For this roll I used my Holga with Ilford’s Super XP2, iso 400 and a yellow filter. If you’re doing this in sunny situations, a filter will be necessary to counteract any overexposure. As you can see in this first shot, taken at the Philly Art Museum, the yellow filter didn’t really help. I was trying to take a shot of the outside of the building from the Rocky Steps.

Oh well. Here are a couple more photos from that day.

Long exposure of a window in the museum’s cafe

 I did make some successful microclicks when I took my Holga and yellow filter to the beach.

I’m very happy with these results! I got these by aiming, clicking, advancing the film 4 clicks and turning slightly after each advancement of the film. Next time, I’ll only advance the film 2 or 3 clicks and make a slight turn every 3 or 4 shots. It’s a really fun technique.

Here are two non-microclick pictures from our beach day. The yellow filter really makes for wonderful contrast in these pictures. I’m going to have to start using it more often.

With Tesla 2, reddish lighting bolts appear in random places within your picture, kind of like this.

How fun is that? You can channel your inner wizard/mad scientist, like my brother did in this picture.

I used my Lomography La Sardina for this roll, which in retrospect may not have been the best camera for the job. The focus is SO touchy! If you’re not in exactly the right place, your pictures will be fuzzy, and not in a good way. I brought this camera because of the bulb setting and ability to make multiple exposures but I think my Vivitar UWS would have been a better choice. With it’s fixed focus, I wouldn’t have had the problems I did with the La Sardina.

I’m not sure what the trick to getting bright lighting bolts to appear is, but I’m willing to spend more money and play around with the Tesla 2 to figure it out. Here’s what the film looks like when the picture is black. I’m unsure of what happened to this frame. Possibly, the shutter was tripped accidentally in my bag?

I love it!! Freaky cool, isn’t it?

It seems to me the more underexposed the picture is, the better the lightning shows up. More lighting also shows up in the darker places of each photo.

In these pictures, which are exposed properly or don’t have many dark places, it’s tougher to see the lightning.

These two pictures were long exposures. Much like the properly exposed film, the lighting effects are more subtle.

Because Hannah and Michael, the creators of Revolog film, produce each roll by hand, the effects are totally random, so there’s no full-proof way of framing your shot to maximize each film’s characteristic. To me, that’s the fun part of it all.

Once again, Revolog has wowed me. I love the subtle effects of Tesla 2. Because I was taking pictures of an already beautiful place, the lightning didn’t detract from my subjects. Instead, my pictures received a little injection of humor and surprise. I only wish it came in frames with 36 rolls instead of just 12

As soon as we landed at the airport, the snapping commenced. These are Hipstamatic with Susie Lens and Cano Cafenol film.

Roosters, chickens and cats rule the island. It’s amazing that they all co-exist peacefully, but then again, it is Key West.

John S Lens, Pistil Film

Loftus Lens, Ina’s 1969 Film

Key West doesn’t take itself too seriously, as evidenced by these funny and artful signs.

John S Lens, Pistil Film

Tejas Lens, Ina’s 1969 film

Americana Lens, Ina’s 1969 Film

Loftus Lens, Ina’s 1969 FIlm

John S Lens, Pistil Film

Loftus Lens, Ina’s 1969 Film

 The Menu @ Pepe’s…Free Pickles for Pregnant Women!     John S Lens, Pistil Film

Also @ Pepe’s…Steak Smothered in Pork Chops….what? Who does that?

James M Lens, Ina’s 1969 Film

We were there, of course, to celebrate my brother’s wedding to his high school sweetheart, April. Here are a few people shots of the wedding and afterwards.

Tejas Lens, Ina’s 1969 Film…….First Dance

Tejas Lens, Ina’s 1969 Film…..April and her Dad, who is talking to April’s daughter. You can see her eyes peeking out behind April’s shoulder

Tejas Lens, Ina’s 1969 Film……Singing with the band, Sweet Leda

One of my favorite shots of the night on Duval Street

Julie getting ready for an acoustic set….John S Lens, Alfred Infrared Film

There was a lot of beauty to behold in Key West, along with the weirdness…..and lots of stray shopping carts.

