty sure that any photographer would be hard pressed to achieve this. The medium being photography is also another limit. I wanted to try to achieve my goal on-site, and not in post processing, since I felt that in this particular case, it was a little bit like cheating. I have absolutely no issues processing my photography until it has very little to do with what it looked like originally, however in this case, I felt that I should be true to the moment, which obviously made the whole exercise even harder.

I do not know whether I have achieved my goal. That is something which is up to the viewers to judge, however I can say that I am quite satisfied with the results. The theme in question involves movement (that’s quite a hint), so it was clear that I needed to portray that, since in the end, it is the subtleties in the motion, and the interaction between the participants that makes the image, and not the people itself. I searched for details in expressions, movements, sequences - trying to identify the subtleties that externalise the emotions which are being exchanged.

By now it might be clearer what the theme revolves around, however I will simply conclude with a couple of images. I will add more as they materialise. Comments, as always, are more than welcome.

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Looking back at these images, I can see the way the idea developed, from capturing the bigger picture, to a detail, and finally to a purely conceptual level, which although containing nothing much which is recognisable, still conveys the mood and emotion of the moment - or at least, that’s the intention. Each of these images has got its own value in my mind, and I am not stating that any one is better than the others. As it happens, however, a concept takes shape across time, leaving its milestones along the way. Each of them are equally important in order to reach the destination, if after all there is one to be reached.

Fine Art, Photo Shoot

I take many photos. A good number of them will never see the light of day, however I discard very few photos outright, for a very simple reason. Every photograph I take is associated with a memory, an emotion. When I look at my work, it evokes the memory or emotion associated with that shot, and that is similarly what I look to achieve in those who look at my work. Being the person who lived that emotion in the first place, however, puts me in an awkward situation, since it is difficult to judge the strength of an image in its own right when the emotion or memory is fresh in mind. I very often tend to look at my work at a distance of weeks, months or even years. I tend to go through them various times at different time lapses, and it surprises me how every time I seem to find something I had previously overlooked. The images I pick tend to vary according to the mood I am in at the moment, or the final objective I have in mind at the time. I was recently going through the images I had taken of Rome (still my absolute favourite place - more about it soon), and I came across an image which reminded me of Leonardo Da Vinci’s codex on the flight of birds. The codex is a brilliant piece of work, a treasure to humanity and the work of an undeniable genius of his time. This photo is but a humble tribute to the man who changed art and science forever.

Fine Art Art, leonardo da vinci, Photography, rome

My photographic equipment is not spectacular by most pros or fanatics’ standards. I like flexibility, and I’ll go for the equipment that gives me that. I have nothing at all against primes, 20-kilo lenses and so on, but it just doesn’t work for my kind of photography (apart from not working with my budget!). That type of equipment is mainly for photographic artists who shoot essentially landscapes and static subjects, or for sports photographers who need the maximum reach with the widest aperture, not to mention commercial photographers. I just hate the idea that I might lose a photo because I don’t have the right lens on at the right time, and especially when travelling, I do not carry 2 bodies. Too much equipment hinders flexibility, apart from making me feel way to visible for comfort.

In any case, when looking for flexibility, you inevitably compromise, and that usually comes in the form of less maximum aperture and some more distortion. Today’s zooms rarely compromise on image quality and sharpness, and I am very careful which lenses I choose. It takes me weeks or months of research and reading reviews to decide on whether I will buy a lens or not. Until now I’m quite happy with my choices, although I must say that my 18-35 Nikkor ultra wide does have some very uncomfortable distortions which would make anyone swear in Photoshop. Thank heavens for DxO Optics, a brilliant piece of software which does miracles to correct distortion - so that’s one less headache. Just be careful that your lens and body combination are actually supported, since they can sometimes be limited, especially for newer cameras.

