Beauty and the Beast

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These two cameras were both made by Pentax, and both are Single Lens Reflex designs, but that is where the similarity ends. One (the ME Super) is a beautifully compact and nimble 35mm model, the other shoots large 6×7 cm negatives on 120 size roll film. I had both cameras with me yesterday on a photo shoot for my “Women and Cameras Series.” The Me Super is a little motor scooter of a camera, and the 6×7 is a truck. 🙂

Beauty and the Beast

After the shoot as my subject and I were walking down Queen Street East, a guy at an outdoor cafe spotted the ME Super my exclaimed “is that a Pentax ME? I used to have one!” He had a huge smile on his face, and it was great to see a film camera bring back happy memories to a total stranger.

The other item of note from yesterday is not so positive: I had arranged to meet my model at a park on Queen Street. I get there, and the park (containing a playground and wading pool) had a good number of children and their caregivers present. I realized that as a middle-aged man, unaccompanied, with a camera over my shoulder I would be the subject of suspicion at the very least, and perhaps hostility (especially if I had my camera anywhere near my eye), so I felt it prudent to sit on a bench by the sidewalk, as far from the children as possible. It was one of those guilty until proven innocent situations that are sadly so common today.

In Stereo

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Earlier this year I bought a Stereo Realist 35mm camera. You can see it featured being held by my good friend Andrea Ross in a post I did awhile ago. The two models in the image, Memento Mori and No3rdAngel are two great women I’ve worked with before, and both were fascinated to be part of this shoot.

In order to see the stereo effect, you need to use the “Cross-Eye” viewing method, described here:

www.neilcreek.com/2008/02/28/how-to-see-3d-photos/

It can cause eyestrain for some people, so please heed the warnings on the page! Also, the effect works better for some folks than others.

3D Stereo modelling session

Wings

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One of the concepts I’ve had in mind for my Women and Cameras series has been the concept of a model with a large symmetrical tattoo on her back holding a camera, behind her back as in the image below, created this past weekend. When I asked the model why she got that tattoo of the butterfly, she responded that she “had always wanted wings.”   I’m not personally planning on getting any tattoos myself anytime soon, but in this case I can see the appeal of the tattoo as a way of externalizing and making tangible one’s hopes and dreams.

Argus 75

Table Rock

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This image is a cyanotype of an image I took a bit over a week ago at Niagara Falls, from a spot called Table Rock. I took this image on a Friday morning, very close to the spot where a couple of days later, a young woman would slip and fall into the river and over the falls, to her death.

Niagara Falls, Table Rock

What a Coincidence!

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Today’s image has quite a story to it! I made this picture in Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada in 2007 while on vacation with my family. A couple was getting married on the rocks, and everyone around got to be a temporary member of a congregation, although the little flower girl in the right side of the image spent most of her time dancing around the rocks instead of paying attention. At the end of the ceremony the couple kissed, people applauded and the ceremony was over. End of story until this morning. So why am I posting an older image, taken using a digital camera (my old Digital Rebel) and in colour?

Today I received an email from a man in Germany, who was the groom, who found the picture and was very happy to have it, as he did not have many pictures of the ceremony. Little online miracles like this make me smile 🙂

 

wedding-at-peggys-cove

My New Beast

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This picture was taken this past weekend at Fort George in Niagara-On-the-Lake with a new (to me) camera: a Pentax 6×7. This is a beast of a camera, shooting 6×7 cm negatives (400% of the area of a 35mm negative) on 120 film. I’m in love 🙂 The 6×7 is the love child of a camera and a tank.

Behind a shed, Fort George

First Time for Everything

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Today’s image is from my first photo shoot involving a nude model a few days ago. I used my Mamiya M645J medium format camera and Delta 400 black and white film, with some post processing in Aperture. I’ll have to admit I was a bit nervous but once the session started, it was like any other photo shoot; getting the image via a fruitful collaboration was the goal. The model was an artist herself, who works in sculpture using bronze and the “lost wax” technique, and it was fascinating to hear her talk about her process and artistic vision.

From first nude photo session

Ancient Camera, Ancient Format, Ancient Film

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This picture is certainly unremarkable at first glance, but there is a story behind it: it was taken with a Detrola E camera (made between 1938-1940). This camera took film in the 127 film format which rather difficult/expensive to get today, but the roll I shot expired in 1965! I would not have been too surprised if the roll did not turn out at all, but apart from low contrast (easily fixed) the pictures were fine,  and also much sharper than I expected!

Ancient Camera, Ancient Format, Ancient Film!

Something Different

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I’ve posted a lot of rather soft-focus pictures featuring attractive models recently, so time for something different. On the recent holiday Monday (Simcoe Day in Toronto) I went down early to one of the Toronto Transit Commission streetcar maintenance yards with my Mamiya M645J, loaded with Rollei Pan 25, a very sharp, fine-grained film. It was a bright morning, but even so with this slow speed film I needed a tripod to get the sharpness I wanted.

ttc010

Good News

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Another final image for my Women and Cameras series, this time a real Cyanotype of Memento Mori.

And the good news? Beginning in January of 2012, my Women and Cameras Series will be on display at The Wild Oat Bakery and Cafe in Ottawa. I will also be giving a presentation on how I create these Cyanotype and Van Dyke Brown prints. Details to follow!

Memento Mori - Women and Cameras series