The Soundry!

Well I got into another show! I am pretty happy so far this year I have entered 4 juried shows and been accepted to 3 of them. I will have a piece hanging in NYC, Raleigh NC, and Vienna VA over the next few months so if you are in any of those cities please do stop by and check the shows out. The opening for the show at the Soundry is January 30th, I will most likely attend so I hope to see you there. Here is a link to the Soundry:
The Soundry

If you can't make the show here is a link to the my photo called
"The 800 Block of S. Washington St."


And you can find links to the other two venues where my work will be displayed at the bottom of this post:
Other Venues

Is it Holga or is it Hasselblad?

As mentioned in my last post, my sister was kind enough to be a model for me to test some film in my studio. Basically I have recently realized that I don't take my Holga into the studio and I have been thinking that I needed to, not only for portraits but for a future nude shoot. Well my favorite film is Ilford HP5 (ISO 400) and my studio lights are 500W tungsten bulbs. If you know anything about tungsten lights they are actually quite a bit less intense than flash lights. This means my shutter speeds are pretty slow. I am typically shooting f11 at 1/15 to 1/30th of a second. Plenty fast for portraits and nudes, but these speeds present a real problem for the Holga. I have the choice of 1/100th of a second or bulb on the Holga. So my choices are shoot a film fast enough to allow for a 1/100th shutter speed or a film slow enough to allow me to time exposures manually. To use bulb and manually time shutter speed I need a minimum speed of 1 second.

So I decided to use 3 different films and use both my Holga and Hasselblad. The Hasselblad would provide a control set of images since I obviously have many more options than I do with the Holga. I shot a few rolls of HP5 in the Hassi just to give me a good chance of getting something my sister would like so the time wasn't a waste for her. I also picked Ilford Delta 3200 and Ilford Pan F Plus (ISO 50), I shot two rolls of film for each type, one in the Hassi and one in the Holga.

For those of you that care my studio lighting consists of two soft boxes with 500W tungsten bulbs. Frankly there are very few lighting conditions you can't recreate with two soft boxes and a variety of different strength bulbs. Though I find two equal strength bulbs just about perfect for portraits and nudes. One soft box was pointed at the white cloth background and one at 45 degrees coming in from the right side of the images. Honestly sometimes I think photographers get carried away with their lighting steups. I have a book that shows a shot done with something like 20 lights. Honestly after 3 or four can anyone really tell? I think it is part of the same mentality that thinks having the best camera ever made means something. The most lights and electricity used to make an image wins!

Anyway here are the results:

Lets start with the Ilford Delta 3200. I shot the film at ISO 1600. The scene was metered to f11 at 1/160th. This means I am probably going to be a bit over exposed with the Holga (shot on the sunny symbol and N), but not enough to really make a big difference. I shot the Hassi at f5.6 and 1/500th.

Hasselblad 500C
Ilford Delta 3200 @ 1600
F5.6, 1/500

Holga
Ilford Delta 3200 @ 1600
sunny, N

Now for the Ilford Pan F Plus. I shot the Hassi at f4 and 1/8. The Holga I put a 2 stop ND filter which allowed me to shoot at sunny and 1 second using a manual release cable (purchased from Freestylephoto).

Hasselblad 500C
Ilford Pan F+
f4, 1/8

Holga w/ 2 stop ND filter
Ilford Pan F+
sunny, 1 sec

So pretty good results all in all. As expected the higher speed film is more grainy and the slow speed film much less so. You also get a pretty good look at just good/bad the Holga lens is. At first glance to the untrained eye you may say that all of these images were created with the same camera. But closer inspection you can see the Holgas softer focus, and focus fall off from the center to the edges. Still the Holga when used properly gives some pretty amazing results. I sometimes get a bit tired of people who pick up their Holga's and really never learn to use them. These people often gush over other photographers results and wonder how they did it, or worse figure it was all done in photoshop. Honestly all it takes is a notebook and ruler and a few rolls of film. When using a holga the key is figuring focal distances. You don't have to extremely accurate since the Holga has a slightly wide angle lens. Once you have figured where to focus all you really need after that is an understanding of exposure and how to work within the limitations of the Holga to get your image. I make it sound simple and it is, but it does take practice. I also think do a few test rolls where you have outlined a series of shots to get you the answers you need is the best way to go. Randomly shooting what ever catches your eye can get you there if you take detailed notes, but it will take much longer.

Finally here is a final image from the Hassi using HP5.

Hasselbald 500C
Ilford HP5
f11, 1/15

I will scratch you!

