he Polish-born artist shows the celebrities as they may have looked had they lived to their senior years. Dragan is amazingly gifted in several diverse fields and has won many, many awards. Here is just a sampling. He holds a PhD in quantum physics and is currently an assistant professor of physics at Warsaw University. He has also won many music composition awards. He started getting involved with photography in 2003 and has since published his work in magazines and books in 12 countries including the Lazer’s “200 Best Ad Photographers Worldwide”. Take a look inside Andrzej Dragan’s kitbag and you will get a big surprise. Rather than finding a Pandora’s Box of photographic wizardry, the Polish photographer travels light with just one camera body and a single lens. It helps him to stay nimble and respond to the subtle changes in his subject’s expressions. “I use very modest equipment – just a body and a single lens,” he explains. “The body could be different to give me more resolution but apart from that I’m perfectly happy.
During a session I focus on the expression of the model – that’s the most important thing. If something interesting happens, I want to respond quickly. A tripod is just an obstacle to me.” His aversion to clutter has resulted in a streamlined set-up that has produced some remarkable and much-praised results. For instance, following a string of Polish advertising awards, Andrzej was awarded the Photographer of the Year in 2007 from the UK’s Digital Camera Magazine, got a silver medal in the Corbis Photography Awards and won gold at the Golden Drum Awards. Not a bad clutch of trophies considering he’d only started his photographic career four years earlier. Andrzej Dragan now uses the EOS-1Ds Mark III for much of his portrait work. “The first camera I bought was a Canon G3 in 2003,” he recalls. “A year later I bought a 10D and then I got a 1Ds. When I bought it in Japan it was still the first version, but within a couple of weeks Canon had released the Mark II and it was out of date, but I’ve stuck with it,” explains Andrzej.
The EOS-1Ds’ 11.1 megapixel, full-frame CMOS sensor has proven itself up to the task of capturing the subtleties and complex dynamics that epitomise Andrzej’s work. Beautiful, forceful and often troubling, his images provoke a range of reactions that have attracted a broad church of devoted clients including Amnesty International, Converse, and Sony Playstation. But while his devotion to his 1Ds is admirable, he is also well aware of the advances that have been made in digital photography since the launch of the groundbreaking 1Ds in 2002. In fact, these days he prefers to hire an EOS-1Ds Mark III in order to capture the best possible tones and colours. Andrzej explains: “Sometimes I use a Hasselblad but it’s not very handy and the autofocus is slow, so I prefer to use the Mark III.
It’s hard to describe in words what I like about the Mark III, but it’s about the quality of the full-frame sensor. I focus on tone and how the colours change from one to another – I think the transition of colours in skin textures achieved by the Mark III is excellent. Other cameras produce a ‘plastic look’ when you look at the details, so it’s a matter of personal taste, but I prefer Canon.” Shot on the EOS-1Ds with EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens; exposure was 125sec at f/9 with three softboxes used. He says the step up from the first incarnation of the 1Ds to the 1Ds Mark III is all-encompassing.
“The resolution is the biggest difference, but there’s also a nicer interface, which is more convenient,” Andrzej notes. “More importantly, with a higher resolution I can produce larger prints. For instance, when I’m doing an exhibition, I’ll use prints that are 80cm long, which is typically at the limit of tolerance when you don’t see any artifacts from digital files. It also means I can work on finer details in terms of magnifying images.”
Although Andrzej rests his trusty EOS-1Ds when on a commission and indulges himself in the Mark III’s 21 megapixel full-frame sensor, his lens never changes. The EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM is an ideal portrait solution as it combines speed and flexibility. It superseded the 28-70mm in 1995 using a similar optical design but one that incorporated new features that allowed a broader focal range with a minimum focusing distance of 0.38m. Even today, it remains one of Canon’s most sought-after mid-range zooms. Even though his photographs are a little bit gloomy, there’s something very attractive in them. We recommend you to take a look. For more information about Andrej just visit his website below.
AGED CELBS:
www.andrzejdragan.com
www.canon.com
