BPX 45 - status and updates

piu58 · Apr 1, 2024

Dear photographers,

My tiny pocket computer mixed again all of us. Everybody should have a got message from me with a pair of addresses. The first block contains your own address as given to me. Please, make certain that your own address is correct. PM me as soon as possible if a correction is needed to YOUR address.
Please don't mind the numbers, I need them while "mixing" us.

The second block contains the address of your partner: You have to send your print(s) to there. Please wait a few days before sending anything to allow time for corrections. Make sure you mark your box with your name and
BPX 45
on it.

If you are unable to complete your assignment, it is understandable - life often gets in a way of our hobbies. However, it would be very helpful if you let me know so that I could change the assignment to somebody else.

If something is or seems to be wrong, please PM me.
Our timeline: Please print and send your offering till end of May 2024. This means, you have 2 months for sending it.

How to avoid taxes / VAT / other problems

If a sending goes outside the U.S. (or more correct: outside your country) it should be a letter, and not a parcel or similar.

Everything you simply put in the letterbox should be a letter. Anything you give at the office may induce taxes. Everything with a custom declaration will induce taxes.

Please keep in mind what "counts" as a letter in your country. In the U.S. it needs to be flexible. In Germany, it may be stiff.

Addendum April 2024: It seems that you have to give a customs declaration sending from U.S. and Canada, even if it weights more than 50 gms – even if it looks like a letter:
https://www.usps.com/international/customs-forms.htm says
You do not need a customs form if you're sending First-Class Mail International® that weighs under 15.994 oz

Don_ih · Apr 1, 2024

piu58 said:
Everything with a custom declaration will induce taxes.

Unfortunately, last round, I sent the envelope with no customs declaration, as I have always done, but it got sent back and I had to resend it (pay for postage again) with a customs declaration. The post office here in Canada said that it was the United States postal service, which was intermediary in sending the letter to Europe, that required the customs declaration. True enough, the sticker on the envelope was from the US postal service.

Uwe, I hope that didn't mean you had to pay duty to accept my prints. I told them to list it as a gift and of no value.

Ajven · Apr 1, 2024

According to Czech Post Office, everything outside European Union over 50 grams must have customs declaration even it looks like a “letter”. The weight is the key. Probably the same rule is applied for incoming direction. Fifty grams weight is not so much - two prints 7x9” with a strong envelope and weight is over.

@Don_ih Just for curiosity, do you remember weight of the letter?

Don_ih · Apr 1, 2024

Ajven said:
do you remember weight of the letter?

Not at all but it was almost certainly over 50 grams.

piu58 · Apr 1, 2024

Dear Don, sorry to hear that you have to pay the postage twice. I changed my "Dear photgraphers" text.

Don_ih · Apr 1, 2024

Uwe, it was the only time it ever happened. I used exactly the same kind of envelope and the same carboard to protect the print the previous times. So, it really made no sense to me. Furthermore, I wasn't asked for a customs declaration when I originally sent it, even though they seemed to be so certain it was necessary when it was returned. I didn't care about the double postage as much as not being informed it was needed if it was actually needed.

piu58 · Apr 2, 2024

Dear Don and all others, I looked what we have to do in Germany. From the beginning of 2019 it is forbidden here, sending goods in letters, if the destination is outside Germany. So no customs declaration is necessary / possible with letters.
In the U.S. there may be other rules, and they may have changed.

piu58 · Apr 2, 2024

My prints are in the mail (without customs declaration)

BHuij · Apr 8, 2024

My print is also in the mail, bound for Norway (from the US). I don't know how long it will take to get there, but I don't think it will have any issues with customs - it's definitely a letter, and mailed as such.

mfohl · Apr 17, 2024

I received 6 nice prints from piu58, wow! Two from Norway, one a pair of lonely caravans (motor homes) by themselves near water, and one of a church under a very heavy sky near the artic circle. The two caravans appear to be staring out into infinity: very heavy fog. Then there is a very large tree that is not only growing up, but it is growing sideways. I'm surprised the large branch hasn't fallen off. And then a shot from Goerlitz and two from Leipzig. The "porno cube", naked river maidens on the base of the statue of Richard Wagner. I have been to both Goerlitz and Leipzig, two very nice towns. Thanks Uwe! You're going to have to tell me how you get your name on the lower right hand side of the print. Thanks Uwe!