John S Lens, Alfred Infrared Film

John S Lens, Alfred Infrared Film

John S Lens, Pistil Film….This was in someone’s backyard

Susie Lens, Ina’s 1969 Film

 Susie Lens and Cano Cafenol film

John S Lens, Pistil Film

I had such a blast with friends old and new. If you ever get the chance to take a trip to Key West, run, don’t walk to the plane. I’m hoping 15 more years won’t pass by before my next trip.

I took a stroll in my yard to capture these images. I held a +10 diopter in front of the top lens when composing the shot, then moved it to the lower lens to take the picture. Shutter speed was at 125 and the light was bright and beautiful.

The picture of my daughter Zoe is a double. I tried to capture a macro shot of some pink flowers as one of the layers of that shot, but it just ended up overexposed. Oh well. It’s still a great shot of my girl.

I really love the third shot of the pink tulip. The light was really nice and the composition was good, too. It’s a kind of crap-shoot when you use this technique, especially when the wind kicks up and starts blowing everything around. Once the lens is moved from the top to the bottom, there’s no way of knowing what the shot will look like. I just hold my breath, press the button and hope for the best.

While not a particularly inspiring shot, the next picture of little pink flowers on a tree branch is nice for the little pentagons of light that appear in the middle left and bottom right areas of the frame. My favorite is probably the last one, the dandelion. Other than being a little dark, it’s just what I hoped it would be!

Has anyone else used a similar technique? Any recommendations for Yashica filters? I’m going to try some color IR film soon and need to figure out a way to affix a filter to the lenses. I’m thinking that holding the filter in front of the lens may be the easiest way, but any suggestions would be appreciated.

For one thing, the contrast is phenomenal.

This tree picture looks almost like an HD digital picture! I also love the way the pine needles were captured on the floor of the woods.

The weather was overcast on the day I took these shots, but it wasn’t much of a challenge for this film and camera combo.

I also took some photos at the beach at dusk.

See the lights in the background?

 The following pictures were taken at a restaurant. I wanted to see just how low I could go with the lighting.

Finally, I took some pictures of my favorite, rusty road sign.

 The Natura Classica plus Ilford 3200 iso film is a winning combination! I usually develop my own black and white film, but I sent this roll out to be developed by someone (or something) that can load the film onto a spool without screwing it up. I still haven’t quite mastered that skill, but because I plan on buying many more rolls of this film, I guess I’ll get more opportunities to practice.

I’ve been wanting one of these cameras for a very long time and it was worth the wait. For my first roll, I took it on a walk in the woods on a foggy day. I got some nice, moody shots that were taken on Ilford XP-2 iso 400…it’s a C-41 processed B & W film.

Looking through the viewfinder was a little challenging. The image was pretty dark (that may have been the product of the diffused lighting that day) but otherwise, I have no complaints. I’m going to try some macro shots of tulips and flowers today using my diopters.

I would HIGHLY recommend this camera for your vintage collection! If you can get your hands on one, it’s worth the money.

I know next to nothing about this camera but am excited to play around with it. The other camera came from my Mom’s cedar chest. It was her camera back in the day….a Polaroid Land Camera Automatic 103

This one I am familiar with. It’s the relative of another Polaroid Land Camera that I own, the 220, and just like my 220 (which I affectionately refer to as Aunt Bertha’s camera because it came with EVERYTHING in the case, including a little lace hankie, and smelled like the top of a moth-ball-filled closet), it included the case, manual and a flash unit. Once I get a battery for it I’m going to give it a try. I’m hoping the roller functions better than the 220 so I don’t get gluey rollers half way through my film pack. What a pain it is to clean.

I’m still waiting for my first Yashica roll to come back from the developers. I took it out last week on a foggy morning as we took the kids and dog for a walk in the woods. I’m hoping for some moody, misty shots. Until then, I will share some iPhone photos I took while at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Curators are masters of using light to highlight the best parts of an exhibit. Whether the lighting is very low, casting gorgeous shadows on the walls, or warm and inviting, everything is beautiful and begging to be captured by an intrepid photographer.  Whenever I visit a museum I treat it as a workshop in lighting. I push myself and try new techniques to see how my camera best responds. This first shot was taken through my Holga Lens Turret’s blue filter.

This last shot was in the cafeteria. I used the Salvadore 84 lens on all the pictures that look doubly exposed.

Museums are also great places to test out your camera’s macro abilities. The iPhone is phenomenal at close up shots and even better with the Holga Lens Turret’s macro lens.

The rest of these pictures are taken without the macro lens.

