Winter Pines

February 2012, Chicago, IL (Holga 120N, Ilford 3200, home developed and scanned)

So I got relatively caught up on the processing, scanning and editing of a bunch of photography that had been languishing away . . . and then promptly fell behind all over again. Not quite as much time on my hands in recent weeks as earlier this year, which is a good thing actually, but posting might get somewhat thinner. Will continue to put stuff up as as can - and will perhaps get around to finishing up some non-photography related posts that I have been kicking around for awhile.

Still loving doing my own black & white film developing. Lots more of that to come. Maybe a little Spring color as well.

Out Of Focus Fridays (OOFF) - Step Into My Parlour

October 2011, Benecia, California (Canon Elan 7ne, Kodak Ektar 100, 17-40mm f/4.0)

So a dear, old friend (or is that an old, dear friend at this point), tells me that she "wants to go with me" on these out of focus experiments, but they make her head hurt. This one is for her: a little slice of focus on the right side of the spiderweb will give her eye something to rest on, and hopefully keep her little head from aching too bad.

Morning Herald

October 2011, Benecia, California (Canon Elan 7ne, 17-40mm f/4.0, Kodak Ektar 100 film)

An angel figurine in one of K's parents spare bedrooms. The statue can actually look quite creepy at night, but I loved the way the lace curtains diffused the morning light coming through the window for this shot. To get the statue to be more than just a silhouette, I had to use a very slow shutter speed. No tripod, just bracing my back against the side of the bed as I squatted down to get the angle.

Quite impressed with the Ektar 100 film, although it was a little tricky to get the film to scan correctly. Will probably do a longer write-up on the film later, but short version seems to be that it is a really nice color negative film that gives almost slide-like results, but with a lot more exposure forgiveness. Not a perfect film - does a horrible job rendering skin tones for white people - but damn good, nonetheless.

Rudder In The Grass

(Kodak Tri-X 400, Holga 120n, home developed)

"The Impossible Project" . . . Perhaps Too Aptly Named?

This is a post about giving up on a good idea.

My old, super cool SX-70 camera and some "re-imagined" instant film from The Impossible Project. Such a good idea, going nowhere fast. (Panasonic GF-1, 20mm f/1.7)

I really, really wanted the people over at The Impossible Project to succeed. I bought a decent amount of their early attempts, knowing that what I was actually doing was subsidizing their research, rather than purchasing a viable film format at that time. And the initial progress was hopeful - the films got better. Unfortunately, they never got "good."

"Gotham" (September 2010, SX-70, TIP PX 100 film)

This is one of my early attempts with TIP film, and still probably my favorite result. Temperature sensitivity has made the TIP films very difficult to work with out of doors here in Chicago, where the temps tend to reside at either end of the extreme and are rarely settled into the 60-70 degree range where the film seems to work best.

As TIP has gone forward, it seems that the emphasis has shifted. From my perspective, it seems like TIP has essentially abandoned the idea of developing a true replacement for the Polaroid integral films, and are now just intent on milking the hipsters for every red cent they can before the fad fades.

  

  

"K Playing Scrabble" (above), "J & C At The Ballpark" (below) (May 2011, Polaroid Spectra, TIP  PZ 600 film)
You can see the marked temperature effect between the two shots above. Both were from the same pack of PZ 600 film. The top shot was taken in an air conditioned hotel room, the bottom shot was taken outdoors on a hot and humid day.

The first few iterations of the TIP films showed decent improvement - the "Silver Shade" product got closer to providing a neutral black and white, and the "Color Shade" product, while remaining washed out and very soft, was actually getting to the point where it was differentiating colors and not just a wash of muddy blue tones. You were still having to shield the prints immediately upon leaving the camera, but the UV protection was at least getting better.

"Ye Olde Ball Game" (May 2011, Polaroid Spectra, TIP PZ 600 film)
Another shot from the ballpark. In this case, the strong sepia/yellow cast actually works, making the picture seem old and giving it a nostalgic feel.

