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Interview With Duane Pandorf

streetshooter

New Member
Thanks Duane for accepting the interview.
Let's just get it going.

Question #1
What inspired you to become a photographer?
 
Morning Don, thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts about my interest in photography with you and the Ricoh Forum. I'll try to do my best in replying as quickly as I can but I am traveling this week for work. I'm currently sitting in the Delta Sky Club lounge at the Philadelphia Airport (your backyard) awaiting my next airline flight on to West Chester, NY where I'll be working a trip to Europe Monday night.

As I look back at my life and my current interest in photography I would have to say my initial inspiration to photography began while I was in high school. My father had an Exakta 35mm camera and a Yashica TLR. He let me experiment with the Exakta, and that was all I was capable of doing. Our high school did not have a photography class so I was on my own. I'm unable to ask my father today about the cameras and if he were to still have them as he has alzheimer's. But I want to believe that he came by the Exakta from my uncle who had traveled to Russia during the 50s as part of a Betty Crocker student exchange program.

Prior to high school our family made a couple long road trips from Ohio to California where my father did his best in documenting our vacations. Seeing these family photos helped also in nurturing my photography interests. But it was his younger brother who was an active photographer who really helped influence my interest. He let me have an old dark room setup that was still at my grandmother's place. So I had a chance to experiment with black and white film. The equipment would have been made around the 1950s.

My challenge was I had to do my own research on how to use the equipment and figure out how the development process all worked. My other challenge was the camera. It had issues sometimes not advancing the film properly and I'd ruined a number of rolls of film before I gave up on it.

I also had a very busy schedule while in high school as I played 3 sports during the year, plus I played in the marching band in the fall and the concert band the rest of the year. I wrote the sports column in our school paper too. So with the hassles of trying to make a broke camera work and not really having the funds to pursue it any further it was not hard to forget about photography until later in life.
 
Thanks for the reply Duane. It seems that many of us have a similar root for our passion in photography. What one must realize is that, in order to pursue the craft, one had to also be a seeker of knowledge. The knowledge to unlock the mysteries of the alchemy of the darkroom and the proper use of the given camera. It was a difficult task to say the least. The only computer available was in the head and that malfunctioned sometimes. This creates the basic foundation of photography. To find and preserve a moment so that when it has passed, we have an image to reflect upon.
Maybe that's why photographers are the true seekers of the light.

Question#2
What purpose did photography mean back then?
 
Back then the purpose of the photography was to see if I could get a print from the negative. The "art" of photography was no where to be found :D as I really had no idea about the art of photography. I'm an analytical type person. I enjoyed math and disliked the creative type classes. I guess I didn't have a way or knew how to express myself at the time. I didn't take my first real art class until I had to in college to get my degree. And that class was Art History. You know what? I really enjoyed that class. I actually had fun as I look back at that time.

So my initial purpose in photography was to see how the camera worked in the sense to see the negative come alive after removing it from the chemical bath and then watching the image appear on the paper after exposing it in the enlarger.

The technical aspects of understanding the relationship between aperture/shutter/iso really did not play into my experimentation at the time. Nor the composition or subject matter I was actually photographing. I sure didn't have some imagination that someday I'd become some famous photographer!
 
Funny, we share a similar history. I too started young. I was 13 and built my first darkroom. It would be years before I figured out that negatives came from a camera.
So you say your analytical but doesn't that go hand in hand with every aspect of photography as does math?
Without that single component of thinking, one can't decipher the past nor move forward.

Question #3
What does photohraphy mean to you now?
 
I'm now in West Chester, NY in another hotel for the umpteenth time this year and not any different than the last 11 years. Oh well. But then this is what leads to this question you've just asked, what does photography mean to me now.

I looked up meaning in the dictionary to see if it might help me answer this question and I think there's a couple words that are synonymous with this word and they're important and significant.

My wife would probably say that in the last year my interest in my photography has become an obsession. I would have to say she is correct. Since I travel every other week for work and am away from home its hard to justify having a hobby that would take my time away from family while I'm home. I enjoy golf and live on a golf course yet I don't play much now (4-6 hours away from the family), I've also tried fly fishing since moving here to the mountains (at least 4 hours of time if its to be worthwhile, again time away from the family) and even spending time on the computer at home with photography is detrimental to my family time.

