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"When we do not know why the photographer has taken a picture and when we do not know why we are looking at it, all of a sudden we discover something that we start seeing. I like this confusion." - Saul Leiter
"One of my close friends recently visited Paris and had the chance of grabbing a 2 volume copy of Saul Leiter: Early Black and White for me from La Chambre Claire, a book that isn't yet available in North America. Leiter is certainly an influence on me, but he's also someone I am only beginning to study and understand. This collection of his inspired me to try to replicate the overall bnw aesthetic I found in these books and so, after playing around for a while with my primary camera (Hipstamatic), I realized this combo was probably as close as I could get. This was simply a study for me. My initial shots were too bright, and I think that's because of the film, which can bleach things out a bit too much. So, I committed a street no-no and used the Jolly Rainbo 2X flash to add the necessary darkening. With the border of AO BW, Jolly's vignette isn't as pronounced. I tried to shoot in all scenarios to truly experiment with the combo: rain, shine, morning, noon, evening, 3 a.m., indoors and outdoors, a concert, through glass, etc.. Here's what I got - always with the beautiful collection of Leiter's early black and whites on my mind."
Matthew Wylie
This post is also available in: French
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