But then things seemed to stall. The email updates from TIP became less and less about advances to the film, and more and more about marketing gimmicks - "limited editions," different color image frames, accessories and refurbished Polaroid cameras priced for hipsters living in trust fund lofts rather than tip jar apartments. And as actual improvements to the product appeared to get fewer and farther between, the cost of the product got higher and higher - including the need to sometimes buy additional products to make up for deficiencies in the film itself. Right now, TIP film will run you approximately $3.00 per shot, not including shipping. Pretty steep rate for an unstable, unpredictable and (let's face it) still highly flawed product.

"Summer Garden" (June 2011, Polaroid 600, TIP PX 600 UV+ Black Frame film)
Case in point as to the gimmicks - the shot above is a special edition of the PX 600 UV+ film. Still has the same temperature sensitivity problems, still too sensitive to light during development, still a problem with uneven distribution of developer chemicals (see the cutout in the center top of the frame), but hey the enclosure is black, isn't that cool? (Of course, if you just scan the image without the "way cool" black frame - as above - you are just left with a finicky, over-priced film product.)

I don't know why the research seems to have stalled. Perhaps the technical hurdles are just too steep to overcome at the scale that TIP is able to fund. Perhaps the partial re-introduction of integral Polaroid/Fuji films has killed off some of the demand - and therefore the funding base - for TIP films. I have not used the Fuji Instax or the Polaroid 300 (which is essentially a rebranded Fuji Mini 25), but from what I've heard the quality is heads and tails above the TIP films at less than a third the cost per shot. True, the newer cameras leave a lot to be desired in the cool-factor category. Frankly, they are just plain ugly, at least in my opinion. But having an attractive box to run your film through only gets you so far if the film itself fails to deliver.

Supposedly, there are even more improved versions of the TIP films coming down the pike later this year. Indeed, the last email that I got from TIP was a bundling sale, that appears to be trying to clear out all of the old (and now for much of it, expired) film stock. However, even at the "super sale" price the per shot cost is still more than $1, which is where to my mind the cost should be in general. The new "improved" versions of the films will almost certainly be more in the $2 to $3+ per shot cost range, and if the most recent updates are any guide, improvements will likely be incremental, at best.

Perhaps I would think differently if I was more of a studio shooter. (There is some very cool work being done with these films, but almost all of it is studio work where the important factors - temperature, lighting, etc. can be controlled to optimize the result.) However, I'm not, and given the ongoing disappointment with the TIP films (not to mention the expense), I have reluctantly decided to give up on integral films altogether. The quality is just not there for the production of traditional photographic images, even in the Fuji/Polaroid integral films, and I simply don't think in the artistic way needed to elevate the types of images you can get with TIP films to get something that is worth clicking the shutter.

I sold off my second SX-70 body some time ago, and will be putting the other one up on the fleaBay this weekend. I still dream of TIP (or perhaps Fuji, Polaroid or ?????) resurrecting the SX-70 with a quality film product to run through it, I don't think the chances are at all likely, and I would rather use my time and money to subsidize other aspects of the (still shrinking) film market that provide me with the quality and usage experience that make them worthwhile now, rather than those that dangle the chance of that on some ill-defined future date while expecting me to pay premium rates for an inferior product.

Sorry TIP . . . it's not me, it's you. Later.

"Wake Me Up When You Get Your S#*t Together" (June 2011, Polaroid 600, TIP PX 600 UV+ film)

Food Motivated

This is Rudder waiting for a treat at the September 2011 8K/5K run/walk event for the local no-kill pet shelter, PAWS. They put on the event every year, and this is the second year that Rudder, K and I have participated. Always fun to see all the other dogs and all the money raised goes towards PAWS and other pet-related charities. 

Still a little behind on dealing with the last of the 2011 film images, but am (slowly) catching up. 

