[Camera clicks]

This is an audio transcription – Spelling, punctuation and grammer may not be perfect

Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Hi there everyone and welcome to the Photography.ca Podcast on Photography.ca.‚ My name is Marko.‚ We are coming to you from Montreal.‚ Today is December 24, 2006.‚ So, it is the day before Christmas and we are all having some fun, getting ready for the holidays and I have decided to put together a podcast with a fine art photographer, Dita Kubin from Montreal.‚ So, we actually were able to do a telephone interview together and you are going to listen to it very shortly.‚ The interview lasts about 20 minutes, so I am going to get into it right away and with that, I guess I just want to wish all the listeners the happiest holiday season possible and a Happy New Year as well.‚ Thanks so much for listening to our shows.‚ We intend to do so many more during 2007 and we are going to do many more interviews.‚ We would love to get your comments, so whatever you have to say, send it to us on the blog by e-mail, on the bulletin board and it will be my pleasure to discuss anything you like with you.‚ So, Happy New Year everyone and on that note, let us get into the interview now.
So, I would like to welcome a really special guest today.‚ Our guest is Dita Kubin and she is a fine art photographer in Montreal.‚ I would like to welcome her to the show and we are going to ask her a couple of questions and hopefully, she will give us some insight into her art and her activity.‚ Welcome, Dita.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Thank you.‚ Thank you very much.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Excellent.‚ Good.‚ Nice.‚ Welcome.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Thank you.‚ Thank you very much.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ First off, you have a very unusual website name for people that wants to go and visit your photography and it is Phudge.ca.‚ Phudge is spelled P-h-u-d-g-e, Phudge.ca.‚ How in the world did you end up choosing Phudge.ca?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Well, what is funny I guess is people’s reaction to it because I think that it is pretty obvious and people often also mispronounce it and they say, “Fyudge.”‚ That is pretty funny to me.‚ Actually, it is pretty simple.‚ Phudge, obviously, photography with the ph.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Phudge, well, the idea that it is all just visual dessert, visual pleasures and not to take it so very seriously because I think that within sort of this arts, arts milieu, there is this tendency to take everything so seriously and everything has this heaviness about it that I just absolutely did not want to go there with the art that I was making.‚ I just wanted it to be kind of a light thing, a very light thing.‚ It is not brain surgery.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ So, it is just very, very playful.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah, it is.‚ It is.‚ I find the whole art process to be therapeutic and playful for the individual and not to get stuck behind the heavy concepts of art.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Excellent.‚ Okay.‚ That is great.‚ Well, thanks for that introduction.‚ So, I would like to get right into it with you.‚ A lot of your photographs, they caught my eye, which is definitely one of the reasons that I contacted you.‚ I definitely find your photographs somewhat unusual.‚ Is there some way you can describe your creative process a bit?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Well, unusual, an interesting adjective to describe my‚¦
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ They are unusual, just let me clarify.‚ They are unusual in that they make you look twice.‚ They are just not like the regular head and shoulders portraits within an environment.‚ There is other stuff definitely going on.‚ I guess for that reason, they caught my eye.‚ So, back to the question.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Right.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Can you describe the process a bit?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ I guess you are talking mostly about the last series that I had been working on.‚ That series, I was working on for two years.‚ It actually began originally because I needed a couple of images to donate to an art show and I had nothing new.‚ I just decided to photograph someone and I was just experimenting in ways that I had not done before.‚ When I started to put the image together, all of these really interesting technical elements started coming out and I had such a fun time working on it that I decided to actually to try to push this sort of technique that I did not even know what I was doing at that time just to push it further and see what I could get out of it.‚ For me, it began very much as a technical exploration.‚ I did not really have any preconceived ideas of what I wanted to do.‚ Then when an image kind of made itself, I stood back and I quite enjoyed what the result was, then decided that I would try a couple more portraits in that vein to see if there was something in it.‚ When I had then the next two, I just somehow really opened my eyes and enjoyed so much the process of it that I decided I would do a whole series of that.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Let us talk about one photo in particular and we are also going to put that as the main photo for this entry in the Photography.ca blog.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Let us talk a little bit about the Soma portrait that you did.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Right.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ How was that portrait constructed?‚ Can you describe the process a bit for that one in particular?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ That one in particular was one of the harder ones that I had made although considering that this was a two-year project, the earlier ones were not as elaborate, as complicated because I was not in the place where I understood what I was doing very much.‚ So, this was the first very difficult one I had set for myself thinking, “There’s no way I’m gonna be able to do this, but let’s just go and try.”‚ Obviously, for the main reason that you cannot control smoke and what it is doing.