F stop YEAH stop

Mobile Update: Worn Rails

2013-08-26T10:33:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I find myself fascinated by such simple things. I guess we're all like that when we allow ourselves to be. During a walk/exploration with some friends in Georgetown, an industrial district of Seattle, I found several spots on a heavily used railroad that I couldn't stop staring at and photographing. Oblivious to the dirt, hazards, and boredom of my friends I dropped to my knees and photographed up a storm with my Kiev 88 and my iPhone.
If you read my thoughts on "phoneography" about a year ago you will remember that I preferred to minimize the amount of editing I was doing on photos. I have since decided to explore more, and now enjoy the post-production and editing quite a bit. My recent favorite filter to use, especially on brick and earthy photos, is Hipstamatic's Madalena "lens" and Robusta "film" combo. Here's what I ended up with using that setup:

Worn Rail Connection
taken with iPhone
Hipstamatic Madalena + Robusta

Gear Check: Belair X 6-12

2013-08-18T21:14:00.001-07:00

I wrote 90% of this review before blogger decided to delete my post. I am now starting over.

The Belair X 6-12 is one of the latest cameras from the Lomography folks, and was a bit of a departure from their usual MO. Lomography, being almost synonymous with the "toy camera" movement, normally makes very cheaply produced, all-plastic cameras. I won't get into the pros and cons of toy cameras or the lomography movement, but will say that this is what got me into photography and what enabled me to experiment with medium-format photography in the first place.

Back to the Belair. I hate to let you, reader, in on my thoughts on the camera so early in this review, but I have a very important point to make. Though I said the Belair seems like a change from what Lomography usually does, it fit squarely into one of Lomography's main goals: to give us affordable access to a style of photography normally reserved for the pros or rich amateurs. In this case, unfortunately, I feel Lomography tried to fit too many of these styles into a single camera. I'll explain the details of the camera before I get to the review portion.

First, the Belair cameras (there are actually 3 models) are very fine-looking, folder-style cameras in the design. Actually, to be sure, the design of the camera is absolutely identical to the design of the 100 series Land Cameras in regard to the folding portion, the bellows, the light meter eye, and the finder. It basically looks like a Land Camera from the front, and a Kodak folder from the back. Why mess with something that worked, right?

Belair X 6-12 City Slicker Edition
photo via Lomography

The camera front pops out by pushing a button on the bottom and carefully (as always) pulling the front out to expand the bellows until the metal supports lock in place. Unlike the vintage cameras from which this design was "borrowed" the bellows on the Belair is made of black rubber. This, I feel, was a great idea. Older cameras used black fabric, paper, or vinyl, and while this worked for those cameras, provided proper care was taken with them, something tells me Lomography's quality control would not have been strong enough for an error-prone material to succeed. The rubber will obviously stay intact as long as sharp objects are kept away. To collapse the front for storage a set of spring-loaded pins are pushed on the top and bottom of the metal supports and the front is carefully (again) pushed back in. Lots of wiggling and shifting is required to make sure this doesn't put an end to your camera. As I have mentioned many times before, no force should EVER be applied to anything on a Lomography camera as they break far more easily than can be imagined.

Side view
photo via Lomography

The back is released for film loading/unloading by pulling the small tabs on each side, at the bottom, and then pulling the back completely off. The literature that comes with the camera, and with all Lomography medium-format cameras, points out that the camera uses 120 film, and that color or B&W film can be used. I don't know of many cameras that can use only color or B&W film, so I don't understand why they always say that, but maybe they're just trying to add as many positive bullets to the spec list as they can get away with.

Lens & light meter eye
photo via Lomography

One feature of the Belair that is very rare for Lomography is the fact that the lens are interchangeable. The camera comes with two lenses - a 90mm and a 58mm. Both lenses, like most Lomography and other toy cameras, have plastic optics. The lenses have a few focus settings, similar to most cheaper cameras (1m, 1.5m, 3m, infinity) and have two aperture settings, which are f8 & f16. I'll talk more about the lens settings and upgrade options later. The lenses - actually the lens mount to be exact - are the biggest source of frustration for me with this camera. To attach a lens one simply lines the lens up with the body and gives a tiny, maybe 1/8" turn to "lock" it in. I've read a handful of reviews written by others and have yet to see somebody else mention that they experience what I do, but on my camera (I have the Jetsetter Edition, if that makes any difference) the lenses simply don't stay in place at all. I have to hold them in place when actively using the camera, and have to put the lens back in every time I remove the camera from my bag. I may try to devise a solution at some point, possibly by adding something to hold the lens in with pressure or temporary adhesive, but I haven't messed with it yet. Actually, the lens cap that goes on the back of the lens when not in use also fall off constantly. With the interchangeable lenses come a pair of interchangeable finders, which do stay in place without issue. Each finder has the same angle of view as the matching lens, making it easier to frame shots.

Another feature of the Belair designed to make the camera more user-friendly for beginners is the automatic shutter. An aperture wheel is set on the light meter eye to select the correct ISO, allowing the camera to measure the correct light for the film and to choose shutter speed accordingly. I'm not sure if the light meter takes lens aperture into account (I suspect not) but in my experience the speed settings appear to be pretty accurate for an evenly exposed photo.

The final noteworthy feature of the camera, which happens to be the main selling point, is the fact that the Belair can be used for not two but three size formats. The smallest format available is the standard square, 6x6 size (we're talking centimeters, my American friends), giving you 12 photos per roll of film. From there you can move up to the slightly rarer 6x9 format (8 photos, in case you don't like math). But the real selling point here is that a 6x12 format is also available. That's 6 enormous, panoramic photos per roll. For those of you who are only reading this to be nice to me, I would like to explain that 6x12 format is almost impossible for photographers without spending thousands (or thousand, at least) dollars on a camera that can do nothing but 6x12 photos, though of course they usually do them very well. 6x12 is a big deal for a consumer-priced camera. There are, of course, some major problems with shooting in 6x12 format though - the biggest being that most commercial, automated film scanners can't handle 6x12 negatives. But a flatbed scanner can certainly handle them.

Needless to say, I have loads of cameras that can shoot in 6x6 or 6x9 format, so since I have gotten the Belair (as a Christmas present) I have only shot in 6x12 mode. Oh, and the format is changed by switching out the mask inside the camera, behind the lens and in front of the film, meaning that a single format can be used for an entire roll of film. That's pretty standard, but worth mentioning perhaps.