Cross-processed Kodak EB-2 (expired), Canon A-1, 50mm f/1.8
Rudder Waiting For Treats @ PAWS "Run For Their Lives", September 2011, Chicago, Illinois

Fuji 400H Film With The Holga

I would like to like Fuji Pro 400H more than I do, as it would be nice to have an alternative to Kodak Portra 400. Jury is still out, generally, but it doesn't work that well with my Holga. The Fuji film appears to be rated at least a stop faster than it really is - meaning that it really needs to be overexposed to get decent colors and negative thickness. Since the Holga only has two aperture settings (at best) and one shutter speed, you either need to get just the right lighting conditions, or you need a fairly forgiving film. Black & white films tend to have a lot more exposure latitude, so you can get decent exposures under much more varied lighting conditions than with color negative film. Kodak Portra 400 also has a lot of exposure latitude, although not as much as the better black & whites. I've had very good luck with the Holga using Portra. However, given Kodak's recent troubles, and its apparent attitude toward us "backward" film shooters, having an alternative would be both helpful and prudent. Unfortunately, it looks like the Fuji isn't going to be it.

"Eventide" (Roscoe Village, Chicago, October 2011)
Holga 120n, Fuji Pro 400H
I like this shot, even though it is strongly underexposed, as I think the underexposure helps create a mysterious and evocative mood.

"A Little Light Is So Religious" (Roscoe Village, Chicago, October 2011)
Holga 120n, Fuji Pro 400H
This shot shows a much better exposure, resulting from the more direct light on the steeple and the bright sky.

Heading Downtown

"Heading Downtown" (December 2011, Chicago Loop)
Expired Kodak Tri-X 400, Canon A-1, 50mm f/1.8

Since I have had a little unexpected time on my hands of late, I have taken the opportunity to start developing my own black and white film. I had been keeping a bag of exposed 35mm and 120 rolls to experiment with and have gotten about half-way through the bag. I must say that doing my own developing has been a very rewarding experience. There is just something almost mystical about pulling the developed negatives out of the tank. Turns out to be a lot easier and cheaper than I had thought, (and quite a bit faster and easier than sending out, as well). This probably means you will be seeing a lot more black and white as the blog goes forward.

"2 x 56" (Fuji 100B, Polaroid Land 250)

What You May Find While Walking Your Dog

"Hidden Path" (Fuji 100B, Polaroid Land 250)
This is a neat little path behind some an older housing complex, which runs next to a part of the Chicago River. Oddly, the path is blocked off where it goes under the overpass you can see off in the distance in the upper third. Nice little path, that I never see anyone on.

"What Remains" (Fuji 100B, Polaroid Land 250)
One week ago, this was an old, brick Chicago 3-flat.

Nostalgia?

"September 2, 1880" (Polaroid Spectra, IP PZ 600 Silver Shade - Cincinnati, Ohio, May 2011)

"Stadium" (Polaroid Spectra, IP PZ 600 Silver Shade - Cincinnati, Ohio, May 2011)

Some shots taken early last year at the Cincinnati Reds ballpark. K and I took in a game after she had run the Flying Pig Marathon. Shots are taken with a Polaroid Spectra camera, using the then-current iteration of Impossible Project's Silver Shade Film. It was a hot and humid day, and the IP film was having trouble with the heat, creating the washed out, yellow tones. You can get some interesting effects with this film, but it was and remains a very unpredictable and inconsistent medium.

Learning To Play With New Toys

A few of the first shots from my "new" Mamiya RB67 Pro.  The Holga is a total medium format gateway drug of a camera.  It's is very fun and gets you to appreciate the possibilities of the larger negatives, but it is not exactly a precision instrument.  I was looking for something that would give me better control and the RB67s have a good rep and are going for a song on the used market.  I picked up a body and standard lens on eBay and a couple more lenses from keh.com.  The Mamiya is a complete monster, it's got to weight at least 10 pounds, and is built like a tank - not exactly a street shooter - but so far has been living up to its hype.  Shooting with it is a lot more involved than with your standard 35mm slr, but I can't argue with the end results - big, gorgeous negatives.  What's not to like?

