Today’s image of a new young model is from my Vintage 35mm project — using old rangefinder cameras for portraits with a vintage feel. For this photograph I used my 1939 vintage Leica IIIb body, with a 50mm Summitar f2 lens. As I was using a very slow film (E.I. 20 Adox CMS 20 film) even though it was a bright sunny day I was shooting wide open at f2, for a nice swirly effect in the background.
This is Danielle, a young model I had the pleasuring of working with in downtown Toronto last weekend. We were shooting at an abstract sculpture near Roy Thompson Hall, and she suggested shooting through some holes in one of the panels of the sculpture. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but now I’m pretty happy with the results, especially this image: the fact that so much is obscured really seems to focus what we can see of her eyes and expression.
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed;
he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
– Genesis, 3:15
Note: today’s photo is NSFW (not safe for work – partial nudity) so I am just posting a link instead of embedding the image: Karen and Penelope .
It was most interesting to work with Karen and her pet snake Penelope — I observed the complete opposite of the common aversion many women (and men!) have towards snakes. Penelope the snake emphasizes lines and curves on a model with a strikingly modern look, in a vintage inspired photograph.
(Photo taken with Mamiya M645 Pro TL, 80mm f2.8 lens, Fomapan 100 film developed in HC-110, dilution H for 7.5 minutes)
Today (the opening night of Man of La Mancha in which I play the Governor and the Innkeeper) seemed like the perfect day to post this image of model Léah, who wanted a portrait that pays tribute to her hero, twentieth century French singer and icon Édith Piaf. I have to admit I didn’t know much about Édith before working with Léah (I had heard La Vie en Rose, but hadn’t made the connection), but in reading about her, listening to her music and watching performances on YouTube I was struck by how this tiny (4 foot 8 inch tall) woman had such a powerful, commanding stage presence, and how her essentially tragic life is transmuted into the emotional intensity of her singing. She literally put everything she had, and everything she was into her performance. As an amateur actor who clearly has so so much to learn, I can really take a lesson from her life and music.
Today’s image is the latest in a series taken with vintage 35mm gear (either my Leica or Contax 35mm rangefinder). This image was taken with my Contax IIIa, and Russian Jupiter 8 52mm lens (Damn it’s sharp!!).
The real drama with this image began with the film development though. I have a number of bulk loaders (so I can save money by buying film in 100 ft. lengths and “rolling my own”). I had thought this film was Fomapan 100, one of my favourite films in medium format. When it is developed, its anti-halation coating is dissolved and turns the developer a cheerful shade of green when it is poured out of the tank. When I started pouring out the developer this time around though, it came out clear, meaning it wasn’t the film I though it was. I immediately stopped pouring out the developer, topped it the tank with water, did some mental math and added 75% more development time.
I dodged a bullet, and everything came out OK. (Perhaps a tad more grain than optimal, but I’ll take it). The sad thing is that the film has no edge markings identifying what brand/type it is, but at least in the future I know how to develop it. 🙂
Today’s image is the second in my project of portraiture taken using vintage 35mm equipment. This specific image was taken using an early 1950’s Contax IIIa rangefinder, coupled with a Soviet Jupiter-8 normal lens. The inherent sharpness of this lens was just what I wanted for this look, while still keeping a vintage feel.
In an age where (thanks to the Internet), graphically explicit pornography is just a mouse-click away, it is easy for the allure of the hidden to be forgotten.
(Mamiya 645 Pro-TL, 80mm f2.8 lens, Fomapan 100 developed in HC-110 dilution H, post-processed with Nik Efex)
Another image from the 35mm photo shoot outside Massey Hall, this time taken with my Leica IIIb and Russian Jupiter 8 50mm f2 lens. I thought I had ISO 400 film in the camera, but it turned out to be a roll of Polypan, nominally rated at 50, so the film had to be heavily pushed in development, 30 minutes in HC-110 dilution B. A good photogrpahy friend of mine was very helpful in suggesting a development process to salvage the frame. This is unretouched, and is technically certainly not perfect, but it is what I was after – the feel of decades ago; I think it would be less of an image if it were tack sharp and grain-free.
Today’s image is from my first model-related shoot using something other than medium/large format, or digital. This shoot, taken outside Massey Hall in downtown Toronto, was done with two 35mm cameras. The shot below was taken with an Olympus XA, one of the smallest full frame 35mm cameras ever made. Except for a hair-trigger shutter release, this camera is a joy to use. I’ll feature an image taken with the other 35mm camera in a future post.
(Olympus XA 35mm rangefinder camera, Ilford Delta 400 film developed in HC-110 dilution B for 7.5 minutes, post production using NIK Silver Efex Pro 2)
This image is of Emily, a woman who spent four years in Japan teaching English, and learning to play the koto (pictured in the image). During the shoot, Emily told me of the etiquette and rules about learning to play the koto (e.g. showing proper respect to one’s teacher, NEVER stepping over the instrument, which is played on the floor, etc.). I got the sense from Emily that to play the koto is as much about understanding the Japanese culture, as it is about learning how to play the notes. Emily has a lovely expression in this image, but my favourite part of the image is her hands, and how they are positioned holding the instrument: her right hand in particular shows the grace of a dancer. From the way she is holding the instrument,I get the sense that for Emily the koto is more than an instrument; it is a friend, and a conduit into the mysterious beauty that is Japan.
My Third Eye 