Shooting film. Printing digitally. The best of both worlds.
One advantage of film over digital, for some people, is that the limited number of exposures helps them slow down their photography, resulting in a better hit rate. And one advantage, for some people, of medium format film over 35mm film is that having 12 exposures to work with, rather than 24 or 36, helps them slow down even more. Continue reading “12 Exposures”
When I set up a darkroom in 1968 and started developing my own film and making my own analog prints my management of the images was pretty simple: (1) develop the negatives, (2) make a proof print of the roll and put it in a ring binder, (3) put the negatives in Negafile envelopes and put them in a file cabinet. Continue reading “Retro Asset Management “
My wife and I are leaving for a week of camping in the mountains of New York State. Because of health issues we have cut back on almost everything we are taking with us. My photo kit is no exception. Continue reading “A Smaller Photo Travel Kit”
Having settled on Tri-X in Rodinal as my go-to film and developer, my interest in experimenting with photo equipment, materials and process pretty much evaporated. When my cardiologist recommended brisk walks around my neighborhood to alleviate the monotony of indoor exercise I thought it would be an opportunity to take pictures too. Continue reading “Stalled”
One of the bloggers I follow (I suspect it was Dan James) asked why I have five essentially interchangeable Leica thread mount camera bodies. I didn’t have a good answer at the time, but when I looked in the desk drawer where I keep my factory loaded film and saw that I had five varieties of film I decided to shoot a few test subjects with all five films using all five cameras. It would be the first time I ever had film in all of them at the same time. Continue reading ““New Tri-X” in Rodinal – Part 2”
In an effort to simplify my hybrid film workflow I experimented with a variety of films, developers, and scanning and post-processing techniques, but I did so in a haphazard manner and didn’t come up with any clear answers. I’d just about given up when I hit on the idea of simplifying one thing at a time, and finally everything fell into place.
[SPOILER: The answer turned out to be Tri-X, developed in Rodinal, scanned as RAW with a digital camera, and post-processed with nothing more than inverting, setting the black and white levels and adjusting the gamma.]
I had a massive heart attack on March 24. I am told that I was very very lucky. If not for the excellent training and quick thinking of the 911 operator, the amazingly fast response of our local voluntary first aid squad and the fortuitous presence of an outstanding cardiologist in the emergency room when I arrived you would be reading my obituary here, rather than this post.
I took a few pictures of visitors and my meals in the intensive care room with my iPhone but, otherwise, photography was nowhere near the top of my list of concerns. But as my recuperation and cardiac rehabilitation proceeded I began to think about what is really important to me. It turned out to be a relatively short list: family, friends, the church, music and photography.
Part of my cardio rehab program involves setting goals, short term and long term. My first two short term goals were to sing with my church choir on Easter Sunday and to shoot, develop, scan and print a roll of film. I met the first goal on Sunday. I vested with the choir and participated in the service as best I could, remaining seated much of the time and saving my breath for the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah, which I got through without a hitch. At this point it appears that my volume will be as good as before but I am going to have to pay a lot more attention to my breathing.
I am moving along with my photography goal as well. Yesterday I assembled the Visoflex rig on the IIIf, put it on the tripod and carried the whole kit out to the back of the property where I took some closeup pictures of details on the the old shed. I finished the roll, removed the film from the camera and loaded it into the developing tank. I expect to develop it this afternoon, scan it tomorrow and, if anything looks interesting in the contact sheet, make some prints this weekend.