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ So, I had invited this woman, Soma, to pose for me.‚ She is a friend of a friend.‚ We just brought sort of props with us to the studio.‚ I rarely shoot in a studio, but I thought that with the smoke and it was still quite cold out, that this was the best place.‚ It was all shot with ambient lights, so no flash in that at all.‚ We just played around with very many different sort of I would say compositions because we were within one setting, so there was not too much we could do with that and just sort of played.‚ There was no real, again, preconceived idea of what the final image would be although I had thought that I really wanted to do an image where she was lying on the ground and the smoke was coming up towards me, that was one thing that I thought would work.‚ It did not at all.‚ I really found myself to be quite smoked very quickly.‚ It was coming into my face.‚ It was hilarious at the same time because I just could not see anymore.‚ There was so much smoke in my face.‚ Yes, we laughed and then we just continued doing different things and it ended up that after the shoot was over, I did not really know what would result from it.‚ After I processed my negs, I had my proofs I started to see what could be possible, that only this idea came out.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ At that point, which is actually how I do all of the portraits, is that I reviewed all of my shots and started to see how I could make it work towards a final.‚ I worked with sort of low res maquettes at first because there were so many images involved that I sort of weed out what does not work and work my way to a final.‚ With the small maquette, I was doing in this direction of the final one.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ For those, I am sorry to interrupt.‚ For those people that do not know what a maquette is, can you give us a quick definition?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Sure.‚ It would just be basically a model to work by.‚ So, what I do is I work different variations, different small scale models.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Then I weed out the ones that are not working visually or technically and then I start working towards the ones that do.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ So, they are just like quick working copies, if you will.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Excellent.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ So, this one started to form in front of me.‚ You are asking me how exactly was this one made because so much of the work is postproduction.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.‚ It looks like it might be using more than one photograph.‚ Is that correct?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.‚ I believe that this one and it is funny, I do not have an exact count for any of them, but this one would be anywhere between 8 and 11 images‚¦
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Wow!
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ That were used to make this one.‚ The idea being that it would be seamless in how it is blended together.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ But not necessarily seamless that it looks like one single image.‚ The images that I made after this one are more narrative and obviously, they are not always realistic.‚ So, you know that it is not made with one image.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Right.‚ Are all the images that you used of the same shoot or some can be taken from completely different times and places?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ I started that it would be just one shoot and then got into the mindset to be a puritan, that I had to use it from one, but again, I was reminded by another artist friend of mine to just not limit what you are making in any way.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ So, I threw that idea out and I started using images from other shoots with other people in fact.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ I do not do that very often, but sometimes it works and sometimes I will have something from a year ago that I shot that has been waiting to be used and I just do not know in what way and that was partly the case with this one.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.‚ Are these blended using something like Photoshop?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yes.‚ It is all Photoshop.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ How long would it have taken you to create to this particular image?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Well, it is funny because I do not sit down and work at it until I finish.‚ I really need to let them breathe for a while.‚ For this one, what I would have done was I worked on a small maquette at first, so maybe that would have been a two-day kind of thing.‚ Scanning, cleaning them, working maquettes and then I have to let them sit because I am not sure in what direction to go into.‚ This one I know I left actually for about two months.‚ I just really did not know what to do with it.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ When I started to weed out the ones that did not work and decided this is the one direction I would go in, then it would be about I guess four solid working days of making the image, but also broken down, not four days in a row because again I will get up to a certain point and not know what to do with it anymore.‚ So, I have worked on the face area and then the background and I do not know what to do with it, so I am just going to let it sit maybe do a little printout and hang it on my wall, walk by it for a few days and then sit down at it again and work it again.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Quite the creative journey.‚ If people were thinking that it was just like a snap, they are absolutely wrong.‚ Maybe you set it up in a three- or four-hour session, took a snap and then they are completely wrong.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ There was like several days of work in this.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Well, what is funny is that in the beginning when I would be showing the images, people would have their reactions and comment on it and thinks that it is one picture.‚ My reaction was always, “People, I’m working so hard on this one picture.”
