viewfinder camera can only be used in the telephoto field up to a maxi-
mum of 150 or 210 mm focal length. That is why for real telephoto shots, I
also like to use the Hasselblad with lenses of 350 and 500 mm in focal
length.
Beginning a few years ago, I have also occasionally worked with the 6 x 12
Noblex panorama camera. Thanks to the built-in Tessar lens, extremely
sharp photos even at the edges can be achieved. Not only does the came-
ra use up batteries fast, I was also never really able to appreciate the for-
mat because its unusualness often dominates the content of the picture.
There is one technical aspect to my photographic work which I do not
want to forget to mention, even if it applies more to the exposure
technique rather than that of the camera: beginning in the early 1980's, I
became interested in taking pictures of classical-modernist sculptures.
Here I like to concentrate on works by Auguste Rodin, Wilhelm Lehm-
bruck, Georg Kolbe, Aristide Maillol and, among the more modern artists,
Alberto Giaccometti and Marino Marini. Some express the opinion that
the photography of sculptures is merely the display of already existing
works of art. While this may be the case, it need not be. Indeed, great
sculptors such as Rodin and Giaccometti valued the photographic inter-
pretation of their work. Rodin had several "in-house" photographers –
among them Alfred Stieglitz, and Giaccometti even wrote a very moving
letter on this subject to Matter, his photographer. When making such ex-
perimental photos, I generally work with shutter speeds of 0.2 ... 0.5 se-
conds and move away from the object with the camera during the expo-
sure, so that an image with blurred structures is achieved. Usually, it still
allows for recognising the main characteristics of the sculpture but gives
it the appearance of momentum. Only very few of these photos imme-
diately correspond to what I originally imagined, and thus I should ac-
tually use one of my Canon di-
gital cameras, with which I
could immediately view the
image and delete it if need be.
However, for reasons that I
cannot explain, I usually prefer
to use black-and-white film for
these photos.
The digital leap
At the turn of the millennium,
a fundamental change in my photographic technique began to emerge. It
became apparent that digital camera technology would soon be smaller
and lighter in weight than its analogue counterpart, and that in addition,
it would offer many advantages in handling.
This is why in 2006 I decided to primarily work digitally in the future. I se-
lected the Canon 5D with a Canon lens (focal length 24-105 mm 1:4-L-IS-
USM) as my new main camera. I also work with the telephoto lens Sigma
70...300 mm APO-DG and for wide-angle photos, with the Sigma 20mm
1:1.8 EX-APO-DG. To this day, I have never regretted taking this step. The
ability to control the process during and after the exposure, the high ima-
ging capacity of modern zoom lenses, being able to dispense with work
in the darkroom and to send images electronically are significant advan-
tages as opposed to analogue technology. Yet despite all euphoria, it must
be said that the atmospheric beauty of coarse-grained black-and-white
2
5 -Win Labuda, Sculpture Photo 1
after Auguste Rodin “The
Scream“
6 -Win Labuda, Sculpture Photo 14
after G. Kolbe “Dancers-Foun-
tain”
4 -Win Labuda, My First
Portrait: Eckhardt Ma-
chens, taken in 1956
with a Kodak-Retina
IIIc
