Tag Archives: Photography
Testing, Testing – Boston, MA
Testing, Testing…
A couple of weeks ago, during the trials and tribulations of pinhole camera design I was concerned that the problem I was having was not really the camera design, but the developing process. So I loaded my camera up with a roll of film and went out to see how quickly I could shoot a roll of 36 exposures; of course the goal was to test the fixer, but the secondary challenge was to see what I could get without thinking too much and without a clear subject. I like some of the results. All were taken in Boston’s South End between Tremont and Shawmut Streets and West Springfield and W. Newton Streets (4 Square Blocks).
All photos taken with Carl Zeiss Ikon ZM Rangefinder with Jupiter 3 50mm, f/1.5 with Ilford Delta 100 Pro developed in HC-110 dilution “b” for 6 mins @ 68F.
Quintessential South End.
Haymarket – Boston, MA
Early in January I went on a short photowalk in Boston’s North End. I decided to make things interesting so I didn’t bring my digital camera and just shot with film. Of course the problem with that strategy is that I didn’t finish the roll, and it took weeks for me to get it developed. Finally I finished it up last week, got it developed, and scanned it. I took these shots in the Haymarket, which we walked through at the end of the day.
A few photos of the produce vendors at Haymarket. The colors here are pretty vibrant even on cold gray days like this one. (Olympus OM-1 w/ M-Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Rollei Digibase CN 200)
Some Funny Situations – St. John USVI
Continuing on the “better late than never” theme, here are some more photos from our Christmas vacation in St. John.
Not only do you have to drive a car with the driver’s side on the left on the left side of the road, but you have to look out for all sorts of things crossing the road. There were donkeys, chickens, and goats everywhere. This was a bit of a traffic-jam situation caused by a group of goats crossing the street. (Leica M9 with Summicron 35mm f/2, edited in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom)
St. John, USVI – The Scenery
You know what they say, right? Better late than never. Well here goes…
This Christmas my family decided to do something completely different. Rather than spending the holidays in NJ like I have done for the past 30-something years, we went on an adventure. We rented a villa in Coral Bay on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands and we did what you do on vacation: rest, eat, drink, hike, snorkel, relax on the beach, and take photos. It was a great time. Here are some of the scenic views.
This is the view from the villa that we rented. The house was called “la mer” and it was perched on the top of Bordeaux Mountain overlooking Coral Bay with views of the British Virgin Islands. The color photo is a stitched panoramic of the view during the day and the monochrome is of the same view at night. (1st photo w/ Leica M9 and Summicron 35mm f/2, 9 frames stitched in photoshop; 2nd photo Leica M9 with Voigtlander Heliar Super-Wide 15mm f/3.5 lens, edited in silver efx pro)
The South End in Color (film) – Boston, MA
So as my foray into shooting film continues, I decided to try and shoot some color film. I set out with my Olympus OM-1 and roll of Fujifilm NPH-400 film. I had read about this film in a magazine sometime ago and seemed like it had some interesting properties. It is a low contrast portrait film, but has a good properties for general photography as well. Of course it is no longer produced (it has been replaced by Fujifilm 400H which is quite different from what I have read) so I went on eBay and found a few rolls of old/expired NPH-400 and off I went. I set out around my neighborhood, Boston’s South End, on a few different occasions and came up with some interesting shots. Scanning the film was a bit of a chore, but actually kind of fun. It reminds me a lot of being in a darkroom. I plan on posting about scanning workflow as soon as I run a few more rolls thorough the process and fine tune it a bit. Stay tuned for that.
For now, here is the South End in Color (film)…
This is one of the chef’s at Coppa through a window with the reflection of autumn foliage in the window.
A skull left over from Halloween I assume.
Sled Dogs on Newbury Street – Boston, MA
I tend to walk the same streets over and over again: the South End, Back Bay, Copley Square. These tend to be the center of my universe lately. Sometimes I don’t think I will see anything new or different and then sometimes I am pleasantly surprised. A team of sled dogs on Newbury Street? Yup, sometimes I am pleasantly surprised.
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Pumpkins in Concord Square – Boston, MA
This year Halloween kind of came and went without me even realizing. Hurricane Sandy blew in around the same time, and I was busy with work around the same time. This was also the time that my camera was (stuck) in the repair shop in NJ and I was shooting some film instead. On Friday night I got a couple of rolls of film back from the lab and look what I found: the most interesting pumpkin display in Boston.
At a distance it is a little bit difficult to see what is going on, but as you get closer it becomes very apparent.
Thanksgiving Day 2012
Happy Thanksgiving! Boy do I have a lot to be thankful for. If I actually took the time to type out the list it would just go on and on. The highlights would be my beautiful wife, my loving family, my friends, health, happiness, security, etc…
This year, Thanksgiving dinner was in Boston at our house. Tammy made an awesome meal, and my mom and dad came up from NJ and my sister came up from Brooklyn dinner. Here are some pics from the day.
The guests shortly after they arrived for Thanksgiving.
Shooting Film – Boston, MA
When I returned from Brooklyn I decided to send my M9 off to the Leica service center in NJ. It was acting all wonky and I wanted to get if fixed up before we go away this winter; also I was getting frustrated with its out-of-calibration rangefinder so the time had come. While the M9 was vacationing in New Jersey I decided to shoot some film, which I had not done for quite some time.
The religious folk were out doing some preaching in Boston Common.
A Short Walk – Boston, MA
This past weekend was one of those not-so-productive weekends for me. I spent some time working (writing) and running errands, and Sunday was rained-out for half of the day. So there wasn’t that much time for photography. By the time I got myself up and out of the house on Saturday it was quite late – I am actually embarrassed to say how late – and there wasn’t too much daylight left. I took a short walk with my camera.
This is on Newbury Street in Boston’s Back Bay. It is a spot just east of Mass Ave where artists and musicians gather to sell their wares and entertain the passers-by in exchange for their loose change. I took this photo from across the street with my 50mm lens wide open at f/2, which is why it is a bit soft. I also processed it with a film emulator in Lightroom; this one is Fuji 800Z from VSCO film. It is not quite the same as film, but I like the high ISO look that some of these pre-sets create.
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