Another image from my recent shoot with Connie Crosby, this one taken with my Pen F Half frame, 50mm/1.4 Pentax M lens (via adapter) shot on Rollei Retro 80S. A Go-To portrait combo!
Category: Portraiture
Video: A Creative Collaboration
It’s been a while since I’ve done a slide show video and I am long overdue in featuring my collaborator and friend Jennifer Santos Bettencourt. We have worked together many times over the last few years and I am always amazed at what she brings to each shoot. I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with her!
The Light of Late Afternoon
I had a great shoot yesterday with my good friend Jennifer yesterday. The sun was low in the sky, and through the trees on the U of T campus downtown the light took on a lovely dappled quality that I think worked well with the Petzval lens and the 4×5 Speed Graphic. Created using Ilford HP5+ film.
Two Cameras, One Subject
Last Wednesday at lunch on a very warm, humid day I got together with my good friend Adriana for a portrait shoot in Centennial Park in Mississauga. I used two very different cameras: first, my Olympus Pen F, which until I had primarily used for male portraits. With a 100mm/3.5 Zuiko lens mounted, I think this camera works for female portraits as well.
Next, a portrait with my Petzval lens from the 1860’s using my 4×5 Speed Graphic. While normally I shoot close in with this lens, I decided to try moving back, and I like what the old lens did to the background. There is a a dimensionality to the Petzval lens optical formula that I don’t think digital filters can copy; it’s like being in a dream 🙂
My Friend Ori
Here is another portrait (of my good friend and fellow film photographer Ori) using my Olympus Pen F 35mm half-frame SLR and 38mm/1.8 Zuiko lens. The film was Ilford FP4+.
Again I am very happy with the slightly gritty look here, as I feel it suits male portraiture.
Another Half-Frame Portrait: Rob
A couple of days ago on a visit to Guelph to see my good friends Katherine and Rob, I took some portraits of Rob with my Olympus Pen F half-frame camera, shooting on Ilford FP4+. I really like the look of the half-frame negative and medium speed film for portraits of men in the prime of life; the texture of the grain in this film, or Eastman Double-X suit the subject matter.
Michelle Again
Here is another image of my friend Michelle, taken at the Quebec meet-up of friends she hosted. This photograph was made with my 4×5 Speed Graphic, my antique Petzval lens, some amazing light, and an amazing subject 🙂
Michelle 1
Today’s image is a portrait of my friend Michelle, who hosted a lovely gathering outside of Montreal a couple of weeks ago. I think the landscape orientation works for this portrait, and I love the expression she has!
Pentax Spotmatic F with Helios 44/2 58mm lens
Rollei Retro 80s film, developed in Rodinal 1+50 for 20 minutes @ 20 C
Toning and diffusion in post
Depth of Character
Finally back with a new image! This is my good friend Sylvain; a couple of weeks ago I enjoyed meeting up with him and other good friends just outside Montreal. This image was created with my 4×5 Speed Graphic and 1860’s Petzval lens.
When Sylvain saw the image, he said he thought he looked “serious.” The word that works for me is “thoughtful”; like everyone at the gathering, Sylvain is a person of great depth and creativity; he lives up to the caption on his T-shirt. This lens has a very shallow depth of field, but I think it captures depth of character.
HP5+ developed in D-76 stock solution
4×5 in Colour
When my 1860’s Petzval lens was made, colour photography was only entering its earliest experimental phase, so it was fun to try the lens with Fuji Provia 100F colour slide film during my recent shoot with Kristen. I developed the film with the Rapid E6 kit from Argentix.ca. I love the muted colours produced by this uncoated lens. The sad thing is I only have 10 more sheets of this film, now discontinued 😦
My Third Eye 