Tag Archives: Black And White

A Bit More Texas

December 4, 2014 11:07 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅

In August, my mother and I took a little trip to Texas to visit my aunt. I brought along only my Fuji Instax Mini 50s (the results of which I shared on the blog already) and my Kiev 4AM. Truthfully, I was having such a good time with my Instax Mini that I barely touched the Kiev. I, in fact, only used the Kiev during our visit to the quirky Salmon Lake RV and Recreational Park in Grapeland, Texas. My mom, aunt, and I just ran around the Salmon Lake park taking pictures and had a grand ole time! I finally got my Kiev film developed and wanted to share the results with you, as a completion to the series of photos taken on my little visit to the Lone Star State.

Gear with which the below photos were taken

Kiev 4AM • Helios-103 53mm/1.8 + Y2 filter • Kodak BW400CN
Grapeland, Texas

Posted in: film photography, personal, travel photography ⋅ Tagged: , , , , ,

{Forgotten Frames} Hidden Gems

September 28, 2014 10:23 am ⋅ 1 Comment ⋅

Once in awhile, I bribe my niece (AM) into doing a photo shoot. This is usually when she’s saving to buy something, and I consider paying her to do a little photo shoot is no different than her getting chore money from her parents. But I like to make it a little fun for her.

For instance, last year we did a shoot where AM wore her Hunger Games t-shirt and posed with her bow and arrow. I actually never shared those online. They were taken on color film, but the scans I received from the photo lab were pretty terrible. The colors just weren’t right, and I didn’t want to post photos of my niece where her beautiful skin and amazing red hair didn’t look the way they should!

So I left the photos alone. I toyed with the idea of converting the photos to black and white on the computer. That idea never really went anywhere.

But then…

I was doing another photo shoot with my niece and remembered about the bow and arrow photos from last year. I decided to go ahead and make those photos black and white to see if that made me happier. And did it ever! I am in love with these photos now. I think I appreciate them even more than if I’d done this with them when they were originally taken.

Bronica ETRSi •  Zenzanon MC 150mm/3.5 & Zenzanon 75mm/2.8 EII • Kodak Porta 160, converted to b&w
May 2013 (AM, age 11)

 

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

My Possibly Impossible Birthday

August 22, 2014 9:54 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅

Have you ever had a birthday that just did not go the way you wanted it to? My birthday was on a Wednesday this year, and weekday birthdays are difficult to make feel special (in my experience.) Yes, there’s usually a weekend birthday-related event, when people aren’t at work, but the birthday itself can be a let-down.

This year, I decided to take matters into my own hands. My sister was at work. My best friend was at work. So my mom decided to help make my birthday better. She wanted to know where she could take me so I’d feel like I was getting to do something that would make me “birthday happy” (that’s what I call it, anyway.) It might not seem like something that a person might choose as a birthday outing, but I told my mother that I’d like to go to Otherlands, a coffee shop in Midtown Memphis. I used to enjoy spending time there when I lived in that area of Memphis, and I knew that something about it would make me happy. I was right. The strong smell of coffee is probably overwhelming when you open the door of any coffee shop, but in my mind, the smell of Otherlands is unique and brings back memories from a very specific time in my life. I was able to sit, sip my coffee, download scans of my photos from England (!!!) and enjoy the Johnny Cash tunes that were playing over the speaker system in the coffee shop.

So why am I writing about this on my blog, where I share anything from wedding photos I’ve been hired to take, to random film camera reviews? The answer is: the second part of my “what would make you birthday happy” answer was “I want to take at least some photos today.” I had a pack of black and white 600 Impossible Project film, I loaded it in my Polaroid SLR 680, and I brought it along with me to Memphis that afternoon. I have a bad tendency to immediately reshoot a photo that I don’t think “turned out right” – which, when you’re using a pack of film with only 8 exposures in it can eat film up FAST! I’m no perfectionist, but if a photo doesn’t turn out the way I envisioned it, I feel compelled to try it again. So one of the things I was determined about was that I would not reshoot any photo that day. I’d just accept each photo as either a success or a fail. Either it worked or it didn’t. And here are the ones I decided were keepers.