However, what photography means to me now is I'm able to pursue this endeavor during my travels away from home without it interfering with the family. I then have time in the hotels I stay to process my images and try to keep up with the forums learning all I can to improve my craft.

But in the art of photographing itself, this last year has been a major change in my whole thought process to taking photos. And that has to do with using a Ricoh camera. Up until April 2011, I had been using a Nikon DSLR. I purchased my first DSLR, Nikon D100, before we moved to Portugal in 2003. We lived there for almost two years and my justification for the purchase was to document our stay and knew that there would be many things unique to photograph.

Upon returning to the states I upgraded to the D200 but soon after my photography fell by the wayside. I did try to bring the camera with me while I traveled for work but it became a chore. Of course I took the obligatory birthday and holiday shots. But the camera was just a point and shoot. I had to have a zoom and actually had 3 at one time, 12-24, 18-200 and 80-400. And the fisheye to boot. With all of that it still didn't make much difference in my motivation to photograph or provide a reason for my photography to have meaning.

The Ricoh GRDIII I bought last year changed all of that. After returning from a 10 day hike in the mountains of Northern New Mexico with my son and in seeing the excitement my wife had in the images I took, my photography all of a sudden had meaning again. For the life of me I could never get a decent sharp image from my two Nikons and at times felt a failure.

derek_hiking.jpg


Yet the GRDIII brought new life to my interest in photography. I could always have this camera with me. I took pictures wherever I went. Of course the majority of the images captured were crap but some just popped. Imagine using just one focal length for almost a year when you have zooms that covered everything! 28mm in both my GRD and in October of last year my GXR with A12 28mm. It forced me to concentrate on what I was really seeing in the frame. With my zooms I'd just stand in one place, point then shoot. There's pictures I've taken in this last year that I'd never consider taking with my big point and shoot.

Then the moment that really changed my meaning of photography. By a fluke I submitted an image of my younger son fishing to Ricoh's Annual photo contest. In fact, I about trashed it as the color version sucked. But I converted it to monochrome and it just popped and thought, maybe. So I was dumbfounded when I received an email from them congratulating me on my submission as it earned a performance award and is on their 2012 company calendar. My self confidence went through the roof and realized that maybe just maybe I did have some creativity inside of me that could actually produce a photograph I could be proud of.

pic37_l.jpg


This one event has set in motion now a direction I've taken with my hobby that I can pursue while traveling giving meaning to why I photograph. I'm able to process my home photos while on the road and I decided to take advantage of my traveling to produce my travel blog. My challenge now is developing my style of photography that reflects what I see and feel as I feel confident in knowing I do have the proper equipment to do this. I've also developed some presets in Aperture to keep my post processing across my images congruent. I do have the Nik Software plugins but find my time is limited and the additional time it takes to leave Aperture and return makes a difference. (However, I do know if there's that one image I want to really work on I have those tools to use.)

So to summarize what photography means to me today, is that I now have a true direction or path I'm on in producing my work and a place to display it to share with others. I get a lot of satisfaction out of what my Ricoh's are able to produce which gets out of the way as I frame and press the shutter release. Something I was never quite satisfied with my Nikons.
 
It's interesting to me that you have not mentioned using photography for hire. This keeps things simple but yet allows the complications of fine art to come to play.
You have a very personal way of using the frame. It's not a generic way like the Golden Rule. (another conversation, another time) There's also a nice way you do conversions. Your processing suites your vision. So I suppose this leads to a signature on your work. It's funny to me that you consider yourself as a hobbyest and not as the serious shooter that you are. Perhaps it's all about perception and one needs to find the way on their own.

I'd like to talk some about your process of creativity. This will lead to a few questions.

Question #4
Could you explain what triggers you to make an image and also how you decide if it should be in color or b&w?
 
I don't know if I have a trigger yet or not on when I decide that an image should be color or B&W. Its best I go back to over a year ago and explain myself. Remember, in my previous post I mentioned there are things I'm doing with my Ricohs that I never considered with my Nikons? B&W is one of those!!!

A black and white image never crossed my mind a year and a half ago. Honest. So you can only imagine the release I've had with my new tools I use to create the images I make now.

To get accustomed to imagining an image in B&W I have both my GRD and GXR set up to shoot DNG+JPG (fine). In the menu setup is looks like: RAW3:2[F] with the JPG image settings Black & White (Contrast 8, Sharpness 7). By using these settings I'm seeing B&W all the time while I'm shooting. I don't think this was possible on my Nikons.

