Photography is magical
02/03/26 13:19
Read carefully: This blog goes further and deeper than you think. The above title is definitely not clickbait!
As a young boy, Hans Kazan started performing magic with a matchbox. And I started at the same age with my Grandma's Agfa click clack camera. Starting very small because we both had seen something magical. We had seen what magic can do. Hans Kazan with a nurse at the neighbors' who could make a matchbox disappear in the blink of an eye, literally and figuratively, and then reappear. And me, because my primary school teacher Pim Steenbergen showed me for the first time in the darkroom how a white piece of paper in "water" suddenly turned into a photo after about ten seconds. That is magic. Pure sorcery.
At the age of 8, I often watched 'Ren je rot' with Martin Brozius and Hans Kazan. He always did simple little tricks. One he didn't explain, and the second one he did explain. And yet, it remained magical. Later, half the world got angry at Hans Kazan for revealing magic tricks. That was really not okay. What he did was good though. Because the magic still remained magical. You look at something, you know it can't be done, and yet you see it. That's magic. I do the same with photography, or try to. But by coincidence, I photographed the man during a wedding with his colleague Tel. A little less magical, the photo itself, but a childhood memory nonetheless.
There are 120 years of magic experience here!!! The man on the left has even become a two-time world champion of magic. Fellow magicians and friends. The men who master the magic of illusion to perfection. They are able to deceive your eyes that perceive something. And that is fun and cool. Both have learned that by practicing for decades. Initially the basics, finger agility. Repeat, do, and do again until no one can see it anymore, and then the magic begins.
And now, photography comes into play.
Not all of my photos, but many of them, also contain a kind of magic. On a completely different level than with the gentlemen mentioned above, and in a completely different dimension. With them, "the moment" should not be visible or go so fast that you couldn't see it. With me, it's a still image that you can look at for as long as you wish. So it is not visible, and it should also not become visible. An example:
Do you really think this lady could walk on water? Moreover, not only could she walk on it, she could also dance on it! But do you really think that? Impossible, right? And yet, she stood there for at least half an hour. So it was possible. Yes, of course, it's possible. Just put a table in the water (make sure it's not visible). Walk into the water with a ballerina on your back, because of course, she couldn't get wet. And there you have it, Kees or Patrick in this case. Magical, isn't it? Yes, because I think, I practiced a lot, just like Tel and Hans Kazan, and I master my craft. And I'm not afraid of getting wet.
The vast majority of contemporary photographers are no longer able to bring magic to life. Because they don't master the basics and no longer think in terms of possibilities or impossibilities. And they no longer think in terms of basic skills like the laws of nature. Almost everyone immediately thinks in terms of post-processing. Because the photo above can't be done in a normal way... They quickly photograph a ballerina somewhere, then a little cutting and pasting, and then you put that in a photo of some water with a bridge. Not much magic, right? And the people who do it that way can hardly understand how this was done, or even worse, why you would do it this way. Isn't that much easier with post-processing? Duuuuhhhh..... Magic is magic, and you have to actually do it. Do your trick, show it and perform it.
The fun thing was that while taking the photo above, there were about 50-60 people watching from the quay. They could see the table in the water because they were standing higher. Because the big trick of this photo is the physical law: angle of incidence equals angle of reflection. So that didn't work for the spectators because from their point of view they could see the table. And the angle of reflection of me and my camera was very different. And that's why you don't see the trick or call it a table. And yet they all kept watching for a long time what we were doing. For me, there was no sleight-of-hand trick a la Hans Kazan, they could continuously see my "big" trick. Which is then not visible in the photo. And of course without post-processing. Because that's the magic. It's really what you see. Only you can't see it as impossible.
Wow, what similarities! Yes, if you just master the basics. Hans can make everything disappear and I can make everything walk on water.
Besides my good friend, I couldn't go into the water on my back, but otherwise everything was the same. Let the magic of the illusion do its work again. And let that post-processor wonder how I could select those spokes so incredibly neatly. And copy and paste… Well, not so. Wasn't necessary, because it was there!!! It's real. And now I'm explaining my trick, just like Hans Kazan used to do during every episode of Ren je Rot (a Dutch game show).
For a long time, real photographers were always so afraid of each other. Because they might discover one of your tricks. That's why they spoke to each other very little or very superficially. Because your bag of tricks was all you had. Besides your normal skills as a photographer. Nowadays, you no longer have to be afraid to speak to another photographer. Everything that's impossible comes from post-processing. So easy. You don't have to practice so much, don't have to be so sharp, and what you can't do or understand, you just get through post-processing. The magic is gone. The fantasy too, by the way. Some people can Photoshop magically well, but still, it's different and certainly not real. And all the images you see here are. And that's the difference.
This is an example of what magical photography can be. I tell you that I'm fooling your eyes, your eyes get every chance to examine it, so that part is more difficult compared to the work of Hans and Tel and all the other good magicians in the world. They do it so fast that you can't see it. I can never use that advantage. But all three have at least one thing in common. The love for magic. Only achievable through pure mastery of your profession or hobby. I can teach this to everyone. But that wasn't what it was about for me.
It's about the fact that magic exists, is so much fun, and as the level of photography decreases and more post-processing is done, and then AI is applied on top of it, it becomes more and more fun for me. Again all those reactions of "but that's not possible." Yes, it is possible. Thanks to the influence of Hans and Tel and many other magicians who made me believe it, despite the fact that I knew it wasn't true what I was saying. Well, it was true, but they didn't show you what they didn't want you to see. The post-processor quickly grabs his eraser from the toolbox of a software package.