As promised, I will now mention the lens upgrade options. Lomography has produced two premium lenses they are calling "Belairgon". They come in 90mm and 114mm, and unlike the standard lenses, they both have glass optics. The 114mm lens advertises an extremely shallow depth of field, making it ideal for portraits. The problem is that these lenses are $200 each! For that reason I will not be reviewing the lenses, and unless somebody gives me a pair I will never be using them. It would be nice to see the sharper images, but I suspect the improvement isn't worth the money as the lenses still only have 2 aperture settings.

I guess that's a pretty good starting point for the beginning of my critique of a few features. Just like the saying "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link" some of the more "professional" features of the camera are limited pretty severely by the fact that the lens has only two aperture settings, and both settings are pretty close to the middle of the usual spectrum. It is not possible to achieve either shallow or deep depth of field. As I said before, the 114mm Belairgon lens specs advertise very shallow depth of field, but I have trouble believing that with a maximum aperture of f8. You never know, though. Because f16 is the minimum setting all panoramic shots tend to have a dreamy, slightly blurred look. Some of this may be due to the plastic optics. I don't mind the blur, honestly, but do wish I had the option to have very sharp photos if I want to use the camera for its most exciting negative format. And I do. Even one more stop, to f22, would make enough difference for me to be much more excited. I would also like one more stop in the other direction - either a f5.6 or even skipping that and going to a f4 would be great to try out.

The finder is also a bit of a frustrating part, too, though reading other reviews makes me feel like I am happier with the finder than most. Since the finders are set up to display the same angle of view as the lens, but the negative format is interchangeable, the Lomography people have devised a rough way to frame shots more accurately than guessing. A few sets of "teeth" are visible in the finder to show where the approximate edge of the frame will be depending on which mask is being used. Clearly these are approximate, as are almost all finders in non-SLR cameras, but I have not had many frustratingly unpleasant surprises with framing. I suppose, for me, much of the appeal and understanding I have with toy photography is that nothing is predictable. That's the way it should be, and if that is not acceptable I feel that only very expensive, precision-made cameras should be used. But where's the fun in that?

Inside of the finder
Taken with iPhone

Despite my very recent dismissal of framing accuracy, I will say that the parallax issues are slightly frustrating in a camera that has lenses so clearly made for portraits. Parallax error, for those who don't want to follow that link to the wikipedia article, is actually a pretty easy concept to explain and understand. Parallax is just the difference in perspective (in sight) between two different physical points. Look at the layout of the room you are standing in, with attention to which objects are visible to you, and how far they appear in relation to each other and the edges of your sight. Now move five feet in any direction and look at the same layout. Everything looks different - some things previously visible are now hidden, some new things appear, etc. Pretty simple. The same issue is present with cameras where the lens and finder are not in the exact same place. This is barely noticeable when taking panoramic shots focusing on things way off in the distance, but the closer the subject the greater the parallax error. This is something I am quite used to, though, as most of the cameras I use are not SLRs (where the finder is the lens) so I get used to using the finder to get close and then trying to make a guess about what adjustments would be needed to get the lens aimed in the exact right spot. A little practice and this becomes fairly easy to deal with.

I don't really have much else to say about the way the camera works, but will mention one last supposed flaw that I have not encountered personally. I read from several people that the film does not spool correctly on the take-up spool. I can feel that the spools aren't kept very tight, meaning that they can slip back or forward slightly after advancing the film. This typically means that the camera is prone to warping the film inside the camera. I have studied my photos closely and see only tiny indications that this is happening to me, and it is such a small difference that I may as well say that this is not an issue in my camera at all. Though I don't want my Belair to warp my film, I actually love film warping and have a camera that I treasure for it. The other potentially film-ruining result of the spools not staying tight is the dreaded "fat roll" issue. I actually do get a bit of this with my camera, but haven't really seen any major problems with it. "Fat roll", which I'm putting in quotes because it's a pretty unofficial term despite being a fairly standard name for it, is where the film isn't wound tightly on the take-up spool, making the film and backing paper end up sticking out further than the spool, which leaves it vulnerable to being penetrated by light after removing the film from the camera. My usual solution is to remove the spool in a dark room (or darkroom) or at least in subdued light. I seal the roll up as usual and wrap in foil to ensure no light gets in. When taking the roll to get processed by the lab I just explain that I've got a fat roll, and they have no problem dealing with it.

So, friends, that's more or less a wrap. I'll do my pros & cons bullet list, as I usually do, and I'll post a few 6x12 photos I took while on tour with the ol' band. These photos were taken on the ultra cheap 800 ISO film branded by Lomography, as it came for free with the camera. I do not recommend Lomography's film as it is overpriced and cheaply produced. As if Lomography wanted to prove my point, the first roll I ran through the camera had a large tear in the actual film itself. It was still developed without issue, but a little frustrating to lose a shot due to film quality, rather than the usual photographer quality issue I suffer from.

I don't really want to spend any time talking about the three models, but will just say that the only differences are mostly in look, and slightly in construction. The most basic model is mostly made of black plastic, where the other two have many more aluminum parts. The difference between the middle and top models, from what I can tell, are purely in color and grip material, though the $50 price difference makes me curious if I'm missing something. If anybody knows please leave me a comment. The specs are identical.

Pros:

The Belair allows one to take panoramic shots for a fraction of the cost of a standard panoramic camera. This alone is enough of a selling point that I believe it to be a worthwhile camera to have if 6x12 is a goal. I only wish this would have been the main focus of the rest of the features of the camera...
Interchangeable lenses add to the versatility, and I'm sure the glass lenses are great.
The Belair looks very nice. The bellows and collapsing portion of the camera are a major eye-catcher, and from a practical standpoint it's nice that the camera isn't always unfolded as it would be enormous in that case.
The rubber bellows will, unless I'm missing something, make the camera last longer than a vinyl or cloth bellows.
Automatic shutter speed makes the camera easier to use, and allows for quicker film wasting.