For my creative personal photography my main goal is to stay in Black & White. I normally only upload the DNG color file but use one of my B&W presets during the upload. I of course still have the original color image if I want to work in color. However, for most of my family photos I use color. Its what they want to see. But I do have some B&W images that my wife prefers so color is not a hard and fast rule for me.

The following images were taken this past weekend and I would have never thought a year ago to consider B&W:

niece1.jpg


niece2.jpg


My nieces.
 
Duane, triggers are in our work whether we recognize them or not. As far as b&w vrs color, it seems to me that your aware of when to apply one or the other. Family stuff is color and personal work is b&w. This is a very common practice amongst photographers. The nice thing is now we have the option of discovery in the processing end unlike with film. I am not a color shooter although I can do it but it's usually in LR that I will make the decision. As far as pre-visualizing in color, it's a very rare experience.


Question #5
What are you recurring themes?
 
When I first read this question about what my recurring themes might be I thought I wouldn't be able to answer. But then the lightbulb turned on and I think this is pretty easy for me to answer. I'd like to think my response would be long and in depth and maybe give some insight to what really goes on inside the part of my brain that manages the photography analysis. But it boils down to two recurring themes.

When I'm home my primary photography is landscape. I live in a pretty secluded area. In fact, I live in a gated community with around 1600 homesites with almost 50 miles of road length inside the gates. It takes 20 minutes to go from the east gate to the west gate. We have 4 lakes, hiking trails, golf course, etc. My house happens to be a short walk to one of the lakes and its where I take the dog for our morning walk when I'm home. The back of my property abuts to the first fairway on the golf course.

Plus I spend at least one weekend during the school year on a campout with our boy scout troop along with my two sons. Also, half of the county I live in is national forest with over 300 waterfalls and small mountains with the highest peak around 6,000'. I live at 3,000'.

So the landscape photography takes priority while home.

My second theme is of course, however you want to call it, travel photography. Is that really a theme? If not, its now a theme for me. When I do get a chance to get out of my hotel when I'm working I try to document my surroundings. These images could be my version of street as I'm still not quite comfortable getting too close to people. But these shots would include what I perceive as the mood of the day by seeing others mingling, a shot through a cafe window, to someone walking their dog or the style of architecture.

I like capturing these scenes in B&W. This is definitely a work in progress as I'm still trying to find my footing. But the experience has been exhilarating for me. The hotels we stay in are not normally close to a city center but out near the airport. So the challenge that comes with getting the photo can be getting to the location to photograph. So it becomes a fun challenge to navigate the different transportation systems around the world I travel to get to where I want to photograph.

Of course its very often that the daylight has gone by the time I get into the city and my shoot will be in low light or dark. But I don't care so much as in B&W I have no trouble using a high iso. Its not easy trying to describe the other matters that I feel when I travel to places I haven't been before. I usually haven't had time to really investigate or research in-depth the places I go as I'm only notified a couple days prior or the day prior. So when I arrive to where I want to photograph I try to get a feel of what's going in as quick as fashion as possible.

contemplation.jpg


I had a situation in Paris a few months ago that almost got me into trouble. I did not know you couldn't photograph in their metro. It wasn't 2 seconds after pulling my camera out that I was reprimanded by the gendarmerie. Fortunately they did not take my camera or issue me a ticket.

And then there's usually a meal that ensues during my visit and its another great place to get some photos.

So to summarize my two recurring themes are landscape while home and the all encompassing "travel" photography while working.
 
I don't think I mind being photographed. Its not very often that the camera is pointed in my direction but when it does I don't mind. I need to work on getting the camera pointed at me more often as I'd like to see myself in some of the locals I visit. The way I use my GXR with the M mount and a manual focus lens its not easy handing someone my camera and expecting a decent photo turning up. If I want my picture taken with my camera I usually setup the photo the best I can to ensure it turns out in focus. That's all I worry about. Plus it helps the feelings of the person who takes the photo to know that the photo turned out ok too.

madrid_2012-05-29_14-47-09_rimg0264_c2a9duanelpandorf2012.jpg

(photo taken by one of my crew members while in Madrid)

Over father's day weekend I used a tripod to get some family group shots to also include me. To do that I set up the custom self timer to take a series of shots at 5 second intervals. This way I could get in to the frame for some of the shots.