I will get my print out soon.

piu58 · Apr 18, 2024

> you're going to have to tell me how you get your name on the lower right hand side of the print.

Dear Mark, many years ago I bought an embossing stamp with my name. I use i for my photographs.

I am very glad that you like my shots.

spijker · Apr 18, 2024

I sent my prints by letter mail today. The "customs declaration" was a handwritten "fragile photos, no commercial value €0.00" on the envelope. That has worked so far. No hassle or cost for the receiver.

Don_ih · Apr 21, 2024

I have mine ready to send and hopefully get a chance to go to the post office tomorrow. I'm usually a bit faster but have been busy, lately. It was nice to get a few hours in the dark.

Trond · Apr 21, 2024

BHuij said:
My print is also in the mail, bound for Norway (from the US). I don't know how long it will take to get there, but I don't think it will have any issues with customs - it's definitely a letter, and mailed as such.

Received earlier this week! A print of a small struggling tree in the winter snow. I like it! Also, the letter was very nice. Always fascinating to learn about another photographer's thoughts on their photographic journey.

Thanks!

BHuij · Apr 22, 2024

Glad it arrived!

Don_ih · Apr 22, 2024

And mine is finally in the mail.

mfohl · Apr 24, 2024

Mine is in the mail as well.

halfaman · May 1, 2024

mfohl said:
Mine is in the mail as well.

And received.

Titled "Ladder to the top", a very well resolved print that explores the beauty of the rural landscape. Depth, detailed tones and an interesting composition. What I would expect from any good B&W image.

Thanks, Mark!

BHuij · May 1, 2024

@Don_ih Got your prints today! They arrived undamaged and I really like them. Thank you! One of these days you'll have to tell me the story of how you ended up with a Hasselblad and no viewfinder.

Don_ih · May 1, 2024

BHuij said:
@Don_ih Got your prints today! They arrived undamaged and I really like them. Thank you! One of these days you'll have to tell me the story of how you ended up with a Hasselblad and no viewfinder.

Glad you liked them.

The Hasselblad is an SWC. I saw it on ebay - it looked like hell and the viewfinder was missing, but the lens looked good, so I took a chance thinking I might be able to find a viewfinder some day. Someone sold one on here a few weeks ago, but I didn't see it fast enough so someone else got it. Anyway, the camera really does look like crap but works perfectly well. If you think about it in terms of "I'm going to get 45 degrees to the left and right of straight ahead" and use the bubble level, you're not that surprised when you develop the film.....

bernard_L · May 14, 2024

Sent my photos yesterday to an undisclosed recipient.

bernard_L · May 14, 2024

@Don_ih Why not make some sort of wire frame finder, like on some vintage folders? Or... splurge for the reflex finder --really slows you down, though.

Don_ih · May 14, 2024

bernard_L said:
Why not make some sort of wire frame finder, like on some vintage folders? Or... splurge for the reflex finder --really slows you down, though.

I thought about making a wire frame finder. I do have a very cheap viewfinder on top that approximates the view (terrible optical quality, though). That gives me an idea of the horizontal (and is close on the vertical with a 645 back on the camera). Problem with it is it's too far forward - hard to get my eye up to it with the back on the camera. But it's not unusable. It's a truly wonderful lens. Very wide that you can use on people and not make them look like aliens.

piu58 · May 18, 2024

I just received two wonderful photographs form bernhad_L. They were taken at the seashore of the Normandy with a Fuji GS645W on Neopan 400. I like the wonderful Foma baryta paper. My wife liked the photographs too, especially the one with the pebbles: Beautiful shades of grey, she said.

bernard_L · May 21, 2024

@piu58 Glad you liked the photos. But you create a pressure to achieve next time.

piu58 said:
My wife liked the photographs too, especially the one with the pebbles

Interesting! My wife also was rather pleased with the pebbles, and asked me to frame and hang it. IMO my contribution to the composition is more significant in the first picture. In the end it is nice that different people see photos differently. I'm firmly in the camp against explanatory captions.

BPX 45 - status and updates

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