Cons:

The price! This is often a con in my lists, but that's because the whole point of the Lomography and toy camera movement is to take experimental and creative photos without having a pro's budget. Seriously, the cheapest of the three Belair models costs $250. The higher-quality lenses are $200 each! Too much! It would be better, in my humble opinion, to offer a more basic version of the camera for a lower price.
Aperture options. Two settings in the middle of the spectrum is far too few, and a panoramic camera with large aperture settings doesn't make sense to me. Maybe I shouldn't complain much. Two is better than one.
I wish those lenses would stay firmly fixed to the camera! One of these days a lens will fall from the camera while I'm taking a photo and will be ruined, and I'll be super angry about that. I don't think I should have to devise workarounds for something so basic.
It's stupid of me to mention this, but given the price it would have been great to have better storage/protection. The finders came wrapped in small squares of cloth, where I would have preferred pouches of some sort so that they can stay inside their protective fabric. Also, it'd be awesome if the lens caps stayed on so that they don't get scratched up inside the camera bag.

And now, here are a few photos I took in 6x12 mode on Lomography 800 color film, scanned with my Epson flatbed, and did no editing to... forgive the dust.

Downtown Salt Lake City
Taken with Belair X 6-12 Jetsetter on Lomography 800 film

Salt Lake Temple

Taken with Belair X 6-12 Jetsetter on Lomography 800 film

Texas State Capitol

Taken with Belair X 6-12 Jetsetter on Lomography 800 film

Instant Successes: Park Portrait

2013-05-26T15:13:00.001-07:00

I have spent a lot of time discussing and blogging about Impossible Project film in the past. This quick post will further illustrate why I love the stuff! Using a pack of grey border PX 600 Silver Shade film I bought ages ago, I took a few portraits in the park after a relaxing bike ride and reading session in the sun.

The results were as usual: a bit unpredictable with the shading and exposure, a few quirks with the film and/or camera, and amazing! The colors in Silver Shade film, in my opinion, are very warm and flattering for the photographer and the subject. The border options make this film very appealing too. Check the Impossible website for all the great options!

Enjoying the Sun
Taken with Polaroid Amigo 620 on Impossible Project PX 600 Silver Shade, grey border edition

Gear Check: Revolog Tesla I

2013-04-27T13:57:00.001-07:00

For anybody who hasn't heard about Revolog, they are a seemingly tiny Viennese company of two people handmaking 35mm film with various special effects. I picked up a few rolls a while ago and finally got around to getting one through the camera. The specific option I am now writing about was called "Tesla I". The description on the website promises blue or white flashes on the photos, and the film canister let me know that the flashes would show up best on dark images, or on the dark parts of images anyway.
I had been very excited to try this film out, and it did not disappoint! As stated on the Revolog website they use some secret process to get the special effects on the film, and it's done by hand, so the surprise makes this a pretty exciting film to use. You never know where the flashes will show up on the photo, and you don't know how many, how big, what color, etc. Revolog makes several different types of effects with various ISOs and exposure counts, but this particular film was ISO 200 and 12 exposures. I took advantage of a sunny trip to the Olympic Peninsula with a group of friends to try it out, using my trusty Pentax ME and my favorite macro lens, which I basically use for everything. I ended up getting 15 usable photos out of this roll along with 2 megaduds. Normally I like just to post the highlights, but in this case I'll post all 15 to show off the unpredictability of the effects. I seem to have had some problems with the film advancing so I got some strange double exposures on the edges of a few, but I'd be more likely to blame the camera operator than the film.
Check them out! Feel free to click for a full-screen version. I just learned how to do that!

And since I'm a "save the best for last" kind of guy, here is the best photo from the roll. Whitney reluctantly let me get a portrait of her enjoying the sun, and purely by chance she was anointed by Zeus. Is this a sign? Probably, yes.

For those of you wondering about the photos being taken with the Mamiya 645 by the dapper young man, they can certainly be seen on his blog over here. This trip was a going-away party for him. He's now living in NYC, and he is missed here in the NW.

Pros:

The handmade element of the special effects is very exciting, and the quality seems to be very high.
The overall look of the film stock itself is very pleasant - cool colors, similar to those expected from expired film.
It's something your friends aren't using, and probably haven't ever heard of. That makes you awesome to them.
It's C-41 so it can be processed anywhere.

Cons:

This stuff is EXPENSIVE. The film is pricey to begin with, and then we here in the states have to pay a little more for that whole import thing. I buy mine here, and it ends up coming to around $1.00 per image before developing costs. Get yourself a roll that comes in 36 exposures and you're still looking at $0.33 per image. I have to say, though, that it's worth it for the surprise factor. Sure, you could do this stuff in photoshop, but it wouldn't be the same. Just buy some.

Thanks for reading! I'll post photos of the Volvox and Tesla II film from Revolog after I expose and develop. It may be a little bit before I get to that, but we'll be in touch soon regardless.

Mobile Update: Bainbridge Ferry

2013-04-20T11:26:00.001-07:00

I have ridden ferries hundreds of times, having grown up on an island. The Bainbridge ferry, however, is not one I've been on many times. Most of the familiar parts of the ride were there, but I found that the boat is built to accommodate more tourists with a larger outdoor deck area. The captain's roost is also up a bit higher, and I was, of course, drawn to the symmetry. It was a rare but beautiful sunny, warmish spring day, and my cameras noticed.

Bainbridge Island Ferry
Taken with iPhone

PS - if you want to read more about the trip this was taken on, it was covered here.

From The Shelves: Kodak Six-20

2013-04-20T11:11:00.001-07:00

I know I post all kinds of random things on here from one of my many ridiculous "series". Probably the toughest for me to word and present are the ones where I pull an old camera off my shelves and try to revive it for a short amount of time. I actually do this quite often - almost every time I take photos, in fact. The thing I find tough, though, is trying to put my spin on a write-up of a camera that has been written up over and over again when the camera was brand new. Thinking about this recently I decided I should keep the writing like the camera - simple. So here I go.
I have quite a few Kodak folders. They're fun to shoot with because it's very satisfying to pull it out of the bag, unfold it, set the speed and aperture, and hear that satisfying click of the shutter. This Kodak Six-20 I found at a vintage market for a few dollars also looks super classy with its art deco exterior and red Kodak logo on the front. I have only used this camera once, now, because the one time that I respooled some 120 film onto a 620 spool, loaded it in the six-20, and shot the roll I did a little bit of damage. I think I must have done some shoddy respooling. I will be able to fix the damage, but lesson learned. Next time I'll be more careful with the spool work.
Here's the cheesy photo of the camera I ended up with. Pardon the awful lighting and background - I took this in the midst of moving so I had to use what I could get easily from my pile of boxes.

