It's been a while

School and the like have been consuming my time. In that time I managed to pickup a Mamiya RB67 in damn good condition showing virtually no signs of wear. The exception would be some of the foam on it, but that's to be expected. Simple fix. I also managed to find a pristine Nikon F5. Not bad if I do say so myself.

These are a couple shots from September in none other than Boston Common. I happened upon a couple of wedding photographers in the area doing their thing and snuck a couple of shots at some of the bystanders waiting for their pictures to be taken. Incognito, I obliged them. I guess that's one of the advantages to the Hasselblad. Few realize what it is at first sight. Oh, there was also some guy playing his Sax. I suppose for him using Portra 160VC would have produced results more to what I was looking for.

The last shot is one of Boston. I'm not sure what it is, but there's something that I find appealing about this one. Perhaps I'm just crazy.











More to come later.

Trapped on the Red Line

A few weeks ago while trying to go home from Boston I found myself stuck in Park Street station. There was apparently a disabled train on the inbound side at Central Square and this was causing delays (waiting for a train to come and tow I suppose).

Given the hour and a half I would probably be stuck there, I popped out my Hasselblad to kill some time. It was actually fairly difficult to do much of anything given the amount of light present. I had Portra 160NC and Portra 400NC standing by so nothing particularly fast. Everything had to be free-handed so I did my best to prop my self against...anything to turn my body into a living tripod. Downward pressure on the neck strap also helped if I leaned back against one of the concrete pillars in the station. It actually turned out to be quite fun.

People seemed curious about what I was doing, however not suspicious as far as I could tell. I suppose in the age of compact digital cameras something like a Medium Format Hassie would come as a surprise to someone who had only seen 35mm SLRs and disposables previous. In my experience it's large cameras that draw suspicion and unusual cameras that draw interest/questions. I wonder how people would react to something like a 4x5 field camera... something like a Tachihara.

I would like to improve upon the last picture in this group. It was free-handed on bulb setting while I was standing up. I love the way the tunnel looks though. However I would imagine that the MBTA police would not take kindly if were to go five feet forward into the tunnel with a tripod. Perhaps there's someone who'd I'd have to ask permission?

Position of Attention

Real quick one. There was some kind of military ceremony down in Boston Common that was just too tempting. I ended up catching the tail end of it.

You know I thought someone would shoo me away going as close as I was, but they apparently let me have free reign with no problems. Lets see if that luck keeps up. I have about five rolls of portra that need to get developed. That being said I fin that about one shot in every twelve is that I would consider a keeper. That's open to interpretation.

Shot on my Hassie w/ 80mm lens on Velvia 100F.

Polaroid

I acquired my Dad's old Polaroid Colorpack IV. It was surprising for me to discover that Hunt's Camera-Video carried film for it. Not only carried in one-two boxes, but in bulk. Awesome news for me.

I suppose my next goal is a two part. First I'm looking for a Polaroid Automatic 100. The "Land Camera". I think it was from reading through Mike Fiction's livejournal that got me curious about it. After that, once I get my hands on a 4x5 camera of my own (Christmas can't come soon enough) I would like to try Polaroid's 4x5 film. I think Kodak and Fuji make a backing for it.

Needless to say, I've found shooting Polaroid style film and cameras to be great fun!


There's no super sharp detail so no need for a big image.

Boston Common

I went down to Boston Common the other day to try my hand with Portra and Velvia films in the new (old) Hasselblad.

Velvia to me didn't exactly live up to the expectations I was holding it up to. Don't me wrong, it's absolutely fine, there's just something about that saturation I'm not too crazy about. My better judgment tells me that I shouldn't make these conclusions on a single field test. Skin tones were my issue. Perhaps what is needed is more of a landscape test.

Portra on the other hand met and FAR surpassed what I was expecting. I honestly didn't know what to expect. In the past my only exposure (no pun intended) to C-41 films were things like Kodak Gold. I suppose I was expecting something a little bit better, but nothing like what I got. Color was perfect. I couldn't be happier. Perhaps I should make Portra my primary color film.