Its one thing to look at your self in the mirror and another to see your self in a photo looking at the camera. Many things go through my mind in a flash. Like wow, I am getting old, to I didn't realize my wrinkles were so noticeable, to am I really getting that bald? So I was pleasantly surprised to see myself in a couple of Albert's photos of my visit to Barcelona and had these same reactions.

file.php
 
That sir was a great answer. Being photographed makes the photographer aware of the inhibitions we impose on our subjects. I know many shooters that absolutely will not let a photo be made of them but yet will do portraits of willing and unwilling subjects on a regular basis. BTW, I think your crew mate did a great job and that photo would be a better avatar for you.


Question #7
What is the distance to your subject you are most comfortable with while working?
 
I'm not comfortable working very close with strangers. If you've seen any of my "street" photography the photos of people are not very close. But I'm getting used to being in a crowd or close confines of others and as long as I'm not trying to photograph a particular individual I'm ok with bringing the camera to my eye and taking the shot.

However, for family and close friends I still don't like getting too close. I guess the benefit of having the small format camera is its not as overbearing or in your face like my Nikon DSLR gear. It actually is very comforting to know and see the lack of reaction from strangers that I'm not infringing on their space but am a casual on looker taking my "tourist" photographs.

This question also leads to the build out of my dream GXR-M kit. As I'd like to have one lens just a bit longer than my 40mm just for the occasional personal up close work. This past week I had a chance to rent a Zeiss Planar and enjoyed that focal length a lot. I think it would add to my confidence in getting a little closer to others without having to crop but yet not be felt like I was interfering in their lives.

But the idea of having a long tele is completely out of the question. And the word zoom has become a nasty word in my vocabulary.

I think this all relates to your question on how comfortable one is with his subject. This is one aspect of my photography I am actively working on to improve as I become more confident and losing some of that fear I have had.
 
This brings up a key issue and also my next question in a few moments. I remember when you made the decision to go to the M Module. I studied your work a little more than I usually do. I noticed a searching for definition of the frame. What that means to a shooter is, defining how content will fill the frame and what lens is required to do that for a given perspective.

When you started searching for this definition, your lens choices became interesting and well, maybe even expensive.
I do know your streetwork and I think it's a start to an interesting approach. Today, street is confused by Candid Portraiture. So that makes getting close the most important facet of the new street.

Of course this is a huge mistake for any old time shooter but the new ones's go to this method. Your street is like the old school in that it pulls the viewer into the environment not just the FACE. So this leads me to my next question and please feel free to answer for any genre' that you work in.

Question #8
What is your preferred FOV?
 
I just arrived to my hotel in Nice, France. Its now going on one thirty in the afternoon and I need to get about a 3 hour power nap before I head out to take some travel photos. But on to my next answer:

My photography completely changed course I began using my GRDIII.

I was scared to death that I had made a mistake in buying a fixed lens point and shoot. A 28mm wide angle lens to boot. Here I'd been using zooms for over 10 years. How was I going to manage without a zoom?

I can personally say the fixed lens has changed my photography and I believe has made me a better photographer. (May I suggest those of you that may read this, spend one month taking at least one photo a day and only shoot the same camera at the same FOV. Then after that month tell us what you learned.)

I think it became apparent that if I was going to advance my photography skills concentrating on a single FOV was the only way that was going to happen.

Now the answer to your question. What is my preferred FOV? Since this past February and my M mount purchase along with a used Leica Summicron 40mm lens that nearly caused a divorce, this is all I've shot with up until the past couple of weeks.

(my Summicron had an issue and was sent off for repair but its been fixed and returned already)

So I rented a couple lenses to try and finalize what my main FOV will really be. I've shot with a 28 f2.8, 35 f2.0, and a 50 f2.0.

You see I found I was cropping my A12 28mm shots more often than I cared. My 40mm of course acts like a 60mm. But I have really fallen in love with how this lens draws on the GXR-M. I can't tell you how much I'm jazzed every time I snap a picture. It makes me go Wow!

But, I find myself backing up more often than not.

I'm very close in making the determination that the 50mm FOV is my preference. And that a 35mm f2.0 lens will be on my camera 95% of the time to give me that 50mm FOV. Plus it will have to be a Leica Summicron as the 35 must draw close to what the 40 does.

