Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/07/15

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Subject: [Leica] Film still lives even in Burma
From: jplaurel at spectare.com (Jim Laurel)
Date: Fri Jul 15 00:23:38 2005
References: <008101c58750$f318f640$24a0fea9@MacPhisto> <42D75987.9080305@adrenaline.com>

Sein Win is my hero.  He works with the most basic equipment, much of  
it homemade, and most of all, he really loves photography.  When I  
met him, he was using an Olympus Pen half frame, which he liked,  
because he could get almost 80 shots on a roll of 35mm film!  I love  
one particular sign on his lab, which reads: "A man inside to make  
color print".  ;-)

I've been photographed by this guy and still have a few of the  
photos.  He is absolutely amazing and a kind, gentle fellow.

Here are some shots of Sein Win, his Olympus Pen, his cool lab and  
his family.  These were taken around 1998.  Most are video caps, so  
don't be too critical on the quality please!  ;-)

http://www.spectare.com/gallery/seinwin/index.htm

--Jim Laurel


On Jul 14, 2005, at 11:36 PM, Scott McLoughlin wrote:

> Man, I'd love to party with this guy for a few months. I imagine it's
> amazing what one can do with one developer/one film same process
> day in and day out for a few years.
>
> Scott
>
> Christopher Williams wrote:
>
>
>>> From PMA news:
>>>
>>
>> "Burmese photographer uses traditional and homemade techniques for  
>> tourist
>> snaps"
>>
>>
>> "Burmese photographer Sein Win has spent the last 35 years recording
>> tourists on 35mm film, the Bangkok Post reports. As tourists  
>> approach the
>> Shwezigon Pagoda in Bagan, Burma, via a long covered walkway, they  
>> encounter
>> Sein Win's darkroom among an array of souvenir stalls. Sein Win  
>> comes out
>> clutching his 1970s vintage Ricoh camera. Within minutes, tourists  
>> are
>> shepherded into the grounds of the pagoda while Sein Win takes photos
>> against the golden spires. He takes seven shots, getting different  
>> angles
>> and view points. Then it's off to the darkroom, a small wooden  
>> cubicle
>> measuring approximately a square metre. Here the seven frames of  
>> film are
>> removed from the camera and wound into the spiral of his  
>> developing tank.
>>  Temperatures inside the room are frequently well in excess of 100  
>> degrees
>> Fahrenheit, which is why the film develops so fast, the article  
>> says. The
>> hotter the chemicals, the shorter the developing time. Developed,  
>> fixed, and
>> dried with a hair dryer in about three minutes. "See,'' he says, "no
>> computer, no minilab. Just me and my developing tank."
>>  Then the strip of film is inserted into his homemade enlarger which
>> consists of a tin can containing a light bulb with a lens attached  
>> to the
>> base of the can. Sein Win doesn't use a clock to time the  
>> exposures or a
>> thermometer to measure the temperature of the developer. Both the  
>> film and
>> the prints are developed in the same solution. Then, within  
>> another three
>> minutes, just as the sign in the front of his cubicle claims, the  
>> prints are
>> done to a turn, the article says. While the emulsion on the  
>> surface of the
>> paper is still soft, he etches a personal message onto the image  
>> with a nail
>> before the prints are dried with the hair dryer and presented to the
>> client."
>>
>>
>> Chris
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>
>
>
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Replies: Reply from dlridings at gmail.com (Daniel Ridings) ([Leica] Film still lives even in Burma)
Reply from nathan.wajsman at planet.nl (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] Film still lives even in Burma)
In reply to: Message from leicachris at worldnet.att.net (Christopher Williams) ([Leica] Film still lives even in Burma)
Message from scott at adrenaline.com (Scott McLoughlin) ([Leica] Film still lives even in Burma)