This is a window back to 1946, when my grandfather took this photograph. The smallest boy to the left is my father, three years old at the time. My grandfather owned a Zeiss Ikonta bellowcamera which he took a lot of nice pictures with. My father later also photographed a lot and developed his own film. When I was a boy we had a darkroom in the basement. Now I use the camera as often as I can. I use old cameras and lenses which I combine with digital techniques.

Photography: Karl Wirf © 1946, with Zeiss Ikonta

My daughter is not old enough to stand behind the camera yet, but she very interested in the camera and is a good little model with a pretty smile ;)

Photography: Mattias Wirf © 2010, with Yashica DSB 50mm/1.9

Something I believe peope should study more is the master of photography, or arthistory in general. I can’t say I’m an expert on the history of photography myself, but I have an interest and have studied arthistory as a student, which included some photography. Get inspiration from the Internet:

• The user PhotographyMasters has a lot of interesting things to look at.
• Rangefindergeneral has a film on Diane Arbus.
• If you feel a need for a timeline Photo.net has one
• Robert Leggat has made site with information about early photography
• And there’s always the linklist from Witcombe, a resource I used a long time
• You might also find a lot of places who sell prints and stuff, like

If you have tips, please post a comment with the link :)