Category: Medium Format

Dancing With the Light

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This image is from one of the more complicated lighting set-ups (at least complicated by my standards) I’ve done so far. Two strobes were used, one from the left with a “snoot” in place to restrict the light spread, and a strobe off to the right, shooting through this lovely piece of wood. The holes in it allowed it to function as a “gobo“, allowing a dappling of the light, and placing light patterns on the wall. The concept we were going for was a jazz performer in a club, and the lighting really helped get the mood I was going for.

The Jazz Musician #1

Taken with Mamiya M645J, 80mm f2.8 lens, 2 250ws strobes @ f8. Shot on Fomapan 100, developed in Xtol 1:1 for 9 minutes, post processed using Nik plugins.

Hybrid Happenstance

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I continue to work a lot with Ilford SFX Infrared film, as I love what it does with people’s skin. I used it last Wednesday for a shoot with a lovely young model. Although this film’s nominal speed is ISO 200, I normally shoot it at ISO 25, because of the red filter (25R) I use to accentuate the effect. This time out though, I had a senior’s moment and shot it at 100, 2 stops underexposed. After thoroughly cursing my own carelessness, I looked online for the best way to process the film to salvage something, and ended up developing it in HC-110 developer for 19 minutes, to give a two stop push. The results are amazing! The glow and grain really work well together! I’ll have to try to screw up more often!

For the the image below I took a hybrid approach, using Nik Silver Efex Pro on the negative scan to accentuate the graininess and texture.

Infrared portrait

Nowhere to Hide

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Recently I got a roll of white seamless paper to use as a backdrop for portraits. Shooting portraits like this is a compelling challenge; there is no scenic vista, no charming background to support the portrait; it’s just the subject and the camera. It’s like a musical melody with no arrangement or harmony; the portrait has to stand by itself. I find myself drawn to the work of the late Richard Avedon, who was famous for portraits taken against a plain background. In this kind of image, there is truly nowhere to hide.

Last one of Tiffany

Portrait create with Mamiya M645 medium format camera, Fuji Neopan Acros 100 film developed in HC-110 Dilution H, 10 minutes.
Negative scanned and post-processed using Nik Silver Efex Pro.

A Reminder . . .

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The next couple of days will be very busy as I do my final preparations for my first photography display/sale ever:

Beginning on January 3rd (and continuing through the month of January), selections from my 2011 Photography project “Women and Cameras” will on display/sale at the Wild Oat Bakery and Cafe, 817 Bank Street in Ottawa.

This project features images captured using traditional film cameras, and printed on hand coated paper using two antique printing processes” Cyanotype and Van Dyke Brown. The subject of each image is a portrait of a woman, with an antique/classic film camera, like in the example below:
Cyanotype of Kathleen With Voigtlander
On Wednesday, January 4th at 7 pm at the Wild Oat I will be giving a presentation on my project, and the two processes I used to create these images.

If you are in the Ottawa area I’d love to see you there!

Buried Treasure

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If I leave film lying around undeveloped long enough, and it’s not labelled, I forget what’s on the roll. This makes for an interesting (and often pleasant) surprise when I do get around to developing the film. Today’s image falls into this category. I had done a couples shoot, but mainly in digital. I did bring along my Pentax 6×7 medium format camera and took a few images, and then promptly forgot I had taken some film shots along with the digitals. When I developed the film a few days ago, I saw this image, and it has become my favourite from the shoot.

One more of Amy and Jerrod

Photographic Resolutions for 2012

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Today’s image is of a street in Herculaneum, the less well know town that along with Pompeii was also a victim of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. This images was taken in November of 2011, using my Mamiya M645J. Streets and roads evoke images of journeys, so I thought it would be the perfect image for today’s blog post.

Another view in Herculaneum

This is the 200th post in this blog, and also as we are nearing the end of 2011 it’s a good time to state my photographic goals and resolutions for 2012. Looking back at my 2011 resolutions, I didn’t do too badly; Number 3 is still a work in progress, and number 5 hasn’t happened yet, but I’m sure some day it will.

For 2012, my goals are:

  1. Get a handle on the Lith printing process.
  2. Complete my Infrared Portrait and Broken projects, plus a project to be named later in the year
  3. Improve my Large Format (4×5) camera skills
  4. Improve my darkroom print making skills
  5. Arrange some kind of show in Toronto

Wish me luck!

Unbroken

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Today’s image is from the Broken series. Model Jennifer was amazing both in doing a great make-up job, and coming up with powerful poses. What I like about this image is the strength of her eye: an unbroken, strong object, staring at the viewer through the shards of a broken object. It reminds the viewer that some things cannot be broken.

Broken Record

 

Taken with Mamiya M645 medium format camera, 80mm f2.8 lens on Fomapan 100 film, developed on Xtol 1:1

Teamwork

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Today’s photography is from a shoot on Sunday, December 18th. In addition to the model, I was working with a hair stylist, make-up artist, and clothing designer (who was running the shoot). It was an interesting experience, and I learned a lot. Shooting film certainly does put the pressure on to “get it right”, since there is no immediate feedback (as in digital)! Film was perfect for the look, in my opinion. I scanned the negative, and added a bit of toning and glow in post-processing.

Toned

Shot with Mamiya M645 camera, 80mm f2.8 lens, Ultrafine 400 Xtreme film, developed in Xtol 1:1 for 14 minutes.

More Broken

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Another image from the Broken Project. The object being broken was an old Ikea picture frame, which instead of glass used a non-reflective laminate, which came apart in a very interesting manner.

broken

Taken using Mamiya M645 camera with 80mm f2.8. lens. Film was Fomapan 100 developed in Xtol 1:1 for 8 minutes. Lighting was through one umbrella, at model’s right side.

Essentials

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Black and White photography by definition is a reductive exercise, just by stripping away colour, to focus on light, shadow, tonality and texture. In this portrait, we go even further; only the eyes and hands are unobscured, but even so  the model packs a lot of expression into her eyes and hands. On of my favourite portraits of 2011!

infrared and scarf

Picture taken with Mamiya M645, 80mm f2.8 lens with 25A red filter, Ilford SFX Infrared film. One shoot through umbrella to model’s right.