In using the Zeiss 35 f2.0 this past week I really like how my shots were framed. This is my confirmation that this will be my primary GXR-M lens.

However, I want a 50mm Summicron to get me to 75mm for those occasional head shots. The B&W portraits displayed earlier in this thread were taken with the Zeiss Planar 50mm f2.0. But I want to see how the Summicron does as I'd like to keep the same signature as a 35 Summicron.

The A12 28mm, if I keep it (a Voigt 21mm Color Skopar or Leica Elmarit 21mm if I can find one that I can afford could replace it to keep my image captures on the GXR-M) will be there when I need something wide.

So I have to say with the majority of my shooting the 50mm FOV would cover most of my requirements.

The Ricoh product and especially the GXR-M have been a major game changer for me. I'm excited every time I take the camera out of its bag to shoot. I'm confident I can get the results I want and the look and feel of the images coming off the M mount bring a huge smile on my face. And all I really need to use is one lens, a 50mm FOV.

p633006343-5.jpg

Grabbed this one last evening before leaving NY for Nice.
 
Duane, I feel we need to continue this Q&A.

Question #8a
If you feel that the 50mm FOV works best for you, please explain why the A12 50mm differs from some other lens mounted on the M Module.
 
I've never had the A12 50mm on my GXR so its impossible for me to give you a practical answer. However, let me explain my reasoning in this fashion. Most of my photography work has been done while traveling. The refreshing thing about going to a small form factor camera was the ability to travel lighter and actually have a camera with me.

Now that I have the M mount and have had a chance to carry and use one its hard to justify anything that's larger. Two of the reasons why I will probably never own a Zeiss lens is their size compared to a Leica and the occasional wobble. The Leica product has a long history of being a top end product that can take some abuse and live a long life.

The one issue that will probably cause me to sell my A12 28mm is its size when not on the camera as compared to an M lens that's not on the camera but in my bag. It has nothing to do with the quality of image the lens can make, because honestly, they're all in the same league in my book. Maybe just a difference here or there with those who like to take pictures of brick walls to see which one is sharper in the far left corner, or something.

But to me the first issue up front is the real estate it will take up in my bag. You may scoff at this but just that extra room the module uses is wasted to me. The second issue is the overall build quality, a lot of plastic, in comparison with an all metal manual lens. Since I do travel I can't afford banging one up and the repair cost. The third factor is, which is way out there, is if Ricoh were to produce an A16 or FF lens module along with the same sensor upgrade to the M mount I think I'd save a few bucks by already having the lens to put on the M mount vice buying new modules. (This last one is a what if and means nothing in the here and now)

This last reason might upset some true Ricoh aficionados, and the only way I can explain this is when I decided to buy my first Nikon years ago instead of a comparable Canon, I felt the Canon files looked artificial or plastic feeling. In my eyes and for my own taste I feel the Leica glass just draws in a unique way that other lenses can't match. This of course is just my opinion but its one I'm willing to bet my photography on.

I do completely understand the unique capabilities one has with using either the A12 28 or A12 50, as in the "Snap Focus" and Macro for the 50 and close focusing the 28 can do in comparison to I'm limited to a meter for close focusing. Then I don't do out of my way to shoot flowers or am I trying to get that quick decisive moment shot.

You have to remember Don, this whole Ricoh GXR-M is like nothing I have ever experienced before in my photography. Granted, I've had to slow way down to focus and frame my photographs but I'm really really enjoying the hell out of it. Its pure nirvana for me, kinda like greasing a perfect landing to getting an OK 3 wire at the boat (that's aircraft carrier landing lingo :D )

p398172629-5.jpg

View out my hotel here in Nice.
 
I get it Duane. I'm excited for you and feel your enthusiasm. I'd like to go a little further and just keep this as a continuation of the same question.

How do you prefer to work? With the LCD or the EVF and why!

What aspect ratio do you feel most comfortable with?
 
I prefer to work with the VF-2 EVF Don. I'm not comfortable trying to just use the LCD to frame my picture. I like holding my elbows in tight to my body and like having the camera up to my face to help stabilize the camera. One of the ways I use the EVF that would be hard to do with the LCD, is I can easily tilt the EVF up and work with the camera at waist height.

I'm feeling the most comfort now with the 3x2 aspect ration. Setup this way in the GXR gives you the biggest file to work with. Plus I think it matches the 35mm aspect ratio.

p1029895829-5.jpg
 
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