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ That is not obvious at all.‚ However, now, I guess I see that that is a compliment if seen as a one shot.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ I think it is a compliment.‚ It is a testament to the good blending and postproduction skills that you have definitely.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Something like that.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Definitely.‚ The image at least from my perspective is so strong and so unusual technically because the eyes are sharp and the hands are sharp as well, which for someone more in the know will just obviate the fact that it is more than one image, but for someone less in the know or someone just passing it by quickly to see and feel that it is one image taken on the spot, I guess it really is a great compliment to the work that you did to it.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ I think in particular with this image as well, it has a lot of spiritual suggestion.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Definitely.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Not that even that was my intention in the beginning although incense I think for everyone has some sort of a spiritual association.‚ This woman in particular, she is from the States, but her family comes from Bangladesh area.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ The incense bowls were a gift to me from a friend of mine who went to India about five years ago on a big long trip and he had gotten me these incense little burners from Agra from a crematory.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Wow!
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Brought back four of them for me and I had always thought that they would be so wonderful to use in a shoot, but I never what or how and I had just kept them thinking that one day I am going to photograph someone with incense, with them, so it just kind of came together when I met Soma and after I found my smoky lady.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ It definitely, definitely worked out.‚
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Thank you.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.‚ So, moving on.‚ I know a lot of our listeners, they are also fine art photographers and they kind of like to produce art and some of the questions for people that are just starting is “Can I live off my art?‚ Is this something that is going to sustain me?”‚ You are definitely a fine art photographer yourself, so I guess we would like to ask you‚¦
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.‚ Do I ask myself the same question?
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Do you ask yourself the same question?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Everyday.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.‚ Yeah.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Everyday.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ How difficult is it to let us say sell fine art photography and make a living from selling your artwork?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Well, I suppose it is different in North America than it would be in other places in the world.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Such as places in Europe perhaps?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Europe definitely embraces their artists more, not that I have any first hand knowledge, but I do have other artist friends who have said that to me, but also I do come from Eastern Europe and I would have thought it would have been easier here to go that route, but I do not even think it is so much geographical.‚ I just find that people in general are not very supported to do art in a very sort of a life career kind of way.‚ I know very few, for instance, friends whose families have supported them in that route.‚ There is always this projected fear of not being able to survive in it.‚ So, already in wanting to go into art, we have that projected fear on us which we project on ourselves and on to others as well.‚ That definitely does not help people making the decision to go into artwork.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ That is something that I probably still do struggle with on some level in my life, but there did come a point where I just could not do all the other stuff that I did not want to be doing in life and I knew that this is what I wanted to be doing now.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Right.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ So, I find that having made that decision, the rest — it is really just making that one decision.‚ The momentum after that one decision starts to go forward and things start to come to you once you have made that decision, but being in a indecisive place does not‚¦
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ It does not now.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Offer opportunities for you to go there and do that.‚ So, back to your question.‚ It is difficult to survive in this.‚ See, I think that it is not, but it has been made to be that way.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Right.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ I find that it is a little bit easier now than it was two or three years ago for myself.‚ That is also in the early stages of you doing art.‚ Your art is not worth as much as it would be in the future.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ For sure.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ That is a part of it.‚ People are buying it just because they like it for themselves or as gifts for other people.‚ There is no further commercial value unit in that.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Right.‚ Right.‚ Are you finding you are able to sell more pieces as months go on, as people see your work?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Absolutely.‚ Absolutely.‚ Maybe that is the thing that has surprised me.‚ I know that that is how it would work, but again, having the fears‚¦
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Right.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ That we cannot survive.‚ How are you going to live?‚ When it does happen, I am always surprise that somebody would want to pay for it.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Right.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Then I am not surprise.‚ Yeah, of course, that is why I have been working‚¦
