November 2004

October 31, 2004

Spent the weekend in San Diego. I bought 4 rolls of Fuji 400 Superia. I've made it a goal to shoot a little more color, just so I can get the hang of it. It sounds funny, but shooting color and shooting BW are two radically different things. I tend to "see" in BW. Shapes, forms and compositions are a little easier to get across in BW, whereas color tends to distract.

I don't think I've shot any 400 speed color film before. I've shot a few rolls of Fuji Reala, which I like for landscapes but don't like for people so much. I've shot a few rolls of NPZ which is good for lowlight work. I'm planning to drop off the 2 rolls of Superia I shot tommorrow morning and hopefully get them back by the afternoon.

I brought a small flash with me and practiced a little with that too. Will post when I get the prints back...

October 28, 2004

Last weekend was a busy weekend of shooting. I took photos of a friend's band, the sidewalk chalk contest at Belmont Shore and some photos of an in-store event at Fingerprints. It came out to about 12 rolls of 120. I shot most of the weekend with the Rolleiflex. I think I was getting stopped every ten minutes and getting asked about the camera. For whatever reason, people seem really comfortable with the camera. I asked a few complete strangers if I could take pics and they had no problem with it. Part of the reason may be that the camera looks so ancient its hard for people to believe that it actually takes pictures.

I also took some pics with the 4x5. Below is a pic of Shea at Portfolios. I was testing out an old box of Polaroid 55 and took an informal portrait of him, throwing in some tilts to soften the focus.

October 23, 2004

I've been going to Dog Beach the last few days just for a change of pace. It was rather relaxing. Dogs aren't self-conscious. Not a single dog has yet asked me what I was going to do with the pictures or told me not to post the pictures on the internet.

October 21, 2004

I haven't been too happy with what I've been shooting lately....Everything is sort of blah. I'm thinking about working on more portraits. Some of my best photos have been portraits. I love it when you capture real intimacy on film.

I'm photographing a friend's band this weekend. Should be fun. I'm planning to bring the Norman 200Bs out and do some location shooting. They're a punk band and I think the dark and gritty is my style. Pondering using the 4x5 camera and the Rolleif for the shoot.

I'm starting to really like the Agfa paper. The blacks are really nice. When I put the Agfa prints right next to my Ilford prints, the Ilford prints look a little muddy in comparison.

I did a short print session last night. This is the only one I really liked. Shot at Portfolios. The only light was a lamp, that is directly off camera. I shot it with the Rolleiflex with a Rolinear 1 on the lens, which let me fill the frame with him. I think the exposure was 2.8 at 1/30. I'm surprised at how steady I held the camera because the image is pretty sharp.

October 18, 2004

I know what you're thinking.

Blasphemy!

Color!

These are some pics I took for Scarlet Events. It was a party held here in Long Beach. It was tough to shoot because it was so dark. I shot NPZ 800 and was handholding around 1/8 to 1/15. There's plenty of motion blur but I think it lends the shots some atmosphere and mood. The first shot was only possible because I brought my little pocket tripod. Almost all the shots were unmetered and shot wide open. I shot a few rolls of black and white that I've yet to print from.

October 18, 2004

There was a big Chili Cook-Off in Belmont Shore this weekend. I shot a few rolls and will probably make some prints later this week. I kept getting asked if I shot for the Gazette (local paper) and had to tell people no, that this was part of a separate documentary project.

In geeky photo news, I'm switching 8x10 RC papers. I've gone through about 3 250 sheet boxes of Ilford Satin RC paper and as much as I like the finish of the paper and it's tonality, I'm getting frustrated with its blacks. It's hard to get a good rich black on Ilford's non glossy papers. So, for my daily printing, I'm going to switch to Agfa Semi-Matt RC (about the same finish as Ilford's pearl). The Agfa gets a nice black and is very contrasty, about a full filter factor worth of contrast. Whereas I usually print with the equivalent of a #3 filter (35-45pts magenta), I find that I have to lower it to the equivalent of a #2 (25-30pts magenta).

Downside of the Agfa paper is getting a longer tonal scale takes a little more work, the surface marks easily and the paper dents easily. I guess, as with cameras and camera bags, there is no PERFECT paper (although Ilfrod Semi-Matt Warmtone Fiber comes really close).

I was told that I put in the Beattie screen backwards in my Rollei, so I reversed and took some close up shots with the Rolinear to test it. Haven't developed the film yet. I'll do that tonight.

October 18, 2004

Some pics from the week. I happened to be at OPEN when they were trying out cardboard mockups of their store sign that they're trying to have built by their one year anniversary.

The next picture is what I think I'll call "Winter, Los Angeles." :) Day before the first rain of this winter (if you can call what we get in LA winter).

October 13, 2004

The Beattie brightscreen for my Rolleiflex came in today. It has a split-level rangefinder on it, so it should help me focus more accurately. I ran a roll of film through it and everything looks good, except for when I used my Rolinear (close-up lenses for the Rolleiflex). Apparently, they don't calibrate well with my new focusing screen. What a pain....

I applied for a freelance gig for the local paper. They're taking new photographer/writers for a section they're adding that focuses on the 18-34 demographic. Hopefully, I'll hear back from them.

Speaking of hearing back, or lack thereof, I haven't heard back from Ilford. I'm not sure wether this means I didn't get the grant or if they're just slow about disbursements. In the interim, I've written to Agfa and Hasselblad, but have not heard back.