Yikes. I'll definitely try to take a better photo of that and update this soon. The film I decided to run through this was one of my go-to B&W films - Kodak 400 TMAX. I took the camera for a walk in Fremont, around the bridges specifically. Here's what I ended up with. Check out the crazy light leaks, most notably that the backing paper text is visible on some. Weird!

Mobile Update: A Person

2012-12-09T18:25:00.001-08:00

Is this the beginning of a new era for me? I was reading an article in Hipstamatic's Snap Magazine recently. It was written by a guy who apparently is enjoying Hipstafame due to his street photography. It was nice stuff, I have to admit. I always admire people who are good at this style of photography. I feel like it's not difficult to end up with nice looking photos with interesting subjects and good lighting by wandering around a city taking photos of people, but I think the courage it takes to do this is very impressive. I have a tough time taking photos of any people at all, so I was very curious to hear what this writer had to say. He had some very good tips for getting into street photography and had several pointers for ways of getting away with snapping photos of people who may not want you to do so. It still scares me to death, but I decided to give it a try 20 minutes after reading the article using the writer's waist level rapid snapshot method. It makes complete sense, but if you aren't holding the camera (iPhone in this case) up to your face and pointing it directly at somebody else they will have no idea you're taking photos. I held the phone in front of my stomach in a very awkward but believably inert position and held down the volume + button as I passed by people. None of my photos turned out very good, but with some practice I feel I can get this down until I can become brave enough to brashly brandish my lens and let people react how they will. I seriously doubt I'll become this brazen, but I will talk a big game. For now, check it out! A random lady! Yawning!

Streetz Photography
Taken with iPhone

If you want to check this article out, it's in the November 2012 Foodie edition. The article is entitled "Mobile Photography Master".

Good Finds: Mystery Farm

2012-12-09T17:57:00.003-08:00

I love looking through bins of negatives, slides, and photos at vintage markets. Most of the time the seller has no idea where they came from and that means I get to make up my own stories or try to piece the actual story together by finding a handful of photos that were clearly from the same family or even roll of film. I not only find myself interested in the subjects of the photos, but also find myself wondering about the camera used, the film used, the development techniques used, etc. Generally I imagine the photos, depending on the time period, were taken by some dad-type person using Kodak's latest consumer camera. He bought the camera specifically for a vacation or summer activity and picked up several rolls of film (120, 620, or 127 format) and snapped away on his family before taking them to the chemist's shop to be developed. Those are times I wish I could see myself. Times when the films I love were still being made, and when I wouldn't have had to ration flash bulbs the way I do now.

Here is one such photo I dug out of a bin at the Fremont Market on Sunday this past summer. This market is my favorite for looking for photos as there are usually 2 or 3 people who have big bins to look through. The photo doesn't say anything on the back, and I know nothing about it. The crop in this farm looks to be corn, so I am assuming this is somewhere in the US. The shapes of the hills lead me to believe this is significantly further East than where I found it, and the sparseness of the trees on the hill add to this suspicion of mine. The photo is pretty beat up - there are tons of small white scratches and chips, and the paper has yellowed quite a bit. There is evidence of bubbles in the emulsion on the paper, or maybe some of the emulsion was peeled away by accident, though this can only be seen up close. Still, the photo itself is a very pleasant one. This photographer seems to have had an appreciation for taking photos with no humans in them, just like me! In my head I call these "quiet photos", though I have never said or written that before right now.

I have no clues about what kind of camera or film were used, but the format is 6x9. I love using 6x9 cameras because the negatives are so huge and look so nice without having to get out the magnifier.

Mystery Farm

Mobile Update: Night Skyline

2012-11-16T08:15:00.002-08:00

An experiment with taking a skyline photo at night, friends. Yes, I realize this didn't work particularly well and that should be grounds for leaving it off the blog, but since my life has been a bit crazy lately I thought I'd do something crazy with the blog. Also, even though you can't see it from the photo, this was a fun night of hanging out with friends, old and new. And check out the last seconds of sunset!

Seattle, from Volunteer Park
Taken with iPhone

From The Shelves: 2 Tiny Cameras

2012-10-23T21:28:00.002-07:00

What are the things that attract me to film photography and and toy photography? I suppose the biggest allure is discovering for myself the complexities of film and the techniques that can define a person's style. Another big one is nostalgia. I remember having a cheap point & shoot camera as a kid and burning through rolls and cartridges of cheap film, with no idea what was going to happen after my mom took the film to be developed (whatever that meant). After starting to become interested in photography again in my early twenties I feel I am going through the same things all over. The advances in my reading and comprehension that come along with being a vicenarian make this more exciting. Also, I don't depend on my mom to get my film developed anymore.

The reason I started this jag on nostalgia is that I am going to talk about a couple of cameras that use 110 film cartridges. I remember 110 film being the film of choice for inexpensive, plastic, childrens' cameras in the early 90's, so I remember handling it early on. It was invented in the early 70's and lasted into the late 2000's and was seeming like it was going to disappear completely a few years ago. I have been finding expired, Chinese brands of 110 film the last several years and have been using that, but even that seems to be scarce these days. Then, in May of this year, Lomography announced that it would be manufacturing new 110 film - both in B&W and in color. The B&W film is being branded under the name Orca and the C-41 under the name Tiger. The film I had been using (until I just used my last 2 cartridges) was Quality brand. That's the actual name. I think it was a few years expired, but that only adds to the excitement.

I had almost forgotten about the cartridge of 110 film sitting in my film bag in my fridge when I received a package in the mail from a friend and former couchsurfer from San Francisco. The package contained not one but TWO tiny 110 cameras. The first was the Tom Thumb camera in the original box, complete with very dated graphic design. The second was the Demekin, which is a camera made by one of my favorite toy camera manufacturers: SuperHeadz/PowerShovel. I will not offer up the link to their website because it is impossible to comprehend and navigate. You can find it yourself if you want an peek into the Tokyo web-design underworld. The Demekin has a fixed fisheye lens, which makes sense considering demekin is also the name for those goldfish with the giant eyes protruding from the sides of their heads. Peep the 'kin:

Demekin Camera
Taken with iPhone

I'm getting better at photographing my cameras, huh? The second camera I dug up was my old Argus 20 camera I've had for years. I pulled it out of one of my camera shelves and there was already some Quality film in it! Here's what the Argus looks like:

Argus 20
Taken with iPhone

This one has a regular, non-fisheye lens. Check out the sophisticated viewfinders on these guys.

