Tag: Petzval

Depth of Character

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Finally back with a new image! This is my good friend Sylvain; a couple of weeks ago I enjoyed meeting up with him and other good friends just outside Montreal. This image was created with my 4×5 Speed Graphic and 1860’s Petzval lens.

When Sylvain saw the image, he said he thought he looked “serious.” The word that works for me is “thoughtful”; like everyone at the gathering, Sylvain is a person of great depth and creativity; he lives up to the caption on his T-shirt. This lens has a very shallow depth of field, but I think it captures depth of character.

My friend Sylvain

HP5+ developed in D-76 stock solution

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4×5 in Colour

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When my 1860’s Petzval lens was made, colour photography was only entering its earliest experimental phase, so it was fun to try the lens with Fuji Provia 100F colour slide film during my recent shoot with Kristen. I developed the film with the Rapid E6 kit from Argentix.ca. I love the muted colours produced by this uncoated lens. The sad thing is I only have 10 more sheets of this film, now discontinued 😦

Colour slide with 4x5

Celebrating a Special Person

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This past weekend I was at a large family gathering outside Ottawa to celebrate the 80th birthday of my uncle Martin. I brought along my 4×5 Speed Graphic with my 1860’s brass Petzval lens to get a portrait. Martin has had a most interesting life, with both joys and sorrows, and I think this lens once again managed to “get behind the eyes.” To me, it is as if he is contemplating his life in this image.

My Uncle Martin

Shot on Ilford HP5+ film, pulled to around EI 200, developed in Tmax Dev

By the Crypt

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I had the pleasure yesterday of working for the first time with Natalia Nyx, who is a photographer in her own right, and obviously talented on both sides of the lens! Yesterday, on a very dull and muggy afternoon, we shot at St. James Cemetery here in Toronto. I had three cameras with me, including the Speed Graphic and Petzval, and an image from that camera is what I am starting with. (Shot on HP5+ film) More images of Natalia from this shoot to come!

By the crypt

Timeless

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Yesterday I got together with my friends Maria and Coner for a shoot using my 4×5 Speed Graphic and my 1860’s Brass Petzval lens. The result below (shot on Ilford FP4+ film) just might be my favourite couples portrait I’ve ever shot :-). Love and film photography: both are timeless.

Maria and Coner

Amy 1

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Earlier this week myself and another photographer had a photoshoot with a cheerful and talented teacher and musician named Amy. I used three different cameras, so I will do three different blog posts. Tonight, I am starting off with the 4×5 and1860’s Petzval lens, shot on HP5+. This lens has a knack of picking up interesting expressions 🙂

Amy with the Guitar

Zoë 3

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The third of the images of the shoot with Zoe this past weekend was created with my 1860’s era Petzal Brass lens, mounted on my 4×5 Speed Graphic. Hard to focus, and a cumbersome shooting experience, but the results are so worth it when I get it!

Zoe with Petzval lens

 

Ilford FP4+ sheet film, developed in Tmax Dev

Portrait of Artist: Brent Morris

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It struck me in a moment of after-the-fact obviousness that my images of Brent needed to be in my Portrait of the Artist series. As a podcaster and video game designer, Brent has a lot of creative depth, and as I work more with the vintage Petzval lens for portrait work, to my eyes it is a great lens for capturing the depth of a person’s character, and Brent does have a lot of depth and character!

All images were created with my Speed Graphic 4×5, shot on EFKE Ortho 25 film.

Brent with Petzval lens

My Friend Brent

Brent with Petzval lens

More Petzval Portraits

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On Sunday of this past weekend I met up with my friend and fellow film photographer Ori, who agreed to pose for a couple of portraits shot with my 1950’s era 4×5 Speed Graphic camera, with my mid 1860’s Brass Petzval lens. The film was expired EFKE, with a speed of 25, sadly no longer made. This stock is orthochromatic, meaning not sensitive to red light, which was pretty standard for the 19th century, and great for male portraits.

I am finally happy with the results from this lens, meaning that I now want to shoot as many people as possible with it! 🙂
Second Portrait of Ori

Petzval Portait