A place to die for..., a photo from Corse, Sud

Photographer's Note

This is a marine cemetary in Bonifacio, Corsica, one of the most beautiful cities in France - the southermost too-. This graveyard is located on a cliff dominating the sea, you would see Sardinia if you'd climb up a grave. It could almost be an enjoyable graveyard if you could forget some time what's under your feet.

There was a beautiful low sun coming from the southern italian sea, drawing hard shadows on blank walls, while heavy clouds where gathering on the northern mountainous part.

With a corsican friend, We had bought a couple of Lubitel in Paris, experimenting low budget medium format. We chose these grounds for a first try and were quite happy with. For those who don't know what the Lubitel is, it's a nice little plastic box made in Russia that costs less than 30USD, fully mechanical with a glass lens that is supposed to be of varied quality (shortly said the Holga deluxe). Unfortunately, a week after, one of those got totally rusted suffering from the sea breeze.

back to Paris I then managed to try low budget medium format film processing, Lubitel way. I think I failed winding the film around the spire, had forgot that I was processing 120 film instead of 135, everything suddenly went wrong. I came out of my darkroom with a desastrous negative, only half processed and full of scratches.
This print includes only a part of the original negative, it's something like my nightmare to print.

Midnight_sun, Riz, sohrab, SoupDragon, TBasco, Zepi, carobnica, erdna, Yffic, paula_gabbai, bfly, brevbrev14, manub trouve(nt) cette note utile

Critiques | Translate

adam (860) 2003-05-01 2:45

Really stunning image, the multiple cross images throughout and geometric shapes created by the architecture and shadows is wonderfully layed out. The square image works great. I'm curious about the framing. What made you choose to add the white spacing at bottom. Is there any special meaning?

[2]

gringofil (0) 2003-05-01 9:17

Sometimes, just sometimes, when something goes wrong its not always so...here is the prime example. Whatever went wrong, Luko, it sure made for an interesting picture. I like the crosses and the shadows...gives a very thought provoking image. As to the white spacing on the bottom: well, don't know if Luko will agree, but it might be a nod towards Polaroid instant camera images. Just my thought.

philip_coggan (11) 2003-05-05 20:59

I like the composition (crosses everywhere, and walls and shadows). Yes, it has that Holga look.

Skorj (581) 2003-05-06 6:43

Woo hoo. What a great feel to this! Grain, tone, subject, framing... Everything combines to make this a very powerful image.

Certainly, brilliant and inspirational art. Thanks.

mcreider (673) 2003-05-07 13:47

Good choice of b/w, love the beautiful gradations of the grey color and the almost tangible texture of the stone

Wolkerstorfer (32) 2004-03-30 15:52 [Comment]

Show Comment

Midnight_sun (1941) 2004-09-06 14:27

A classic shot, the strong tones make the shadows much stronger as they need to be for this shot. The shadows matching the crosses above them is confusing at first, but extends the scene very well. The last cross caught in a bright part of the sky creates a triangle with the other real crosses, adding to all the other triangles.
Very well seen, the pp was a success I'd say!
A very high quality shot.

sohrab (7439) 2004-11-01 6:41

well whatever you got at the end of the nightmare was worth it , i think :)
this is an absolute beauty not only in terms of the composition, but also in terms of the tones thatyouve got here. the grains here are really good. i dont know how you managed the lovely dark sky . in the thumbnail it looked more like a infrared photograph, but when i enlarged the image it looks like it's been taken out of one of ansel adam's collections.
something else that i like about your photography is that you love to experiment with different kinds of films and cameras, some of them which ive never veen heard of before :)
im going on looking at this image of yourssss..... your dark sky is really eating me up :)
take care

[2]

MEMAN (6) 2005-01-09 12:14

Wonderfully moody photograph! stunning presence! love it.

maciekda (19895) 2005-04-27 14:52

wow, it is a beautiful photo Luko, all those crosses and their reflection - the composition is excellent, B&W works very well here. beautiful work

SoupDragon (652) 2005-05-15 7:44

That grain, it is amazing, this picture is superb. It has so much atmosphere and the five crosses at different depths are just incredibly well placed. I fell that I'm looking at a '50's horror film that is just about to hit the really scary part.
Wonderful.

