Another image from early Saturday morning at the Toronto Beaches. Peaceful, quiet, but filled with the expectant anticipation of throngs of people expected to descend later in the day
Nikon N90s 35mm SLR, 28mm/2.8 Nikkor lens
Rollei Retro 80s film, developed in Rodinal 1+50,
14 minutes @ 20 C
I had the pleasure of working with two very talented women recently. Katherine Matthews designs knitting patterns, and readers of my blog will recognize model/musician Jennifer Santos Bettencourt from previous posts. A lot of the photos I took for this shoot were close-up, in order to showcase the detail in the knitting pattern, and the level of detail in the shawl being showcased was quite impressive — I could learn a lot from Katherine regarding attention to detail! (Note: You can see Katherine’ pattern, and more images here.)
And of course working with Jennifer is always a pleasure — she understands that posing/modelling is like acting and choreography, and requires a lot of focus and awareness. It is certainly not a matter of just standing there waiting for the shutter to click.
It was also great to see how well the Jennifer and Katherine collaborated, and there was talk of future work together, so stay tuned!
Nikon F2, 85mm/f1.8 Nikkor lens
Kodak Portra 400 film, post production with Lightroom and Nik Efex
Yesterday I went to the Beaches in Toronto early; at 7 am the sun is lower in the sky, making for dramatic lighting and shadows. I’m surprised there isn’t more flare in this image, since I was shooting into the sun.
Nikon N90s 35mm SLR, 28mm/2.8 Nikkor lens with 25A red filter
Rollei Retro 80s film, developed in Rodinal 1+50, 14 minutes @ 20 C
I must say I like the vignetting effect of using my Bower fisheye lens (meant for the DX crop-sensor size of digital camera) on a full frame 35mm camera. I feel like I am peering into a separate world.
Nikon N90s 35mm film SLR, Bower 8mm/3.5 fisheye lens
Rollei Retro 80s film, developed in Rodinal 1:50 for 14 min. @ 20 C
Today’s image comes from last weekend: I had my Lensbaby Composer with the Sweet 35 Optic mounted on my Nikon N90s 35mm SLR (a camera which more than one passerby has mistaken for a DSLR). I was drawn to the contrast of the curved graffiti lines over top of the straight lines of this alley garage door.
Nikon N90s, Lensbaby Composer with Sweet 35 Optic
Film: Rollei Retro 80s, developed in Rodinal 1:50 for 14 minutes.
Today’s image is another one from my Doors Open excursion last weekend. This is a meeting room from the Edwardian office building at 10 Adelaide (Canadian Heritage Centre). The room was empty, but still I felt echoes of authority.
Nikon F2, 28mm/2.8 Nikkor lens
Tri-X developed in Xtol 1:1 for 9 minutes
Post processing with Nik Silver Efex Pro 2
I was out shooting at the Beaches yesterday. and one of the lens I was using was the Lensbaby Composer with the Double-Glass optic. The narrow “sweet spot” of focus in the middle results in a miniature effect, to my eyes at least. In actuality I was at least 40 yards away from the gazebo.
Nikon F3 35mm SLR, Lensbaby Composer with Double-Glass optic
Ilford Delta 400 film developed in TMax developer 1:4 for 6.5 minutes @ 20C
Negative scanned and post processed (contrast/vignette) using Nik Efex
I took an awful lot of Fisheye images on film this weekend, so I decided to create a slideshow, with “Bone Garden” by Blood Ruby as the sound track. I think the music fits well.:-) The feeling I get with circular fisheye images is one of peering through a keyhole, glimpsing another world.
All images taken with Nikon F2 35mm SLR,
Lens: Lensbaby Composer with Fisheye Optic.
Films: Rollei Retro 80s, Fomapan 100, Eastman Double X
Post production with Nik Efex
As I mentioned on Facebook yesterday, the Cherry Blossoms in High Park did not have a banner year in 2014, which left a lot of photographers and other visitors desperately looking for colour. A Magnolia tree became an instant magnet, and was surrounded by a crowd. While this image was shot on black and white film, I thought it might be interesting to add a pink tinge in post, to bring back some colour.
Nikon F2, Lensbaby Composer with Fisheye Optic, Rollei Retro 80S film developed in Rodinal 1:50 for 14 minutes @ 20C, Post processed with Nik Silver Efex Pro 2
There were a lot of disappointed photographers in High Park, Toronto today. The blossoming of the cherry blossoms was pretty much a bust this year, due to the very cold/late spring. Luckily there is no shortage of alternate subject matter available. As I continued my fisheye kick, I tried out the LensBaby fisheye optic (mounted in the Composer) on a film camera: my Nikon F2, loaded with Rollei 80s film. On the full frame 35mm I almost get a complete circle. I quite like the result. 🙂
Nikon F2, Lensbaby Muse with Fisheye Optic, shot on Rollei Retro 80s film, developed in Rodinal 1+50 for 14 minutes @ 20C
My Third Eye 