test post from mah droid tablet app. it’s 12:30 and i am wide awake.
First Friday again..and other things
I got sucked in by a few interesting books as of late, so It’s been a bit since I’ve updated.
I have a new piece on display at the downtown gallery, and I’m fiddling around with a few other techniques so I can finish up this ‘Dream Series’ I’m working on.
Ran across this and this in my Internet ramblings. Not a big fan of war of course, but I think the images were interesting and definitely told a story.
I am working a post specifically for those who are interested in getting into film and have no idea where to start. I’m not writing a step-by-step comprehensive guide (that would entail me actually writing a book), however the basic process is fairly easy, and I’ll show you where to look and what to buy (with a budget in mind of course). Also I’ll be briefly going over what you may want to look for in a starter camera or perhaps just something to have fun with.
Note that you do NOT need a darkroom to develop film, however you will need a place to film to dry that is dust free. If you don’t have a place to hang your film, I’ll show you have to make an in-reel film dryer for less than $30.
Here’s something I snapped just the other day:
Visual food for thought perhaps?
Interesting photo links
So after a way too early morning, I managed to wake up enough to do a bit of creative research. Let me further add that the instant coffee I sometimes use to develop film was particularly useful this morning, as I happened to be out of my regular stuff.
I took this particular photo a few weeks ago, I found I was sort of drawn to the interesting contrasts and vanishing perspective in this shot. Not to mention that preserving the shadow detail while maintaining a reasonable level of contrast was an enjoyable challenge as well. Of course I am speaking as a film photographer who takes photographs with older cameras that sometimes have dubious light meter readings, if they have a light meter at all. Thankfully this one did and it helped me out a bit.
So I did find a few links today that I thought were particularly outstanding.
This is a link to photographs of various neighborhoods in the Chicago area, not specific to any time period I enjoyed it very much.
This is a link to some photos from the Brooklyn area circa 1970′s. I couldn’t recommend these enough either.
I hope you enjoy looking at them. I could have spent most of the morning studying them and letting my imagination run wild.
Also, this coming weekend I will be working at the gallery in the downtown area. You should pencil a visit in on your respective calenders.
Some Holga fun
So I shoot Holga as well as pinhole and vintage. I’m not going to blah blah blah about the whole plastic camera thing. I think they’re great, you might not think so..to each his own. A word of warning however, shooting 35mm in a Holga or any other plastic camera requires you to to some careful taping on the inside of the camera (not so much on the outside anymore) to avoid scratching the anti-halation layer of your film. Not a big deal if your just scanning them, but if you plan on printing them traditionally you’ll probably be upset. The main culprit that seems to scratch a lot of film is the pressure plate that holds the film level against the aperture window. I use thin felt, seems to w0rk well.
This particular shot was developed in Rodinal 1:50 for 13 min. Exposure was guestimated. The image your seeing is the raw image straight from the neg.
Shameless promotion post
I am selling some prints at my Etsy store. I try to add new prints at least once a month, but unfortunately things have been sort of hectic and I’ve not had as much time as I’d like to raise money to further my work.
Have some random prints of mine to post later in the week, and I hope to have my functioning darkroom back by the weekend.
I am behind on the digital restorations I’ve been doing for people, I am going to try to finish those up next week.
On a slightly more exciting note, I did find a good deal on some Potassium Bromide. Which I am sure is exciting for those of you who like Potassium Bromide. Everyone else can just not be as excited I suppose.
The dream series
So I’ve started a short series of silver and film hybrid prints. I call it the ‘Dream Series’ because the imagery is based on recurring dreams I’ve had throughout the years. The first is a pin-hole photograph I did on 120 film. I really wanted to print this traditionally but since I don’t have access to the proper enlarger and I wanted a large print, I decided to go ahead and have it digitally printed (full-frame of course) on 16×20. I added just a slight bit of color to give it a proper toned look.
T here are going to be five prints total in the series, and I’ve decided on the imagery for all five of them. Set and prop construction are ongoing.
First Friday (Labor Day Weekend)
So I’m putting two new works up in the gallery for First Friday. One of which I’ve posted here before, the other is a vintage nude that I had the pleasure of restoring from some old 3-d Verascope glass slides. I made it a point to limit my reconstruction and avoid the evils of digital over embellishment. I was quite pleased with the resulting image.
Below is an image from a wide-angle pinhole of my own construction. I’ve said this plenty of times before, and I’ll say it again, I am ape over these sort of cameras. It’s been an source of endless fun for me for many decades, and every time I put it away and then pick it up again, its even more fun.
Ilford 120 film developed in Rodinal
You can start here if you want to jump right in and begin creating.
Or if you’d like to build your own from scratch try this book.
Good investments if you want to add some creativity to your life for a minimal amount of money.
During my down time the other night I meandered around on the interwebs and landed here. Spent a little time browsing through the old photographs, making up fictional histories for each one. Very much fun for me.
I am adding cafenol to my list of film developers. Cafenol is essentially a mixture of instant coffee and vitamin C, I used it a few times back in the day but now it seems to have made a resurgence in popularity. Coupled with my own photographic style I am hoping this will give some brilliant results. Assuming I can keep from drinking it.
As always, I will continue to post to new works on FB, however I am going to be cherry picking certain bits of work to blog about. So we shall see what develops from that.
Hope to see some of you on Friday.
My tree fetish
So I have this thing for trees.
I can’t exactly explain it- and no I won’t be quoting any Kilmer up in this blog.
It is maddening however.
I’ve abandoned projects mid-stream to film them, discarded plans to wait around for the perfect light, and spent many resources trying to ‘capture the essence’ of these things.
I’ve abandoned any hope of asserting my own will, and resigned myself to let my subconscious do the driving as far as this subject goes.
A busy month for me
So I have a lot of things booked/planned for this month. So much that I have no idea how I am going to get it all done. Had a nice photo shoot yesterday with Mr. Timothy Orikri, then topped off the evening with some nice food and some lovely jazz from my record collection. Incidentally, Mr. Orikri is giving a talk on Saturday at 1:30 pm at the Art’s Council building in downtown cape. I recommend it.
An ancient house in the county
So I took this photo many months ago using an old camera that kind of broke while I was using it. I managed to hold it together long enough to snap a few interesting things. Printed on fiber paper and then lightly poly-sulfide toned. Negative developed in Rodinal with minimal agitation.
Lovely photo taken with a paint can camera
As the caption suggests, I took this with a paint can camera of my own making. I’ve always enjoyed these types of cameras because they are extremely fun, and inexpensive. For less than $50 you can create something beautiful and unique. If you don’t to google the directions I’ll provide instructions in following posts.
Working today
I’m working downtown at my gallery today, which I am perfectly fine with given that it is approximately two thousand degrees outside. Today I’ll be snapping some dig photos of the gallery and exhibits therein for posting later. I will also be finishing up some restorations for friends and work related endeavors.
I’ve built another pin-hole camera. Those things are addictive, best to stay away from them if I were you. Post more on that and other camera related things next week. Two quick screen shots of what I am starting the day with:
I’m not really showing off my prowess with a clone brush, I just think the young woman in the photograph is particularly striking.
Yes I do use GIMP to edit with. I like it. It’s free and extremely versatile (if you know what your doing). If you’d like me to use something else kindly paypal me a few grand and I’ll be happy to champion that cause as well.
Great painter showing this coming weekend at the Global Cafe (if your local to the area). Check him out here. Cost $10. A bargain considering the caliber of work.
Anyways, some things to think about while you enjoy you day and I selflessly slave away in the air-conditioning.