TBasco (143) 2005-07-02 6:02

classic shot. and interesting technical notes there.

donluicu (24741) 2005-09-15 12:03

salut Luko
j'aime beaucoup l'esprit de cette phot, j'ai l'impression de retourner en labo n&b...
ton hp5 devait etre du 400 asa au moins, pour avoir tout ce grain...
la compo est splendide..
bye

loic

Meloe (99) 2005-10-10 2:41

Encore une fois, trés trés bien vu! Une trés curieuse scène qui émerge sous nos yeux et pourtant qui aurait pu dire qu'il l'aurait remarqué si il était passé à coté?! De plus, j'adore le titre...bon sens de l'humour et petit frisson dans le dos... Une scène hors du commun! Bravo!

Homerhomer (4080) 2005-10-17 18:09

HP5 will be one of the next films I will try, some of the Simon's pictures on this film are absolutely superb and I see you also like to use it.
Love the image, one of the very few from you without human element, yet the old building, crosses and shadows have enough life in them to stand on their own.
Peter

Zepi (22848) 2005-10-18 4:12

Salut Luko,
Je me baladais dans ta galerie et soudain, mon regard c’est arrêté net sur celle –ci !
J’adore ici ce noir et blanc !
C’est très contrasté, bien imposant, granuleux, bref, l’âme même du B&W.
Tu as parfaitement su attendre, l’ombre des croix projetée sur le mur est du plus belle effet !
J’ose à peine imaginer une silhouette en plus, ahhhhhhhhh, quelle bonheur cette image !
Je suppose que tu as vu le RP de ce mois, spécial NB, rooooooooooooo, il y a vraiment du gros !!!!
Belle image Luko, c’est bon de remonter dans les galeries de temps en temps !
Je refais un petit saut demain, et je pose un gros rond de ta couleur préférée !!
A++
Sébastien

carobnica (1336) 2005-10-18 10:19

Hi Luko,
well for me this is something different that I've been seeing in your gallery; but here you really show you know to work with film camera and B&W.
I don't want to comment tehincal things cause I don't feel am an expert in this, I'll just tell you what I mean about formal art elements;
the composition with diagonal line that can been seen here, even though it's not obivously stressed gives this photo a dramatical and non statical feeling which is even more stressed with great capture of stromy sky. "tragical" and dynamic which in first moment is contradictory to the feeling that usually this kind of places gives (peace).
I like this metamporphose that you made. also my favorite element in this photo is play with two crosses in the top of the church and shadows of the the same motive in lover part.
I believe this is something that only good photographer eye would see ;o)
well what more to say I LOVE IT.
ciao
ana

fixed (3836) 2005-11-18 11:23

hello Luko
ambiance lourde et grave ici !
j'aime beaucoup le tirage ou traitement assez extrème ...
étonnant aussi de voir autant de croix dans une seule et même photo ...
un peu comme un appel ... re-moche ;)
je m'en vais du coup ;)
très BÔ !
Arnaud
Lubitel connais po ... format moyen ?

erdna (5713) 2005-11-18 11:52

This is excellent photography with good tonal values. It is almost like a a drawing the way the shades are rendered on the wall surfaces. The shadows of the crosses on the foreground walls add impact to the images.

Andre'

Yffic (6106) 2005-11-18 12:39

Quel grain !! Quelle belle composition !!! J'adores vraiment.

Bravo à toi.
Amicalement.

Yves

russte (0) 2006-05-03 16:40

Luko, I do like this. The composition emphasises the morbid nature of the place. Perfectly exposed. And can't you tell it's HP5 with that smooth but obvious grain. Years and years since I used a roll but... It all works a treat. Stephen

sidstakes (772) 2007-05-21 1:49

Hey Luko! This one is real talent. I mean it just reflects your power of observation. The crisscrossing of crosses both in shadows and in real have been so well spotted.

Regards,
Siddhartha