The local arts organization is having a workshop on grant writing that I may attend. It's $20, so I haven't quite figured out if it's worth it.

It sucks to be broke. I'm really broke this week. Less than $100 to my name. I spent a small fortune for the screening this past Sunday, that I guess in retrospect, didn't amount to a whole lot. This seems to happen at every show. I spend money to make the prints and presentation materials but nothing really happens. I still haven't sold a print. I've passed out a few hundred cards I think, but nothing. It's rather disheartening.

Annie gave me some advice a while back, which I thought sounded rather cynical but may just turn out to be sound advice. I had made some comment about not selling a print. She scolded me and told me to immediately get rid of that thought from my mind. She said that if I thought about selling prints while I was photographing it would ruin my photos. I wouldn't be shooting for myself anymore.

I'd print tonight but I don't have any more paper. Oh well, I've needed to catch up on sleep for some time.

October 13, 2004

Just finished printing. 12:17am. Feels nice to do a few quick prints. I ran out of paper however and am particularly broke this week, so I'm trying to decide if I can afford to buy some more paper. I drained my funds printing for that show on Sunday by buying a nice portfolio for my 11x14s and paper to print the Pro-Choice Mother photo to 16x20. I'm still waiting for the day when I can actually turn a buck with all this photography.

Here are 2 pairs of photos taken on the same day but with vastly different subject matter. The first pair are photos of some German dancers at the ArtWalk. The second pair is a group of jazz musicians at Blue Nile. Very different photos but taken within hours of each other. I love it. I find that's one thing I really enjoy about photography, it brings you into contact with such a vast array of people.

Group of musicians in a huddle...

Waiting to bring their instruments in....

October 11, 2004

This weekend was a busy weekend to say the least. I photographed the ArtWalk on Saturday afternoon. They had some German dancers for Octoberfest. Later that evening, I went to a party/artshow/performance art shindig at a beautiful home in Long Beach. It was something straight out of Dwell magazine. There was a Butoh dancer performing, which added a very interesting element to the drinking, the DJ, and the large movie projected on the side of the house. It was short attention span heaven :)

Later, later Saturday night, I stopped by Blue Nile and they had spoken word and some funky jazz bands. Awesome. The place was packed. They weren't serving food or drinks yet, but droves of people came out for the music. I really can't wait for that place to get going, because it will be THE spot in downtown LB.

On Sunday, we went to the screening of Voice for Choice, a documentary on the March for Women's Lives in April. It was well attended. The documentary itself was excellent. It followed two groups of students a few days before the march, as well as the logistics behind the march and the politics of reproductive rights. I took some photographs of the screening and shot a quick portrait of the director with my Rolleiflex (2.8 at 1/15th, so hopefully i will have a sharp picture). I hung some pictures at the screening and got a little feedback. I printed a 16x20 of my Pro-Choice Mother photo and gave it to Andrea, the director, as a gift.

I was too tired to develop the negatives last night so I'll do them later today and hopefully will be able to make some prints tonight. Everything I shot this weekend was pretty dark. I was shooting at around 1/15 and an 1/8th. I'm going to have to give the film a slight push to bulk up the highlights and give me some contrast.

October 6, 2004

Just finished printing. I printed some images from the NOW voter registration and some pictures from Joshua Tree. Here are two real simple portraits. The first is at Portfolio's, right before driving to Joshua Tree. The second is of Memo before he goes rock climbing. I particularly love the catch lights in the eyes. Memo's head gets a nice little rim-lighting too that separates him from the rocks.

Both of these were shot with the Rolleiflex and I cropped them to rectangles. The images are on the soft side but still look good. The softness is partially because I'm not use to the fresnel screen. I ordered a split level screen for more accurate focusing but it has yet to arrive. I've slowly gotten over the whole idea of holding sharpness as the endall in lenses and photographs. Like Ansel said, nothing is worse than a sharp picture of a fuzzy idea.

October 4, 2004

This was shot on Friday. I was helping Laura with a NOW activity. They were registering voters at a local bar. It was the end of the night and they were cleaning up. Someone had left a hat on the corner of the pool table.

October 4, 2004

Quite a bit happened the last few days. I finally paid off the Rolleiflex I had at Terry's. Went to Joshua Tree for the first time this weekend. Memo gave us a call on Thursday and asked us if we wanted to go out there. On a whim, Laura and I agreed. I got some neat landscapes. I'm not a big fan of landscapes but the light was too good and there were actual clouds in the sky! I also shot a few pics of some climbers. There was a whole group of blind children that were being taken rock climbing. Some amazing stuff. Some of the kids even wore blindfolds while they climbed.

What a Joshua Tree looks like...said to grow only in Joshua Tree National Park

Couldn't help but take a landscape...

The high key version..

Assistant helps boy with partial-sight with harness....

Boy blindfolds himself before climb....

My friend (right), gets help tying his harness...climb looms large behind them...

October 1, 2004

Sad day today. Richard Avedon passed away after having a stroke a few days ago. He was one of the most influential photographers to me. I remember first seeing his pictures and being deeply moved at the amount of human emotion they showed. He was why I wanted to do portraiture.He will be sorely missed.

Some Avedon inspired works:

My brother. Day before Boot Camp.

My Brother. Graduating from Boot Camp.

September 2004

August 2004
July 2004