This past weekend I was at a large family gathering outside Ottawa to celebrate the 80th birthday of my uncle Martin. I brought along my 4×5 Speed Graphic with my 1860’s brass Petzval lens to get a portrait. Martin has had a most interesting life, with both joys and sorrows, and I think this lens once again managed to “get behind the eyes.” To me, it is as if he is contemplating his life in this image.
Shot on Ilford HP5+ film, pulled to around EI 200, developed in Tmax Dev
My third post of Natalia, this one shot with a Pentax Spotmatic and one of my Helios 44/2 58mm lenses, on Rollei Retro 80S film. I continue to be amazed at what this film can do with dull light!
Last weekend I tried my first roll of Rollei RPX 25, a slow, fine grained film. I shot the roll on my Rolleiflex 3.5E3 and I developed the film using Rodinal 1+50 for 14 minutes @ 20 C. High contrast is often a challenge with these slow films, and although the negatives looked contrasty to the eye, I was able to coax good highlight and shadow detail out of them. I will be using this film again!!
It was about 9 am this past Sunday at the Beaches, with the promise of a very hot day already playing out. The Beach Volleyball players were already beginning to appear.
Voigtlander Bessa R, 21mm/4 Voigtlander lens
Rollei Retro 80s film developed in Rodinal 1+50 for 14 minutes @ 20 C
Shooting with a very wide angle lens, it can be difficult to keep people out of the frame sometimes, so you go with the flow, and in this image from the Beaches this past Sunday, as it turned out I quite liking having the man and his dog in the image.
Voigtlander Bessa R Rangefinder, 21mm/4 lens and 25A Red filter
Rollei Retro 80s film developed in Rodinal 1+50 for 14 minutes @ 20 C
One of my images from this past Sunday morning at the Beaches. What I remember about this shot is that I had to spend some time before clearing the litter out of frame. People can be such pigs 😦
Voigtlander Bessa R Rangefinder, 21mm/4 Voigtlander lens
Rollei Retro 80s film developed in Rodinal 1+50 for 14 minutes @ 20 C
This is the second post featuring an image from my shoot with Natalia Nix last week. I am surprised this one turned out; the light made it hard to see in the viewfinder of my Rolleiflex and it was so humid I was literally sweating into the viewfinder. Even though the original scene was very dull, I went with a high key look on the final version of the shot, taken on Tri-X.
I had the pleasure yesterday of working for the first time with Natalia Nyx, who is a photographer in her own right, and obviously talented on both sides of the lens! Yesterday, on a very dull and muggy afternoon, we shot at St. James Cemetery here in Toronto. I had three cameras with me, including the Speed Graphic and Petzval, and an image from that camera is what I am starting with. (Shot on HP5+ film) More images of Natalia from this shoot to come!
Yesterday I got together with my friends Maria and Coner for a shoot using my 4×5 Speed Graphic and my 1860’s Brass Petzval lens. The result below (shot on Ilford FP4+ film) just might be my favourite couples portrait I’ve ever shot :-). Love and film photography: both are timeless.
Another image from my Olympus F 35mm half frame and my trip to Harbourfront in Toronto this past weekend. I’ve always found these bike locks interesting, especially if one is a bit bent, like me 🙂
Olympus Pen F, 38mm/1.8 Olympus Zeiko lens
Rollei Retro 80s film developed in Rodinal 1+1 14 minutes @ 20 C
My Third Eye 