And I'll finish now, just like Hans K. used to. I've explained one trick, and not the other. But again, I start from physical principles. Gravity this time. Believe me, the apple could stay on the egg for weeks.
And then I'll finish... just like Hans 40, uh no, more than 50 years ago... if you want to know more, you'll have to watch next time.
Photography should be magical.
At the age of 8, I often watched 'Ren je rot' with Martin Brozius and Hans Kazan. He always did simple little tricks. One he didn't explain, and the second one he did explain. And yet, it remained magical. Later, half the world got angry at Hans Kazan for revealing magic tricks. That was really not okay. What he did was good though. Because the magic still remained magical. You look at something, you know it can't be done, and yet you see it. That's magic. I do the same with photography, or try to. But by coincidence, I photographed the man during a wedding with his colleague Tel. A little less magical, the photo itself, but a childhood memory nonetheless.
There are 120 years of magic experience here!!! The man on the left has even become a two-time world champion of magic. Fellow magicians and friends. The men who master the magic of illusion to perfection. They are able to deceive your eyes that perceive something. And that is fun and cool. Both have learned that by practicing for decades. Initially the basics, finger agility. Repeat, do, and do again until no one can see it anymore, and then the magic begins.
And now, photography comes into play.
Not all of my photos, but many of them, also contain a kind of magic. On a completely different level than with the gentlemen mentioned above, and in a completely different dimension. With them, "the moment" should not be visible or go so fast that you couldn't see it. With me, it's a still image that you can look at for as long as you wish. So it is not visible, and it should also not become visible. An example:
Do you really think this lady could walk on water? Moreover, not only could she walk on it, she could also dance on it! But do you really think that? Impossible, right? And yet, she stood there for at least half an hour. So it was possible. Yes, of course, it's possible. Just put a table in the water (make sure it's not visible). Walk into the water with a ballerina on your back, because of course, she couldn't get wet. And there you have it, Kees or Patrick in this case. Magical, isn't it? Yes, because I think, I practiced a lot, just like Tel and Hans Kazan, and I master my craft. And I'm not afraid of getting wet.
The vast majority of contemporary photographers are no longer able to bring magic to life. Because they don't master the basics and no longer think in terms of possibilities or impossibilities. And they no longer think in terms of basic skills like the laws of nature. Almost everyone immediately thinks in terms of post-processing. Because the photo above can't be done in a normal way... They quickly photograph a ballerina somewhere, then a little cutting and pasting, and then you put that in a photo of some water with a bridge. Not much magic, right? And the people who do it that way can hardly understand how this was done, or even worse, why you would do it this way. Isn't that much easier with post-processing? Duuuuhhhh..... Magic is magic, and you have to actually do it. Do your trick, show it and perform it.
The fun thing was that while taking the photo above, there were about 50-60 people watching from the quay. They could see the table in the water because they were standing higher. Because the big trick of this photo is the physical law: angle of incidence equals angle of reflection. So that didn't work for the spectators because from their point of view they could see the table. And the angle of reflection of me and my camera was very different. And that's why you don't see the trick or call it a table. And yet they all kept watching for a long time what we were doing. For me, there was no sleight-of-hand trick a la Hans Kazan, they could continuously see my "big" trick. Which is then not visible in the photo. And of course without post-processing. Because that's the magic. It's really what you see. Only you can't see it as impossible.
Wow, what similarities! Yes, if you just master the basics. Hans can make everything disappear and I can make everything walk on water.
Besides my good friend, I couldn't go into the water on my back, but otherwise everything was the same. Let the magic of the illusion do its work again. And let that post-processor wonder how I could select those spokes so incredibly neatly. And copy and paste… Well, not so. Wasn't necessary, because it was there!!! It's real. And now I'm explaining my trick, just like Hans Kazan used to do during every episode of Ren je Rot (a Dutch game show).
For a long time, real photographers were always so afraid of each other. Because they might discover one of your tricks. That's why they spoke to each other very little or very superficially. Because your bag of tricks was all you had. Besides your normal skills as a photographer. Nowadays, you no longer have to be afraid to speak to another photographer. Everything that's impossible comes from post-processing. So easy. You don't have to practice so much, don't have to be so sharp, and what you can't do or understand, you just get through post-processing. The magic is gone. The fantasy too, by the way. Some people can Photoshop magically well, but still, it's different and certainly not real. And all the images you see here are. And that's the difference.
This is an example of what magical photography can be. I tell you that I'm fooling your eyes, your eyes get every chance to examine it, so that part is more difficult compared to the work of Hans and Tel and all the other good magicians in the world. They do it so fast that you can't see it. I can never use that advantage. But all three have at least one thing in common. The love for magic. Only achievable through pure mastery of your profession or hobby. I can teach this to everyone. But that wasn't what it was about for me.
It's about the fact that magic exists, is so much fun, and as the level of photography decreases and more post-processing is done, and then AI is applied on top of it, it becomes more and more fun for me. Again all those reactions of "but that's not possible." Yes, it is possible. Thanks to the influence of Hans and Tel and many other magicians who made me believe it, despite the fact that I knew it wasn't true what I was saying. Well, it was true, but they didn't show you what they didn't want you to see. The post-processor quickly grabs his eraser from the toolbox of a software package.
And I'll finish now, just like Hans K. used to. I've explained one trick, and not the other. But again, I start from physical principles. Gravity this time. Believe me, the apple could stay on the egg for weeks.
And then I'll finish... just like Hans 40, uh no, more than 50 years ago... if you want to know more, you'll have to watch next time.
Photography should be magical.