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Right.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ So hard on that and on other things.‚ So, it makes sense to me.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Well, it is definitely nice to hear and I suspect that a lot of our listeners will be happy to hear that as well.‚ I think you are absolutely right.‚ It is a matter of passion really in saying, “This is what I want to do.‚ This is what I’m going to do.‚ Let me go full force at it.”‚ I guess someone can try it and fail.‚ Everyone does fail occasionally, but if you do not give it your all and you do not give it a shot, then you will never know.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Sure.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Especially when you have kind of developed a certain style for yourself and you really appreciate that style and you explore it, I guess if you put your heart and soul into it, it is going to work.‚ Just do not quit.‚ If you quit, it is definitely going to fail.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ I think the other thing is the motivation behind doing our work.‚ I have met people who are motivated to do it for fame and money.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Right.‚ Right.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Or even let us just say fame or recognition or to leave some kind of a legacy behind.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ I find that whenever that has been my motive, it never works out.‚ In fact, when the motive is simply to express that thing that you have to express inside, that is when things happen.‚ Yeah, in the art making process and also in what you get out of it in return.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ So, back to our original question.‚ Do you do any other photographic work as well or is it always working on your artwork?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ No.‚ I am doing a little bit of commercial photography.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ I would say very little.‚ I never look for it, so only when I get called to do something and then it has to sort of fit in with what I am doing in general then I would do it like let us say private portraits for people.‚ I pretty much do not do any kind of advertising work at all.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah, so it is pretty much private, private portraiture.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Another important question that we like to ask.‚ I always get this by e-mail.‚ What equipment do you use?‚ So, for all the gearheads out there who are dying to ask you this question, what gear do you use, Dita?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Sure.‚ Whatever I can keep my hands on.‚
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Are you shooting mostly traditional photography?‚ Are you shooting more digital photography at the outset before processing it?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ No.‚ Everything is shot on film.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ In fact, I find myself to be very fortunate that I am still from the old school photo world.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ So, everything is wet lab.‚ I process my own black and white at home, send the color out, but basically I do shoot on almost anything I can.‚ The series that the image of Soma came from was shot on 35 with F90x Nikon camera.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ I would like to say I have that camera and it is amazing.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.‚ It is pretty good.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ We did not discuss this in advance, but I love that camera.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.‚ I really do as well and I came upon it because it was actually one of the cameras they used on a film set as a prop.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ They have purchased 10 of them and then they were selling them off, so I really came in to a very good deal and that is why I bought it.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Excellent.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ It is also a camera that for instance I let one of my other photography friends use, so she is working with it all the time.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ I am very much into lending and helping each other out in that sense.‚ So, this series was also shot on Agfa, Agfa film.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ For me, I had wanted to do something like this for about six years.‚ I have applied for grants, always got rejected and I took it personally at first and then I just thought, “Well, that’s ridiculous.‚ I’m not gonna let something like that get in the way of me working on a project.”‚ So, I decided that I would fund it myself.‚ So, what is the cheapest way that I could do it?‚ What is the cheapest film I could buy?‚ What is the cheapest way I could process it, scan it and work on it?
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ When they were finally printed, were they printed via inkjet, from a lab, what is the final result?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.‚ They are inkjet prints using the most archival inks that are out there and also printed on archival paper.‚ That would be the limited series edition that I have.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ I have really decided to go that route and limit the production of it.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ For those that are thinking of possibly doing something similar with their own projects, would you be able to suggest what paper you are using?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ You know what?‚ I would not because everyone likes something else and I have gone through it like for instance I bought the most expensive paper you can possibly buy on earth.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ After starting to print, I really did not like it.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Which other people swear by that paper, so it is not for me, but it works for other people and I am now still in the process of finding something that I really want to stay with.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ So, the papers that you use vary from image to image?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Well, they vary not too much.‚ They vary a little bit because I am still in the process of trying to find the best route for me, but that is also talking about black and white images.‚ I really like a paper that has a very pure white in it.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Yeah.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ I find that a lot of digital papers out there are a little bit creamy.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Which lowers the contrast of your image and for me, I need to have my whites to be white.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ So, that would be the perfectionist in me that does not like the most expensive paper on earth.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.‚ I guess we have taken a lot of your time.‚ I do not want to continue too much longer.‚ So, I guess I just like to ask you at the end, are you having any upcoming exhibitions or besides Phudge.ca, where else could people see some more of your work?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Well, at the present moment, I had just finished an exhibition in November and I packed it up and I am now looking for other places to exhibit in.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ This would be the series, the Recollection.‚ So, I am at the place now where I am sending out my dossier to other artists and galleries and what-nots and starting my new series.‚ So, at the moment, I do not have it up anywhere.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ I am looking and as soon as I find a place, I will have it up on my website.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Excellent.‚ Excellent.‚ If you send me a link once you do have it done maybe I will be able to put that in the show notes as well.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ A little bit of a sneak peek maybe.‚ Are we able to?‚ What will the next set of work be dedicated to?
