Category: Portraiture

Portrait of an Artist: David William White

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David William White is a photographer I met this past Saturday at the Kodachrome photo-walk at Morningside Park in Scarborough. He is shown below with the camera he brought along: a view camera over 100 years old. On a day when the retro feel of film cameras was in the air, he really underscored the feeling by shooting with this camera. He was also using the paper negative technique, a process that goes back to the dawn of the photographic era. (After all, Fox Talbot used paper negatives in the calotype process of the 1830’s/40’s.)

View Camera Fan

It was great to know that on the same day as a glitzy photo show,  showcasing all the new high-priced digital toys available was going on in Mississauga, at the other end of Toronto David was quietly going about his craft, exploring and typifying what is special about traditional photography.

Portrait of an Artist: Sage Tyrtle

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One of my photography projects this fall is to take environmental portraits of various creative people I am lucky to know. For this project I am using black and white analog film, and old cameras in order to get a more organic look for the images. The artist featured in this image is podcaster Sage Tyrtle.

Sage Tyrtle

Simply put, Sage is perhaps the most talented podcaster I know. Her podcast QN is always thought-provoking, often very funny in an ironic and sardonic kind of way, and always extremely well crafted both from a technical point of view and especially in terms of the writing involved.

Shooting this image was challenging; I used my old Nikkormat FT2 with a 24mm f2.8 Nikkor lens (one of my favourites), and Ilford XP2+ film. Technically it was a very challenging shoot, with dim lighting and very little room to work in. Also, the shutter on this 35 year old camera started sticking, ruining a number of frames. I literally got only one usable frame (the one you see above) but I was really happy with how the image turned out; I think it captured Sage’s energy and joy in doing what she loves to do.

Window Light

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It was a quiet moment on Saturday just before the opening of the Hindsight’s G20/20 exhibit; I looked up and saw this young woman (a friend of the organizers) sitting by a window, Macbook in hand. The soft light was ideal for a portrait, so out came the iPhone for a picture. I then applied an effect from the VintageScene iPhone app, not for the sake of an effect, but because it got the image closer to what I was seeing.

Catching the Window Light

Timewarp Tuesday: Kodachrome Then

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It was 1981; I was in first year university and in a serious relationship with the woman in the image below. The image was captured using Kodachrome 64 and my old Yashica TL-Electro. I remember going through almost the entire roll of film (an extravagance back then for me) taking pictures of my girlfriend in the leaves.

Among the Leaves

The slides have been in storage now for almost three decades, but being Kodachrome, the colours have held up quite well, and if I continue to store them properly, they will last for quite some time to come.  So much has changed in my life since then (relationships, where I live etc.) but Kodachrome did capture the moment,  and made the moment immortal in a way that I don’t think digital can.

When Only Film Will Do

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The picture today is of the “Scarborough Dude,” a fixture in the Canadian Podcasting Scene, and a valued friend. I took this portrait last weekend using my Nikkormat FT2, an old Nikkor 24mm lens and Ilford XP2-Plus film.

Portrait of a Friend

Although XP2-plus is supposed to be fine grain, the grain can become more noticeable when underexposed, or used at a higher exposure index. Also, from what I am reading, film scanners tend to act in the same manner as condenser enlargers, emphasizing the grain. Combining these factors, it is not a surprise that this photo appears rather grainy (more obvious at larger sizes).

Given the subject of this portrait however, I believe this grainy, organic appearance is appropriate, as it matches the Scarborough Dude’s personality; he is always the “real deal”; never any fakery. And while he is “with it” technologically speaking in terms of blogging, podcasting and other forms of social media, (indeed more so than many of his generation), he does not dismiss the past. He explores his past, and understands how it has shaped him and where he is today.

Film is organic. It is often grainy. There is no mistaking its character. The subject of this portrait would be ill-served by anything less.