02 Sep
203/365(+1) by Luca Rossini
203/365(+1), a photo by Luca Rossini on Flickr.

Lens: Voigtlander color-skopar 35mm f2.5
Camera: NEX-7, ISO400, f2, 1/80, raw

Voigtlander eyes. Nocton and skopar. 50 and 35. f1.1 and f2.5. The skopar is my right eye. It looks at the nokton, my left eye, which is looking at me. Two eyes, two lenses, two mirrors. I exist four times in this photograph. There are obviously the two me who got simultaneously portrayed. But then there’s the one who shoots, on the other side of the mirror, behind the camera and the two lenses, the one who sees and composes four worlds at the same time. And finally there’s the one who watches himself on the laptop, where all the dimensions, the planes, the views, the cuts, all get projected on a single, meaningful and tendentious frame, who can’t relate anymore with any of the others.
OK, reading Philippe Dubois is affecting me… so much that in this self portrait (which he resolves being at the very origin of painting and, hence, of photography) I’m simultaneously the three mythological pillars of photography (according to Dubois). Lost, on the other side of the mirror, in the impossible act to embrace myself, I am Narcissus; petrifying the audience with my horrifying eye, I am Medusa; mirroring the petrifying eye at myself, capturing this way the head of the Medusa, I am Perseus.
Can you believe that?

5 thoughts on “203/365(+1)”

  1. Great sharpness on the upside-down eye there, Luca! Really nice photograph and accompanying prose.

    I wondered, do you have a list of the lenses you most frequenyly couple with the NEX7? Also, what neck strap is that you are using?

    martindesu.tumblr.com

    1. Hi Martin, thanks for the kind comment 🙂
      On the NEX-7 I mostly use the two voigtlanders I own, the 35mm skopar and now the 50mm nokton. I tried the 16mm (coming from my old nex-3 kit) but I don't really like its performance on the nex-7. I've got the fisheye adapter for the 16, and coupled together it's something I use sometimes. Yet, I am probably going to sell them both sooner or later and get a manual fisheye lens instead.
      For studio shots I usually mount the minolta 100mm f2.8 macro lens or the carl zeiss 24-70mm f2.8, both alpha mount, both too big to be used as walkaround lenses on the nex-7. I work with the full frame dslr sony bodies, so I have a bunch of nice alpha mount lenses which sometimes I use, like the 50mm f1.4 or the 85mm f1.4…

    2. Thanks for the detailed reply, Luca – and thanks for chasing me up on Flickr!

      I've been “into photography” since I can remember, but was lucky enough to take my first DSLR [400D] to the jungles of Borneo in 2008. I've been somewhat addicted since that first shutter press!

      I've got the C3 (I was very lucky to receive it almost exactly a year ago on my birthday), and quickly amassed a collection of key lenses. I'd never had anything wide-angle before, so I picked up the 16mm and wide-angle adaptor and have really enjoyed the output both in nature and in cityscapes. Then I bought the NEX 30mm macro for up-close photos of animals, flowers and gadgets, and it makes a relatively decent prime. The kit 18-55mm has probably had the most use, but I often want to zoom further, and picked up the 18-200mm this weekend (which looks insane on the C3 by the way: http://goo.gl/JLyYo ) in prep for our upcoming holiday in Thailand.

      I have the Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f/1.4, which I was lucky enough to find new here in Japan. Gorgeous lens, gorgeous contruction, but using a range finder lens with only the LCD is not so easy!

      That's one of the reasons I want either the NEX7 or upcoming NEX6. I like the portability of the NEX (I stopped carrying around my 400D), video ability and the fact it is APS-C. Over the past year I have committed to the system, so I am ready to go the whole way and get one with a viewfinder – perhaps then I will fall in love with manual glass as you so obviously have 🙂

      Keep up the great work; you've re-inspired me to take a shot-a-day!

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