35mm

I branched away from my medium format fixation for once, and shot some 35mm.

I like.

This is off my bulk roll of TMax 400, and developed myself. I need to fashion a more effective way to hang-dry the negatives. It's never been a problem with the 120 since the negatives are only about 3 feet long, as compared to a 36 exposure roll of 35, which is more like 5 feet long.

These also need to be scanned better.

Details, details.

And one of my developing reels broke. That will make developing much less efficient, since I have 4 more rolls to develop.



Ah, well.


No nudes this post, but I hope you enjoy these nonetheless.

Superior Hiking Trail

Cascade Shore

Cascade Shore

Off the Superior Hiking Trail

Water Study

Leaf

Lilies and Ant

edit: some more...

Split Rock

Water Study 2

Flowers

Water Study 3

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

My view on "Art"

This is definitely not the usual you're used to seeing here, but I'm really, really happy about this photo. It's just so fucked up and cool. I see something very emotional here, and that's what I see and love about it. It speaks to me.

Taken with a Holga with slide film that's been cross-processed.






------------

I know a lot of people have issues with Holgas... That they're mostly for people that can't afford "quality" cameras and want to achieve unconventional results that people with professional equipment and software could putz around with and produce in photoshop.

Here's my take. Art is not always pristine. Art is not always made with expensive tools. Art is whatever the artist connects with. Art is what comes from the heart, and what s/he gets meaningful aesthetic satisfaction from. Art can easily be made with a $.05 pencil, or a point and shoot. Art is not limited to or just made by or for the aristocrats.

Photography is not seeing the truth that is, photography is seeing the truth that the artist sees. A camera is just a tool. That's why I've never adopted the rigid, puristic view that photography has to be authentic. Meaning, I don't care if you limit yourself to having the photo be exactly the way you saw it in the viewfinder. Crop it and mess around with it in photoshop within an inch of its life, for all I care. I have no more or less respect for people who do it either way. I do think there is a discipline to finding the composition you want in the viewfinder, but I think that is akin to any practice. You become better and better at finding the art you want to produce and present.

So if you want to use a cheap $25 plastic camera, then go for it. If you want to use a $50,000 digital Hasselblad, then go for it. There is no definition for what art is, except that art is subjective for every living human being.

Don't get me wrong, I truly believe that there is a mathematical correlation (called the Golden Ratio) for what is beautiful, but I'm not talking about what is beautiful. I'm talking about art.

I know some artists, art critics, art enthusiasts, and art collectors will disagree with me, and that's fine. Like I said, art is subjective.


Your views/arguments are always welcome.


_________

Trevor Levin. Last summer in Portland, OR.

Am I ?

self-portrait.

My first night in Palm Springs, CA. Around 2am.



It's not made of much, then again, neither am I. Neither are you.

I mean, if you think about it, we are primarily made up of empty space. Nothingness.

And really, that's not so bad. Actually it's not anything.

Nothing can't be bad. Nothing can't be good.

It just is.

And I am.



------------


I have a short passage I want to share with you.

It is from the book, "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran.
I highly recommend it.


"And a man said, Speak to us of Self-Knowledge.
And he answered, saying:
Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.
But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart's knowledge.
You would know in words that which you have always known in thought.
You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams.

And it is well you should.
The hidden well-spring of your soul must needs rise and run murmuring to the sea;
And the treasure of your infinite depths would be revealed to your eyes.
But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure;
And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line.
For self is a sea boundless and measureless."

Antelope Canyon

edit: here are the remaining two.








Portra 800


My Lubitel was NOT happy after this shoot.

glory shots

Self-portrait with: (from Left to Right)

Meghan Claire, Zinn Star, Jock Sturges, Nettie Harris, yours truly.

It is taken with a crappy camera with a crappy lens, and is slightly over exposed. I didn't expect exquisite results, but it's quality is adequate enough for me to not be a distraction to the lovely memories that are associated with the capture.
That's all I was hoping for this photograph.


Here's the setup shot (photograph by Mark Haskins):




------------------

And then, the lovely madness that ensued afterwards.




:)

tis fitting

..that I merrily received more film accessories and goodies this Christmas.

By far, the best and the most used Christmas present I received was a 100ft roll of Tmax 400 35mm film (expired, but hey!, I'm excited to see if I get some awesome fucked up exposures.) and a bulk film loader. We loaded 4 36exp canisters tonight, including one scratched-to-shit roll (that I loaded :D ), and it can probably do 16 more rolls. It may not be medium format, but I can shoot and play and shoot and play....

You saw the last post, on the f - eleven book. I'm very excited to see how it turns out!! Currently, I am flat broke, so I can't see the results for myself anytime soon, but the editing and layout is fantastic (courtesy of Wolf189) , and I've fully previewed the book several times, and every time I am more impressed with it's quality. So buy yourself a copy, and tell me how it is on paper. :)


I need to organize a trip soon. I know just the place to go.






______________

Andrew Kaiser.

the show

Some of you may have already seen this, but I figured since I ranted about shooting a band show last week, I should at least show a result.

There were only a few that turned out, but this is my favorite.

