Author Archives: Amanda Raney

{Testing the batch} Expired Fuji Provia 400

February 17, 2014 9:41 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅

Last year, I bought a batch of medium format slide film from eBay. Very EXPIRED medium format film. Most of it expired in 1999. Why would I buy really old film? Because I have had really cool results by using expired slide film and cross-processing it (I explained about cross-processing in another blog post last year.)

There are a lot of things that can happen to film as it ages. Along with possible color shifts, film can lose a certain amount of light sensitivity when it’s expired. That can make getting proper exposures tricky. Another factor in how well film has aged is how the film was stored throughout the years. If it was kept in a cold, dry place (like a freezer or refrigerator) then the effect of time could be minimal. But with film like the batch I bought, I have no real way of knowing how it was stored. That’s a gamble when you buy expired film from eBay…

I decided that I needed to test a roll of this film so I could see what kind of shape it was in after nearly 15 years. I loaded it in my Bronica ETRSi and gave it a go!

(the above photos were taken with my Samsung NX1100)

I asked the lab to cross-process the film for me, and here are the results:

Dilapidated sign in Memphis

This photo is only included because it makes me laugh. Perfectly captured my niece’s mannerisms

Goldenrod

I got my niece to pose in some of her T-shirts that I like (this is her ‘model’ face, btw)

Probably petting one of her dogs, who were clamoring for attention

Her real personality. Goofy!

I don’t know how I got her to take her glasses off…love her Turtle Power shirt though!

Climbing the front porch

Holding on and hanging out on the porch

Bronica ETRSi • Zenzanon 75mm/2.8 EII • Fuji Provia 400, exp. January 1999, Cross-processed

Conclusion?

I’m pretty darned pleased with how the photos came out. I can look at the negatives and tell how a few were a bit underexposed . That just means I’ll have a better idea about the film’s exposure needs when I shoot the rest of my batch of this film.

(I have eight more rolls of the Fuji Provia 400 in the crisper drawer of my fridge!!! Exciting!!!)

Posted in: film photography, personal, shop talk ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , ,

{Forgotten Frames} Black and White Edition

February 15, 2014 10:25 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅

I’ve had quite a few “forgotten frames” experiences in recent years. As a result of these experiences, I do not even hesitate  to take film in for processing if I find a roll in a drawer, in a packed up box, etc., even if that roll could very well be blank.

That’s what happened with the photos I am sharing today. I found film in a drawer in my parents’ bathroom, which is the room where I used to process black and white film. I don’t know how I hadn’t noticed the roll prior to this, but I decided to take it to the photo lab the next time I stopped in. It was a roll of Ilford HP5+. I knew I hadn’t shot that type of film in years, and I estimated that 2007 would have been the last time I’d had any of it at my parents’ house. That’s all I had to go on when I took the roll for processing. I told the photo lab that the roll could be blank but asked them to go ahead and process it anyway.

When I picked the film up and saw that it wasn’t a blank roll, I was a very happy girl! I squinted at the negatives before getting home to look at the disc of scanned photos and found that I was right about the film’s approximate age. Judging from my niece’s age in the photos and a couple of other context clues, I figured the film must have been taken in December 2006 or January 2007. I cannot, however, discern which camera I used for this roll of film!

From a day at the park with my niece. I LOVE these! You can’t see her face clearly in any of them, so they just feel like little vignettes or impressions of a child playing at a park. She was only 5 when these were taken!

The only thing I can gather is that this roll of film was not taken with an SLR. Very possible that I used the Olympus XA3 I had at the time. Some of them just LOOK “zone focused”  (a method where you have to guess the distance between the camera and whatever it is you’re photographing.)

Mikey and Meredith at IHOP, probably after we’d seen some bands play

Food Not Bombs. Typically how I spent my Saturdays at that time.

A BBQ restaurant in my town

Here’s what I mean when I say that the photos were probably not taken with an SLR. Though I don’t even see how I would think this photo would be in focus  when I took it (and this photo is one way I placed the time period when this film was exposed, since I had color versions from the same day.)

By comparison, this is a color version of the same photo, taken with a Yashica TL Electro-X (an SLR.)

