. . . slightly bent 🙂
Olympus Pen F 35mm half-frame SLR, Nikkor 55mm/3.5 macro lens (with adapter)
Rollei 80s film, developed in Rodinal 1:50 for 16 minutes
Adaptability
One of my current favourite film cameras continues to be my early 1960’s era Olympus Pen F 35mm half frame single lens reflex. The only thing I don’t like about it is that I only have one lens for it, and additional lenses are collectable (read, not cheap). So I was thrilled last week when an adapter arrived from China that will allow me to use Nikon and Canon glass on this camera. (It’s really two adapters in one: a Canon EF to Olympus Pen adapter, and a Nikkor to Canon EF adapter). Yesterday before meeting up with a friend I went out in highly variable weather with a Nikkor 105mm/f.25 lens attached. While I got some vignetting in the viewfinder it didn’t seem to affect the final images :-).
The white dots are snowflakes.
Olympus Pen F, Nikkor 105mm/f2.5 lens
Rollei 80s developed in Rodinal 1:50 for 16 minutes
Affirmation
Yesterday was an amazing day, photographically speaking. Jessica (pictured below) shared some feedback she got from a friend who checked out some of my other portrait work, and had the following to say:
“There is a kind of love in his photography that is sensitive and charitable to the subject, but in a number of portraits on his blog, the you can see brokenness or sadness in their expressions.”
When I read this, I felt here was someone whom I’ve never met, who understands what I have tried to achieve in my portraits, to show humanity, including all its glorious imperfections. I was thrilled to say the least.
Jessica and her friend have also been discussing Canadian philosopher Jean Vanier, and she shared with me this quote from his work Community and Growth:
“In any case, community is not about perfect people. It is about people who are bonded to each other, each of whom is a mixture of good and bad, darkness and light, love and hate. Community is the only earth in which each can grow without fear towards the liberation of the forces of love which are hidden in them, but there can be growth only if we recognize the potential, and this will never unfold if we prevent people from discovering and accepting themselves as they are, with their gifts and their wounds. They have the right to be rotters, to have their own dark places and corners of envy and even hatred in their hearts. These jealousies and insecurities are part of our wounded nature. That is our reality. We have to learn to accept them and to live with them without drama, and to walk towards liberation, gradually knowing ourselves to be forgiven.”
A great quote that really resonates with me, and the fact that someone connected my photography with this philosophy is amazing 🙂
Pentax 67 camera, 105mm/f2.4 lens, Tri-X film exposed at EI 800, developed in Diafine 3+3
Post work done in Lightroom and Nik Efex
The Tyranny of a Title
Today’s image was shot in Toronto in December of 2013, and looking at it I started thinking about titles. I could just call it “Birds on a Wire” and not try to put an interpretive spin on it. Or I could give it an psychological, angst-ty title like “The Introvert”, harkening back to my solitary youth. Or I could resort to cheap humour and call it “Who Farted?” It’s the same image, but a title can control the interpretation.
Pentax 67 camera, 105mm/f2.4 lens, Tri-X exposed at EI 800, developed in Diafine 3+3
The Portrait Up Close
Yesterday I had the pleasure of working with Jessica; this was her first time in front of the camera in a portrait session setting. While admitting to feeling a bit self-conscious, Jessica did quite well, and has a natural camera presence. She also has a knack for very subtle, tiny smiles, and I thought an extreme close-up (tighter than most portraits are shot) would help capture this.
Nikon D7100, Nkkor 18-200/3.5-5.6 VR II lens
Postwork done in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Efex software
Close-Up: The Dancer
One of my projects for 2014 will be close-up and macro photography. The first image is of a dancer in a snow globe; she is in her own little world
Mamiya 645 Pro TL, 80mm/f4 Mamiya Macro lens, Tri-X developed in Xtol 1:1 for 10 minutes
Post work done with Nik SilverEfex Pro 2
At the Beach
This morning I took advantage of a striking winter sun and went down to Sugar Beach in Toronto. Although the sun was bright the wind was bitter, and it was challenge using the camera with thick gloves on,
The film I used (for the first time) was Eastman Duplicating film 2366, a specialized stock with high contrast, high sharpness and very fine grain. I was shooting into the sun so there is some inevitable highlight blow-out but I think it suits the look.
Pentax K1000 35mm SLR, 28mm/f2.8 SMC Pentax lens,
Eastman 2366 film exposed at EI 10, developed in Xtol 1:1 for 10 minutes @ 20 C
Flashback Friday: The Dancer
I’ve decided to do the occasional Flashback Friday, using images I’ve created sometime in the past but didn’t post at the time. This film image (taken at a dance rehearsal with  I think a Nikon N90x 35mm SLR) has a number of technical challenges, but I do like the lines and light.
Snow and Wood
This image is from an outing on January 1st, in a valley park in central Toronto. It was quiet and cold. I think I saw one other person while I was there.
Canon 7, 21mm/4 Voigtlander Skopar lens, Polypan F developed in Diafine 3 + 3
2014 and Film Still Isn’t Dead
Today’s photo comes from an outing with my good friend Mike, and his son. Both were equipped with film cameras, and in this picture is it obvious that Mike’s son is learning. It is great to see a love of film photography being passed on to the next generation, in the face of the usual “film is dead” gloom and doom and what can only be described as ignorance of film capabilities on the part of some digital-only shooters. This blog post jarred me, when the author stated that the negative of famous “Afghan Girl” photo by Steve McCurry wasn’t likely of very high resolution since it was taken in 1984. He was completely unaware of the fact that the image was shot on Kodachrome slide film, which had the equivalent of 20 megapixels of resolution. Ouch.
Olympus Pen F 35mm half-frame SLR, Eastman Double-X film developed in HC-110 Dilution B for 6.5 minutes
Film shooters our mission is clear: keep shooting film, keep producing work that shows what film is capable of, and pass on our knowledge and love of film photography to others!!
Happy New Year!
My Third Eye 