Ok, as for a shooting location I completely lucked out. My friend and bandmate Jason scored me tickets to Doe Bay Fest in Doe Bay, Orcas Island, Washington. Not to brag, but Doe Bay Fest is a super exclusive music festival that releases only 1000 tickets for the 3-dayer, and it typically sells out in less than 30 seconds. I was teased by my friends, but I wore my cameras (one at a time) on a string around my neck to ensure I would always have one at the ready. The only unfortunate thing was that I had only 2 film cartridges. I loaded one into the Demekin, or more accurately I put the camera on the film (the cartridge is about the same size as the camera). I plowed through the film more quickly than I should have, but made a conscious effort to include people in my photos. Most of these people were my friends, but I did get a couple crowd shots. Here are the highlights from the Argus:

William, Surveying the Campsite
Taken with Argus 20 on Quality film

Doe Bay Rocks
Taken with Argus 20 on Quality film

Orcas Island Forest
Taken with Argus 20 on Quality film

Whitney Waiting for the Ferry
Taken with Argus 20 on Quality film

The photos turned out pretty good for expired "quality" film shot through a plastic lens. There were plenty of light leaks - most noticeable in the picture of the forest. Those are not telephone lines. By the way, all this film was developed by the legendary Dwayne's Photo in Kansas. Here in Seattle we do have places that will develop 110 film, but I decided to give Dwayne's a try because I've heard so many great things about them. Needless to say, they did not disappoint.

For the Demekin, I got even more light leaks, and tons of sun flare, which I expected with the giant plastic lens. I got some pretty great ones with this camera! Thanks, Kim!

Doe Bay Resort
Taken with Demekin on Quality film

William & Whitney
Taken with Demekin on Quality film

Doe Bay Harbor
Taken with Demekin on Quality film

To wrap this all up, the Argus 20 was awesome with its simple setup and child's-work-like results. The Demekin provided the "mistakes" toy photographers love and had just the right amount of fisheye effect (in my opinion). The Quality film held up its end of the bargain. Dwayne's Photo was quick, inexpensive, and professional. Doe Bay Fest was awesome. And I was having fun. My favorite band of the festival was Portland's Radiation City. Buy everything they have ever put out and will ever put out. Though I don't normally endorse buying Lomography's film (it's overpriced and nothing special) I say it's ok to buy their 110 film so they know there is interest and keep making it. Somebody's got to.

My Thoughts: Phoneography, Part II

2012-09-21T21:40:00.003-07:00

PART II: Hardware

I can do my best to keep this one brief. After the guilt passed on my joining the ranks of amateur photographers taking thousands of photos with my iPhone (not to mention the extreme guilt for downloading and occasionally using Hipstamatic) I realized that I still wanted to explore more options for turning my iPhone into a camera I felt good about using. There is only so much that can be done with apps before you are able to notice digital edits for certain effects, so I started looking at hardware - lenses and such. The unfortunate thing about hardware is that it generally has to be made for only one model of phone, so i can really only write about stuff that fits the iPhone 4 or 4S. Many of the items I have looked at or used can work with varying degrees of success on older iPhones or other smartphones.

The popularity of the iPhone as a camera has inspired some very creative and high-quality accessories. There are many more that are currently in the works (more about that later) that are even more exciting. My first order was to procure some interchangeable lenses to allow for some more control over the images. Luckily for me, a single birthday was all it took to get some. I will first write about the Olloclip:

The Olloclip ("ollo" meaning "eye" in Galician and other languages) is a sort of multi-lens attachment that fits over the corner of the iPhone 4 or 4S. This device is not compatible with any other camera or phone (and their website makes no mention of the iPhone 5, so I can't say what the deal will be there). The Olloclip has a fisheye lens on one side, and on the other a wide angle lens. Unscrew the wide angle lens and there is a macro lens under that. The lenses are all made of high quality materials - glass and aluminum lenses with a sturdy plastic body. There is a plastic cover for each end when not in use, and the Olloclip comes in a small pouch that doubles as a lens cloth.

(Photo via olloclip.com)

The best thing to me about the Olloclip is how portable it is. Of course all lenses for the iphone are (relatively) small, so they're all quite portable, but it's super easy to switch between the three lens options quickly without worrying about dropping parts, etc. I'm often switching with one hand, so it's nice to have that option. I don't really have anything bad to say about the Olloclip at all, except for the annoying trend I see on Instagram where owners take "ollograms". I certainly can't blame this on the Olloclip folks, but it bothers me that people are buying these lenses and only using them for this sole purpose. For those of you who haven't seen it, an "ollogram" is where somebody unscrews the wide angle lens the lens between the thumb and forefinger and takes a picture of the hand holding the lens. I don't want to post anybody's "ollogram" on my blog for fear of hurting feelings, but you can see for yourself here.

Here are a couple of my favorite Olloclip photos:

Beetle in Bottle
Taken with iPhone through Olloclip macro lens

Pinnacle Lake
Taken with iPhone through Olloclip wide angle lens

Ok, so in addition to the Olloclip I also received 4 more lenses for my birthday. I have mentioned on this blog several times how much I like the blog and store at photojojo.com, and they have quite the selection of lenses including a package deal that I am now an owner of. Photojojo has many, many accessories for the iPhone and for android phones, including these three high-quality lenses and this telephoto lens. They also have a bundle package where you can get all of those together in a fancy blue wallet. Needless to say, this is what I have. The three lenses mentioned above include a fisheye lens, a wide angle lens, and a 2x telephoto lens. Like the Olloclip, the wide angle lens unscrews and becomes a macro lens. These lenses are not attached to each other, which makes it pretty easy to stuff into pockets or onto keychains, and they have a handy magnetic attachment system. Each lens comes with several metal rings with an adhesive side. The metal rings are stuck to your phone and you are now able to switch lenses quickly with a satisfying snap. In case you were wondering, the adhesive is just enough to stick to your phone, but not enough to cause any grief when you want to take it off and it leaves no marks or residue. These lenses seem to me to be even higher quality than the Olloclip lenses, and also made with glass and aluminum. They have a metal back to cover the phone side of the lens when not in use (which also attach with magnets) and the covers have a loop for attaching to keychains, etc. There are also plastic covers for the front of the lenses.

