Return to Form

Got a chance to use up some of the expired film I had. This is a Black and White shot, straight from the camera, to the developer, to your eyes.

Sharp eyed readers will notice it's more of a Sepia tone than Black and White. Not sure if this is an effect of the developing, or the age of the film, but it adds a wonderful hue to the image.

Shot with my Nikon F3HP, 135mm Tamron Adaptall lens at f/2.8 and about 1/2000 of a second.

Ancient Film

I scored a major find last month, of about 100 rolls of expired film in both 35mm and 120 format. Ever since I shot my Savannah Monitor some years ago with expired film, I've been in love the unpredictable nature of it. So you can only imagine how happy I was to get my paws on this much.

Took a roll of ISO 200 film out in my Nikon F3HP to a local marina and shot away. Check out the grain on this image. More like ISO 3200. That's what I love about expired film, you never quite know what you are going to get from it.

One Last Action Shot

Again, in film, manual focus 135mm. The scissor dancers were under a tent so the lighting came from the side, with a little fill light from some overhead cans. They were in full swing, leaping, dancing, swirling around. Getting one in focus was quite the challenge. From the local folk fest, shot with my Nikon F3HP

That Old Time Religion

As I mentioned earlier, here are some proper film shots with my Nikon F3HP. There is a smooth look that I just cannot get with a digital SLR. I think in large part because the grain on film is truly randomly placed in the creation process, whereas in digital, there is no true randomness. The top shot was done with a 135mm f/2.8 and the bottom one with my 50mm dedicated Macro at f/8. This was for a contest, of sorts, and I wasn't real pleased with the lighting, but that was part of the rules, so I worked with what I had. A true photographer would have used some GoBos (Go Betweens) so adjust the ambient light to his advantage, sadly I don't have any.

More Film Work

Shooting with a film camera is easy. Shooting with a manual focus lens is easy. Shooting a concert in a brightly lit area is easy.

Shooting a concert with a manual focus lens onto film is difficult. Very difficult. I cannot begin to imagine how concert photographers back then did it. Probably sat and waited for one good shot.

Here is a prime example, an energetic accordion player at a local folk fest, shot in B/W on BW400CN film with the Nikon F3HP using a manual focus 135mm f/2.8 lens. Not sure I nailed the focus however. Nonetheless I am pleased with the shot. I will be doing more folk fest work tomorrow, but I'll be going back to digital cameras and auto-focus lenses. 

Under the Boardwalk

This one has been cropped, as the original wasn't that interesting. I upped the tint from the processing, but otherwise left it as is.

I'm not a big fan of cropping images, I prefer to use the right lens to get the right look (or reach) but in this case I was travelling light and went with my 28mm landscape lens.

Nikon F3HP, 28mm Soligor f/2.8, Kodak BW400CN film.

Around Town

A little bit of filmwork from around town. 200mm lens doing an abstraction of the buildings downtown where I work. Nikon F3HP with my go to film of BW400CN.



Welcome to Cubeville

A 200mm lens attached to my Nikon f3hp, gives this cubist view of downtown. A sunny day just after lunch casts just the right shadows.

If only the city was as interesting as the pictures portray it to be, it'd be a fun place to explore. As it is, it's just old and rundown.

Another way of looking at things

I couldn't decide which set of stairs I liked the most, so I'm posting both of them and letting you, my world-wide audience, decide.

Drop me a line and let me know.

Geometric

The secure parking lot where I park for work is full of interesting geometric shapes. Here is a set of stairs for example. I'm trying to branch out in my photography and capture not just the things that are innately beautiful, but everyday ordinary things too.

What do you think?

Cityscape

Apparently it's now Spring as we are experiencing 70+ degree days. Not that I'm complaining mind you, but I would like just one more good (3+ inches) snowstorm before warm weather returns.

In any case, the warm weather brings heavy fog, and a downtown enshrouded in it. Hard to capture (I need to read more on how to properly do that) the scene, but I think I pulled it off well.....enough.

In Celebration of Film

So yes I'm having great fun carrying around my Nikon f3hp and shooting stuff I see. Since the camera came pre-brassed (aka, used) I don't feel so bad about slinging it about and adding to the scratches, scuffs and other assorted dings.

So while BW400CN film can still be had, I'm shooting as much of it as I can get my hands on, which is to say, quite a bit.

Here is a fun example, of dinner, shot through a 28mm macro lens. Natural light and in a purple dish.

Dinner was yummy, if you want the recipe, drop me a line and I'll share.

Yes, it's photoshopped

It's still film, but it came from the developers with a slight blue tint to it, so I upped the saturation level and went with it.

Nikon f3hp, expired film and a sunny day.

Walking around the city

You have seen this angel before, Hollywood Cemetery, filmed with my Nikon f3hp during the snowy day. Probably can't tell there's snow on the ground, we got a whopping 2 inches overnight, and the sunny day had most of it melted by the time I got there.

Anyway, I like this staute so here she is again.

Awaiting Snow

Ok so the title of this post has nothing to do with the picture to the left, I admit that. The weatherman is predicting snow for Sunday and couple that with having Monday off (hooray for state jobs!) this will be one view I will re-visit in the snow (providing we get more than our usual 1/16 of an inch)

Taken from the same batch as the rest. Kodak B/W film, nikon f3hp, overcast day, 28mm Sipratone lens

Over the Wall

At the other end of the parking deck, there is a pretty good view of the rest of the downtown city. Here is part of it overlooking the train station.

The lens I used it pretty sharp, but I don't think the film was scanned at a high enough resolution for me. That's ok, one day I'l start doing my own scans and fix that problem.

Downtown Skyline

The parking deck near my office has installed solar panels on the very top deck. It had been closed off for some time while they were working on it, but it just reopened and I had the chance before work to see how it looked.

I've been carrying my f3hp with me and loaded with kodak (grrrr it's a drug, I'm addicted to their film) BW400CN film I'm really enjoying using it.

Results from the one hour labs are always unpredictable but that adds to the fun for me.

Leading lines

Stepping to the left by just a few feet yielded this image, less city, more bridgework.

I think I like this shot better.

Bridgework

A great advantage (for me) to owning a used camera is I don't feel too bad about dinging it. In this case the f3hp came pre-dinged, so I'm less worried about adding more to it, and thus more apt to bringing places I wouldn't otherwise carry a camera.

Here is a river/bridge scene from near downtown. The 50mm f/1.8 lens really is a cracking lens, in autofocus or manual mode (as used here) and is sharp everywhere.

Nikon f3hp, kodak film, sunny winter day.

And now for something completely nutritious

I work downtown and have started taking a camera with me to work, just in case. Lately, I've been taking my new (to me) Nikon f3hp with motordrive. Coming down the stairs of the parking deck was this orange on a shelf.

I was using my old 35-70mm f/2.8 lens which had developed some severe haze after a weekend shooting at a beach some years ago, and I wasn't sure how anything shot with this lens would turn out.

I think in this case, the haze adds to the sense of isolation.

Shot with Kodak BW400CN film.