Black-and-white

Da kamt ihr auf die Bühne, haltet euch fest.

Ich weiß nur noch, das Theme war schwarz-weiß.

Ihr hattet irgendwie Tänzer an einem...

Ja, das war mit Marvin.

Nothing is ever exactly where you'd put it, so the job is to photograph it in a way that none of those compromises show.

In this episode, we talk about how a graphic design background shapes the way he sees a wedding day, where he finds real emotion behind the big set pieces, and why black and white still feels timeless to him.

We also talk about the view from his windows over Morcombe Bay and how it turned into a set of photo books.

If you've ever wondered what a wedding looks like from behind the camera, this episode's for you.

just adds a nice subtle lighting to the scene for sure

So, yeah, I mean, again, I do want it to be as soft as I can make it, but yeah, it can get, just as you get the crossover light sort of feeling as the evening is drawing in, you get nice, really nice lighting balances on that.

Now, one thing I did notice about your work is there is black and white kind of mixed in and tricky light.

Black and white can be a good kind of format for when the lighting is tricky.

And I think, oh, that's nice.

What about trying to shoot in a different way? You know, maybe just doing all black and white or, you know, dare I say it, go to film.

I don't know.

Yeah.

So, John, you might get some tips off our guest today, who, as you mentioned, does shoot in quite a place of where he lives.

So, John, do the honours and introduce him.

Bauer Brauer is a Dutch photographer, writer and illustrator known for his quiet and black and white observations of everyday life.

His long-term project, Postcards from Friesland, has won multiple international awards.

And also the visuals, the cinematography in your movies is so beautiful.

I think more recently when you've made the black and white films, You know, people are talking about, I think all of your films have this amazing, you know, sort of visual style there.

And I do like, I think with Black and White, it makes people really think about the image a little bit more because it's sort of different to a lot of contemporary films.

But also I turned the corner slightly with the Ida, you know, because the Ida was like a... like a new departure because I went back to live in Poland.

It's sort of about the world, which I remember more or less from my early childhood and from my like photographs, family albums, photograph albums.

you know whole sort of thing really is that we are curating a under 90 minute film festival where people are recommending under 90 minute films that they'd like to show to audiences but because you've got such an amazing body of under 90 minute films

I'm the champion of under

90 you're what the kids would call a goat Black and white under 90, narrow screen.

Also hat mal ordentlich Licht drauf geworfen und, ähm, hat aus diesem Bild tatsächlich noch, aus diesem Film noch Bilder rausgekitzelt.

Also ich sehe, was du hier zeigst, tatsächlich Schwarz-Weiß-Fotos von der Gegend da bei euch.

Durchaus brauchbare Bilder.

Mit Workshopteilnehmern und durchaus, ja, brauchbare Schwarz-Weiß-Bilder.

...

it satisfies a little bit of the mirror for me by using black and white because my whole life I've dealt with depression and, and mental health, and it's a integral part of my, my story.

And I've had great things in my life.

I have so much to be happy for, and yet there's still days where I have to deal with those things and work through them and well equipped to do so now, thankfully, as I've gotten older and had, had the help I've needed and things like that.