Here are some of my favorites with these lenses:

Faithful Ruslan
Taken with iPhone through fisheye lens

Black Cardamom
Taken with iPhone through macro lens

The other lens that came in the handsome blue wallet mentioned above is an adjustable 8x telephoto lens. This is the most powerful telephoto lens I have seen for the iPhone yet (unless you attach your DSLR lens to your iPhone...with this) and requires a little stabilization if possible. Luckily it comes with a mini tripod. The tiniest tripod I have ever seen, actually. The tripod attaches to a clip that holds the iPhone snugly in place. The lens itself attaches to a plastic cover, which looks quite a bit like a normal iPhone case. All set up, it looks like this:

(Photo via Photojojo)

The lens itself is made of plastic with glass lenses. It's easy to use too, as you just attach it to the case, attach the case to the phone, and adjust the lens by turning the focus ring on the end as you would any manual focus lens.

Here's a photo taken with the telephoto lens pictured above:

Street Construction Runes
Taken with iPhone through 8x telephoto lens

That covers the portion on lenses I currently own. I am happy to have all of these lenses as they have provided me with a way of getting some of the photos I want at the time that I take them rather than trying to edit them to be how I want. Now for a quick write-up of some of the other items that are available, and one that will soon be available.

The Camalapse: The purpose of this device is to get smooth pans for time lapse videos. Seems like it'd be fun to play with without having to keep an eye on it at all.

The iPhone Swivl: This is an interesting one. Seems very high-tech to me. You fit your phone into the base and attach the sensor to yourself somewhere, and the swiveling base follows the sensor. This would allow you to film yourself and move about without having any help. Could also be fun to play with.

The Kogeto Dot: This is a 360 degree panoramic lens that works only with videos. The interesting thing with this is that after taking the video you're able to watch the video and pan around in circles (if you want) so you an see everything going on. You can watch a circle of idiots doing backflips, swearing, and sometimes showing you more than you were hoping to see here.

Due to the popularity of phoneography, there are a LOT more products out there that allow you to be more creative or lazier, so I have just mentioned three that I would personally like to test out. And speaking of testing out, there is one product that I am VERY interested in that will be coming out in the future. I present the Impossible Instant Lab. At the time that I'm writing this, the Kickstarter page has helped raise almost twice as much as the Impossible Project was hoping for, so this product will definitely be on the market before too long. After the Impossible Project devised a film processing unit they attached a collapsible unit with an iPhone holder to the top, allowing you to turn your iPhone photos into instant, analog prints. For those of us who are sick of digitizing our film, now the chance to analogize our digital photos! I definitely hope to pick one of these up if funds allow. More info on the Impossible Film Processing Unit here.

(gif via Impossible Project)

A huge thanks to anybody who actually read this. I really needed to write some of this down to help me process my thoughts.

My Thoughts: Phoneography, Part I

2012-09-18T21:01:00.000-07:00

PART I: Philosophy and Software

I have been really slow to adopt digital technology in my photography. My focus has always been on finding cameras that have been unused and unwanted for years, decades even, and reemploying them, so digital photography never really entered my radar. I do, however, now own an iPhone. I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited about the built-in camera, as that was a major selling point for me. After owning this device for about a year now my thoughts have really shifted on this topic, though not in the direction I expected.

I had thought when I first got my phone that it would be great that I now had a point-and-shoot camera in my pocket at all times, and that I'd use it constantly just to document my life for personal purposes - not that I really feel a need to go back and see visual evidence of what I've eaten for lunch or what craziness I saw in the streets on my way to and from work. It seemed like it would be something completely separate from what I normally consider "photography" since it didn't feel to me like it was at all artistic, and I was fine with that. Excited even. I didn't know the first thing about "apps" or "filters" yet, or about all the crazy photo editing programs people have created, and I had definitely told myself I wasn't interested. Here is where my original thoughts were proven wrong.

I will keep the chronological stuff short from here on out.

I started using my phone as I thought - for snapshots. I have never been on board with social networking sites, really, but I decided to give Instagram a try since I so enjoyed seeing the feeds of people my other iPhone user friends followed. My feed consisted, and still consists, mostly of shots taken on my various walks, trips, etc. and of various objects I consider important to me - my plants, my home decorations, and the fruit I pick up at markets. Not very exciting or original, I know. I never used to use any of the built-in filters in Instagram because I found it annoying how little control I had over them and their intensity - they are either on or off, and on isn't very subtle. I realized that I did like the thought of some post-production kind of work on the photos to add a level I was completely unfamiliar with - a bit of a challenge! So I started by researching apps that would allow me to edit with more control and ended up finding combinations of things that I liked and that allowed me to create something of a cohesive look for some "series" I had been working on. This post-production work ended up adding the amount of personal touch and control that I apparently had been needing to consider what I was doing to be mine, and to be art. While I still don't take it as seriously as I do my film photography, it has become something I have a huge amount of respect for and I have made it a goal to learn as much as I can and to grow in this new and completely legitimate discipline. Speaking of legitimate shots, check out this series on the current war taken by a couple of professional photographers using the Hipstamatic app.

Here are some apps I like for editing:

Snapseed: This app is by far my favorite, and though I use it less now than I did when I first discovered it I would consider it extremely helpful for a couple features. First, it gives you complete control over the intensity of your edits and provides an easy way to compare pre- and post-effect before applying. It does have several filter-type things that I almost never use, but they can be fun to play with if you are into that kind of thing. The number one tool in this app that I use, though, is the Details tool. I don't know enough about photo editing to know what this might be called by the pros, but it sharpens lines and makes the detail stand out clearly. It's awesome for architectural shots or for showing detail in small things. It can definitely be overdone, but is pretty great when you get the right balance. Costs $4.99, making it the most expensive app I own, but I have seen it go for free a few times (that's how I got it) so keep watching it and maybe you can get lucky.

PhotoForge2: This one's pretty good for making more "professional" edits, like messing with color balance and whatnot. It has a lot of things I'd never use, but again can be fun just for playing with. I really find this one most useful for making changes to bring out textures in photos, or emphasizing a certain color. The cost here is $1.99.

PictureShow: I'd probably say this one is the best if you're looking for a quick filter to add where you don't really want to mess with any settings and still want it to turn out ok. PictureShow essentially provides you with a long list of filters with easy-to-imagine names. You an scroll through by swiping the photo to see them one at a time or you can see them all as thumbnails in case you already have an idea of what you're looking for. There are several awful ones, but really this list is pretty solid. This is another $1.99 app.

