untitled on Flickr.
Iowa sunset
March 30, 2013
November 19, 2012
untitled on Flickr.
I shot this photograph, or should I say, three photographs, about a year ago. I was just getting into photography and was borrowing a friend’s DSLR. This is, oh, about two weeks into my photographic “career” and I was so, so excited and proud when I came up with this image. I remember standing atop the hill at the Witch’s Hat Tower in Minneapolis with a crowd of a few other sunset watchers. A guy sidled up to me and asked, “What kind of photography are you doing?” “HDR,” I said matter-of-factly. “Cool. I dig HDR,” my fellow onlooker offered, between puffs of smoke and over his blaring cellphone/loud music noisemaker. That interaction should’ve been an indication that I might be better served pursuing another type of photography, but it did not, at least for a few months.
Looking back on this image, with its garish colors and unrealistic atmosphere, I admit to cringing. But a part of me is also happy that I went through this phase and, more importantly, that I came away from it with a perspective of what I want to get out of photography. In fact, many of the photographs I now make are no more realistic than this particular example, but are not cringe-inducing for me. And art, being the subjective exercise it is, will hopefully be something that constantly evolves. Who knows, maybe my current film/fine art fixation will be something I look back on with disdain next year?
April 18, 2012
A Brand New Minneapolis Spring Sale
Well, it’s not so much a sale as a permanent reduction in prices at my Etsy store. Come check it out—-I have some new content and much more to follow in the coming weeks. Type in coupon code “FRIENDOFJOE” for 20% off at checkout!
click A Brand New Minneapolis to visit!
January 25, 2012
Roll-a-Week 2/52 on Flickr.
With my Canonet in tow, loaded with Tri-X 400, and set to shoot at about 1250, I set out for week 2 of the Roll-a-week challenge. One quick note: I developed in Diafine, which is a great compensating developer that lets you shoot box speed or greater on a lot of films. For Kodak Tri-X 400, you can shoot up to 1600, apparently without a noticeable increase in grain. I also got a 1.4V hearing aid battery for my Canonet, but knew that it would overexpose since it was made for a 1.35V mercury cell. So last weekend, I shot a test roll, taking 4 exposures 1 at the metered EV, -1 -2, and -3. I then compared the results and cross-checked to the meter from my Gossen Luna Pro. My findings were that it consistently metered about 1.5 stops over. Great, so I can easily set the ISO on the Canonet and shoot away. But that only works for sub-400 film, or 400 film that you shoot at box speed (the Canonet’s max ISO is 800 and half of that is 400…). I wanted to go about 1.5 stops above box speed and develop in Diafine. Well, with some mental gymnastics, I came up with a system to get an accurate exposure (double-checked against common sense before the shot) by using the in-camera meter to shoot at about 1250. I set my exposure to about 660 (or whatever the 2/3 stop between 400 and 800 is), which would effectively give me a little under 400 speed (660/2 is 330). Then, I metered and added about 2 stops in my head and then switched to manual (to get to about 1000, an acceptable range given the approximate nature of my system). It seemed to work very well, and it’s really not as cumbersome in practice as it is to describe. Anyway, with 24 well-exposed shots, I mixed up the Diafine and was ready to develop week 2 of my challenge. I realized my mistake as I took the tank out of the bag…something else was rattling around the bottom! It was the shaft that goes through the reel and into the funnel of the tank. I had forgotten to put it in and light was streaming through the tank and exposing my film. Shoot! I developed (not realizing my error) and was distressed at first to see that my rolls had light leaks galore. Well, I felt stupid after figuring out what went wrong, but some shots turned out ok despite my mishap. I wanted to share since this challenge will hopefully show my progression throughout the year and teach me valuable lessons. Lesson 1: don’t expose your film before you develop it!
January 24, 2012
January 24, 2012
Week 1/52 on Flickr.
With the new year beginning, I wanted to try a photo challenge and thought what better challenge than to shoot 52 rolls over the next year?! The inaugural roll was shot on my brand new (to me) Canonet QL17 GIII and Agfa ProMax 400. I really like the camera, it has a nice, super-sharp lens and is built very solidly. I really have no idea how I’m going to take 1,248 shots over the next 12 months, but I’m excited to give it a shot. Some of the highlights will show up throughout the week in my photostream from that previous week’s roll. This first week was taken around Seward, Minneapolis and was really more of a test roll. My Canonet definitely passes the test!