I tried to do some sleuthing by looking closely at the photos that were taken of windows (like the BBQ restaurant or the elephant one) in case my reflection were visible and I could catch a glimpse of the camera being used. No such luck though! It will remain a mystery.

Film: Ilford HP5+, film expired by the time it was developed in November 2013. Camera: Unknown.

Posted in: film photography, forgotten frames ⋅ Tagged: , , ,

FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHY: THE JOBE-SHIELDS FAMILY, Christmas 2013

February 10, 2014 3:07 pm ⋅ 1 Comment ⋅

I’d like to welcome the Jobe-Shields family  back to the Shoot With Personality blog!

(Well, I sort of already did when I posted the instant photos from this photo session…)

A few years ago, I had multiple photo sessions with Lisa, Rob, and baby Ezra. They moved to North Carolina after that, and I had not had the opportunity to see them since their move. The last photo session I did with them was one with Lisa’s mom and siblings for Christmas 2010, when Ezra was about 7 months old.

Look at Ezra in 2010 – OH MY GOOOODNESSS

Fast-forward to 2013, and little Ezra is a rambunctious 3 1/2 old with a wildly awesome  awesomely wild head of hair.  Oh, and one more thing has changed since 2010: Rob and Lisa have a new addition to their little family: baby Lionel was born in August.  And, lucky for me, I was called in to do a photo shoot with Lionel when he and his family were in Memphis for Christmas!

Meet Lionel!

Big brother and baby brother. So sweet!

Lionel, on the prettiest, most colorful blanket

Fay, showing me her Christmas ribbon headband

Everyone!

What happens when you pile a bunch of children on top of Uncle Mark

Lora and her children  – Sarah, Mark, and Lisa

Sweetness between Rob and Ezra

Baby boy

Cheesin’

Brothers

Mommy and her first baby boy

Ezra was the “X” and Lisa was the “O” xoxo

The look of love

Naomi and Fay were being sweet by Mimi’s fireplace 

Sarah, Dan, Fay, and Naomi

I remembered from our 2010 photo shoot that the girls like to take silly in photos, so I let ’em go for it

Matchy-matchy sisters Naomi and Fay

Mimi and her grands! 

Their reward for making it through so many photos: chocolate fudge!

Naomi’s justifiably happy to have her reward

I just COULD. NOT. STOP. with these pictures of Mimi and Lionel!

Oh, what’s that little hand on the back of the chaise lounge?

SOMEONE was being mischievous and making his way into the photos of his Mimi and his brother!

Ezra got a little photo time with Mimi too

Someone’s up to mischief again…

Ezra looks like he’s boogieing 

I’m so glad I (and my camera!) had the chance to see this awesome family again. Lionel was sooooooo sweet, and I couldn’t believe how big Ezra, Naomi, and Fay had gotten since I’d last seen them!

♥♥♥

Posted in: baby photography, family photography, portrait sessions ⋅ Tagged: , ,

My Favorite Faves: Olympus XA

January 29, 2014 2:08 pm ⋅ 4 Comments ⋅

I’ve owed this little camera a blog post dedicated to it for quite some time now. It’s not exactly an unsung hero of my camera collection, just one which hasn’t always seen as much use as it should have in recent years.

About the Olympus XA…

It’s super rad!

  • It’s a compact 35mm camera, but with a twist: it’s actually a rangefinder*! I believe it’s the only compact camera of its kind.
  • Aperture priority operation: User sets aperture, camera sets shutter speed (which is shown in the viewfinder.)
  • Maximum aperture of f/2.8 (woo hoo!!)
  • Shutter speed range of 1/500 second – 10 seconds (<—-that’s major!)
  • Leaf shutter, which means it’s SUPER quiet when you take a photo
  • “Clamshell” design: Sliding door that protects the lens and works as the on/off switch for the camera

  • Lever on the bottom of the camera that swivels to positions for checking the battery, self-timer, and +1.5 exposure compensation

  • Threaded tripod socket
  • Proprietary flash mount/flash

I got my first Olympus XA in 2004. If I could go back in time, I’d tell my younger self to save high resolution scans of my film photos. I only have small scans of most of the photos from those early days with the XA! But I will share a few of them with you anyway (and may go back and add more when I find prints to scan…)

My niece and my brother, 2004 (first roll with my XA!)