Cross Process: A technique familiar to many film enthusiasts, this app attempts to emulate the look of cross processed film, and it doesn't do a bad job. There isn't much control over what happens here. You have the option to enable or disable the 5 different styles of cross processing (basic, blue, red, green, and extreme) which is a little funny considering the appeal of cross processing is that you never really know what you'll get. The biggest downfall to this app is that you have no control over the intensity, and they are really too strong for almost any application. I did learn a trick from a fellow blogger, though, for countering this: You can save the photo after "cross processing" and use another image blending app to blend it with the original and control how much of the effected photo you want to show through. For this I use the "app-ly" named Image Blender ($2.99). Sorry. I couldn't help myself. Cross Process is $1.99.

VSCO CAM: Here's an interesting one. I'm not even sure how much I like this one, but I'm including it on my list because there have been a few photos that I have been very pleased with after using this app to edit it. The deal with VSCO CAM is that it seems to be a very hipster-friendly app made by a very hipster-friendly company. The thing I'll give them credit for is that they created an app that doesn't really allow you to make your photos too crazy or gaudy or overdone. It provides a small list of color filters that are simply numbered (instead of being given goofy names) and I could see all of these filters being useful in one situation or another. On top of this, there are more specific edits you can make to change the saturation level, the washed-out-edness, even one to simulate grain, and a few others that you just have to play with to see the appeal. I totally get it with this one, as it is really easy to use and can make your photos look pretty good. I just don't really understand why everybody was talking about it when it first came out. On a positive note, it is only $0.99.

Diptic is good for making collages. I don't really get the obsession with collages. $0.99.

Ok, I didn't realize this would be so long. If you're still interested, stay tuned for the next part, which I will write about hardware...

Oops, I Forgot

2012-09-18T20:51:00.002-07:00

Hello, dear reader(s?). I'm sorry. I just woke up from a Rip Van Winkle nap (which is better than a Robert Van Winkle nap) and was unable to post anything while I was in this nap. I would love to promise that it'll never happen again, and I will try my best, but I never know what'll happen. Please forgive the absence if you were looking forward to reading and I will get back to writing shortly. From looking at your google searching activity I can see you really like my writing about my old Bella, so I will try to write up some of my other vintage gear and show what they can do.

In order to keep you updated on what may be coming up, I have some 110 film being processed at the moment with photos from two different cameras I received as gifts, I just got some fancy new handmade film (no spoilers yet!) that I am about to test out, and I have some writing to do about iPhone photography. Don't believe me that I have some articles in the works? Well by the time you finished reading this I have already posted the first one! Enjoy!

Mobile Update: Tangelo Peel

2012-05-01T14:07:00.004-07:00

Contrary to what the ol' blog suggests, I have actually been quite busy taking photos lately. I am working on a couple of "series," which is a very professional-sounding thing to say. One of the series is a Holgaroid macro deal I'm doing with my houseplants (and I actually already posted one here), and the other is a bunch of fruit portraits I've been taking at work on the iPhone. Here's an "after" shot from one of my shoots with a tangelo.

Tangelo Peel
Taken with iPhone

The series is actually my first attempt to create photos with some post-production work done on them. It's all being done on the phone, which seems to be all the rage these days. I really am working on a longer essay on this subject. It's taking me forever. So much sorting through my thoughts.

Mobile Update: Beached Dock

2012-04-09T09:53:00.001-07:00

The nice weather is both a gift and a curse for me and all other photobloggers out there. It's perfect weather for getting outside and shooting, but it makes it hard for me to sit in front of my computer and write posts.

I took a trip out to Whidbey Island to visit the family and I actually forgot my new Lomo LC-A+! I was disappointed, but still got some great shots with the ol' iPhone. Here's one of the day's best. It was a floating dock made of large steel floats and rotting planks. It's been on the beach for quite a while now and has some great moss on it.

Floating Dock, No Longer Floating
Taken with iPhone

Mobile Update: Plum Blossoms

2012-03-20T15:04:00.001-07:00

Despite the crazy weather we've been having here in the Pacific Northwest, spring has officially started today. The thermometer may suggest otherwise, but at least the trees are following the calendar.

Plum Blossoms
Taken with iPhone

As a film photographer, I do struggle a little bit with the digital age. I am truly enjoying the simplicity and the post shoot options that go with this, but they make me a little uncomfortable. I'm working on a good ol' fashioned essay on my thoughts on "phoneography" and my hesitation about embracing it. I'm sure you're on the edges of your seats, right?

My Life in Photos: Copiapoa Hypogaea

2012-03-08T18:19:00.001-08:00

Two of my biggest passions combined into one image! The camera that got me started down the path of toy/junkstore photography is the camera that got thousands of people started: The Holga. I know that many "real" photographers scoff at anything coming from the Lomography folks, but I have this to say: Lomography makes medium format cameras that are quite affordable and versatile when compared to professional models. Yes, they are overpriced considering that they are nearly 100% plastic and break fairly easily, but the fact that a person who wants to start taking medium format photos is able to do that for about $50 is pretty remarkable. A great thing, I would say. What's more, Lomography is always coming out with new products and accessories. I have talked about my love for the Holga macro lenses in this post, but here it is again! Oh, I spent so much time defending Lomography that I forgot to highlight my second passion, which I mentioned in the first sentence: Plants! Flora! Vegetables, if I am to give a shout-out to Carl Linnaeus! My apartment is absolutely full of houseplants picked up here and there, purchased at Volunteer Park Conservatory sales, rescued from various places. I love them and spend a lot of time on them, and that includes my time behind a camera.
Seen here is the Copiapoa Hypogaea, which is a cactus I picked up at a plant sale at Volunteer Park. It is light brown with sparse, shiny, black spines and a white cottony tuft around the middle. Mine has bloomed several times, with a flower that looks similar to a waxy dandelion, and when the flower dies it leaves a seedpod which eventually bursts open like this one.