The group is Deepsoul Dieties. They played at Acadia Cafe.

I need to re-scan and re-edit it, as there's a fingerprint on the band member's face in the background. But other than that, I love it.

The night itself, was a bit of madness.
I had a life drawing session immediately preceding the show, and I was actually prepared with directions from the school to Acadia. But googlemaps got it wrong! I don't know how, but it was telling me to turn onto a street that didn't exist. It was very weird. Eventually I found Acadia, but then had to find parking. A nightmare.

I finally get inside of Acadia, and I only have a few minutes before the band is on. The place is pretty packed, and there are a ton of familiar faces and a bunch of friends. I say hi to a few people and then I settle myself close to the rear entrance, which was basically the only place that had a clear shot of the stage. It's only a foot or so higher than ground level, and I'm only 5'5". Cameras are loaded, so I'm taking light readings. They start to play, and I'm trying my best to burn through my Neopan in the 35mm, since I know they're not going to be sharp (even though the 35mm goes down to f1.4), and I have a ton of expired 35mm film I want to use, including a Tmax 3200. I burn through it, rewind it, take the back off, get the film out and in its canaster, put the Tmax in, and for the life of me cannot get the film to catch. It was horrible. I waste 2 songs trying to load that fucking film. sigh.

So I just forget about it, take the film out, put the back on and put it away. I start using the Tmax 100 I had in the lubitel. I burn through that for the same reasons I burned through the neopan 100. Finally I get to use the Delta 3200, so I try to be more precise in what I was shooting, trying to make each one count. Also because it was the last song. It was the photo above that was worth it. Its pretty good for an amateur.

The show itself was awesome. I like their music... it really makes me groove.



__________

Camera: Lubitel
Film: Delta 3200
Developer: Ilfosol

a few more

Holidays are right around the corner. And I'm a procrastinator and still need to do my shopping.

...there's plenty of time.

Special Packages

I got a pick-up notice from the post office while I was gone.

My lovely pink Holga arrived!



So I waited in line for a half an hour (and after watching a few transactions/interactions, I can understand why Postal Workers go... Postal). And my goodness, its a lovely heap of cheap plastic.

I also cleaned up my Papa's Nikon F, so that's ready to go as well.




Tomorrow I'm going to a concert, and one of the band members asked me to take some photos of them, so I'm going equipped with:

Lubitel 166 loaded with Tmax 100 (120)
Holga loaded with Tmax 400 (120)
Nikon F loaded with Neopan 100 (35)

Films (35mm):
(All of it expired, some of it well stored.)

Superia 1600
Porta 400VC
Elite Crome 100

Tmax 3200
Neopan 100

I might buy a couple more rolls of Black and White 120, probably higher ISO films. I want to start pushing my film and see how that looks. Working in a dark, concert environment seems like a good place to test out high sensitivity film.

I might decide against bringing the Lubitel for various reasons, the most weighing reason being - its weight and lack of neck strap. I've already got to deal with that with the Nikon F, but it should be okay. It should be really interesting to start playing with Color film, but I have no idea what the results will be because of how expired they are. I have quite a few expired rolls (of 35mm) to get through before I can start playing with new color film.

_____________________

I also received a copy of the book I was published in, "Dimensions of Disclosure." It's nice to see something of my own in print. It's about the quality I expected - nothing fabulous but definitely not disappointing. I believe I'm the only nude in there. There are some very interesting and wonderful self-portraits in there. I'm glad I'm a part of it.

Broken

Which one do you think is the strongest? why?

__________


A lot of things to do tomorrow, including a life drawing session in the evening. I just hope I don't encounter a white wall of death, as we're supposed to get anywhere from 3-8 inches of snow in the afternoon and evening.

I expect a lot of idiot drivers tomorrow. The snow flies and Minnesotans forget how to drive. Saying it's annoying would be a bit of an understatement.

__________


Camera: Lubitel 166
Film: Delta 100
Developer: Ilfosol 3

f5.6 - 1/15 second

dropout

With everything that's been going on in my life the past few months, I've made the decision to not go back to school this next semester.
It'll get done... eventually.


I'm going to be focusing on my modeling full-time again.

I haven't even started to put together a plan, but already decided destinations include:


Allentown, PA
NYC
Portland
San Francisco
LA
U.K.
Germany


I just need to figure out when and how.

If you want me to come to your area to shoot, hit me up, and lets try to arrange something.

______


I'm going back out to LA for a quick (4 day) spell with Sylvie next week before she has to submit her book. I'm excited. I think its a lot warmer in LA than in MN right now. :)


______


Lots and lots of shooting this weekend. I'm going to pump through my remaining 5 rolls of film tonight and tomorrow, which means I have to buy more developer. I'm thinking of going with Rodinal, and I've heard such good things about it, but neither NatCam stores have it, and if I order it online it wont be here for weeks. Maybe I'll just get some Ilfosol 3 or HC-110 for the time being.





_________

AJ Kahn.

Falling behind!

I have so much to do, so many people to reply to...

Less is more.

state of being

Click to see full size.

_____________

Lubitel 166 Universal
Tmax 100
Tmax

1) f18 ~35 sec
2) f4.5 ~1 sec

Papa.

