Author: johnmeadowsphotography
An amateur photographer in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
TimeWarp Tuesday: Remembrance of Seasons Past
Now that Toronto is getting its first real taste of winter, for Time Warp Tuesday this week I go back to my sister and brother-in-law’s cottage for a wistful glance back at summer. It is the last swim of a perfect day, as my nephew jumps in for one more dip. Summer at a glance 🙂
Sometimes Being Polite Doesn’t Cut It
No picture today, just a comment on something that disturbs me: On at least two separate photography podcasts recently, I’ve heard people talk about the rights of photographers to take pictures in public places, and the clash of photographers exercising that right with various authority figures (police, security guards etc.) harassing, threatening, arresting and assaulting them to prevent the taking of these pictures. These authority figures (either through ignorance of, or worse, disregard for the law) make up their own rules about what it possible in a public space. In Toronto, we only have to look back to the G20 debacle for this kind of misuse of power.
What disturbs me is when people say, yes you have the right to take a picture in a public space, but do you really want the confrontation, and wouldn’t it be better just to back off and go take pictures somewhere else? In the next breath, photographers who don’t back down but stand up for their rights are negatively characterized as confrontation junkies, who just want the thrill of getting in the face of “the man.”
When people suggest giving up their rights so meekly, they are insulting everyone who in the past fought and suffered for every right we take for granted. Â Would they have suggested to Rosa Parks that yes, she had the right to keep her seat on the bus, but wouldn’t it be simpler if she just gave up her seat? Would they have suggesting to Ghandi that while India deserved independence it would have been better to avoid confronting the soldiers and police (the ones with the guns).
There is a time and place for being polite, and when confronted by someone trying to take away your rights, going ballistic at the start is not normally the best way to go; but neither is meekly surrendering those rights. Sometimes manners aren’t enough and you have to get in someone’s face if those rights mean anything to you. Our rights are like gardens: constant attention is needed to prevent authoritarian weeds from growing and choking our rights out of existence.
As a photographer, there is no middle ground here; where do you stand?
Time-Warp Tuesday: North Rustico
This is an image I created back in 2004, on a family vacation in Prince Edward Island. I used my old Canon Digital Rebel, and although the original picture was captured in colour, to me it didn’t really come to life until I converted it to a toned black and white image;Â only at that point did the light start speaking to me.
Self Portrait
I don’t do a lot of self-portraits; it’s not something I’ve been comfortable with. I always knew I wouldn’t end up on the cover of GQ, and as I hit middle age, gravity and my appetite have taken their toll. Nevertheless, having followed a couple of photographers and their approach to self-portraits (especially the amazing, intense work of April Lea), I’ve been so impressed with the open and honest nature of their work that I feel compelled  to revisit self-portraiture. It will be a difficult, self-confrontational process to force myself over to the other side of the lens, and deal with the insecurities, and the echos of schoolyard taunts of decades past.
It starts now.
Available Light
I am trying out Ilford Delta 3200 Professional film, one of the fastest black and white films you can get. When I was researching online on what developer to use, I was amazed at the variety of opinions, and just how tricky it is to get this film “dialled in” in terms of exposure and processing. My first try was using D-76 developer at a 1:1 dilution, which was not completely successful in terms of graininess. When shooting available light (or available darkness!) subjects though this is the kind of film stock I will need to master, so I have one more roll, and I will try another developer next time. The fun is in the discovery though!
A Second Chance
You don’t often get a second chance to capture an image. This week, I had that chance; I had to be downtown early on Tuesday morning for a meeting, and the combination of the rain-slicked pavement and lights made an arresting combination. I only had my iPhone with me, and while I tried to capture the scene, it didn’t turn out the way I wanted.
Luckily, I had to be downtown again the next day at the same time, with the same rainy weather: my second chance.
A Twist On Time-Warp Tuesday
I am going to put another twist on Time-Warp Tuesday this week. The image below is not an old image; in fact it dates from just this past Sunday, when I was at the Beaches in Toronto. What qualifies it for Time-Warp Tuesday is that it represents a mix of old and new technology. First the old: the camera I used, my Mamiya M645J medium format, dates from the late 1970’s. The film format it uses, 120, dates from the first decade of the 20th century. Finally, the developer chemical I used to process the film, D-76, dates from the mid 1920’s.
The new is represented first by a couple of great iPhone Apps that had a part in the making of this image. First, since the camera is a completely manual model with no built in light meter, I needed something to calculate the exposure. Instead of bringing along a traditional light meter, I used a great (and free!) iPhone app called Pocket Light Meter, which takes advantage of the light meter built into the iPhone’s camera, and it did a pretty good job, better in fact than my “real” light meter as a matter of fact. The second app I used was in the dark room, and is called Massive Dev Chart; it combines an encyclopaedia of development times for various film and chemical combinations, with a specialized timer that makes timing the various steps of the development process a snap.
I think one of the greatest things about photography is the ability to mix the old with the new; you can go completely digital start to finish, or at the other end, use completely “obsolete” processes, like wet plate collodion. With the hybrid workflow, you can find your spot anywhere in this technology spectrum, using whatever fulfills your vision. These are exciting times.
My Third Eye 