Twilight Portrait

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Today, one of the film images from the session with Jennifer this past Saturday. This shoot marked the first time I used a recently acquired Helios 44/2 lens (58mm, f2). This lens is a Soviet Russian era copy of a Carl Zeiss Biotar, and has quite a cult following in certain circles. The fact that its focal length is slightly longer than normal for a “normal” lens makes it great for portrait work. In this shoot I had it mounted on my Yashica TL-Electro. The lighting was not bright, so I was shooting wide open at 1/60th of a second, on Ilford HP5+, pushed to E.I. 800. I like the gritty, documentary look I got: it is a good match for Jennifer’s intense expression. She is a master at bringing emotion into a shoot!

Candle Portrait

Portrait of the Artist: Ashley

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Today’s image is part of my ongoing “Portrait of the Artist” series.  Ashley has actually appeared in my blog before, but behind the camera, as the make-up/prosthetics artist in the Jennifer Gears Project, here and here. She is holding an airbrush of the kind that she very skilfully used for that shoot, and she is truly an artist in that regard.

While her vocation in a sense is “behind the scenes” she also has the instincts of a performer, and feels at home in front of the camera as well.

DSC_6147 - Version 2

 

(Nikon D7100 DSLR, 18-105mm Nikkor lens, Post-work done using Colour Efex Pro 4) 

Energy

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Lens flare is often seen as a defect in an image, but sometimes it works. Pointing almost directly at the sun I am surprised there wasn’t more!

Power

 

(Pentax K1000 35m SLR, 28m/f2.8 SMC Pentax lens with yellow filter,
Rollei 80s with yellow filter, developed in Rodinal 1+50, 14 minutes) 

Reclaimed

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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.

Old Railroad

 

(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) 

Watching and Waiting

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Today’s image was created using my Yashica TL-Electro: my very first 35mm SLR camera, purchased in 1977 when I was fifteen. It has sat idle for almost 20 years until I recently decided to pick it up and see if it still worked. (It did, once I sourced non-mercury batteries). The image was taken inside the Eaton Centre is downtown Toronto of a man who appeared to be watching and waiting. In fact, the somewhat melancholy mood of the photo reminds me of the Moody Blues song Watching and Waiting.

Watching and Waiting

 

(Yashica TL-Electro, 135mm/3.5 Pentax Super Takumar lens, Ilford Delta 400 film developed in TMax developer)

Behind the Veil

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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.

High Park(Pentax K1000, 28mm/2.8 Pentax lens with 25A red filter, Rollei 80S film developed in Rodinal 1+50 for 14 minutes)

 

At Water’s Edge

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I don’t know what it is about being by the water that gets people to stop and contemplate. maybe we are unconsciously communing with our distant ancestors who lived in the sea before evolving to live on land?

Scan-130911-0003(Nikon F2, 105mm/f2.5 lens, Tri-X film)

 

Different Eyes

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I’e talked about using filters for different light, but today I’m talking about different eyes. Not the eye of the photographer, but the eyes of the small child in this image. Imagine how large and magical this location would look to her!

Fairy Tale from Afar

 

(Pentax Spotmatic SP, 135mm/f3.5 Pentax Super Takumar lens, Ilford HP5+ film, developed in Tmax developer)