I don’t have one particular favourite, so the order in which I list them is random.

War Photographer

A good place to start, since it’s probably the most known one of its kind. Director Christian Frei made this award-winning documentary about James Nachtwey. You’ll likely know who Nachtwey is, but just to be sure: he’s probably the most famous war photographer still alive. Some even consider them the best war photographer ever, but I’m always reluctant to compare one photographer to another.

It’s a very interesting report about Nachtwey’s work, and war photography in general. It’s very intimate and, at times, very shocking. The footage that touched me the most is filmed in Indonesia. Nachtwey photographs an Indonesian family living in a slum next to a railroad. The man in the family got drunk and got run over by a train that night. He lost an arm and a leg, but he’s still doing his best to support his family.

Frei placed a video camera on the (analog) SLR Nachtwey is using. That way, you’ll see exactly what he’s seeing when taking photographs. This really adds an interesting new perspective to the documentary.

The only downside for me is that Nachtwey doesn’t really open up about personal stuff. I’m personally very interested what this amount of misery does to a human being. But I’ve never seen an interview where Nachtwey opens up about that.

War Photographer is nonetheless a must-see, and a good place to get started if you’re interested in documentaries about photojournalism in particular.
IMDb – Dedicated Website

Born Into Brothels

This one is very intriguing. Photographer Zana Briski teaches photography to children living in Calcutta’s red light district. It’s amazing to see what those kids can do with their tiny point-and-shoot cameras. They have no fear, no shame, and their vision isn’t polluted by being exposed to the thousands of photographs we’re used to in the Western world.

On top of that, Briski acts like some sort of a social worker for those kids. She tries to get them into school so that they won’t go into prostitution like their mothers or become drug addicts like their fathers.

It’s astonishing to see how those parents handle their kids. If they have any love for their offspring, it’s very well concealed…

The documentary is a hard one. It places most of ‘our’ problems in perspective again. It gives great insight in a world we rarely get to see this close.
IMDb

Shooting Robert King / Blood Trail

Last but not least is Shooting Robert King (or Blood Trail, it’s the same thing). To be honest, I never heard of Robert King since a couple of weeks ago. I had seen some of his photos, I just didn’t know they were his. King is a war/conflict photographer, that started his career in his early twenties.

If I had to summarize this documentary in one word, it would be ‘frustration’. It shows that being a war photographer, or a photojournalist in general, is really frustrating work. In his early years he mainly struggled with getting his work published. He spends all his savings to go to his first war, in Bosnia. He works his ass off, without getting any publications in the first months.

This film also shows the dark side of war photography. King gets very depressed after his first wars, and develops an addiction to drugs, booze and sex. He shares a lot more information about his personal life and his personal struggles than Nachtwey does. War Photographer and Shooting Robert King complement each other on this level.
IMDb – Dedicated Website

Well, this are my first three recommendations. Feel free to discuss any of the films in the comment section. I would love to hear your thoughts!

Recommended documentaries involving photography – part 1 is a post from: Jeroen Berkenbosch - Blog

This photo was made during the annual book market in Deventer. It’s the biggest book market in Europe, which exists of 6 kilometres of book stands. A truly amazing sight. Especially when you cross the IJssel river with the ferry.

This particular stand is the most visually interesting though. Most of the other stands are just regular booths like you see on any market all over the world.

You’ll probably see more of these posts in the future. I decided that it’s okay to just post a recent photograph I made. I might add a short story or something like that. Hans Aarsman style maybe, for those of you that are familiar with his weekly columns in newspaper de Volkskrant.

Deventer book market is a post from: Jeroen Berkenbosch - Blog

The photo above is processed with the Best Camera app. I wrote a blog post about that particular app a while ago.

I’d like to add two other apps. I absolutely love SwankoLab and, to a lesser extent, Hipstamatic.

Swankolab

Swankolab is pretty much a digital darkroom. You can mix chemicals and create recipes. The results are absolutely amazing, and the interface is very intuitive. My favourite recipe is using SwankoDev H1N and Larry’s Developer. In that order. Larry’s Developer is an additional, in-app purchase. Be sure to export full-resolution images. It does take a bit longer to process, but it’s worth it. I’ve had to re-create some photos a while ago, because I exported them on a lower resolution and I needed them in a larger resolution.

Iron Maiden - Processed with SwankoLab and H1N + Larry's Developer

Hipstamatic

Hipstamatic is an app that simulates different analog lenses, film and flash guns. The down side of this app, is that you’re forced to make a photo by using the app itself. I like to make a photograph by using the normal camera app, so I can decide afterwards which application I would like to use for the post processing.

Flower Power - Made with Hipstamatic. Can't recall the exact settings. Oh, and sharpness is overrated ;)

To be honest, the several cool camera apps available for the iPhone are one of the reasons I won’t buy something like an Android. I can get a new phone in September, and it will definitely be an iPhone 4. Even though it has its flaws.

What are your favourite photography related iPhone apps?

