Pic(k) of the week 3: FROM RAVENS TO CROWS - Inspired by Masahisa Fukase

This weeks Pic(k) of the week is a triptych, a photograph consisting of three different images combined together. While strolling along one of the kite beaches in Dubai, I ran into a large flock of hungry crows last week. 

Seeing the crows, I was immediately inspired by the work of Japanese photographer Masahisa Fukase, best known for his 1986 book Ravens (Karasu), which was selected as the best photo-book of the period 1986 to 2009 by the British Journal of Photography. IN the aftermath of a divorce he shot a series of moody and impressionistic raven images over a period of more than 10 years. Mainly shot on his daily train commute he clearly went for mood rather than technical refinement. A short video about this book can be found here.

Fukase's images are probably not for everyone, dark, blurred and grainy, they are very different from the daily tack sharp images we have become so used to!

While I normally provide full Exif data for my Pic(k) of the week images, I'll exceptionally won't be doing so this week; this in order to give the photograph rather than the gear the full attention. 

Given the triptych is not that large in the above blogpost, I invite viewers to click on the image above to check out the full screen view!

Although I'm a big fan of the Fujifilm black and white film simulations, I was looking for specific grainy and high contrast filmic look, something Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 and Analog Efex (both by DxO) could provide me! I used the Ilford HP5 Plus 400 film pack simulation in Silver Efex followed by Analog Efex to get the look I was after! 

I know these type of images might not be for everybody, but as always I'm interested to hear what the readers think!

Remember: "The crow once called the raven black" - George R.R. Martin.

BJORN

X-Photographer

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