So here is the first image from a recent shoot with one of my sisters. She was kind enough to suffer through a few hours to help me test out some new films. Now this image was created with my fav go to film Ilford HP5, but when testing out new stuff you need a control right?! Anyway enjoy, I am sure my sister is going to kill me for posting this image :)

"I will scratch you!"
Hasselblad 500C
Ilford HP5

Juried Group Shows

First off I happy to announce that I have had two piece of my work accepted to two juried shows so far this year. The first show is in Raleigh, NC and the second is the annual Krappy Kamera show in NYC. KK is basically the big juried show for toy camera photographers and this is the second time I have had a piece accepted. Actually this only the second time I have entered work into the show. About 4 years ago I started entering my work to various juried shows and to Light Leaks magazine. Most photographers start submitting to these shows at some point. I stopped after the first year cost me more money than I had expected. I got caught up how cool it was to have my work accepted and entered more shows than I could afford. I actually find this whole thing a bit strange and for someone seeking validation of their skill or talent these shows can be costly not only from a financial stand point, but also from a confidence stand point. So here are my thoughts on what these shows are and are not. I would love to hear from all of you about your views and why you do or do not enter these types of shows.

WHAT THESE SHOWS ARE:
A CHANCE TO HAVE YOUR WORK HUNG IN A GALLERY
As a beginning photographer we all have the dream of our work hanging in a gallery and these shows provide this opportunity with out all the work of having a solo show. You don’t need a large portfolio or body of work, you don’t need to sell yourself to a gallery owner and convince them to give you a show or wall space. All you need is the money for the entry fee and if you get a piece accepted the money to frame and ship your piece to the gallery (if it is not local).

FINANCIAL HELP FOR THE GALLERIES
These shows provide money to small galleries supporting photography. Lets face it galleries do this to help keep their galleries going. Entry fees are non refundable and having a show like this can easily bring in a few hundred entries at $25-50 per entry. Regardless of how you feel about paying these fees, I see it as money well spent if it helps keep open a few venues that support the art that I love.

A CHANCE TO HAVE YOUR WORK SEEN
There is also the benefit of having your work seen by an audience that normally may not have a chance to see it. This is especially true if you submit to galleries outside your locality.


WHAT THESE SHOWS ARE NOT:
A VALIDATION OF YOUR TALENT OR SKILL AS A PHOTOGRAPHER
I see too many photographers either take it hard when their work isn’t accepted or feel like they have arrived when their work is accepted. There are many problems with this, but the main one is that in this setting work selected has almost nothing to do with skill or talent. A good gallery owner will most likely be selecting work they feel might sell. This show, especially if it toy camera specific, is a great advertising opportunity for them to potentially attract new customers. Add to this that there is no feed back in this process and you really have no basis to judge your worth as a photographer based on being accepted or rejected. I have been in shows were very few entrants we selected and shows where everyone got at least one piece in. I have yet to sell a print via one of these venues nor I have I ever had anyone contact me and tell me they saw my work because of one of these shows.

CHEAP FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHER
These shows are not exactly cheap. In general you have to pay an entry fee, they typically range from $10-$50. This buys you the right to enter your images. If you get selected you then have to pay for the print, frame, and shipping (to and from). Depending on the size of the framed print you could easily be looking at $50 for the frame and $50 for shipping. If you happen to sell a piece the gallery always gets a cut, typically between 20 and 40%. Say your piece is priced at around $200 if you do the math you’d be lucky to recover the price of the frame when all is said and done.

So given all of this why do I submit. I do not see these shows as a potential money maker for me, quite the opposite actually it is a bit of a drain on my wallet. I also think that the vast majority of people who go to see these shows are fellow photographers. And as you have figured out we don’t typically buy allot of art. So really I see this as fun and being part of a community. I get to praise friends when they get selected and if a show is local see some of their work in person. I do always hope that maybe this time I will sell a piece, but I don’t count on it. I see these shows also as a bit of a resume builder. To the outsider having a list of juried shows on your resume looks awesome, to a fellow photographer we all know what these shows say or don’t say about our art. I can tell you that it helped me get a weekend gig teaching photography at a local arts school where the person hiring me was not a photographer. I also do not really see these shows as good advertisement either. I see it allot like having this blog or being part of the toycamera.com forum, preaching to the choir. All of the people on these forums are already part of the photography community and most likely have already seen my work and being photographers yourself are likely to never buy my work just like I am unlikely to buy yours. Lets face it we can always put our own work on the walls much more cheaply and as photographers I am sure most of you think like I do when I see an awesome image, “I could do that” so if I really liked what you did I could probably recreate the image myself and hang it on the wall.

In the end I tell my students to not take these shows too seriously. Have fun with them and do not take acceptance or rejection for any type of commentary on their skills. In the end the only person who needs to be happy with your work is you. Now if you plan on making your living as a photographer you will actually need to convince people to pay for your services, but again these shows do not really provide any feedback on your work so it would be a bit silly to take anything away from them. So if you can have fun and not take rejection harshly I encourage everyone to submit to these shows. It can be fun and help you become part of the photography community.