Avellino’s, 2004

 Downtown Memphis, 2004

Graffiti in Memphis, 2004

My niece enjoying refreshment, 2004

My friend Alex, showing off a new tattoo, 2004 (cross-processed)


Michelle, showing off her Smashing Pumpkins tattoo, 2004 (cross-processed)
(Hilarious to me that my niece is standing in the background of this picture…)

My friend Jason, 2004 (cross-processed)

My niece with my beta tester version of the Lomography Okotmat camera, 2004 (cross-processed)

For me (and for many reasons) this is the  most perfect cross-processed photo I have ever taken, 2004

My friend Lydia, swinging my niece around and around, 2004 (cross-processed)

I did occasionally take the XA with me to see bands play – The Kick, 2004

My niece in some sparkly dress-up shoes, 2004

The first time we took my niece to the movies. It was Polar Express. 2004

My mom, brother, and niece on Mother’s Day 2005

River Records, Memphis, 2005

Ed’s Camera Shop, 2005 (I wish this place still existed 🙁 )

Saigon Le, 2005

Pie in the Sky table, Memphs, 2005


Memphis, 2005

Book table at flea market, 2005

Home Grown Produce, 2005

“Lone,” Midtown Memphis, 2005

Midtown Memphis, 2005 (Hi there!)

Propane tanks, 2005

Downtown Memphis, 2005

Carnival games at Redbirds Stadium (AutoZone Park), 2005

Redbirds Game, 2005

I used the camera so much in the early days that my friend nicknamed me “XA-manda”!

I lost my first XA in 2006. Mostly because I tend to use the XA for a light meter when I’m using a meterless camera. That’s what I was doing the day I lost XA #1. The worst part about losing the camera is that it still had film in it! I ended up buying  a replacement for the lost camera that same year, which I held on to until 2012. XA #2 even went to London with me in 2006!

Red lantern, 2006

My niece’s 5th birthday, 2006

Letter slot, Birmingham UK,  2006

Shoes on sale, London 2006

Oxfam event outside the National Gallery, London 2006

Westminster Abbey – London 2006

Tower of London, 2006

Tower of London, 2006


Ah, look it’s me AND the Olympus XA – London 2006

Memphis Central Library, 2007

“The Local,” 2007


Food Not Bombs,  2007

Cosmic Bowling at Bill Hardwick’s All Star Lanes, 2008

Cris, my friend Daniel’s pug, 2008

(The above three, I kind of forced the camera to do slow sync flash, which is flash plus a long exposure)

An Olympus XA skeptic, 2008

“Useless,”2009

Kelsey, 2009

Mom in my Memphis apartment, 2009

“Sputnik” Memphis, 2009

Water gun fight with my niece, 2009

The Orpheum Theatre, 2011

November 2011

Kat Gordon, Owner of Muddy’s Bake Shop, during a product shoot in her home, 2012

I only let #2 go because I got a sweet, sweet deal on a “minty” one at a thrift shop in Memphis. Like #2 did in 2006, #3 went along with my to England in 2012.

Easter weekend, 2012

The Cenotaph after Remembrance Day, London 2012 

Big Ben and Parliament, London 2012

At the River Thames, London 2012

Natural History Museum, London 2012

Natural History Museum, London 2012

I basically love everything about the Olympus XA. It’s a beautiful little thing to hold in your hand and use. The only thing I don’t like is the flash system. I wish it had a hot shoe! I wish it focused closer, too.  But no one’s perfect, eh?

To be honest, I’ve been so in love with my Ricoh FF-1 that I’ve not used Olympus XA #3 nearly enough, but I’m committing to change that ASAP!

 

*I’ve explained a bit about rangefinder cameras in the Favorite Faves post about my Yashica GSN/GT

Posted in: camera equipment, film photography, my favorite faves, shop talk ⋅ Tagged: , , ,