Photographic Resolutions for 2012

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Today’s image is of a street in Herculaneum, the less well know town that along with Pompeii was also a victim of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. This images was taken in November of 2011, using my Mamiya M645J. Streets and roads evoke images of journeys, so I thought it would be the perfect image for today’s blog post.

Another view in Herculaneum

This is the 200th post in this blog, and also as we are nearing the end of 2011 it’s a good time to state my photographic goals and resolutions for 2012. Looking back at my 2011 resolutions, I didn’t do too badly; Number 3 is still a work in progress, and number 5 hasn’t happened yet, but I’m sure some day it will.

For 2012, my goals are:

  1. Get a handle on the Lith printing process.
  2. Complete my Infrared Portrait and Broken projects, plus a project to be named later in the year
  3. Improve my Large Format (4×5) camera skills
  4. Improve my darkroom print making skills
  5. Arrange some kind of show in Toronto

Wish me luck!

Unbroken

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Today’s image is from the Broken series. Model Jennifer was amazing both in doing a great make-up job, and coming up with powerful poses. What I like about this image is the strength of her eye: an unbroken, strong object, staring at the viewer through the shards of a broken object. It reminds the viewer that some things cannot be broken.

Broken Record

 

Taken with Mamiya M645 medium format camera, 80mm f2.8 lens on Fomapan 100 film, developed on Xtol 1:1

Teamwork

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Today’s photography is from a shoot on Sunday, December 18th. In addition to the model, I was working with a hair stylist, make-up artist, and clothing designer (who was running the shoot). It was an interesting experience, and I learned a lot. Shooting film certainly does put the pressure on to “get it right”, since there is no immediate feedback (as in digital)! Film was perfect for the look, in my opinion. I scanned the negative, and added a bit of toning and glow in post-processing.

Toned

Shot with Mamiya M645 camera, 80mm f2.8 lens, Ultrafine 400 Xtreme film, developed in Xtol 1:1 for 14 minutes.

More Broken

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Another image from the Broken Project. The object being broken was an old Ikea picture frame, which instead of glass used a non-reflective laminate, which came apart in a very interesting manner.

broken

Taken using Mamiya M645 camera with 80mm f2.8. lens. Film was Fomapan 100 developed in Xtol 1:1 for 8 minutes. Lighting was through one umbrella, at model’s right side.

Essentials

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Black and White photography by definition is a reductive exercise, just by stripping away colour, to focus on light, shadow, tonality and texture. In this portrait, we go even further; only the eyes and hands are unobscured, but even so  the model packs a lot of expression into her eyes and hands. On of my favourite portraits of 2011!

infrared and scarf

Picture taken with Mamiya M645, 80mm f2.8 lens with 25A red filter, Ilford SFX Infrared film. One shoot through umbrella to model’s right.

Essense of Defiance

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A musician from Ottawa answered a casting call for my Broken project; he would be in Toronto, and was I interested in photographing him? Yes, and I am glad I did! The image below won’t be part of the broken series as the object is not visible, but I really like the intensity that comes out of this image!

Interesting guy” he collects vinyl LP records, so naturally he had an interest in real film 🙂 It was also fun chatting about guitars.

 

Essence of Defiance

Mask

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Masks are interesting things. Sometimes meant to hide or obscure, in a performing sense they can channel energy and personality into a performance. In this image, the actress is definitely using the mask to channel the energetic and creative spirit that her made her a lot of fun to work with!

Mask

One of My Favourite Props

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I originally purchased the mic in this image for another photo shoot, but when the team for a “Film Noire” shoot saw the mic, they immediately wanted to work it into an image, and I can’t blame them. It’s a real Shure 55 “Elvis” mic, iconic and quite collectable. I am not sure if it can be made to work again, but it would be worth the effort!

More Film Noire

5 years in the Making

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This image is another one from my “Broken” project. I had the pleasure of working with “Rae Gun”, an alternative model who brought a lot of creative spark and enthusiasm to the shoot. (As an aside, it has been my experience that alternative models — tattoos, piercings, different hairstyles etc. — have almost aways been amazing folks to work with!)

The prop is the remains of a metal bucket that has been rusting away in our back yard for at least 5 years. I think it’s a perfect prop for the Broken series.

Broken #5