Category Archives: Philadelphia Photographers

Veronika Schmude at Apple Jacks Studio

Veronika Schmude at Apple Jacks Studio

“I went running out on the eye beam because I saw this shot. And my friends were like, ‘They were right about you!'” Veronika Schmude is an urban explorer who loves to takes risks to get a great photo. Veronika asked DoN to help her hang her show at Apple Jacks Studio at 319 North 11th St, 4th Floor, Philadelphia, the arts building near Vine Street, it’s flattering to be asked for artistic advise, especially in a hot art spot like the Khmer Building with Vox Populi and Tiger Strikes Asteroid. We decided to arrange the work formally with an even eyesight line with some quirky informal arrangement of the smaller pieces mixed in. With the broad spectrum lighting Veronika installed and the industrial loft vibe of the gallery, the photographs looked perfectly amazing.

Veronika Schmude at Apple Jacks Studio

Veronika Schmude explained to DoN, “All of these are the Richmond Power Plant except for the center piece, the center one is called Machine and was taken at Global Dye. Which they’re apparently shooting a movie in; the Richmond Power Plant had a bunch of movies shot there: 12 Monkeys (Special Edition), is the most known, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Two-Disc Special Edition), that was shot there as well, parts of it and it’s actually a fascinating building.” DoN wondered how one get’s inside a locale like an abandoned power plant? “They make attempts to keep us out by putting grating and a fence but..” A conversation starts between Veronika and a couple of her explorer pals about which tools the authorities would be consider those used for breaking and entering and those for hobbyists, Dremel Rotary Tools are for hobbyists (wink, wink!)

Acting normal and like you belong there is a technique the explorers use if confronted with questions as to why they’re there. “I’ve always been fascinated with abandoned buildings and industrial sites since I was a kid. I would go into abandoned buildings in the town I grew up in, Springdale PA, about forty miles outside of Pittsburgh. And between the abandoned warehouses along the train tracks and the abandoned homes I came across interesting stories and one story in particular.“

Veronika Schmude at Apple Jacks Studio

“There was this one house that was cut into three different apartments. Well, this one apartment I went into, they were all open, because it was a small town and they didn’t need to lock up anything really. Everything was left as is, they literally picked up and left, down to food on the stove in the pot and I ended up later meeting the woman who used to live there. She was obese to the point of bed-ridden, her husband had elephantiasis, and they used to have two kids living in this apartment. And, according to them, these children became possessed and they literally had to pick up and leave and the children were eventually taken away because they were, well, they had some problems.”

DoN asked Veronika about the emotional sensations she experiences exploring abandoned spaces since she started as a kid? “Yeah, I have to say there is something almost appealing, very sexy about the whole smell of, like, decay and rust and the air’s so thick you can feel the particles, there’s dust landing on you. There’s something like also very innocent about it because it takes me back to my childhood, but, it’s a thrill, too. I mean, it’s definitely a rush getting into these places without getting busted. Getting back out with everything intact. Some buildings I have to be quicker than others, get in and get out, depending on if there’s homeless or whatnot, squatters. I shoot with a Canon 450D, on my last shoot which at the Saint Nickolas Coal breakers I borrowed a friends camera, both Canon, and an Canon XTi, the Canon XTi has a 135 mm wide angle and my camera, the 450D, had a 90 mm normal lens which I use for closer, smaller shots. I use a color enhancing filter and I adjust my white balance to give a warm tone or a cool tone…which gives that warm red hue, makes the rust colors really pop.”

Veronika Schmude at Apple Jacks Studio, 319 North 11th Street, Floor 4, Philadelphia PA 19107

Written and photographed by DoN Brewer

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Robert J. Brand, Jazz Photographs, Downstairs Gallery at the Plastic Club

Bob Bruhin at Cafe Twelve – Images from Eraserhood

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Bob Bruhin at Cafe Twelve – Images from Eraserhood

The Photographic Society of Philadelphia‘s current solo show is photographer and blogger Bob Bruhin, at the reception in the comfy Cafe Twelve, 212 S. 12th Street, Bob explained to a group of society members his collection of photographs. “This is a small selection that I call Images from the Eraserhood, it’s photos that were taken originally for my blog eraserhood.com, which is discussing the neighborhood North of Vine Street, South of Spring Garden Street, East of Broad Street and West of 7th or 8th depending on how you determine it. It’s an historically industrial neighborhood that used to have the Reading Railroad running through it, there a big old thing called the Reading Viaduct which was where the railroad ran before they built commuter tunnels. It’s filled with old industrial properties, beautiful stunning buildings. In the mid to late 60’s the artist David Lynch lived there, he was a student at the Pennsylvania Academy and the geography and the look and the tone of that neighborhood of that time inspired his first feature film entitled Eraserhead (Import, All Regions). So recently as the neighborhood has developed it’s taken on the name Eraserhood, it kind of stuck to the neighborhood,”

