 At the
age of two, Istvan wanted to pick up the camera. His father,
also named Istvan, discouraged him. Young Istvan persisted. His
father gave in, sort of. Istvan Sr., being the more cunning of
the pair, removed the camera from its case, closed the case and
gave it to his son. This pacified young Istvan for some time,
as it was years later when he actually picked up a camera and
took a picture. When he did he was hooked for life. In 1982,
Istvan convinced his father to buy him his own camera. With the
camera came the stern warning that school came first and photography
second. Yah, yah, sure, sure, gimme the camera. Istvan did manage
to graduate from high school even though he spent a great deal
of time in the darkroom. In university, he discovered the photography
club and spent a lot of time there. A number of years later an
astute friend observed that many of the regulars at photosoc
graduated from university with a major in photosoc and a minor
in their actual degree. After university came travel and then
it was time to get some training in his chosen career path. Istvan
then went to Langara College (then Vancouver Community College,
Langara Campus) and studied Professional Photography. Upon graduating
he found his true calling as a scanner operator/photo retoucher.
When he is not busy raising his two children, renovating his
house or restoring Studebaker's, he can be found out there exploring
the world with his camera. The photographs on this website represent
a selection of images made upon a visit to the Loucks farm in
Aldergrove, B.C. All the photographs were taken over a very short
period of time as I explored the many derelict Studebakers on
the farm. I chose to use Kodak High Speed (HIE) Infrared Film
because of its ability to give a subject an otherworldly feel.
A Wratten #87 visually opaque filter was fitted within the camera's
mirror box. Thus only "invisible" light exposed the
film. The film was processed using Kodak TMax RS developer. The
negatives were subsequently scanned on a Linotype-Hell Tango
Drum Scanner. Tonal adjustments and burning and dodging were
performed in Adobe Photoshop. Digital files were then imaged
onto photographic paper with a Cymbolic Sciences Lightjet 5000
series printer. The prints were drymounted and matted with archival
matte board and framed in anodized aluminum frames. |
