Gosia Janik gives us the lowdown on how she captured this striking portrait.

Image Title

Xu Jing

How I got this picture - Gosia Janik

Technical Info

Film Used

ILFORD HP5+

Format

Medium format 6x5

Camera

Mamiya 645 AFD

Lens

Mamiya 80mm f2.8

Exposure time

1/60

Location

Home/studio in Madrid

Firstly, tell us the story behind this image. What inspired you to shoot it?

I often work with “new faces” - models that are sent to me by agencies to shoot a session for building or renovating their portfolio.

Xu was sent to me by Viewmanagement agency, which likes a lot analog photos. I take photos both with digital and analog camera, using almost always one film per session. When I see through the digital lens that there is something interesting in the pose or light or anything else, I take my Mamiya and shoot it.

Did you come across any challenges?

I don´t have lots of light in my home, sun doesn’t enter through my window. If I shoot close to the window, my exposure range is  from 1/125 to 1/250 if its a really sunny day. If the model is a bit further I can use even 1/45 to get a good exposure. In this case I use also a model light of Elinchrom Octa which was turned on and gave this soft glow on the edge of an arm and leg of my model.

What process did you use?

I almost never use tripod, I feel very limited by it. I love to change lenses, cameras, distances and angles all the time. The tripod would make the flow of my work impossible. I don’t use filters, I really like everything to be as natural as it can be. And I love to work with natural light. In this case the studio light was turned on but even so I only use the model light (which is normal bubble not flash light).

How did you process it?

The films develop my husband Fernando Ocaña who is also a photographer. He develops it in our kitchen using ILFORD ILFOSOL 3 and after he takes photos of negative with digital camera, tripod and macro lens.

What about printing?

I don't have darkroom, that's why I don't print on paper at the moment.

 

Image - ©Gosia Janik