This brings me to my choice of camera body. Just in case it is not clear yet, I’m a Nikon guy. My dad was always a Nikon fan, and that’s permeated through to the next generation. I must admit that Canon has had the leading edge for most of the past decade when it comes to digital camera bodies. I wasn’t involved in the DSLR market until a few years ago, but it was clear that Canon’s sensor technology was more advanced. I still think that Nikon always had (and still has) and edge when it comes to usability and user friendliness of its equipment, apart from a generally better rendition of images with higher noise levels, but these are all subjective, and I am sure most Canon users will disagree with me. Read more…

D700, Technical 14-bit, D700, Distortion, DxO Optics, ISO, nikon, review, Technical

I find it difficult to point out when this happened, however the one thing getting accused most often is digital technology. I say this with great sadness, being a great supporter of technological advancement (translated “gadget freak”). The problem is not the digital technology itself, but the abuse it gets by those who, probably out of too much excitement for something new combined with sheer ignorance in the use of new technology, abuse it and mangle it to the point where it becomes something horrible. Not only that, but the ease of use which technology brings, is used in such a way that the thought process starts fading, until we’re all firing away aimlessly like an army of machine guns.

I must admit that for some time I did fall into the machine-gun trap, but eventually I realised that the more I fired away, the less the quality of the output. It is not easy to hold back your finger from the trigger and force a thought process before taking a photograph. It is even tougher when you are capturing things which exist only for a split second.

Alas, the bottom line is that all this is just an excuse - a comfortable scapegoat for those who do not want to admit that, in the end, the only ones to blame for the state in which photography is today, are the photographers themselves. Photography lost its art simply because ph0tographers stopped being artists. Let us be honest - photography has transformed itself into a craft - and sometimes, to my utter disgust, not even that. The result is that those few remaining artists out there who use photography as their medium get the cold shoulder.

It is a long, tough road ahead. There is still a great deal of talent which can emerge and hit the art scene like a ton of bricks, but the change must start from within. There needs to be a deep-rooted cultural change, and it must start from those photographers who have been practicing for years, and who are well established. Unfortunately, I am afraid that some of these have today become “unrecoverable”, however, some have the capability within to rise to the challenge.

Whether they are willing to make the effort, is a totally different story.

Fine Art Art, digital, film, Photography

This is a question I have been asking myself for the past few years. While, as in most cases in life, there are logical explanations to where I find myself today, it is still fascinating how life leads you to where you ought to be, and looking back, it just baffles me how things change so rapidly, and how we can point our finger at those key moments which change our life.

My father is a photographer. It is the only thing he has done since he was 14, and I can say he’s pretty darn good at it. But it was his work, he had been doing it for over 40 years, had been disillusioned by this island’s aversion to change and new things, and ended up hating it. I could never dare follow in his footsteps. I was directed towards the sciences, which I did enjoy thoroughly. Today, I understand that they fascinated me because of the workings of nature, and when I chose to move into IT, it was because I was fascinated by the creative aspect, and the control it gives you over the creative detail.

I had always been playing with cameras, since I was a kid, and a little more seriously since I was 16 and got my first Minolta SLR. During university photography took second stage, but the key moment arrived shortly after graduation, when I decided it was time I tried digital. There came a day in my life, when I realised that I could express myself,  communicate through a photograph. At that point, it wasn’t photography any longer. It was art. The medium takes second stage - the end justifies the means. Finally, what you use to achieve your goal is irrelevant - in my case, it was simply the fact that I felt comfortable within this medium; it fit in with my character, and my existent skill set.

It took a few years, and a lot of experiments gone wrong, to get to a point where technique took second stage, but it it something which every artist should achieve. I learn new things every day, and will do so for the rest of my life, but these are simply new tools which are used to achieve what I want. I am no photography guru - far from it. Coming to think of it, one of the key difference between an artist and a craftsman is that the artists learn what they need to achieve what they want, while the craftsmen achieve what they need with what they know. It is “the end justifies the means” vs “the means justify the end”.

This brings to mind an eternal battle which is raging all over the Internet (and beyond, if there any such thing), between the “film” and “digital”. This brings me back to my point. There is no such thing as film or digital. There is photography, or actually, there is just art. I would use film if I thought that it would bet the right medium for me to create what I needed. Until now, digital has served me well, but who knows what will boil up in my brain tomorrow?

Fine Art, Personal