Last Wednesday at lunch on a very warm, humid day I got together with my good friend Adriana for a portrait shoot in Centennial Park in Mississauga. I used two very different cameras: first, my Olympus Pen F, which until I had primarily used for male portraits. With a 100mm/3.5 Zuiko lens mounted, I think this camera works for female portraits as well.

Next, a portrait with my Petzval lens from the 1860’s using my 4×5 Speed Graphic. While normally I shoot close in with this lens, I decided to try moving back, and I like what the old lens did to the background. There is a a dimensionality to the Petzval lens optical formula that I don’t think digital filters can copy; it’s like being in a dream 🙂
