Why bother with film?

 Photography  7 Responses »
Feb 012011
 

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Sometimes I do wonder, why even bother with film. Then, all I need to do is develop a roll, see the negatives, and then, I realize why. In my job as a programmer, I spend at least 8 hours per day with a computer. I remember when digital cameras first became available, I was fascinated with the instant gratification of the digital image.

Soon, it became painfully apparent that the images that came out of the camera were, shall we say, less than satisfactory. The next thing, naturally, was some image manipulation tool such as Photoshop, followed by the “light room”. This is all well and good, but it got old kind of quick. I go to work all day, work on a computer. I come home, take some photos with a highly computerized camera, download the photos to the hard drive (more computer terms), open up an application and work on these images.

Sure, it was great a times to learn about layers and masks and all of these cool things, but after a while, it just came down to learning another application. More computer work, if you will.
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With film, I can experience the different characteristics of each film. I can experiment with different developer/film combinations. I can experiment with development time, agitation, temperature, and all manner of variables.

I feel, in this way, I am part of the process. However, I am still a hybrid, preferring to have a bit of convenience. Develop, scan, then manipulate. I do not miss having a full wet-darkroom complete with development trays and an enlarger. I’m just fine with inkjet and lightroom.

Finally, I guess that it is just the simplicity of the film camera. Point. Focus. Shoot. No menus. No nothing. You have to understand the metering of the camera and understand the limitations of the film that you are shooting. No helpful histograms or chimping to tell you if you got it right. You’re an integral part of the process.

Anyway, just food for thought.

 Posted by Paul at 6:48 pm  Tagged with: ,

My first ever camera drop

 Photography  10 Responses »
Apr 152010
 

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Olympus 35 LC – Ilford HP5 – Rodinal 1:50

To the best of my knowledge I have never, no correct that, had never dropped a camera. Last Friday, that all changed. I decided that I would take my little used Olympus 35 LC out for a walk through downtown. It’s small enough as to be inconspicuous and looks so old school that people really don’t pay it any mind. It is the only camera that I have that does NOT have a strap on it. A mistake that I intend to correct.

When I got out of my car on Friday morning, I opened the truck, took the camera out of the bag, checked to see if it had film in it, held the camera in my left hand, closed the trunk with my right had. Immediately, I saw a shot that I wanted to take. I was standing perpendicular to the shot. The shot was to the right, the car to the left. I started rotating my body to the right, bringing the camera up with my left hand. Unfortunately, I did not completely clear my laptop bag which was slung over my left shoulder. The camera caught on part of the bag; I felt that but my arm was already in motion, my grip was not tight enough, and away it went, tumbling through the air to my left. Slow motion movie scene or dream sequence. Tumbling. Tumbling. Tumbling. Splat! It landed solidly on the pavement of the parking lot. Ouch!

I had no idea if it was damaged. I picked it up, examined it. There was a small scratch on it, but no dents or dings. I put it to my eye, took a couple of pictures. Everything still seemed to work correctly, except that the light meter seemed to be a little weird, but it is always a little weird. I rarely use it at all. I’d rather guess or take a quick reading with another camera and go with that for the entire shoot, changing the exposure by a stop or two if I end up in deep shadow.

So, I took an entire roll of film using that camera. What you see here is an exposure taken after ‘the fall’. All appears to be in working order, no loose parts, no rattling around inside, nothing. Built like a tank. I’d hate to think what would have been the result if that had been my D300. *Shudder*

 Posted by Paul at 8:15 am  Tagged with: ,

Skills lost, dormant, or no longer needed?

 Photography  5 Responses »
Apr 132010
 

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There’s no way I could’ve gotten it on film, both the exposure and the focus. Chris Klug – April Golden Light

On a couple of back-to-back posts, Chris mentioned that the photo that he took could not have been done with film. I disagree. I think that the could have pulled off either of the shots using film, perhaps not as easily, but it could have been done, I believe.

Now, this post is not to say that Chris doesn’t know what he is talking about; he certainly does. I just don’t think that he gave himself enough credit for the skills that he’s acquired.

This post is just another one of those pool ball shots that bank off of the walls of my brain. I wonder if, with the rise of digital technology, we are losing skills or, perhaps we are giving up skills that are no longer needed. Which is it?