Garlic Scapes, June 2011, Chicago IL
(Mamiya RB67Pro, 90mm f3.8, Fomopan 400, developed by 120processing.com, scanned self w/Epson V600)

The photos were taken in my apartment's backyard, over the fence into our neighbor's garden.  The back yards of the neighbors on either side of our place put our backyard to shame.  On one side, we have a landscape artist whose place could be featured in a magazine.  On the other side we have an older Cuban gentleman, who has cultivated about a third of his yard into a lush garden.  He is getting on in years, but you will still see him most afternoons puttering around with his wide, floppy straw hat, his cigar, and his khaki shorts.  (We should all only hope to be so cool in our old age.)

Guardian

Holga 120N, Kodak T-Max 400
(processing by 120processing.com; scanned with Epson V600)

An early spring shot from my neighbor's garden.

Frantic

A little experiment with the Holga and multiple exposures.

Holga 120N, Kodak T-Max 400
(processing by 120processing.com; scanned with Epson V600)

Coit Tower

Coit Tower, San Francisco - Holga 120N Portra 400VC, color conversion via PS CS3

This is another Holga image from the trip K and I took to San Francisco last November.  The original of this is a color image.  The color image is fine, but the color distracts from what I think are the cool elements of this shot - the textures and patterns of the tower and sky, along with the compositional framing coming from the tower base and the tufts of trees visible to either side.

In color, the shot is okay, but a little flat.  In black and white, I think it really comes into its own. Here is one of those situations where the digital darkroom kicks the wet darkroom's ass without even trying that hard.  Once scanned, I can take the color image of this shot into Photoshop and not only convert the image to black and white, but do it in a way that allows me to simulate the effect that would have been achieved by taking the shot on black and white film with color filters.  For example, in this case, I dropped the reds out of the image before conversion, which gives an effect similar to having shot the image with a red filter - darkens the sky, emphasizing the clouds.

Black and white films provide a feel to the image that can't quite be matched by the effect of a color conversion (black and white film has a very broad tonal range, for example - broader than color film and much broader than you will get with a digital camera).  I like shooting black and white directly, but when shooting color its nice to know there is the option of producing the end image as black and white.

More Holga

Here are a few photos of the Chicago skyline and waterfront.  These are also from the first roll that I shot with the camera.  I think I'm hooked!

Film is slow . . .

. . . but I am slower.  I am just now, finally getting around to dealing with the analog images that I've been taking over the last few months.  I think that I really need to teach myself to develop my own color and black & white film rolls, at least the new 120mm stuff that I have been doing.  There is no really convenient place to get 120mm film developed - the few stores that develop on-site have store hours that simply don't work with my work schedule - and the delay on getting 120 rolls back from the shops that will send it out means that by the time the film gets back, much of the excitement of the moment that I clicked the shutter has dissipated.  (Plus, 120mm film processing is freaking expensive.)

Anyway, here are a few 35mm images from the Labor Day "destination shoot."  This is a concrete factory, I believe.  I had been thinking about photographing this place for awhile.  The lines of the elevators are nicely dramatic, and it sits right next to a bridge that provides a good vantage point from which to take images.

All of these are shot on cross-processed Provia 100f slide film, with my Canon Elan 7ne 35mm film camera.  I think the cross-processing really works well for these industrial shots.  My understanding is that the Provia generally gets the type of green color shift seen above.  Other slide films will give more true colors or different color casts.  I'm eager to do some further experimentation.

Happy Accidents

Still have a bunch of photographs to process and post from my Labor Day weekend photo expeditions, but work has been crazy busy and I haven't had a lot of time to play with pictures or wax poetic about bikes.  I like having a little corner of the web to post my pictures and random writing, but I doubt I will ever be one of those really consistent bloggers who post daily (or even consistently weekly).  The blog, along with the photography, writing and even the non-commuting biking, are hobbies that necessarily get set aside when more pressing obligations intrude.