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Actually, I think that it is going to be — there are two things that I am very interested to work on and one will be a continuation of this project.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Okay.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ But in color.‚ I am sure it is what that has to tell me.‚ The other one is I am looking to go travel, to get out of town for a little bit and to continue a little bit of a sort of a series of squares that I have been working on that actually are very abstract and has new people in them and are just sort of almost abstract colors, horizons, that kind of thing.‚ So, I am curious.‚ That one I have not really worked out very much.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Excellent.‚ Excellent.‚ Well, we will look forward to it definitely.‚ So, I guess I would like to take this moment to thank you, Dita, for agreeing to do this podcast with us.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Thank you very much, Marko.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ It was totally a pleasure and I know a lot of our visitors are going to get a lot out of it.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Thank you very much.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ So, thanks again and we do hope that you will send us an update as well.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ I will.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Thanks, Dita.
Dita Kubin:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ Thank you.
Marko Kulik:‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ So, that was our interview with Montreal fine art photographer, Dita Kubin.‚ I certainly hope you enjoyed that interview.‚ I hope you learned a few interesting things.‚ I know I did.‚ We intend to do more interviews in the new year.‚ I would like to take this opportunity once again to wish everyone Happy holidays and Happy New Year.‚ I hope everyone is healthy and well and gets whatever they want.‚ Please, as always, leave some comments in the blog or on the bulletin board or you can shoot me e-mails at photography.ca@gmail.com.‚ It is my pleasure to hear from you.‚ So, take care everyone.‚ Be well and we will be putting more stuff out in 2007.‚ Bye for now.
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Please note that this is an audio transcription. Grammer and punctuation will not be perfect.Hi there everyone and welcome to the Photography Podcast on Photography.ca.‚ My name Marko and we are coming to you from Monreal, Quebec, Canada, and today is December 8, 2006.
For today’s show, we are going to talk about exposure.‚ Although a lot of people know about exposure, a lot of people do not.‚ Someone on the bulletin board mentioned that they like to know a little bit more about getting good exposure, so I thought I talk about that today.‚ Even if you know about it, I guess you can hear about it again and we all learn from each other’s techniques.‚ It is a good thing to do.
Exposure refers to the quantity of light hitting the film or digital sensor, in terms of a digital camera, to correctly take the shot.‚ This quantity of light, it needs to be precise.‚ If too much light hits the film or sensor, the shot will be overexposed or too light.‚ If not enough light hits the digital sensor or film, then the shot will be too dark and it will be under exposed.‚ It really needs some precision.‚ The good news is, is that in today’s modern cameras either traditional cameras or digital cameras, the sensor in that camera is very sophisticated.‚ Generally, that sensor will give you good results most of the time.‚ Under normal circumstances when there is good mixture of tones in the scene, your shot will be correctly exposed because basically what the camera sensor is trying to do, it is trying to give an average reading of all the tones in the scene.‚ If you have a lot of dark tones and a lot of light tones and some mixed tones, well, then your camera will generally give you very good exposure and that is all you need to do.‚ The problems happen when there is too much of one tone or too much of another tone.‚ Specifically, if there is too many light tones or too many dark tones, what the camera is going to try and do and say, “Hey look at those light tones coming to the camera.‚ In order for me to make this average, I need to close down a bit.”‚ What is going to happen is your shot is going to look grayer or not as light as it should.‚ These are situations where you need to be careful.‚ There are other techniques that you can use that will help solve these situations.
The classic example, of course, is someone standing in front of beach or in front of a window and then another person tries to take a photograph of that.‚ When that camera is looking at the scene, it is saying, “Oh my goodness, look at all the light coming into the camera.‚ Again, I need to shut down.”‚ What happens is the person in front of the beach or the window ends up looking too dark because the camera underexposed the subject because so much light was coming into the camera.‚ These are the situations where you have to be careful.‚ When you see extreme amounts of light coming into the camera or on the opposite end, if you are taking a picture of, let us say, someone wearing dark clothes against the dark wall, the camera is going to say, “Oh my god, this scene is so dark.‚ I need to average it out.‚ I need to open up a lot.‚ I need to give the shot more exposure.”‚ What happens is the black person in the black suit against the black wall ends up turning out mushy and not black because the camera did not correctly expose for those tones.‚ Like I said, again, to recap, in normal scenes where there is a variety of tones, there is really no problem and you will generally get good exposure.‚ The trick is being able to notice when the scene is not normal.‚ That only comes with experience.‚ Of course, if you have a digital camera, you could just look at the results and adjust expose accordingly and hopefully learn from it or if you are with a conventional camera, take notes if you are learning and then when you get back the results you can also see what went right and what went wrong.