One thing I can say: this shoot was one I could never have done with a film camera and prime lens. This shoot used digital and modern lenses all the way. Chris Klug – Last Rays Of Sun

I think back to my film days. Of course, as a young man of very limited budget, I always, if I could, purchased the equivalent of day-old bread, that is, I bought film that had expired or was about to. You could always count on a pretty good discount, 50% or more. Rarely was I without several rolls, or perhaps several dozen rolls of film. And, as I recall, I didn’t hesitate to experiment and bracket, bracket, bracket. It just didn’t ocurr to me to not bracket. It’s just the way that I did in tough lighting situations. Most times I got the shot, but there were those few that got away.

With digital cameras, we still need to experiment, so to speak, but there is no cost/frame to experiment, save for a few thousand pixels, which can easily be dumped and reused. As a dual shooter, this fact is not lost on me. I am a bit more cautious when shooting my film cameras, much less so than back in the day, or so my memory tells me, but I try not to be; however, the simple fact is film is a finite material. I carry only so many rolls with me AND, I am only willing to purchase/develop so many. :-)

In the end, I guess that if one is willing to experiment and take chances, the shots can be pulled off either way. That said, I know that there are lots of points of failure for film: Reciprocity failure, color balance, film speed, etc, not to mention the inherent continuing cost.

Thanks for that food for thought, Chris!

 Posted by Paul at 12:00 pm  Tagged with: ,

On the street in Charlotte

 Photography  7 Responses »
Apr 112010
 

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Olympus 35 LC – Ilford HP5 – Rodinal 1:50

Looking through my archives, I see that I have absolutely no street shots of the people in Charlotte. I had plenty of people in Charleston, but none here. Well, I've set out to remedy that situation. I know have the prime opportunity to shoot most every day.

In order to get a less expensive lot, I park 5 blocks from work and walk in. Each day, I take with me my Olympus 35 LC, though I will be switching to the Leica because, quite frankly, it is a much better machine. I'll qualify that just a bit. The Oly is a great camera, but the controls are so very easy to accidentally move, especially the aperture ring. I have to make sure to hold it a certain way so as not to bump the controls. I find this distracting and it ends up in missed shots. With the M6, I have no such constraints. I set it and forget it. I see something, I respond. That's it.

The center of Charlotte, both literally and figuratively, is the corner of Trade & Tryon. Should you ever find yourself in Charlotte and want pictures of people, this is the place to be. No, it's not NYC, nor even close, but you will find an diverse range of folks, all interesting. On Friday afternoon, for example, on the Northeastern corner was a man with a bible preaching to all who would listen, opposite him on the Southwestern corner, stood young man atop a small stool with a microphone talking about who knows what. On the Southeastern corner another man, seemingly homeless, babbling on about something, coherent to him, perhaps, but ignored by most.

On this particular day, the Northwestern corner was unoccupied, at least at this time. Of course, I didn't have my camera with me, I was heading to lunch with some of my coworkers. No excuse. :-)
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I happened to photograph the guy above one morning on the way to work. Although my building would be directly to his back, I like to walk past the building, shoot a bit, and relax before going into work. I usually arrive downtown about 8:30, arrive at Bank of American Center at 8:40, but I don’t go inside until 9:00 AM.

The interesting thing about this shot, for me, is that the guy and the statue are looking in the same basic direction. FYI: The name of this particular statue is Industry; It is one of four statues on that corner. All really cool works of art.

Well, it’s a start. Time to get the M6 out and have at it. Oh yeah, this is the first roll of film that I’ve ever developed in Charlotte. :-)

 Posted by Paul at 6:23 pm  Tagged with: , ,

Time, opportunity, and choices II

 Photography  4 Responses »
Apr 052010
 

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On the UNCC campus

Back on November 23, 2009, I wrote this post talking about how many film shots I had taken to date. In that post, Earl made the following comment:

Paul, as i read your post I wondered if being in Charleston on your own each week with evening time to develop and scan has made your usage of film easier or more enjoyable? If you were home in Charlotte would finding time for film be harder to come by?

Though I could not remember when it was said nor what exactly was said, I did remember the theme of the comment. So, this morning I searched my blog for ‘time to develop’ and fortunately, those 3 words did follow each other and I was able to find the post and the comment once again. I am thankful for the ability to search.

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Though this is only the beginning of my third week back, I am in full swing with the tasks of daily life. In a way, my life has not changed: I still get up every morning, do my 20 minutes of meditation, prepare my clothes for work, shower, get dressed, drive to work, etc. The evenings are where there is a difference. There are more things to do, wash dishes, take Hobbs for a walk, eek out a bit of time for photography, talk to Tony (if he is ever at home), talk to the wife, and on and on.