They’re not the best pictures (clearly, I need more practice taking pictures covertly) but I had fun doing it. Here’s some better shots of Chinatown.

We didn’t eat at this place, but with a name like New Big Wong, we might have try it

This is where we ate. You could watch them make noodles amongst the duck carcasses. Pretty cool.

More DC, but not in Chinatown

This would’ve been a great shot if it hadn’t been for that pesky camera strap.

Tonight we’ll be going out to celebrate and hear some great local music. I’ll be documenting it all on my iPhone and I hope to have pictures that I can share with you next week. I’m hoping not to drop my iPhone in beer tonight. Wish me luck with that!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, or should I say, National Beer Day!

For example, a few of the photos in natural light were blurry. I’ve heard of this phenomenon with the Natura Classica, but this is the first time I’ve personally experienced it. These pictures are from a trip to Twin Lakes Brewing Co. in Greenville, DE. I HIGHLY recommend a trip there if you’re in the area. The brewer, Sam Hobbs, personally sits down and weaves a tale of history, brewing basics and the environmentally sound practices that his brewery adheres to. The brewery is on a farm that has been in Sam’s family for seven generations and has played a large part in the history of northern Delaware.

See? Just they’re just this side of out of focus. Not enough to make them horrible pictures, but disappointing nonetheless. There was a pleasant surprise on this roll. I posed with the “Stanley Cup of Beer Growlers” and had Sam take a shot of it with my iPhone while Jake took the shot with the Fuji.

Wow! The Natura Classica did a MUCH better job! Here are a couple more pictures from our brewery experience.

That’s a giant bag of hops.

There were also pictures on this roll of our trip to the Philadelphia Art Museum. I had lots of opportunity to play with light and shapes. First, I have to show you the picture that almost got me kicked out of the museum. I snapped this shot of Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” and a security guard TOTALLY busted me, telling me to put away the camera. No pictures allowed. I figured it was no FLASH photography, but I was wrong.

There’s lots of graininess in this picture, but I don’t think it detracts from the subject.

This last shot is one of my favorites

There was a beautiful display in a dimly lit room of some iron work. The play between the hard shapes and their shadows was interesting.

I think this is the point at which the Natura might have been on the outer edges of its range. While I really like these pictures, they would’ve looked better if they weren’t so grainy.

Here’s another fun comparison shot between the iPhone

And the Natura Classica

The 1600 film gives the second picture a much different feel and character than the digital Hipstamatic shot.

Lastly, we had dinner at Garces Market and I took the opportunity to snap some pictures.

Again, for comparison, here’s an iPhone shot at the restaurant.

All in all, I’m quite pleased with this roll of 1600 but once again, I’m reminded of the limits of film when it comes to dim light. I still love my Natura Classica and will continue using it on a regular basis, especially at places like museums and restaurants. Sometimes the graininess of the fast film adds character, sometimes it just detracts. The experimenting will continue.

My camera was loaded with Fuji Chrome, iso 100 slide film and had the 28-80mm zoom lens attached. The first few shots of this roll were taken indoors. I tried to do some light painting using Christmas tree lights. I also took a macro-type shot of an orchid.

Both unexciting shots, but they help to tell this story. Next, we went for a walk on the beach. It was a beautiful and unseasonably warm January afternoon. Also on this expedition I took along my Fuji Natura Classica and shot some of the pictures in this blog post. When I didn’t have to worry about light metering with the Fuji, my results were really nice. With my Canon, it was a different story.

I completely forgot there was a light meter on the camera. I suppose that’s what happens when you work with simple cameras most of the time.

The exposure isn’t the greatest on any of these, plus my film must have been expired, which helps to explain the bluish tint. Look at the first picture again and you’ll see a lovely little element entering the picture from the middle of the top…those lovely sunbursts. I continued to get them in these pictures and really love the way they look.

There were a couple of shots which made this roll worth it, namely these two that I took from an odd angle.

Clearly what went wrong here was my exposure time. In almost every shot, I completely forgot about light metering. Slide film always needs a little more light and the slow speed of the film I was using didn’t help. On the positive side, I love the sunbursts and the unusual POV I took in the last few shots.

So you see, just because you think a roll is a disaster, you may be mistaken. It’s always important to learn from your mistakes, in photography and in real life, and appreciate the beauty that was actually captured.