Now, the camera sensor in your camera, that is a reflective sensor.‚ That is reflective meter.‚ It is called reflective meter because it measures the light that is hitting your subject and coming back to the camera, the light that is being reflected back to the camera.‚ These are generally excellent in quality as we mentioned before especially in modern cameras.‚ Again, you just have to be aware of the situation where the lighting is not normal because that camera meter will be fooled.‚ What these reflective meters do when they are in camera is they average out the whole scene within the camera.‚ It looks at the whole scene and the camera measures the whole scene.
There is another type of reflective meter called the spot meter.‚ It is exactly the same in principle except that it only measures a smaller area of the photograph.‚ Usually, you will see like a circle in the middle of the camera when you are looking through it. ‚In the center of that circle, there will be smaller circle or a smaller square.‚ If you have spot metering available on the camera, it will measure exactly what is in that teeny spot.‚ It is really handy when you are more advanced and you want your exposure to be based on a particular area of the shot, but for most people the type of metering that is non-spot that evaluates the whole scene or the whole frame of what you are shooting gives really good results.
A great tool that can help with exposure, especially if you are just learning or you want to perfect your metering technique or you want to assure yourself of good results, is a gray card.‚ What the gray card does is the gray card is the exact measurement that the camera is trying to achieve.‚ The camera is trying to make all the tones middle gray.‚ Although this may sound weird for color photography, again, it is trying to achieve a middle color so that the exposure will always be average and thereby correct.‚ You can buy this gray card at any photo store and it is a great, great handy tool when you are learning.‚ If you do come across a situation where you are just not quite sure of exposure, especially if you are with a non-digital camera and you cannot see result right away, what you could do is, let us say you are taking a picture an object or a person, well, you have that person hold the gray card or you use some type of device to hold the gray card in place and you approach the subject and you take the meter reading off the gray card.‚ You approach the gray card and you have the gray card fill the frame of the camera.‚ You note the exposure on the camera and you plug that exposure in when you back up.‚ That will give you a very accurate result.‚ You should also be aware that the actual exposure is dependent on three variables, which is the film speed, the aperture, and the shutter speed.‚ These three variables, they change.‚ They are not constant.‚ Although you may use certain a film or your camera may tell you that it is using a certain film sensitivity, it is not always bang on.‚ As you approach in experience or as you approach better photographic technique, you may want to make smaller adjustments in order to achieve better results.‚ In using the gray card, you could really find out the difference between the camera’s exposure and what the actual neutral exposure really is.‚ I recommend using the gray card when you get like a new camera or a new lens or you want to really perfect your exposure.‚ Just take a shot, put the gray card in the scene, approach the gray card, take the meter reading from the gray card and your camera, then keep that meter reading back up and take the shot as you normally would.‚ A good thing to do as always would be to take the shot according to what the camera reading was giving you from your position as opposed to what it gave you when you approach the gray card in the scene.‚ Again, it is a great, great learning tool and experience.‚ The metering we just talked about, this reflective meter, it comes with the camera and it is great tool to use.‚ You can also have an external spot meter if your camera does not have one.‚ They are pretty expensive, but they are great tools to have as well.‚ What it does is to kind of looks a little bit like a gun, let us say, and from your position you aim it at the subject and you can get an exposure reading that is very, very precise from a small area on an external reflective spot meter.‚ Very useful device for those that are more advanced who really want to perfect their exposure.
Another type of meter that is very useful to have and most pros have one, or even advanced amateurs they have one, is called an incident meter.‚ What the incident meter does is it measures the amount of light falling on the subject.‚ It does not have to do with the reflection back to your camera.‚ It is the actual amount of light that is falling on your subject.‚ You approach the subject physically.‚ It does not matter if it is a person or an object, but it is definitely something that you can approach.‚ You would not use it for a mountain or a landscape.‚ I guess you are good — if you want to get a lot of exercise, approach the mountain and then go back to your position and shoot, but it is really for portraiture or still objects.‚ The ambient meter or the incident meter will measure the light falling on the subject.‚ The results you get from this meter are very accurate because it actually measures the amount of light falling on the subject.‚ You can get into tricky situations with the incident light meter as well if different mixed lights is falling on your subject, but in general just play with it a little bit.‚ Again, check out the results either on screen on a digital camera or when you get your film back and you will see that it is just an absolutely fantastic, fantastic device.
