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April 26, 2005

Another from New York. I developed the 4 rolls of Neopan 1600 I shot in NY today. There's only one more roll left from NY, and it's a roll of 120 that I'll soup with some other stuff tommorrow.

April 25, 2005

The barber photo essay came out today. I picked up a copy and the layout isn't too bad. Of about 1000 photos, I edited the series down to about 12, of which only 6 were printed. The continuity is broken up with such few photos to bridge points, but overall I'm pleased with it. I think it was a little ambitious to try to shoot 4 different barbershops simultaneously. There's no real sense of intimacy that I'd like to have, but then again the subject is barbers and not orphaned children.

As far as I know, it's the first time the Grunion has ever run a photo essay so it's nice to know I'm breaking some new ground. I'm thinking that I will try to only photograph one subject to a greater length so I can try to find that sense of intimacy I'm looking for in my pictures.

April 23, 2005

Driving home last night...

April 22, 2005

Some snaps from So.Cal. Sonic. an experimental music series.

April 19, 2005

Some final pics for the barber essay:

April 19, 2005

Good news...I got an order for 21 prints from the family I photographed. Bad news is that I have two days to print the order before they go on a trip. Ugh.

I picked up an old E Series lens today for my d100. It's the Nikon 75-150 3.5 E series from the 80s. It doesn't meter with the d100 but my personal sense of exposure is good enough that I can nail it in two shots. I bought the lens for $89, a pretty good price for the lens. It's not the newest and greatest but the lens is very well regarded.

April 18, 2005

I made some prints last night from an event I shot for the Long Beach chapter of NOW a few weeks ago. At the event they had a drum circle. As the light was fading, I was shooting with Neopan 1600. I'm still always amazed at how fine grain a film it is.

April 14, 2005

More from the barber shop essay...

April 14, 2005

April 13, 2005

The Sigma lens came in yesterday. For the first time ever, I have an autofocus SLR rig. It's interesting, as I am so use to the old rangefinders. The lens has a pretty good build. Not solid solid but no slouch either. It's relatively small for an SLR lens, which is good, as I hate large obtusive lenses. Autofocus is nothing to write home about. I still think I can focus better than the lens.

I've been playing with it, trying to figure out the best way to shoot with the setup. Should I use aperture priority or keep using manual? It seems like I defintely get more consistent exposures when I shoot manual, instead of the meter jumping around every which way.

I developed 8 more rolls from NY today. I'm about 2/3 of the way through all the film. I should finish up all the HP5 rolls left tommorrow.

Here's a shot that I think I will use on the project about barber shops.

April 12, 2005

I ordered a Sigma 18-50 2.8 lens to go along with the D100. It should be here today. It's equivalent focal length in 35mm terms is 28-75mm, which is a pretty good range. I've been trying to get faster with the camera and it's quite a different beast. Digital shooting is suppose to be easy, but it really isn't. It's faster perhaps, but I find it much easier to use the Leica's and snap away without worrying about blowing out highlights.

In atonement for my digital purchase and to recoup some costs I shot a family portrait the other day using the Leica's and this old 85mm Canon lens I picked up for $60. :)

April 7, 2005

Some more from NY. I developed another 8 rolls today...

I love how the little guy at the bottom thwarts any attempt at picturesqueness...

The sculpture for peace which was melted during 9/11 in Battery Park.

Across the street from Ground Zero...

I think it's the only picture of us together the whole trip....

April 7, 2005

2 pics from a photo essay I'm working on about hair salons.

April 7, 2005

Well....I did it. I bought a digital camera today. My friend was selling her D100 for $600, about half it's current new price. It's an older model and has been out for a few years. In terms of technology it's probably on its last legs. It isn't as fast as the current models, nor does it have an opulence of megapixels, but it is good enough. It takes old manual focus lenses. It performs well between 400-800 ISO. It will produce good enough results for the paper.

It was a difficult decision. I'm not too thrilled with digital and the purchase has seemed more like a chore than a point of celebration but I figured if I want to be competitve, I have to figure out what digital can offer.

April 6, 2005

Still sick....haven't been able to develop. A few more scans from the 8 rolls I was able to do before I got sick.

April 5, 2005

I took the "Portrait of an Arts District" exhibtion down on Sunday. It happened without a lot of fanfare. In fact, it happened during a nude figure drawing session so all the people in the room were very much occupied. I develcroed (is that a word?) the images and placed them in two stacks on a table. I ripped off all the adhesive from the wall that held my photos up. I took down all the little name cards that had driven me mad on the day of the opening, as I was running around the East Village looking for a place to print them. I spent about an hour removing the contact sheets from the far wall, peeling off the bits of double stick tape from their backs.

The show was up for less than a month, having started on March 12 and coming down April 2. In materials, I spent about $1500. In printing and developing time about 300 hours, not counting the actual time it took me to shoot all the images. When everything was down all that was left a big ball of tape on the floor. It's at that point, you have to ask yourself was it worth it?

I did learn a lot. I learned what it would be like to print for a large show. I learned about matting and hanging photos. I learned about all the expensive miscellanea that adds up when you do these things. I learned that no one will love your art as much as you do.

When I was in NY, I picked up a DVD on Ralph Gibson. The documentary focused more on his work as a book maker. Someone in the film says something to the effect that exhibitions come down, but books are always present and waiting for someone. You can browse a book at your leisure, contemplate its contents and glean from it meaning that you would be hard pressed to do at an opening with wine, cheese and glib observation.

I think that's my next project. A book.

April 5, 2005

I'm sick. I think it's the flu. Haven't been able to develop any more film so killed some time scanning some negs. Here's two from the first batch.

April 3, 2005

Got back this morning from NY at 2am. The flight was delayed about 7 hours. Sucked. Developed a roll of color and scanned a few in. These shots are from Brooklyn around Williamsberg. The buildings in the distance are Manhattan.

I gave Laura the Canonette loaded with some color film. I used my two Leica's most of the time. All in all, I shot about 40 rolls of film. Mostly black and white and about five rolls of 120. Going to try to develop it all this week.

...

August 2004

July 2004