It’s all about the limitations – part 2 is a post from: Jeroen Berkenbosch - Blog

To my surprise, I kind of enjoy all its limitations. I know I have to be picky about what to expose properly (if such a thing is even possible), and I know I can’t get the same dynamic range as any DSLR. But that’s part of the fun. I try to make most of my other photos technically perfect in terms of sharpness, exposure, focus and depth of field. The iPhone forces me to look in a different way than I do normally while photographing, and I think that’s an interesting experience.

iPhone Photography Awards

A while ago, I heard about the iPhone Photography Awards (IPPA). I decided to give it a shot and send in five photos.

To my surprise, I’m actually one of the winners in the category Lifestyle. My winning entry is the one above. I didn’t actually win a prize or anything, but it’s still motivating. I’m not completely sure, but I think the photos will be published in a book too. So that’s my first book publication! Made with an iPhone. Go figure.

Make sure to check out the other winning entries as well. It’s really cool to see what others have made.

I will post the second part of “It’s all about the limitations” somewhere next week. The second part will be about some of my favourite iPhone photography apps. So stay tuned!

The second part is online. Here’s a link.

It’s all about the limitations – part 1 is a post from: Jeroen Berkenbosch - Blog

I’m finished school for this year! Well, actually, school is out forever! When this holiday is over (at the end of August), I’m starting my internship that takes five months. I’ll be busy writing my thesis after the internship, so I will barely be on the inside of the school building any more. Only one more year. Hooray!

The last six months were great. Busy, but great. To be honest, I didn’t think I would learn a lot, since I knew I would probably have more experience with stuff (especially photography) than my classmates. But that wasn’t really an issue. I focussed on myself and achieving my own goals. It paid off and learned a lot in the end.

The photo above is one of the photos I took of classmate Marjolein. She persuaded our photography teacher to let us use his studio at the end of the minor to make some photographs. Being a nice guy as he is, he cooperated immediately :)

More after the jump!

My favourite is this one below. Too bad it’s super out of focus (her front foot is sharp, the rest isn’t). I’m not quite used yet to my new 85mm f1.8 lens. I shot this on f5.6, which has a too shallow depth of field for this kind of stuff. It was also pretty difficult to focus correctly, since she moved her entire body. Ah well, it’s all a learning experience right?

Here are two more. I hope you like them. And if you don’t, well, tough luck. ‘Cause I do! :p

Thanks for being such a great victim, Mayo! ;)

Some studio photos of Marjolein is a post from: Jeroen Berkenbosch - Blog

Well, the title says it all, doesn’t it?

They’re shot on Ilford HP5 and Kodak Tri-X, with my Vivitar 35ES rangefinder. I had these scanned professionally as a 2500 dpi tif file. It’s a world of difference between these scans and my own. I didn’t add the borders; they’re a result of the scanning process. I kind of liked them, so I decided not to crop them off.

There are three more photos below!

Some black and white street shots is a post from: Jeroen Berkenbosch - Blog

Another school assignment. I had to make an A3-sized ad. It didn’t matter for which product, as long as it was original.

I’ve always been an enthusiast of the Victorinox Swiss-army knives (SAK). I got my first SAK when I was 6 and went camping. I’ve become really fond of them. Plus, when I read the assignment, I immediately had this idea in mind. When ideas happen in the blink of an eye, I’ve learned that most of them are pretty good ;)

Anyway, I think it’s important for advertisements (and commercials) to have a certain sense of humour. In my experience, it’s easier to remember an ad that made you smile (or grimace, but that’s a negative association).

I guess it’s pretty clear what it implies ;)

Victorinox. Victorious. is a post from: Jeroen Berkenbosch - Blog

This is my fourth school assignment. The theme of this assignment is ‘fear’.

Rather than capturing facial expressions of fear, I chose a more poetic, more consequential approach. I decided to photograph our annual Remembrance Day.

Most wars are based on an underlying sense of fear. As a consequence of Hitlers fears about 70 years ago, we’re still honouring our fallen on the 4th of may.

I hope you like it. Any feedback is, as usual, much appreciated!

School assignment no. 4 – Remember the Fallen is a post from: Jeroen Berkenbosch - Blog

A while ago, Simon Pollock asked me to write a review of the Think Tank Photo Shape Shifter backpack for Digital Photography School.

I love the products of Think Tank Photo and was really curious about the design of this particular backpack. So suffice to say I was really looking forward to it.

It took a while for the bag to arrive (damn you, Dutch customs), but it was certainly worth the wait. What a great bag.

You can read the review over here. If you’ve got any questions about the bag, feel free to contact me. I’ll be monitoring the comments over at DPS too.

Review: Think Tank Photo Shape Shifter is a post from: Jeroen Berkenbosch - Blog

We’ve had a couple of regular classes in the photo studio of my teacher, (located right around the corner of school) but this time was different. We got to play with his studio equipment for a couple of hours, which was my first time.

I do own (and use) some Strobist stuff, but I was really looking forward to using a good softbox. It’s a lot easier to place the light(s) the way you want to because of the modeling light. Plus the recycle time of those things is amazing.

Anyway, my classmate Marjolein arranged her friend (and model) Lori to be our victim. Thanks again to the both of you!

I’m pretty satisfied with the results. It’s not really my kind of photography, although I’m not sure what is, but it was fun to do. My favourite photo is the one on the top, which is unfortunately a bit blurry.

There are two more photos after the jump!

First time with studio lights is a post from: Jeroen Berkenbosch - Blog