Portra 400NC:





Velvia 50:




On a somewhat unrelated side note, I find myself shooting in Boston Common more than anywhere else. I wonder why... I shall have to diversify.

Kenny and Goliath

Into the belly of the beast!

This actually happened a couple of weeks ag, but I forgot to post about it. I got a chance to get inside of the Goliath crane in Quincy, MA just days before they were going to begin tearing it down. I had honestly never been that close to it. My initial response was, "Oh sweet. I'll need a wide angle." I brought an 18mm. A 10.5mm fisheye would have been more helpful. Massive was an understatement.

The day was ectualy EXTREMELY hazy. The shots below were shot with a circ polarizer twisted to as dark as I could possibly get the sky. I find that any time I'm going to shoot something impressive the conditinos usually suck. However every time I just happent o have a camera and nothing is planned, the weather is fricken awesome. I would have killed for some nice fluffy cumulus clouds.

These were shot on a Nikon D200 as opposed to film. Lens was an 18-70mm only shot on 18mm I beleive. In some cases, convenience helps.

None of these pictures have yet to be manipulated in any way aside from the UV filter over the lens for protective purposes. I would have Photoshopped them, however aside from Elements, I lack the great tool (Elements is far too limiting).







Heh, Mom.

Masters of Old

I found myself back in the subway for the final shoot for the Old Master's Cup competition. These were taken at Park Street Station along the Green Line. I had previously taken one inside one of the Red Line cars, but I'm not sure if I like it better or not. This shoot was intended to be the final shoot. The money maker as some would put it (even though there's no actual money involved in the contest albeit entry fee of a couple dollars).

These were shot on Ilford Delta 3200. I forgot to look up development times earlier on as I was using a Kodak developer with Ilford Film. I ended up pulling the film slightly, but I think it turned out for the best. I'm fairly happy with the results achieved. The biggest surprise was seeing how little of the grain shows up on MF when using high speed film. I was versed in the ways of high speed film with 35mm, but not MF. Well, I suppose upon closer inspection and zoom that it proves to have just as much, but given the size of the negative it's not as much of an issue.

New Camera

I found a Hasselblad 500 C/M from a wedding photographer over in Peabody, MA who was looking to part ways with it. I'd say I got a really good deal for the condition it's in. I've wanted a medium format SLR for quite some time now and only until recently have I been able to muster up the courage and dough to get one (there's also finding the one that you're sure isn't going to come to you all screwed up).

This is what I'll be using to shoot for the "Old Master's Cup" over at Worth1000.com.

Central Massachusetts

Went camping the other week. I got some slides back the other day from Hunt's. It cost less than I thought it would. Then again, they probably don't get many requests for "Develop the film ONLY!" Absolutely no post processing occurred with these pictures. They were shot on my Yashica MAT 124 TLR.





Self shot! :D

Park Street Station

Went downtown the other day to do some scouting shots for a photo contest coming up here mid June. I've been wanting to experiment with high speed films for a while now and finally managed to find someone who sells some locally.

As for right now I'm waiting for my Hasselblad 500 C/M to come in. I managed to find a photographer who was getting rid of his film stuff (digital conversion more than likely) and was able to get one that had been recently serviced (AKA, good as new). Money well spent if you ask me. Consider that a complete (Body, lens, film back) Hasselblad costs about $4,500 if you want to buy new. If you want to go digital, you're looking at prices that rival most brand new luxury cars.

The theme behind the contest is transportation. One relates to the contest and the other was just a capture of the moment. Both of these were shot on TMAX P3200 on my Nikon N80. The set rules were no editing other than curves and spot editing for dust. All submissions must be shot with film. I develop and scan my own work so this really isn't any kind of issue.










I generally shoot medium format, but for scouting a shoot for later on, 35mm works fine.

In the beginning...

First post. I'm generally bad with keeping up with blogs as my last three previous attempts on other sites will show. Lets see if I can get this one to go further than two or three posts.

Here goes nothing.