Roboticist

“Yeah, they’re bright in a hollow sky”

Produced entirely from the (figurative) road without the aid of any of my usual photography stuff, but then I got lazy and didn’t post it for three weeks. A proof of concept, maybe.

She Took a Long Cold Look

Somewhere in Iowa. Probably Hempstead, Iowa.

More rolls through film cameras, or more work with digital? I’m having trouble deciding. Well, maybe I’m not.

 

 

Spider in the Snow

“It’s endless,

it’s mapless,

no compass,

no North Star.”

A New Aesthete

“Increasing focus
Telescoping lines and forms
The tiny details
Come home come home come home.”

Yes, it’s been a while. Everything from this post is still true, with the addition of twenty-six weeks of not really shooting. So here’s some geometry.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX

Bleak House

It’s a cipher.

This is another from my first-ever Holga roll. In addition to setting the counter to 645 (vertical rectangles 6×4.5cm) instead of 6×6 and therefore overlapping exposures, this one was accidentally set to bulb, resulting in blurring and overexposure. I think the effect is interesting, though unintentional. Isn’t that the point?

Holga, XP2.

Cicada’s

(Possessive, not plural).

“Be sure the fortune that you seek / is the fortune that you need.”

Holga, XP2.

The 92 Megapixel Holga

(Actually, 92.3)

I finally got back the first roll of film from my Holga. I always order my film “develop only,” then scan my negatives and see what’s worth printing. Since I very rarely print anything, it saves me a lot of money. As I detailed in my previous post, I managed to do an extremely good job of messing up the film by overlapping all of the exposures. I was hoping that at least one of the overlapped images would be something at least interesting, and I think it worked out. I tried to take the same shot twice, first using the “f/11” setting and then using the “f/8.” Because of my winding error, it didn’t really work out as planned. I do still think it’s interesting, though.

The first time I scanned this image, I didn’t bother to change the scan resolution. I had left it set at 2800 dpi, which produced scans from 35mm frames in the neighborhood of 10 megapixels, which was a good compromise between giant files and printable resolution. When I scanned this frame at 2800 dpi (which is somewhat cropped from the original), I ended up with a 92 megapixel image (or, to be exact, 92,390,540 pixels). While this is wonderful in theory, it meant a file of more than 227 MB, so unwieldy that it crashed Lightroom on my Macbook Pro (1536 MB RAM and a dual-core 2.0 ghz processor) when I tried to spot correct a bit of dust. It is also utterly pointless, as the Holga lens is in no way capable of resolving the level of detail that would reward this level of resolution. In spite of this, I plan on bragging about this regularly. The next time someone shooting with a D300s and an 18-55 kit lens takes a break from toggling through the auto modes to ask me about my camera, I can just say it’s 92 megapixels. (Or I can be nice – I’m not as mean as I claim to be).

Holga 120N overlapping exposure, Ilford XP2 Super.

Thank You (And the winner is . . .)

First of all, a big thanks to everyone who participated in the recent contest on this site. Fortunately, I did get more than one participant (n>1!), so I can pick someone to win the “fabulous prize.” But more on that later.

I should probably explain the “and help me out” component of the contest. Earlier this week, I traveled for a job interview which included a short presentation to demonstrate my speaking/presenting skills. Since it is an interest of mine that is fairly unique, I decided to present on black and white analog (or, to be honest, hybrid) photography. I wanted to bring some of my own work to (literally) illustrate some of the points I was making about the medium, but I wanted to make sure I brought prints that were appealing. It’s difficult for me to judge this, because my feelings about my own photos are so inextricably tied to the technical process and the experience of making them. By getting others’ input on what images are appealing and why, I was able to select some images that were hopefully striking for my audience. I got great input, and ended up including one photo I never would have chosen that got overwhelming support.

In exchange for the very useful feedback I got, I owe one submitter a prize (as I write this, I have not yet chosen). The winner has (now) been randomly selected, and has been contaced about his (does that give it away?) prize. That said, if any of you who did or didn’t participate want prints, let me know. I have a few sitting around that I made for this presetation and others, and I would be glad to make you one if you want it. If you want prints, just let me know.

But really, thanks to everyone who gave me a hand with this. I got great feedback and have a new perspective on some of my photos.

Light Me White (Chaos in the Windy City II)

Black and white can make you crazy.

(Chaos in the Windy City I can be found here). This was another attempt to represent the chaos in the Art Institute of Chicago on New Year’s Eve. Anyone who has followed this blog for any amount of time probably recognizes by now that I am big fan of the square aspect ratio, particularly for my more abstract work, and this is no exception. Something  about it just makes sense. I actually didn’t even see htis installation because of how crowded it was (this photo was when we were on our way out right before closing time, so the herd had thinned a little).

When I was processing this batch, I spent a lot of time with alternate versions. I had a lower-contrast high-key version, and a higher-contrast version that was a little more balanced across the tones. I couldn’t make the decision between the two almost identical shots, so I decided to come back to them later. After a month, I still couldn’t decide, so I ended up splitting the difference. This version is descended from the low-contrast version, and I think the low-contrast high-key aesthetic might be growing on me.

Big photo-related life event coming up on Tuesday. I will provide more details for those following along at home, but for now, suffice it to say that a print of this photo will likely be traveling as checked luggage on Monday morning, along with some other prints, a small 35mm developing tank, empty bottles labeled “developer” and “fixer,” and n uncut but developed roll of APX400. Curious?

Can anyone confirm or deny my suspicion that real developer and fixer, even in quantities smaller than three ounces, will not fly with TSA regulations? I wouldn’t be using them anyway, at this point I’m just curious.

Nikon D200, Nikkor DX 35mm f/1.8 G, long exposure with the assistance of a countertop, security people out of the frame to the right looking at me very suspiciously.

Antelope (New Topographic)

This is another shot from the “quarry” we “visited” a few days ago.

Nikon D200, DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 G.