Copiapoa Hypogaea Seeds
Taken with Holga 120 CFN on Kodak Portra 400 NC

Mobile Update: Karela

2012-03-08T17:55:00.003-08:00

My favorite place to buy produce in Seattle has to be the International District. The ID has so many stores with such an extensive selection that I feel I could try something new every time I went there and never run out of options. The karela, also called Indian bitter melon, always catches my eye. I have never eaten one, but I have eyed them and tried to imagine what they would be like. I did find a recipe that looks good here, though a quick google search tells me that they are, as the name suggests, bitter and probably a bit unpleasant. Still, I think I will give it a try. Perhaps I will even be able to review the karela...

Karela
Taken with iPhone

Instant Successes: Found Lamp

2012-03-01T08:52:00.002-08:00

Yikes! Sorry it's been so long since I posted anything. I'm sure you're all becoming desperate...

One great thing about living in a large city is that you can always find strange things that others leave behind. I stumbled into my apartment entrance one day to find two old, somewhat ugly lamps, which I took. I fixed them a little bit where the cord had come loose and gave one to my girlfriend. Now I have a fairly awesome lamp in the corner of my room, as does she. It was free!

Found Lamp
Taken with SX-70 on Impossible PX100 Silver Shade

Mobile Update: Portrait of a Smoker

2012-02-14T10:48:00.000-08:00

Gotcha! You read this title and thought "Wait, hasn't he said in multiple posts that he doesn't photograph people?" It's true, friends, that I do not often photograph humans except for some occasional photos of close friends and family. But I will take advantage of a candid moment with anybody living in the 2D world, including this unfriendly looking gent. I didn't even notice him looking at me with this uninterested gaze while I was on stage at the Comet Tavern until after the place cleared out and he apparently decided to have a smoke. Even though it's illegal to smoke inside public spots in Washington, I never told on him. I felt like I wouldn't do well in a fight against this guy.

Comet Tavern Smoker
Taken with iPhone

My Life in Photos: RIP Espresso Vivace

2012-02-09T12:34:00.000-08:00

Espresso Vivace is still fully operational, and their coffee is just as good as always - the best in Seattle in my opinion. The best anywhere, really. They started out as a coffee stall on Broadway, but as they grew in popularity they moved into a beautiful, historic brick building a few blocks away. This building was razed in order to make way for the new light rail tunnel station, which I approve of, but I do wish the Vivace bricks didn't have to come down. I spent countless hours studying Arabic in that cafe, and I genuinely miss it. I did take several pictures of the building in various stages of demolition, and I knew that the building would be missed.
As for the photo itself, this was taken using the redscale technique. Redscale is the term used for shooting on the back of color film. Making redscale film is really easy - you unspool the film in a darkroom or a changing bag, cut it off a few inches from the canister, flip it upside down, and tape it back onto the remaining film stub. Rewind the film (leaving the small tail, of course, to load into your camera) and the rest is business as usual. Need a more scientific explanation? The emulsion layer that is sensitive to red light is on the bottom of the emulsion material, with the blue layer on top of it and a filter in between to block blue light from exposing the red layer, as the red layer is also sensitive to blue light. When you shoot on the back of the film, the red layer is exposed, but the blue layer underneath remains unexposed due to the filter layer between red and blue. How about a non-scientific explanation? When you shoot on this film, it magically turns everything to shades of red, purple, yellow, and orange. In my 3rd grade art class, we were told that these were called "warm colors." I guess 3rd grade art lessons do help you in your adult life.

Espresso Vivace Remnants
Taken with Holga 35BC on the back of C-41 film

500 Page Views!

2012-02-09T08:52:00.000-08:00

I never thought I would make it, but I did! 500 page views. That's my second big milestone, and I made it there quickly. I will not bore you by speaking at length about this, but I am truly thankful and excited. In keeping with my tradition of thanking readers in their native tongues in order of their dedication to my blog, here we go:

Thank you
спасибо
Danke
хвала
감사합니다
Terima Kasih
Salamat Po
Paldies

You will have to forgive me if I got it wrong for any of you. Unfortunately I do not speak all these
languages.

Mobile Update: Sea Cucumber Mouth

2012-02-07T09:56:00.000-08:00

For those of you who aren't constantly checking zooborns, you may not know that the Seattle Aquarium's otter collection just became bigger. Their sea otters just had a tiny, fluffy little baby. There was a lot of worry, initially, about whether or not they could keep it. Apparently male sea otters are very territorial, so it would have had to go if it was a male. Luckily it turned out to be a little girl, so she's staying there. I had to go see for myself. I had a hard time getting good photos of the baby as that area was super crowded with annoying people, but I was able to get some other good photos including this one of a sea cucumber's mouth.

Sea Cucumber Mouth
Taken with iPhone

For the record, before I was a vegetarian I actually did eat one of these. It was quite good.

Instant Successes: Volunteer Park Water Tower

2012-02-02T13:41:00.000-08:00

Few things work their way into my photos as frequently as utilitarian, man-made structures. Have I mentioned I love them? Yes, I have. Got some bricks? I'm taking some pics. That's my motto. I just made that up right now, but I already promise never to say it or write it again. Another thing I like is Polaroid's theobromine-infused pack film, Chocolate 100. This is essentially tinted black & white film, and makes for some very interesting photos. As the name implies, the pictures come out in shades of brown, making shadows shadowier and skies a creamy cacao color. This film makes scenes look like depression era snapshots, and I absolutely love it. Polaroid made two other colors in the same "line" of pack film: Sepia, and Blue. The Blue film uses the textured silk paper, which I wrote about briefly here, and I have had great success with it. The Sepia, on the other hand, has been hard to work with for me. I may have just had a hard time getting used to the light settings and the development time, but everything came out too light. My personal preference, though, has been Chocolate.

Can you even tell what year this was taken? The Volunteer Park Water Tower looks as stunning as ever, but that silvery-blue conifer really steals the spotlight. I love trees, I love brick, and I love Chocolate 100. Winning combo, every time.

Volunteer Park Water Tower
Taken with Polaroid 350 Land Camera on Polaroid Chocolate 100

Sorry for the pink border. Cheap scanner.

FYI, Chocolate is out of stock on Impossible Project, but Sepia is available for now. Give it a try! You can also follow these links to some pretty great examples of what the film can do in the hands of some real professionals (or hobbyists that are more talented than I am).

Mobile Update: Gnomes

2012-01-30T21:07:00.000-08:00

What guy doesn't have gnome earrings sitting around his apartment?

Gnomes
Taken with iPhone

In full disclosure, I probably took 15 pictures of these guys. I'll only make you look at the one. More will be available upon request. That's a joke.