Bob Bruhin at Cafe Twelve – Images from Eraserhood

“All that fascinated me when I came to work there, I work in a building called the Wolf Building which is an emblem of the factories and condos and offices and apartments, all manner of things. Rick Wright has his studio in that building. At the time I was originally photographing only using a cell phone, so what I was doing was taking composite images panoramically, specifically to build up a large enough image to make it worth the trouble. Eventually I found it amusing enough that I started to use a real small Nikon point and shoot, a simple Nikon Coolpix L20 10MP Digital Camera. But since I became addicted to the panoramic process at that point, I continued to do that and started building larger images, I worked with exposure stacking and high dynamic range to intensify the color and textures of the images.”

Bob Bruhin at Cafe Twelve – Images from Eraserhood

“So it’s kind of an historical study but it’s supposed to be a bit of a twisted historical study just because of the twisted history of the neighborhood, the tone of David Lynch‘s work kind of inspired that. I was further inspired by the fact that it is now a National Historic Landmark called the Callowhill Historic District which has all of these buildings in this show are from the Callowhill Historic District set…these have all been done with the panoramic process and have been enhanced with exposure stacking and high dynamic range. I bracket all my exposures and combine them digitally at the end wih a more even exposure and also to capture all the texture that I can possibly capture.”

All photographs courtesy of the artist, Bob Bruhin:
– http://bob-bruhin.com/
– http://eraserhood.com/
– http://LandMarrx.com/
Read other reviews of PSoP photographer Karen Schlechter on DoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog and Jeff Stroud on Side Arts Philadelphia Art Blog

Movies by David Lynch

Lost Highway

Wild at Heart [Blu-ray]

Mulholland Dr.

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Small Worlds 2012 at The Plastic Club

Bruce Kravetz, Photographer

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Bruce Kravetz, Photographer, The Mills Artist Studios, Manayunk

Bruce Kravetz and DoN walked along the tow path in Manayunk along the canal, part of the bike trail that leads from Locust Street to Valley Forge, after having coffee at La Colombe on Main Street. Bruce’s photography studio is in The Mill Studios at 123 Leverington Street, an artist’s studio space since the late 1990’s, and the discussion was around his pending presentation of a new work at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center in Fishtown. Geese swam in the low greenish water of the canal, the roar of cars up on the expressway echoed across the valley. “It’s a place you can show your work and talk about it, it’s the first time I’m showing that eighty-five year old nude.”

Bruce Kravetz, Photographer, The Mills Artist Studios, Manayunk

“So, it should be kind of interesting. It’s the first time I’m showing it in public, I’ve shown my wife and my friends and I got their feedback but I’ve never shown it to a group of people. So, this is going to be kind of interesting, I don’t know how they’ll react. The size of the print is actually 44″ by 135”, shot with my Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21.1MP Full Frame CMOS Digital SLR Camera with EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens, I printed it myself on my Epson Stylus® Pro 9880.” DoN spoke up like one of the squawking geese, “That’s a lot of paper! And ink! Is this a one shot deal, it must be expensive?”

Bruce Kravetz, Photographer, The Mills Artist Studios, Manayunk

“Well, no, I think the ink figures in at fifty cents a square foot and the paper is about a dollar a foot, it’s not that expensive. If you don’t count the price of the printer. If I can’t be good to myself, be big.” DoN asked about the subject of his project, aging nude female models, posed classically, “I always find for some reason young models are a dime a dozen, and they’re over done..I always find that older people have something to say, they’re not vacuous.”

Bruce Kravetz, Philadelphia Homeless #2, archival pigment print, (photograph courtesy of the artist), the photograph is included in the Photo Review 2011 Competition website.

How long have you been working on this project? “Well, I’d say about three months now. I get some interesting comments when I approach people, I have to be very careful when I approach women, reassuring them that they can have somebody accompany them. I’m having trouble getting models, I like people who look their age. I’m not looking for body-builders, I’m just looking for normal, everyday kind of people, normal wrinkles and normal things that happen to the body as it ages, I find it interesting and exciting. You can intellectualize it up the wazoo; a blank wall or a brick wall that’s old, with moss on it and stuff like that. I feel about it that same ways, it’s a body that has lived.” As Bruce Kravetz and DoN started the steep climb up Leverington Street back to the Mills he said, “And they say things to you with wrinkles and crevices, sagging parts that are certainly more interesting than a Photoshopped young twenty year old.”