“Cheer me up birthday coffee” and my handbag that I bought in England
Technically, this should have gone in the “Impossi-fail” pile. It’s a photo of my old apartment, which is close to Otherlands. We were driving around the neighborhood for old times’ sake, in case there was anything I wanted to photograph before we left the area. Mom told me that I should get out and take a photo. I didn’t think it’d be a big deal. I moved out of that place 3 years ago. But I actually got weirded out and ran out of the driveway as soon as I took the photo! So the fact that this looks kind of ghostly is appropriate, because standing in the driveway taking this photo felt like I’d seen a ghost! And yet, I’m somehow glad I did it
.”
And this is where I fell in love with my Polaroid 680″
This is at Easy Way, an iconic produce market chain in Memphis. I love it there. It’s like going into some country store on a dirt road in Arkansas to get your fruits and vegetables. And by “some dirt road,” I probably actually mean “My Papaw’s house.” He had a little farm in Crawfordsville, Arkansas, and the first time I went to Easy Way, it reminded me of going on his back porch and getting potatoes and other produce he’d grown there. This photo is of my mom picking out “the perfect golden delicious apple.” It just looked so good with her tattoo facing me that I made her pause so I could take the photo. Everything was perfect. And the exposure and focus were so perfect (for once!) that I fell in love with my Polaroid 680 the moment the photo developed.Birthday me – arm length self portrait of the birthday girl
Birthday dinner. No beer. Just a menu and my mother.

So ends my “Possibly Impossible Birthday.” Except that I had another Impossible Project birthday outing later in the week that will be coming to your computer screens very soon.

Polaroid SLR 680 SE • Impossible Project B&W 600 film, black frame • July 30, 2014

Posted in: film photography, personal, Polaroid, The Impossible Project ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Canon Sure Shot Sleek {Second Chance at Love}

August 3, 2014 10:04 am ⋅ 2 Comments ⋅

I have been doing this thing lately that I call “Two Rolls In”: I put two rolls of film through a new camera/with a new lens,  do a write-up on my experience with that piece of equipment, and post resulting photos from those two rolls. When I did that with the Canon Sure Shot Sleek a few months ago, I didn’t feel as if I gave that camera a fair shot (yes, I did just make that pun) because I didn’t put two FULL rolls in it before posting the results. I thought I’d give that camera a little extra attention to make up for shortchanging it initially.

Well, actually, I also used this as an opportunity to try something new: recoding a film canister. Automated cameras like the Sure Shot Sleek read the “DX codes” on film cassettes and use that information to expose the film properly for its given ISO (tutorials here and here.)  Most cameras I use require me to set the film speed myself anyway, so I can just tell the camera that the film is 1600 and the camera will be none the wiser that the film is actually 400 ISO. In the case of the Sure Shot, I took a 400 ASA film, looked at a chart on recoding cassettes, and scraped off the appropriate  parts of the DX code to make the camera think I’d put 1600 film in it – that is so I could get more low light or “available light” shots without using the flash or running the risk of getting “camera shake” blur due to long shutter speeds. After I shot the film this way, I then instructed the photo lab to process the film as if it were 1600 (push-processing: we’ve talked about this before. I do it all the time with cameras at that let me set the film speed myself.)

Recoded cassette

With the recoded film loaded in the camera, I set out to take photos in limited light. This is how it went:

On my mom’s mantel – the room was dark and the mantel was lit by track lighting above it

HI!

Under very dim natural light

Teacup candelabra, holding tomatoes

Dining out

This was a bit underexposed but an easy fix in post-processing

Dim lighting in my sister’s dining room

King James has his own Bible AND a custom motorcycle??

I finished up the roll while I was doing a product photo shoot at Muddy’s:

Paper doilies + paper straws

Just so you know, the line forms here!

It’s a tough job picking out what you want to order from the beautiful bakery case

Cute cake stands in Muddy’s merchandise section

Mini disco ball and cloud decorations

Glittery stars hanging from the bakery’s ceiling

Peg board of mismatched coffee mugs and tea cups at Muddy’s coffee and tea station

Fresh flowers at the bakery

A small selection of the gnome collection at Muddy’s

(photos taken with Canon Sure Shot Sleek & Kodak BW400CN, shot at 1600)

Conclusion?

Apparently I recoded the film correctly, because it worked awesomely! But more importantly, I liked how a lot of these pictures turned out. Especially the ones at Muddy’s. Maybe I will be happier with the Sure Shot Sleek than I originally thought!

 

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