Usually, when we use the incident meter, especially in traditional photography, we are going to measure for the shadows.‚ We are going to expose for the shadows.‚ If there is a mixed light within the scene, we are going to try and position the incident meter and we are going to point it at the light source or toward the light source, but in the darker area of the scene if that makes any sense at all.‚ If there is like a bright ray of light shining on the subject at his chest level, you may want to measure the scene below the chest level so that it does not totally blow out the scene.‚ You want to expose for the shadows in general and develop for the highlights if we are talking traditional photography.‚ If we are talking digital photography, just incident record the scene.‚ Take the metered measurement, plug it into your camera, shoot, and see what you get.‚ See what you are doing right or wrong.‚ That is really the beautiful aspect of the digital camera; you can see the results right away.‚ Again, for anyone that is seriously into photography, I highly recommend getting an incident light meter.‚ It is so practical and such a great learning tool and such a great useful tool, especially if you are being paid to shoot.‚ Now, again, these incident meters are a couple of hundred dollars.‚ They are between $200 and $300 to buy them new, but you can often find them used on eBay or you can look in your local paper or go to a local photo store and you will find these meters used as well.
The only other thing I really wanted to mention about exposure is the difference basically between traditional cameras and digital cameras.‚ Although the technique of measuring the scene will be the same, again, you are going to want to make some small adjustments with regard to the meter readings that you are getting especially if you see that your results are consistently off.‚ Film manufacturers and the camera’s speeds, you need to adjust them.‚ They are going to be really good for most applications, but you are going to find that occasionally the meter reading is off and you are going to wonder why.‚ It is because they are not all bang on, you need to adjust them slightly by increasing the exposure either through exposure compensation in the camera or exposure compensation in the meter.‚ You really need to adjust the individual meters if you want to get the best result.‚ You also need to know that when you are doing your tests that although your eye can see the difference in latitude between the darkest parts of the scene and the lightest parts of the scene, the camera cannot.‚ If there is a really huge difference, the camera will not be able to record it properly regardless of how you are metering it.‚ Now, that is a whole other topic and we can go on and on and on about the fine points of exposure, but you need to be aware that if the scene is too bright, your camera will not be able to record it regardless of the meter reading that you put in.‚ These types of situations really only occur with experience.‚ After you have shot many, many photographs, you will be able to realize, “Oh my goodness, this scene is just way too bright.‚ I either can’t shoot this scene and record both sides of the spectrum, the dark tones and the light tones correctly, or I have to reduce the contrast of the scene somehow.”‚ Sometimes that always will not be possible.‚ You need to give it up unless you have such a budget whereby you are able to really control the scene with all kinds of equipment, then if the scene is too strange in terms of its brightness variety, you just have to wait for another time or realize it is just not going to work or live with the results you get.
That basically covers our show for today.‚ As always, we appreciate comments in the blog and we also appreciate comments in the forum.‚ We are changing around the blog a little bit.‚ I hope you like the changes.‚ You can subscribe, as always, for free in iTunes.‚ Just do a search for photography podcast or Photography.ca Podcast and you will find our podcast.‚ We are going to have some direct links put up in the blog so that if you just click those links you will be subscribed in iTunes, which is a great podcatching software to have, so I recommend you download it if you do not already have it downloaded, but a lot of you probably do have it downloaded.‚ That is it for the today.‚ Thanks so much.‚ We are going to do another podcast really quickly.‚ Once every two weeks I am finding is bit long, so I intend to actually shorten that period in the very near future, maybe once every 10 days or even once a week.‚ Hope you keep on listening.‚ If you have any questions, shoot them my way.‚ It is my pleasure to answer them, either via email, via the blog, posting in the forum.‚ Always my pleasure, love talking to newbies, love talking to professionals through email or directly.‚ Again, thanks everyone for listening.‚ Have a great day and keep on shooting.‚ Bye for now.
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