Today’s image was created near the base of the Don River in Toronto. It is a rather desolate part of town in my opinion, but there are still interesting shapes and lines.
Nikon F2, 24mm/2.8 Nikkor lens, Rollei 80s film, developed in D-23 1:1 for 13 minutes
Today’s image was taken in the communal dressing room backstage at the Alexander Showcase Theatre’s production of The Crucible in which I have a role as Willard, the Marshall. (Five more shows to go, there is still time to come see us!) This photograph is an image of the multi-talented Sharon Zehavi, getting into character for her role as Abigail Williams, ringleader of the teenage girls.
The dressing room is small, cramped and noisy as people get ready for the show, but Sharon is clearly in her own universe as she seemingly allows herself to be consumed by the character of Abigail. The intensity is incredible. The exposure was 1/30th of a second, but she is so still, so focused, that if I had a tripod the exposure could have been a second or two, and there would still be no blur. Amazing.
(Yashica Lynx 5000e 35mm rangefinder, 50mm/f1.8 lens, exposure 1/30th of a second @ f1.8 on Tri-X film at E.I. 1000, developed in Diafine 3+3. Post work done using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2,
with additional post done by Sharon.)
Yes, it has been a while since I’ve posted. My role in the Alexander Showcase Theatre’s production of the Crucible has kept me quite busy of late, but I did have time yesterday to get out and do some shooting with my Nikon F2 35mm SLR and 24mm/f2.8 wide-angle lens. It was a reunion with Eastman SO-331 film, a special process film that is designed to be very contrasty, unless developed differently I used Diafine 3+3 and it seems to keep the contrast in check, although I will be testing with other developers. I did a bit of work in post on this image (toning and sharpening) so it is a hybrid image, sorry purists 🙂
Today, another image captured yesterday at the Distillery District in Toronto with my Pentax 67. the 6 cm by 7 cm format has been called by some the “ideal format”; one reason is that you can print on 8×10 paper with no cropping to speak of. By contrast, 35mm would required 8×12 paper to do the same.
Despite this, I found a couple of my images worked better when cropped as square (or at least “squarish”), including this image. With the sun still relatively low in the horizon at 10 am on a mid October day I liked the start look of the shadows on the building.
(Taken with 105mm/f2.4 lens, Kodak TMax 400 film developed in TMax developer)
Today’s image was created in Toronto’s Distillery District, using my Pentax 67 medium format camera. Larger sized negatives (such as the 6cm x 7 cm negatives created by this camera) make grain less of an issue so I was able to use Rodinal developer, which emphasizes sharpness rather than fine grain.
I keep get drawn back to this disused railroad in the Don Valley in Toronto. Apparently it has only been about 6 years since it was last used, but it doesn’t take long for nature to start reclaiming it.
(Pentax K1000 35mm SLR, 28mm/f2.8 SMC Pentax Lens with yellow filter,
shot on Rollei 80s film developed in Rodinal 1+50 for 14 minutes)
Today another image from High Park, shot on Rollei 80s film with a red filter. I continue to be amazed at the different reality I get with this film/filter combo. It’s look pulling back a veil.
(Pentax K1000, 28mm/2.8 Pentax lens with 25A red filter, Rollei 80S film developed in Rodinal 1+50 for 14 minutes)
This past Saturday I was with my Photographic friends Mike and Donna, shooting infrared film In Kleinburg, Ontario. I was shooting Efke 820 Aura infrared film, but the it turned out the filter (an IR 920) was blocking the wrong light, and when I developed the film that evening, I was horrified to see basically a blank roll :-(. All I have from Saturday is mosquito bites.
Not wanting to admit defeat, I went out on Sunday with a different filter (this time an IR 72) and a different infrared film to Guild Park in Scarborough, and had somewhat better luck 🙂
(Nikon F3, 28mm/2.8 Nikkor lens, Rollei Retro 80s film, IR72 filter, 1 second exposure @ f16,
developed in HC-110 Dilution H for 10 minutes @ 20 C)
Yesterday afternoon I was shooting in Kensington Market again. The streets were closed to all vehicular traffic, making for a great atmosphere. A belly dancing show was taking place, surrounded by photographers, as in the image below. Sometimes it’s as much fun to watch the audience!
(Canon 7 35mm rangefinder, Leitz (Leica) 90mm/f4 Elmar lens,
Ilford Delta 400 film, developed in Kodak Microdol-X developer, 1:1 for 15.5 minutes at 20 degrees)
My Third Eye 