Here are links to the galleries where my work will be shown, if you happen to go to either of these shows please take pictures and send them to me and let me know what you think of my work :)

http://rebusworks.us/exhibitions/plastic-cameraworks-2

http://www.sohophoto.com/

Build your own Holgaroid and Holy Crap that's alot of SNOW!!

I'll start by giving you a look at a camera I just finished building. I'd like to tell you that I do this allot, but this is my first time. I'd also love to tell you this was all my idea but nope I just copied it from someone much smarter than me, check it out. About the only difference between his build and mine is I used black on black foam board for the adapter plate. For the Polaroid back I used a non working Polaroid 250 that I purchased from eBay. It wasn't advertised as broken, but for $15 it sure wasn't worth it try and get my money back.

Ready for paint!
Iphone, Helga style from Camera Bag App.

Racing Stripe!
Iphone, Helga style from Camera Bag App.

I used rubberized paint mean't for the undercarriage of cars. The paint does dry nice and hard, just make sure to give it a few days to dry then give it a light wash with a damp cloth. There is a sandy feel to the paint that the wash seems to get rid of. So here is the result. You do end up using a bit more of the image area than the manufactured Polaroid back for the Holga, but it still doesn't use the whole area. The result of this is you basically get a circular image. All in all I think it was worth the effort. I'll probably just do what I do with the manufactured Holgaroid images, crop them to make them look like square format Polaroids. I know many photogs don't like to use Photoshop in this way, but if it helps the final image I'm all for it.

Batman on Red
Home made Holgaroid w/ hand held flash
Fuji FP-100C

For those of you that have an iphone I recommend you get the Camera Bag App, it has a bunch of different "styles" that you can convert your images too. My favs are the Helga (which mimics the Holga) and magazine. I'll post a bunch in a future blog.

Finally it has been snowing all night and day here in Washington DC. As of a few hours ago I measured the accumulation at 18 inches and it is still coming down out there. This basically means that the area is shut down for days now. We just don't get storms like these very often and do not have the equipment to get the roads cleared in a timely manner. In a few days the sides of the roads will be littered with SUV's that spun out of control. The nice thing about this is that they act like railings and show you where the road is :) I spent much of the day shooting with my Holga's, I will develop the film later and will post if I like anything. I did take out the Digital (Canon 20D, as well as my Polaroid 180). Here is an image from the Polaroid.

Snow Angel
Polaroid 180, Sepia

All images on the Blog are the CopyRight of GreenStPhotography.

My name is Andrew Phillips and I finally decided it was time to start a photo blog for GreenStPhotography. GreenSt is the name of my "photography business", I put that in quotes mainly because while I do occasionally get paid to use my cameras I still don't actually make any money at it. At this stage in my life it is just a very serious hobby, I have a real job that pays well and allows me to persue my love of photography. This blog is one of many ways I am attempting to get my name (actually GreenSt's name) known so that if I ever do decide to turn my life upside down and see if I can be quarter back some day...(sorry, Strongbad reference) I mean try photography as a primary income source, well you get the idea.

To that end I figure that I can share love of photography and pass on any lessons learned and hopefully find new photographers to interact with and learn from.

As for where I fall in the cliques of the photography world, I am primarily a film photographer. My cameras tend to be "vintage" manual film cameras. Some examples of my current cameras are Hasselbald C500, Nikon FM2N, Graflex SpeedGraphic 4x5. I also shoot with toy cameras, actually the only camera you will always find in my bag is a Holga. For those that don't know the Holga is an all plastic medium format camera that is made in China. When I say all plastic I mean that even the lens is plastic. Is is cheaply made and cost about $25, can't really beat that price for a medium format camera! I have also recently been getting into Polaroids, yeah I know I am late to the game and Polaroid is no longer making instant film. Well I have a fridge full of film found on ebay and Fuji still makes some peel apart film, and the impossible project is getting ready to release its first integral films, so I should be good to go :).

So my primary job is Aerospace Engineer for the US Gov. I also teach intro to photography classes at The Art League in Old Town Alexandria in Virginia.

Ok, enough about me for now, on to the photography! Below is an image I created from the second roll of film I ever put through my Holga, it's called "National Cathedral 1-9". What you see is a digital representation of how I display the image, nine images with a small white border mounted on a black background. The reason I have the small white border on the nine images is I feel it allows the viewer to step back and view the image as a whole or to step closer and view each image individually.

"National Cathedral 1-9", Holga, Ilford HP5
copy right GreenStPhotography