Category: Black & White

Photographic Resolutions

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It is often customary for photographers at the beginning of a calendar year to make photographic resolutions (no pun intended, Rob) for the new year, so here are mine; some are very specific, some are general:

  1. Do at least one photo session with a hired model.
  2. Create at least one image that is shocking (in a non-gratuitous manner).
  3. Finish my Portrait of the Artist series by March 31st, 2011.
  4. Continue my self-portrait series, but get completely out of my comfort zone.
  5. Raise the suspicion of at least one authority figure while taking pictures in public.

The picture below is one I made yesterday, and I relate it to the subject of today’s post as follows: At one point, this ruin of rusted metal was a pail, quite capable of being filled with water. Now however years of neglect have allowed entropy to take over, in an inevitable course of decay. Had this pail received attention and care, it would not have gotten to this state. I believe the same can be said for any artistic endeavour; without constant attention and effort, artistry will decay.

D0n’t let 2011 be the year it happens to you.

Untitled

Portrait of the Artist: Daniele Rossi

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Normally TimeWarp Tuesday is for old photographs, but today a different angle on that theme: a new photo involving a very old process. First, the subject of the portrait is my good friend Daniele Rossi, artist, web designer and podcaster. He is a mix of old and new: on one hand, as an artist he applies pigments to a flat surface, a form of artistic expression almost as old as humanity itself. On the other hand, as a podcaster, web designer and social media denizen, he is about as current as you can get on the latest technology.

Portrait of the Artist: Daniele Rossi

My image is also a mix of old and new. The original image was created with a 30 year old Nikon FM SLR, using the classic Kodak Tri-X film, developed at home. New technology then got into the picture, as I scanned the negative using a film scanner. Then using Photoshop and an ink-jet printer I created a full-size paper negative. Then, back to traditional techniques: I applied baby oil to the paper negative to make it more transparent, and contact printed the negative using the Cyanotype process. This process dates back almost to the dawn of photography, as it was invented in 1842. Exposure to the sun (or other suitable UV source) hardens the emulsion. In the case of this image, it was exposed to the sun for about an hour. The print was then “developed” by rinsing in cold water, then soaked in a weak Hydrogen Peroxide solution to bring out the brilliance in the blue tones of the print.

I have fallen in love with this process!!

 

Portrait of the Artist: Randell Rosenfield

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Another in my Portrait of the Artist series today:  Randell Rosenfield is a founding member of the Toronto-based early music enable Sine Nomine. My wife is a also a member of this group, and in addition to recording their Christmas concert last Saturday night, I was also able to take pictures of Sine Nomine as they warmed up and got in final rehearsal for the concert. In this image Randell is playing a vielle, a forerunner of the violin.

The Vielle

 

From a technical point of view, it was a challenging shoot. I was using a Nikon FM film camera with a 50mm f1.4 lens. I was shooting sans flash, so even using Kodak Tri-X film pushed to E.I. 1600, I had to shoot at 1/30 of a second, wide open. Because of the slow shutter speed, I had to time my shoots to coincide with the short pause at the end of each upbow or down bow, in an attempt to avoid blur. I am quite happy with the results; there is a luminosity in black and white film that is just not there in digital black and white.

And of course, when taking images of a group that performs medieval music, using a digital camera would have felt wrong. 🙂

 

Time-Warp Tuesday: North Rustico

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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;  only at that point did the light start speaking to me.

North Rustico

Self Portrait

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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.

iPhone Self-Portrait

Available Light

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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!

Towards the Light

In the Mood For Medium Format

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I’m heading out this morning to the Beaches in Toronto with my Mamiya 645 medium format film camera, so to get in the mood here’s an image I shot with my Mamiya a few weeks back on a photo-walk with a bunch of great folks in Hamilton, Ontario. I had no idea there were so many beautiful and delicate waterfalls in the Hamilton area.

Waterfall in Hamilton, Ontario

Time Warp Tuesday: Quebec City 2007

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I think Quebec City is my favourite city in Canada; it’s a close to being in Europe without crossing the Atlantic. It’s also a photographer’s dream.

I took the photo below in 2007, taking advantage of a non-crowded moment. It is slightly underexposed on purpose, to de-emphasize the benches, and emphasize the lines and texture in the wood. It also makes it a challenge to determine the time of day this image was created, and I like that mystery.

Outside Citidal

Emancipation and Alchemy

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I shot this Toronto street image below on Kodak Tri-X film, one of the all time classic black and white films. I shot a lot of this in the 1970’s, and a few weeks ago I decided to step back in time and shoot it again. Then it sat on the shelf until I finally got a developer tank and some chemicals. I finally got around to doing so, and yesterday developed my first roll of film in about thirty years.

Smiling Pedestrian

The ritual came back fairly easily; loading the developer tank in complete darkness, then putting the lid on, turning on the light and “souping” the film in the various chemicals. My “darkroom” (actually our basement bathroom) soon took on the smell of acetic acid (vinegar), but at the end of it all the negatives came out fine; I let the film dry, and a few hours later I had scans of the negatives, including this image. It wasn’t as fast as snapping a photo and looking at the LCD panel on the back of my DSLR, but it will do just fine.

It’s neat to be doing my own processing again, and the alchemy has its own magic. 🙂