Rikard Landberg - Highlights of Darkrooms Magazine
A special newsletter highlighting an outstanding photographer & project from one of the previous Darkroom Magazine issues
This newsletter may be truncated in your email, click on "View entire message" or '“Read in app” and you’ll be able to view the entire post.
Because I like to see as many photography enthusiasts as possible enjoying outstanding work, I decided to highlight one of the past projects featured in an earlier issue of Darkrooms Magazine.
Today I highlight Swedish photographer Rikard Landberg whose project ‘Frank’ was in Darkrooms Magazine #1
Enjoy!
"Stay consistent. No matter what you photograph, just stay consistent" is something I tell myself every day when I pick up my camera. In an age where new digital film recipes are being pushed by trendy YouTube and Instagram 'photographers', it can be hard to stay consistent. It's so easy to look at someone else's work and start to doubt your own. Thinking you need the camera or lens they use. Chasing the likes of other photographers who are taking the exact same images as you. Everyone on social media who considers themselves a photographer has the same problem, we only consume and are consumed by other photographers. Our photography rarely leaves the community. I don't like that. I think it's bad for the future of photography. I don't want to do photography to become a "photographer photographer". I don't need the online community to approve my work. I just want to make pictures and I want them to be consistent.
It's very rare to see a photographer with a great body of work who changes style once a month. Going back and forth between black and white and color. Shooting tele one week and wide the next, and so on. I started with film photography when it was cheaper than buying a decent digital camera. I bought my first Leica M with a Summicron 35mm for just under $800. Film was cheap and I bought a lot of Kodak Tmax 400. I used that film for almost 10 years. Then the prices went up and I went digital. I just couldn't afford it anymore. Now my biggest problem was keeping my digital work consistent with my analogue work. I quickly found that I had to do the opposite of what people tell you about digital photography. Instead of always shooting at the lowest ISO possible, I would shoot at high ISO and underexpose my images to protect the highlights, and then reexpose them in an appropriate application. Push the dynamic range as far as you can. These settings and some minor adjustments to shadows and highlights are all I do.
I have never used a preset or film recipe in my life. I always edit every single photo from scratch. I wouldn't say my digital work looks like film. But it has a consistent look that works alongside my old film photos. Apart from post-processing, I have committed myself to a 28mm. I use different cameras, but they all have a 28mm lens. I also use zone focus at about f8-f16, no bokeh for me. It doesn't matter if I'm shooting street, landscape or documentary. I stay consistent.
So what's the point of all this?
My point is that if you stay consistent, you will always know what your photo is going to look like before you take it. You don't have to think about which lens to use or which film recipe will get the most likes. You don't get distracted by seeing things that don't fit your style. If you shoot black and white like I do, you stop looking for amazing colors and just focus on light and emotion.
My advice to everyone is to pick a focal length, choose between color and black and white, and stick with it for a year. No matter what. Just shoot. And you will get good at it. And you will find your own style. Just remember to stay, yes, that's right, consistent. These photos are from a lifelong project of my son Frank. I will be working on this project for the rest of my life. And no matter what camera I use, film or digital, it will look consistent.
This brilliant project is one of the 11 fascinating projects in Darkrooms Magazine #1
See more of Rikard Landberg’s work at his website
This week's new voice in Uncovered
Click on the name to read the interview.
Xavi BUENDIA
" I put everything down that relates to my creative process and consume a bunch of junk that I wouldn't on a normal day."
Till next week,
Love visual storytelling? Here's how — beyond sharing — you can support this newsletter:
📸 Upgrade to paid - $5/month for free access to high-resolution magazines & exclusive e-books
📸 Buy me a coffee - One-time donation; caffeine keeps me running
Your support directly fuels the creation of more photography content you love.
Thank you for being part of our community!
Wonderful! I didn‘t know Rikard‘s work and I am so grateful you shared this today. His work is beautiful!
I find his approach quite interesting. I never thought about staying that consistent with everything, but I definitely appreciate that this is one way to truly develop your style and voice.
I somehow admire people who can restrain themselves to one camera, one lens, colour / black or white… I also can see the advantages, but I can‘t see myself doing it.