01.27.09
I love my 40 year old 198 megapixel camera
I’m all caught up on my backlog of medium format film that needs to be developed now. Initially I was pretty disappointed with the quality of the images that were being scanned from the negatives on my Epson V500 flatbed. The images on my HP5+ made Raleigh look more like London with the dingy gray fog hanging over everything.
But based on a little bit of Googling, I found many suggestions to try Vuescan. I messed around with it for about an hour and then happily plunked down the $40 to improve my situation.
The archival scans I’m getting of my negatives out of this combination of hardware and software is really making me giddy. And I’m the last person to be obsessed with megapixel count, but I just have to say it once: it’s kind of cool to have a 198 megapixel camera.
My primary camera these days is a Mamiya C330 Professional with the Mamiya-Sekor 80mm lens. This is a twin lens reflex camera and unlike most other TLR’s, you can change the lens boards on this one. I’d like to have a wider lens for architectural work and some model shoots but otherwise I really have been enjoying the 80mm lens.
01.26.09
From 35mm to 120
This is the life, originally uploaded by viridari.
Kodak TXP320 expired in 2000
Rodinal 1:50 @ 71F, 15m
Seeing how it’s 3:15AM, I’m not terribly with it right now. I just got finished developing my backlog of 120 roll film. There were some nice candids hiding in there, including this gentleman enjoying a gorgeous day at Lake Shelley in north Raleigh.
Yes, I’ve been getting more and more into film lately. Call me a masochist, but I really like the look of it and how the process forces me to slow down.
01.25.09
Clyde Cooper’s BBQ
Clyde Cooper’s BBQ, originally uploaded by viridari.
I can’t help but identify with Clyde Cooper’s BBQ joint in downtown Raleigh.
Cooper’s shabby little two story brick building stands in stark defiance quite literally in the shadow of progress.
While the world is moving from film to digital photography, I’ve gone in the opposite direction. I still shoot digital, certainly, but I find I prefer film these days. And I was one of the earliest of the early adopters of digital, having switched primarily to digital photography back in 1995.
This image was taken on the first roll of film that I developed myself in about 20 years. The last time I went through this process, I was in high school. Much has changed in photography since then. But as I carefully hung the negatives in my spare bathroom, I smiled when I looked at this one and thought to myself that this subversive act of mine, moving back to film, has quite a lot in common with old Clyde Cooper’s place.
While I fully expect the City of Raleigh to condemn Cooper’s joint in the interest of re-assigning the property to a wealthy developer who will put a big bland tower of glass and steel on the spot, hopefully it will be a lot longer before I’m forced to give up the simple pleasures of working in analogue photography.
As I previously alluded to, this picture was from the first roll of film that I have developed myself in about 20 years. It’s good to be back. This was the big bottleneck keeping me from working more often in film, as I didn’t want to incur the very high fees from the lab. Developing my own film also gives me a lot more creative control in the full process.
Vital stats:
Olympus Stylus Epic Zoom 80
Ilford HP5+ 400 (shot at box speed)
Rodinal 1:50 @ 70F for 10m
01.19.09
Carolina Ale House in Infra-Red
Carolina Ale House in Infra-Red, originally uploaded by viridari.
I went out over the weekend with mrxdimension to do a good bit of street photography. We met at the Carolina Ale House at Brier Creek to ready ourselves for the long day of walking and he handed me his Pentax K100D to try out.
This was no ordinary K100D, as I was soon to discover. It had, in fact, been converted to pass almost no visible light to the sensor (it will see some light in the red spectrum). Almost everything you see in this image was captured in the infrared spectrum!
There are special properties to shooting with IR that can make it more interesting in some cases than shooting conventional visible light. At some point I’m going to have to have a Canon body converted to add to my available tools.
01.18.09
We can’t let Charlotte get away with yet another victory!
OK, Charlotte beat Raleigh to being first at something else that is cool. I can live with that. We’ll just have to do it better.
I’d love to see people from a number of different interest areas collaborate on bringing Pecha Kucha nights to Raleigh. This shouldn’t just be about photography or art. And then of course is the big question of where. Charlotte drew over 180 people on its first Pecha Kucha night. That sort of rules out meeting in the back room at Tir Na Nog.
Thoughts?
Pecha Kucha in Raleigh?
Anyone know of a local Pecha Kucha night in Raleigh? A classmate of mine who now lives in Charlotte just told me about it and it sounds like something that could be quite popular here.
01.13.09
Jason Adamo @ Black Flower – Jan 8, 2009
Jason Adamo @ Black Flower – Jan 8, 2009, originally uploaded by viridari.
I did my first live music shoot last week. The music was great, the beer was fantastic, and it was a lot of fun capturing these images of Jason Adamo’s band rocking the Black Flower last Thursday night.
My digital camera wouldn’t have pulled this off. The light in the Black Flower is quite dim, and the performers are lit with red-gelled lights that necessitated the use of a very fast film. In this case, I used Ilford Delta 3200 Professional shot at EI 3200. The camera was nothing special, just a Canon EOS Rebel G that I picked up very cheaply on eBay, coupled with a fast 50mm f/1.8 prime lens.
Not being a big fan of motion blur, I tried to keep the shutter speed at 1/90 or faster which necessitated wide apertures most of the night.
Jason and his band were very photographer-friendly and were very enthusiastic about having a photographer come out to shoot them. Doubly so when they found out that I was working in black & white film!
The Black Flower crew was also great, and I’m sure I’ll be going back there again and again (if for no other reason because they have a fantastic selection of craft brewed beers!)
01.10.09
Evoking Bruce Gilden
I’ve been trying to build my own style while at the same time paying homage to the accomplishments of those who have come before me. Today I was experimenting with a much more confrontational type of candid street photography. I was inspired by the work of Bruce Gilden who is known for getting right on top of his subjects and taking their photograph before they even know what hit them.
A real educational experience for me was watching him work via this Youtube video:
I did not make use of flash today but I was getting within about five feet of my subjects. I must admit, it’s a bit of a rush getting up that close without getting permission or a pose out of one’s subject. This was all done on film so it might be a little while before I can post examples of this sort of work to the blog. At some moments I found myself wishing for a wider lens, though, so that I might get in even closer and have greater separation of my subjects from each other and from the background.
01.07.09
Fool your 35mm camera into a different exposure index
If you’re still shooting with a 35mm camera, especially one that automatically sets the ASA rating based on the DX label of the film cartridge, you can still push or pull your exposure even if your camera won’t let you manually set the ASA rating!
Check this out. Porter’s Camera Store sells DX labels for popular ASA ratings like 40, 100, 125, 200, 800, 1600, and 3200. So you could load your 35mm point-n-shoot with some Tri-X ASA 400, slap one of these labels on your film cartridge, and fool your camera into working at an EI of 1600.
Photography Needs Light
I’ve discovered this great blog on live music photography, Live on 35mm. If you run a live music venue, or run the lights for a band, or you are in a band, you need to consider this article.
Photography needs light. There is no exception to this rule. No light, no photos.
I was making some plans for this week to go to a local venue that I’ve not visited before, Slim’s. But I had second thoughts when I saw their videos on their Myspace page and noticed that the lighting was almost non existent and entirely from behind. For my purposes, this is going to be almost completely useless. But the bands are the ones who lose out the most, because having great photographs floating around out there helps to generate buzz and firm up your fan base. Being lit well for live music photographers helps to promote you to your potential fans!
