In 2015, I was already allowed to get to know Marc Gerst, because he led the production Shoot like..., where I was accompanied on a photo shoot to Barcelona. We had many interesting conversations and he is similarly camera shy as I am.
That's why Gerst is unknown to many people out there. Martin Krolop simply appears much more on stage and is more present through their YouTube videos. But as they say, still waters run deep.




Beautiful women
To my delight, the subject of the photos is my personal favorite: beautiful women. Along the way, there is also a lot to read and for me this fits very well with analog photography. You have to take more time and deal with it more intensively.
Somehow I had connected analog photography with available light. A complete fallacy! Marc shows how you can make great light setups using flash light (or LEDs) in analog photography. From intensified window light to huge softboxes from vertically above.
My personal highlight are images that show how analog photos are post-processed. What areas to brighten and darken. With the various analog cameras shown, the Mamyia 645 AF made me think directly of my good old Phase One medium format camera.
Medium format is something great. If I were to try it again, it would probably be analog. This Mamyia camera is a real gem and — this may sound silly — the sound of the shutter release is terrific.
This book is for all fans of black and white photography and everyone who is enthusiastic about analog photos. With additional explanatory texts, anyone, amateur or professional, can still learn interesting things.
The high quality production of this book is a highlight anyway. Thank you Marc and Martin for this great book!
Transparency
This is not a sponsored post. I recieved the book as a surprise gift by Krolop & Gerst, but I write about it only because I wanted to with no strings attached.