As an ex-smoker I have to feel some sympathy for people who still smoke. I took this picture yesterday in downtown Toronto outside the Eaton Centre. Was he hiding from the wind, or the no smoking sign he was so close to?
(Nikon F, 50mm f1.4 lens, Ilford Delta 400 at Box speed, developed in HC-110, dilution B)
Today’s image is another one from Miami’s Art Deco district, taken with my “Miniature” Speed Graphic, using a Mamiya 6×7 roll film back. I hope I can go back some day and have more than an hour or two to explore!
Finally a silver-based image! This image was taken with my Voigtlander 35mm L camera, and Voigtlander 21mm/f4 wide-angle lens, during my photo walk in the South Beach Art Deco district The Voigtlander L does not have a focus mechanism, so focussing is a matter of estimating the distance and setting the lens. Fortunately, wide angle lenses have great depth of field, so just setting the hyperfocal distance assured everything from about 2 feet to infinity would be in focus 🙂
This week I am in Miami, but on business so it’s been extremely busy! I finally got some free time yesterday afternoon, so I went to the historic Art Deco area in South Beach. I shot lots of film, which I can start developing when I get back to Toronto, so in the meantime, here are a couple of Hipstamatic images.
Film coming later this week!
Today, another image from my daily commute on the TTC. Again I took it using my iPhone, with the Hipstamatic app. For someone who is primarily known as a film photographer, this recent trend may be surprising to many people I know. However, I think I’d rather be known as someone who who used whatever worked to create an image that conveys what I saw and felt. Much of the time I will use film, but not always.
The rough, lo-fi look of the Hipstamatic to me is perfect for this subject, and this time of day (normally early morning, before 7 a.m.). It is a dark, gritty, unfocused time of day. With the iPhone I can take this images unobtrusively, in a manner not really possible with other cameras.
Here is another Hipstamatic image, taken on the subway on the way home from work today. I couldn’t get these images driving on the highway! 🙂
On a cold January 1st, we went and spent time at the Toronto Zoo. I took along my Speed Graphic 2×3, and guessed at exposure, using the Sunny 16 approach. The Polar bears didn’t seem to be minding the cold.
Today I had to take an old Press Camera to the “camera hospital” to get a rangefinder alignment done, and afterwards did some shooting in Toronto’s King/Dufferin area with a Graflex Century 35, and the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone. The image below was taking with the Hipstamatic, and I really like how the selective focus worked out!
I took some more Hipstamatic images on the way to work today, and since I can’t decide between them, I’m going to post them both :-). The first one I like because of the blurred background on the left; rather than the interior of the subway train it looks like it could be part of a dream landscape.
The second image is of the same rider a moment or two later; fatigue and life written clearly in the lines on his face.
If I drove to work, I would miss these opportunities.
It is frustrating that we live in a climate where street photography of children can be dangerous. As long as the subject is in public view, and I do not use the images for commercial purposes, to create images such as today’s is legal, but still risky. We are becoming a society driven by mistrust, sadly. I couldn’t resist taking this image today of a young child on the bus home; her expression was direct, thoughtful, and (in the manner of young children), open, and without guile. Hopefully not too many viewers will consider me a creeper for posting this image.
My Third Eye 