Physically, there are so many more windows in this house than I had in the apartment. Lots and lots of windows, which means that light, whether artificial or natural streams into the house. I wanted a lot of windows, so this is not a bad thing, unless you are trying to find a place to develop film. :-) There is but one location suitable for loading film into developing tank, a downstairs bathroom which is one of two rooms in the house having no windows; the other room is the laundry room. The advantage of the bathroom is that it has a lock on the door. No one can accidentally open the door while I’m loading film.

As you probably know, doors are not exactly light tight. I’ll have to drape a blanket over the door to keep the extraneous light out. In the apartment I could turn off all of the lights and it would be quite dark in the bathroom. No need for blankets or anything; however, as there are other people in the house who rather prefer to have lights on, well … you get the idea. LOL!

Currently, I have one roll of film that I want to develop. Perhaps I’ll do it tonight. I know that tomorrow will not be an option. I’ll be busy, busy, busy tomorrow evening and probably won’t get home until about 10:00 PM. However, it will be plenty dark at that time.

So, Earl, now that I’m back here in Charlotte, I can see that developing film will be a challenge, but I intend to stick with it because I enjoy it; however, that said, I’ve made plans for other things that haven’t quite worked out the way that I planned! :-) In looking through my film archives, I don’t have any photos of Charlotte anywhere. I need to fix that!

 Posted by Paul at 8:31 am  Tagged with: ,

It seemed wide enough at the time

 Photography  11 Responses »
Mar 282010
 

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For about 10 months, I’ve been using a variety of film cameras, all with so called ‘normal’ lenses mounted on them. Normal, meaning having about the equivalent angle of view that we see while looking straight ahead. For a 35 mm camera, that would be a 50 mm lens. On the Mamiya 645e, that is an 80 mm lens. On my D300, considering the crop factor, that comes out to about 32 mm, give or take. The nearest focal length being a 35 mm lens. I don’t own one of those, but I do have a 50 mm that I’ve been using, or a focal equivalent and field of view of a 75 mm lens.

For this shot, which is a different view of yesterday’s shot, I had in mind what it would look like through a 50 mm, backed up, looked, and it was nowhere near what I thought it would look like. I was really feeling the red and white stripes of the railroad crossing arm against the color of the sky as well has the blossoms in the background.

Looking through the 50 mm/75 mm equivalent, it was very much cropped. I had to back up quite a bit to get what I wanted … though I wish that the fence wasn’t there, but what can you do other than go with it? To get this shot, I had to almost walk into the street. It’s a pretty busy street in both directions, so better to stay on the sidewalk.

I had been using my film cameras for B & W exclusively, mainly for convenience and to keep costs down. Now, maybe I’ll have to borrow a move from the Chris Klug handbook and shoot Fujichrome or something. It has been dozens of years since I’ve done that. It could be quite satisfying!

I think that to keep things on level playing ground, it’s time to get a 35 mm lens, which is much, much less expensive than getting a D700 unless someone wants to sell me one the same price as the lens. If so, contact me via e-mail and I’ll send the check right away! :-)

 Posted by Paul at 7:00 pm  Tagged with: , ,

Harsh Light

 Photography  3 Responses »
Mar 162010
 

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Leica M6 – Ilford FP4+ – Rodinal 1:50

The other day I was in Due West, SC. Due West, you might say; That sounds like a little town somewhere way off the main highway, over yonder. Well, you’d be right. It’s the home of Erskine College. Tony was visiting the college … my goodness, is it that time already?! I remember when he was just a toddler and watching endless repetitions of Sesame Street!
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Anyway, Vera and I were waiting for him to finish, so we decided to walk for a couple of hours, have lunch, walk a bit more. Well, certainly walking is her thing. She loves it. It was a nice day, about 70 degrees or so, not a cloud in the sky. I decided that I would walk with her and take my Leica with me and photograph the scenes, such as they were in Due West.

I almost talked myself out of it. After all it was shortly after high noon, the light was harsh and full of shadows. No “pretty” light here. I decided to take the camera and hope for the best.

Overall, I was pleased with the results. I got some decent shots, certainly this would nat have been a day to do portraits without a diffuser, but if it’s nice, deep shadows that you’re looking for, this type of weather will work.

Sometimes it’s just peachy to get away from what you believe will work and try some different things. Exploring. I think that the old school bicycle, basket and all, personifies this sleepy little town.

 Posted by Paul at 3:09 pm  Tagged with: , ,
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