The wait for the remaining  black and white and slide film continues as well.  Not having to wait for processing is perhaps one of the biggest advantages digital has over film.  Perhaps even a bigger advantage than cost - which nods to digital after the initial cost of the camera.

Here is a little something in the meantime, however.  The shot above is an old shot, newly discovered.  I found a roll of old, exposed negative film that had not been processed.  The roll dates from mid-2003, and are mostly snapshots of K and I coming to the Midwest.  I had completely forgotten the roll and finding it and discovering the images it held was a fun little mystery.  

I have no idea where this was taken or even if the blurriness of the shot was intentional or simply a messed-up attempt at a skyline sunset.  I knew enough about photography in 2003 to either brace the camera or use a tripod for a low light shot like this if I wanted it to be in focus, so it may have been deliberately shot to be blurry.  Either, way I love the colors and the shot itself has an almost impressionistic feel to it.

I have also trying to shoot some abstracts recently as well (and not having much success), so that may have influenced my being drawn to this shot.

Hope you like it.

Another Peek

"Ascending" (September 2010, Elan 7ne, cross-processed Provia 100f)

I never really did a lot of cross processing even when I was shooting film exclusively.  But I've bought a bunch of expired slide film and am really liking the scans that I am getting.  More to come soon.

The Case For Grain

"Tethered"
(Navy Pier, Chicago, August 2010, Elan 7ne, expired Fuji Superia 100)

This recent shot made me remember one of the aspects of film shooting that I really love, that is part and parcel with the film experience, and that (like so much that was once considered a drawback of film) is now experiencing a resurgence of popularity: grainy film.

"Waiting"
(Harstine Island, Washington State, Fall 2003, Elan 7ne, Fuji Provia 100) 

I am old enough to remember the consuming quest for film stock that would produce "grainless" images - when landscape photographers waxed eloquently about the smoothness and lack of grain in Velvia 50 and the ongoing technical talks about how to expose/process/develop so that your final images showed as little grain as possible.  Yes, some people even then used grain artistically, but for the the majority of shooters grain was bad.

"Morie"
(Seattle, Washington, Fall 2002?, Canonet QL-17 GIII, Fuji Super HQ 200)

Now, when consumer-level digital SLRs and noise-reduction software can easily achieve near-pristine smooth images that could only be dreamed about in the days of film (and even from images shot at high ISOs where grain was just a given), grain is  no longer the big bogeyman of the film shooter, but often rather a courted "feature" of the images.  Film shooters have reversed all the technical wisdom developed to reduce the look of grain.  We shoot expired film, underexpose and cross and push process to our hearts content, just so we can get that "chunky" look.

"Dusk"
(Seattle, Washington, Fall 2002?, Canonet QL-17 GIII, Fuji Super HQ 200)

I like grain, and have always had a thing for dark, brooding and grainy images.  When I want clean, crisp shots I reach for my 40D without a second thought.  Many post-processing programs now have options for simulating grain in digital shots, and there are techniques for layering blank frames of certain types of film onto a digital image to get an even more realistically grainy effect.  But simulating the grainy effect well is difficult.

"Contours"
(March 2007, Bloomington, Indiana, Canon 10D, color conversion and simulated grain)

And while digital noise can sometime create a pleasing effect, the mood is a lot more harsh and uncomfortable (sharp and rough) than the rounder, softer effect from film grain.

"Six String Samurai"
(Chicago Loop, January 2008, Canon 10D, color conversion, amped up sharpening and contrast)

How much easier to just pop in that roll of expired drug store film or some nice chunky and contrasty Tri-X and see what develops.

"Woods In Snow"
(February 2007, Bloomington, Indiana, Elan 7ne, Fuji Provia 100)