Author: johnmeadowsphotography

An amateur photographer in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

About Face

I call this post About Face for multiple reasons. Firstly, after months of shooting black and white, or colours muted by a seemingly endless winter, I wanted to do an about face and shoot some bold, vibrant, highly saturated, over the top colour. Secondly while I still shoot a lot of film, I felt like doing something shamelessly digital, not trying to emulate a film look at all.

Lastly, this post is called About Face as a tribute to the model Jennifer Bettencourt, who consistently delivers great facial expressions, whenever we work together! (Jennifer is multi-talented: she is also the singer on the demo version of a song from my Blitzed musical I am writing. )

Red

 

Nikon D7100, 18-200 lens, Illumination via Nikon SB600 flash and Lightsphere Diffuser.
Post work done in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex 4

Another Album Cover!

Today, “In the Beginning” by George “Saint Vybz” Chapman was released. I did the photography for this recording last year, and the cover image was taken using Fuji FP-3000b instant black and white film (recently discontinued by Fuji, boo!) with my Mamiya Universal Press Camera. I used the negative scanning technique for a nice gritty look. 🙂 It was a lot of fun working with George, and my good friend “Stevie Z” at Badly Bent Records for this project! People who read my blog on a regular basis and/or check out my Flickr stream might be able to figure out the location 🙂

In The Beginning Album Artwork Booklet Cover

Not a Summer Saturday

On any summer Saturday, this faux temple in Guildwood Park plays host to one wedding party after another, there for wedding photos. No weddings here in the winter!

Guildwood in Winter011.jpg

Pentax 67, 55mm/f3.5 lens, 1/125th @ f8
Fuji Neopan Acros 100 film, EI 80, developed in Rodinal 13.5 minutes @ 20 C.

Ice at the Shore

Another image of a cold Lake Ontario shoreline. Even though it was a bright sunny day, using the very slow speed Eastman 2366 film (EI 15 or so), mean a rather slow shutter speed (around 1/30th of a second I believe)

Ice at the Shore

 

Pentax K1000, 28mm/f2.8 SMC Pentax lens
Eastman 2366 film at EI 15, developed in Xtol 1:1 for 10 minutes @ 2o C

A Road We’ll All Travel

This past Saturday I went again to St. James Cemetery in Toronto, and I liked the look of this freshly plowed road leading to a mausoleum. I used my 200mm/f4 lens on my Pentax 67, roughly equivalent to a 100-135mm telephoto lens in 35mm.

Road to the Mausoleum

 

Pentax 67, 200mm/f4 Pentax lens,
Tri-X developed on Xtol 1:1 for 9 minutes @ 20 C

Snow, Not Sand

I finally finished a roll of Eastman 2366 duplicating film yesterday, both started and finished at the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto’s Beaches district. 2366 is a slow (EI 15) very sharp film that I am really learning to love the look of! In this image, a casual glance might lead one to think it was sand, but this is all snow, on a bitterly cold January day.

Snow, Not Sand

 

Pentax K1000, 28mm/f2.8 SMC Pentax lens
Eastman 2366 film, E.I. 15, developed in Xtol 1:1 for 10 minutes

Back to the Graveyard

Today I went back to the snowy graveyard where I had a shoot late Thursday afternoon. I love the curved iron gate in front of this mausoleum, and the pipes that lead to the arched doorway. I just love lines!

Pen F, Eastman XX Film

 

Olympus Pen F 35mm half frame SLR, 17mm/f3.5 Tamron lens (Nikon mount, using an adapter)
Film is Eastman Double-X, developed in HC-110 dilution B for 6.5 minutes

 

 

Cool

Today I had the pleasure of working with my friend Cate again. It was very cold and rather windy afternoon in a downtown Toronto cemetery, the kind of day that make its seem like winter will never end. Cate cool-toned hair and make-up was perfect for the weather!

Hooded figure

 

Nikon D7100, 18-200 Nikkor lens
Post production in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex 4