Untitled. Dancing With Costica. Dancing with Costică Jane Long — Costică Acsinte Archive. The Dancing with Costică series initially came about when I decided to brush up on my retouching skills.
After finding the Costică Acsinte Archive on Flickr I became fascinated with the images and their subjects. I wanted to bring them to life. But more than that I wanted to give them a story. I wanted there to be some ambiguity about the images. Things that are almost real or not quite right. Jane long photography. Creative Retouching Turns Classic Glass Plate Portraits Into Modern Day Fine Art.
If you follow PetaPixel, you’re already familiar with the haunting portrait archive of Costica Acsinte.
For decades after the end of World War I, Acsinte was possibly the only professional photographer in all of Romania, and the over 5,000 glass plate negatives he left behind are now being painstakingly digitized so that they don’t succumb to the ravages of time. And as these photographic treasures are digitized, one photographer is plying her retouching skill to turn the black-and-white, somber images into fantasy fine art portraits. That photographer’s name is Jane Long, and her creative series Dancing with Costica began as a way to brush up on her retouching skills, but it has turned into something more out of the desire to tell a story: “After finding the Costică Acsinte Archive on Flickr I became fascinated with the images and their subjects,” she tells us. “I wanted to bring them to life. See if you can guess the story in the photographs below: Immortal and Dreamlike Portraits. La photographe australienne Jane Long vient de dévoiler des œuvres réalisées à partir d’éléments de son propre stock combinées avec des clichés du début du 20e siècle.
Les photographies originales sont issues du domaine public des archives numérisées de Costică Acsinte, un artiste Roumain à la fois pilote et photographe durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. “Dancing with Costica” by Photographer Jane Long. The “Dancing With Costica” series began when photographer Jane Long decided to brush up on her retouching skills.
After finding the Costica Acsinte Archive on Flickr, she became fascinated with the images and their subjects, wanting to bring them to life and give them a story. Costica Acsinte was a Romanian war photographer who, after discharge, opened a studio in Slobozia, Romania. Around 5,000 of his glass plates were purchased by the Ialomita County Museum and in 2013, Cezar Popescu started to digitize them. (Photo by Costica Acsinte Archive/Jane Long) The Costica photo on the left inspired Australia-based photographer Jane Long to create her version, titled “Innocence”. Long used this Costica photo of a boy with a gun to recreate her version, titled “Gun Shy”. The original image of this young couple is placed in a field in Long’s version titled, “Fresh”. Long calls this piece “Corvo”. This photo is called “All hands on deck”. Jane Long – ‘Dancing with Costica’ Photographer and digital artist, Jane Long joined Dr Margaux Dombkins to discuss her ‘Dancing with Costica’ exhibition with Costica Acsinte.
The Dancing with Costica photo exhibition is based on Romanian photographer Costica Acsinte’s black and white photos taken almost 100 years ago. Jane Long has changed the context of the images and has added colour to change people’s perception of the images. “I wanted people to see these figures as real people, more than just an old photograph” Costica Acsinte was a Romanian war photographer active in World War 1 who later established a photography studio in Slobozia where he worked until he retired in late 1960. Following his death in 1984, his collection was acquired by the History Museum.
The Dancing with Costica photo exhibition was held at the Romanian Embassy to commemorate 47 years of diplomatic relationship between Romania and Australia. More info www.janelong.com.au. Jane Long - Dancing with Costica. The Dancing with Costica series initially came about when I decided to brush up on my retouching skills.
After finding the Costica Acsinte Archive on Flickr I became fascinated with the images and their subjects. I wanted to bring them to life. But more than that I wanted to give them a story. I wanted there to be some ambiguity about the images. Things that are almost real or not quite right.