Frank Döring is an architectural photographer based in Kentucky, USA and Frankfurt, Germany. He also focuses on personal documentary projects with an emphasis on the Anthropocene.
As a teenager, Frank Befriended a photographer who used to work for the Associated Press. This photographer became a mentor for being outspoken and teaching him the basics of film development and black and white photo printing and occasionally inviting him on assignments. This initial introduction created a niche for Frank in the field of documentary and reportage photography.
Frank’s first insect images were during his travels to Greece. He has several extension tubes, which he vividly describes as being used to photograph a praying mantis eating its prey. He studied various subjects in university but eventually became a philosophical scientist. However, as part of the academy, he managed to convince the faculty to add these to his university photography collection.
He ended up working as a scientist, and as part of this, was constantly moving around. Photography was initially just a hobby that took up a lot of his time but paid off with his income as an academic job. He built a dark room and bought his first large format camera, the one he used to photograph architecture. This is also not coincidental, as his wife, an architectural historian, has many ties to architects. These contacts will ask Frank to photograph their work; tilt, shift and lift functions of a large format camera allows me to take very good architectural photography.
The final message here is to be persistent and work hard to stick with your profession. It doesn’t matter where you start, but the connections you make along the way.
There is no limit to how much better your pictures can be than yours.
Frank’s first forays into macro photography were shooting his wife’s collection of seashells, which he had on hand. Working with macros, and I can attest from my own experience, he learned a lot about lighting. The smallest adjustments made to an object, including the way it illuminates, are magnified many times over!
For me, the purpose of photography… is ultimately to show it to everyone.
After spending some time with relatively large immobile shells, he switched to small and animated insects. Technically, a macro lens has a magnification of at least 1:1. In practice, this means that a 35mm camera, generally a full frame digital camera, will need a 36x24mm insect. to fill the frame. That’s a pretty big insect! This magnification can be increased with extension tubes but means the camera and lens combination becomes larger and bulkier.
Like everyone, I take pictures without knowing how or if or when they might fit into the larger context… It’s like writing a sentence or a paragraph, and you still don’t know it fits. suitable for any position. Just the beginning.
Frank was drawn to a single image. You have to start somewhere. You have to start with only one. But this single image can form the basis of a larger series of images. The aesthetics of a photograph can be crucial in drawing an interested viewer to an issue, but only through a series of photographs can more complete contextualization be achieved.
The beginning of a series can be messier or more direct, but often, it’s only in retrospect after Frank has started shooting that a project emerges. That is to say, you may have an idea of an image or a series of images, but once you have taken one or several of those images to start your image sequence, the location where you want to capture the series may be. change. If it’s a personal project, you don’t have to stick with your original idea. As you shoot more and more series, whatever the series is can reveal yourself to you.
In addition to the concept of the project changing as you work on it, there is a chance that the project itself may change. Working on a series of photos over a long period of time, not just a single photo session, but a long, hands-on process where you can take a photo and then review what you’ve taken. Previous images that you think are great may be overshadowed by similar images taken with more skill, or some of the earlier images may not match the narrative of the entire series. even the individual great images.
Working on a larger project, whether it’s a program or a website or a book project, is exciting because it poses new constraints. And these constraints in turn have an effect on the photos and new photos you take. So it enhances the quality of the image. You look for things that are suggested by the work you have done. You find some things work better than others. Maybe you find a gap somewhere where you really need some kind of image.
The whole project is not about doing a specific thing, but about learning about a specific thing over time. You have to give up your expectations of what something is in order to be able to find out what it is.
Don’t buy stuff. At least for a while.
Frank loves this project because each image is a puzzle. Every insect is different and acts and interacts with the camera differently. Sitting and using Pentax binoculars and magnifying glass and making simple observations will help inform the images he can produce with them.
He likes to keep his equipment very minimal and use natural light. A light is available as a crutch. With each image being a puzzle, Frank believes that working cheaply on a special basis works better because that way, when he needs light, he can customize it for the insect. or that image. A little bit of Styrofoam or aluminum goes a long way as a reflector or fill.
Frank is currently using vi four thirds Olympus with the Olympus macro lens. Unfortunately, Frank’s current camera has been discontinued, but there are plenty of micro four-thirds cameras on the market. In addition, he uses a variety of extension tube as well as a Raynox 250. He reasoned that the camera body he used was faster and lighter than full frame. With nimble little insects, he needed to be able to infiltrate and capture an entire stack of photos quickly and stealthily without scaring his subject. If the insect moves, the stack will be ruined. He chooses to take a stack of 50 frames but may shoot less or more depending on the image. Taking these multiple shots in quick succession will take a long time, which he believes will be faster by four-thirds.
Frank notes that getting started with macro is not about shooting a particular macro image, but about learning about macro photography and seeing the world through macro thinking rather than having a specific piece of equipment. Of course, gear is important, and having a lens that lets you get pretty close can help with this. Additionally, he recommends a manual aperture lens mounted on a reversing ring for great close-up images. If you have a play with basic equipment you may decide you don’t like it then that’s fine and good. But if you like it, then you’ll not only have a better idea of what you need your equipment to do, but also what to buy.
I think most of the best photography, whatever the genre, is a lot of time with the subject. Learn more about it. For many audiences, that means spending a lot of time in one place.
Frank prefers to work this way. Tourism is overrated and bad for the climate anyway, he jokes! In this case, something mundane to you, such as a Kentucky backyard insect, could be very interesting and strange to someone who doesn’t live where you are. Photography requires a lot of time and seeing and observing things closely. Locals should tell local stories.
Image of Frank Döring. Used with permission.