This was an accidental double exposure - but I love it.

The garden outside of his hospital.

Taken yesterday, developed yesterday.

It may not be instant, but its fast enough for me.

_______________

Camera: Lubitel 166 Universal
Film: TMax 100
Developer: Tmax

Developing!

I did it!

Yes indeedy. Last night I developed my first two rolls ever! I also made up my working stop bath and fixer. It went off without a hitch!

I have to say, the satisfaction of developing my own film and then looking at the negatives is remarkable.

I'm in the process of scanning my negatives right now. We'll see if my ancient scanner is up to the task. It says it can do B&W negatives, so there's a very high probability that it will.... but I'm not holding my breath.



I'll post again soon if it works. I know y'all wanna see what I shot. ;)





____________


Billy Monday.

Somewhere in Pennsylvania.

It should be noted that there is nothing under me while I was hanging off the hook... except junked machines and lots of jagged, rusted metal scraps about 25 feet below. I think I made Bill, Scott and Lela very, very nervous. But once I get an idea in my head, well... suffice it to say that I'm very stubborn.

buzzzzz

I've been in buzzing mode for the past week or so. No, I'm not actually buzzing or buzzed. No ingested chemicals have caused this state of mind. So, the word seems a bit arbitrary, but to me it most accurately describes what I'm feeling right now.

I've completely dived into researching various medium format cameras and various kinds of 120 film. Not only because of my interest, but also for the distraction.

The problem is... all I'm coming up with are subjective opinions from others via forums and photo sites. I guess its not really a problem, per se, but when I read oodles and oodles of posts about people arguing over film; Kodak vs Fuji, Ilford vs Agfa, slide vs color neg, and all the debates of specific films (Velvia vs Agfa Ultra, Tmax vs Tri-x, Delta vs HP5+, Superia vs Reala, ___chrome vs ___chrome, the list extends on to infinity... and I haven't even touched debates over developing/developers), I've basically compiled all my research and it chalks up to: You can't really rely on any specific suggestions. Some general ones you can accept - with a grain of salt.

It boils down to that I just gotta get out there and shoot as much film as I can and discover my preferences.

Someone very, very generous is giving me a Lubitel 166+ Universal TLR. It looks so peeerty. But then again, I have an instant attraction to TLRs... for some reason. AND, this camera even has a self-timer!... but its broken and probably can't be fixed easily. But hey, that's okay!



I think I'm stocked up on MF cameras for a while. Now I just need film. And lots of it.

And when I need/want a change, I'll go back to my two lovely 35mm cameras.




I'm really excited to try multiple exposures. In fact, I really want to swap rolls with someone in another city (cough cough Erin) and see what we produce.



I don't just want to take pictures, I want to create pictures. I want each exposure to be a canvas. I want to experiment, and I want to have fun. I want to be inhibited, so before each exposure my camera will slap down a shot. I dont want to take pictures of models, or scenery, or buildings - I want to create pictures of people. Of places. Of things. Sometimes I'm going to want to create pictures of everything and nothing - at the same time. Sometimes I'll let the camera take creation into its own hands, and sometimes I'll force it to do my bidding. Sometimes I'll be aiming to create something sober, sometimes something drunk. Sometimes realistic, sometimes bizarre. Sometimes I'll ask my camera to lie, sometimes I'll insist it be truthful. Sometimes I'll be neglectful, and sometimes I'll be clingy. Sometimes the camera and I will battle and fight, and sometimes we will sing harmoniously.

We'll have great adventures, my cameras and I.






_____________

Christopher Ryan.

Film, rolls, and price

Okay... so...

National Camera has to send out the film. It takes about a week.

Its $8+change charge for developing and full-res scans on a CD. Plus $1 per frame.

That's about $20 a roll. With no prints.

Can anyone suggest better?

I'd seriously consider developing my own film... but I don't have any of the materials or the "hardware".

If anyone can convince me that setting up a darkroom is not only long-term cost effective, but can be short-term cost effective, I'll highly consider doing it.

Until then, I'm on the lookout for the best "bang for the buck" lab.



Maybe someday I can afford an H3D. hahahaha.... fat chance.





_____________

Sylvie Blum.

A lovely Brownie

I was going through a lot of old boxes this past weekend and came across a lovely surprise - one of my dad's belongings.
An old Kodak Brownie No. 2.

I have yet to photograph mine, but it looks pretty close to this, with a few slight variations.



I've spent over 2 hours cleaning it, examining it and just fawning over it. It's a beautiful little...box, and I'm quite giddy at the potential that lies within it it.


I've already bought some 120 b&w film on ebay.



- 5 rolls of Ilford Hp5 400
- 5 rolls of Kodak Tmax 400.


Can anyone suggest a great and cheap lab?


Anyway to clean the glass myself?


Any other recommendations or suggestions?


Any way to do self-portraits with it?


I've heard that Ansel Adams' first camera was a brownie.
Just... fyi randomness.





Mmm. More film goodness.

I believe it was taken with a Mamiya, but I have no idea of the film.


______________

Lucian Schmit.