Hands...

After a long hiatus I have finally started shooting nudes again. The pause was more a lack of models than a lack of desire to shoot the subject. I have started playing with using Sliver EFEX Pro with my nudes to create a more gritty feel to the models skin. This technique celebrates (to me at least) the flaws and imperfections in the skin and also gives a rough vibe to the images. Here is a simple example. Like my good friend and mentor, Jim Steele, I am fascinated with hands and the character they posses I often find myself making sure the models hands are at least part of the focus of my nudes (if not the focus). Please let me know what you think of the look and feel of this image.

Nikon FM2N
Kodak Tri-X, Silver EFEX

I also have a model booked to start shooting my "Self Within" series. I hope to be able to start posting some of the raw images here with in a few weeks if the shoot goes well!

The Book Thing...

"The world outside"
Nikon FM2N, Kodak Tri-X
Post processed using SilverEFEX

Now that I am spending so much time in Baltimore :) I figure it is high time to start trying to capture the wonderful diversity of culture in this rough around the edges city right in my back yard. I already have a couple of hundred images to weed through but here is a taste. These two are from a wonderful hole in the wall free book exchange known as "The Book Thing"

"Elbow in the FACE!!!"
Nikon FM2N, Kodak Tri-X
Post processed using SilverEFEX

Been busy...(Post may be NSFW)

Well unexpectedly life has taken over and I haven't kept up with this blog. Can't say I'm complaining :) I have been shooting, but mostly just my every day life. I will post any interesting images I can as I work through them. Where does the time go? I have been working with the new Impossible films and having some good success lately, especially with the PX100 film. It looks like the best results are obtained simply by allowing the film to develop in darkness. I just tape the dark slide over the ejection point on my SX-70 Sonar and then either put the film in my pocket, or bag, or if it's really bright out a film changing bag. I still like to use my hands to help the development with a little heat now and then. I will either just rub the whole film in the palm of my hands to slightly darken the whole image or use my fingers to darken a specific area. I typically start this heating process just before all the blue paste fades away.PX600 has needed less to no heat. Actually any small amount of heat seems to really turn the film orange or even red. My problem with the first batch of this film is the de-lamination issue along with getting ugly green tones show up in the shadows after about 30 minutes of development. I also get the snow flake issue and the weird light spots. Supposedly all of these issues have been corrected by Impossible. I have ordered a few packs of the new and improved PX100 and PX600 films so we shall see. I have to say I am not sure that PX100 needed a change, as I had already dialed in the film to my liking. I guess it would be nice to not have to allow it to develop in darkness, but at the same time if you get rid of that then you may also get rid of the ability to effect the image during development which I like allot. This has all been a fun experiment and I guess I will just be happy to continue along the ride.
So here is an example of PX100 in bright sun on a cooler day using my method of applying heat with the palm of my hands to aid development:

"Kelly & Andy"
SX-70 Sonar, PX100

I don't know about other photographers who shoot nudes, but I have always wondered if I needed to get in front of the camera to better understand what the experience is like. Not unlike many people who would never consider posing nude I have insecurities about being nude in front of a camera. But for whatever reason lately I have been thinking it was time to step to the other side of the lens. I started by figuring I would just do it, not tell or show anyone and be able to say yes I had done it. But it turns out I actually like some of the images. If you can't already see below don't freak out, the images show nothing.

Untitled
SX-70 Sonar, PX100

I didn't learn anything profound by doing this. I have always understood and appreciated the models who were willing to help me make some of the images I really enjoy. When you shoot people or nudes you are limited in that you can't just wake up and go shooting. Especially with nudes you need to do allot of planing, and most importantly you need someone willing to pose for you. Up to this point my nude photography has been rather traditional, I have spent a few years learning to shoot the female form approaching it from a very traditional veiw point. I love the images I have created, but they are rather safe and nothing new. I have a new project that I am currently looking for models for that I hope will be my first step taking everything I have learned and applying it to create images that are more me than copies of traditional work that has come before me. I hope to have something to start sharing before the end of the summer.

I will post some of the results from my PX600 film in a future post.

TOYCAM - hang... um...5?!

the fifth name on the interview list for the toycamera book TOYCAM - Lo-fi Photography. Over the past year the book team collected hundreds of names, viewed many web-pages, Flickr galleries, and toycamera.com galleries. In the end we only had room for 6 interviews in the book, though we would have loved to talked to so many more of you.
So everyone please congratulate Jack Brull (aka Glider! We thoroughly enjoyed talking to him about his photography.

TOYCAM take 4! (finally)

the fourth name on the interview list for the toycamera book TOYCAM - Lo-fi Photography. Over the past year the book team collected hundreds of names, viewed many web-pages, Flickr galleries, and toycamera.com galleries. In the end we only had room for 6 interviews in the book, though we would have loved to talked to so many more of you.

So everyone please congratulate Gordon Stettinius (aka Eyecaramba)! We thoroughly enjoyed talking to him about his photography.

Iphonetography

Many photographers are discovering the iPhone camera as a potential creative tool. It is much maligned as a pretty terrible camera even for a cell phone. Many complain about the file size yada yada yada. A few have realized that the camera combined with the numerous camera and photo apps may actually be a tool to make some amazing images. Yeah you can't print these images very big, a few inches at max. But printing large is often the fall back of photographers trying to make their images have more of an impact than maybe their image really has. I mean everyone is impressed by giant prints, they cost more, and we all know that if it is big and costs more it must be awesome right? Well many people who know little about art do think this way, and if they happen to have lots of money then all the better :)

Anyway I hope the iPhone is showing us a glimpse of where digital cameras may go. Maybe you have seen that Polaroid has created a little Pogo camera that comes with a small printer giving you a digital way to recreate some of the experience of the old Polaroid camera with its instant film. Can you imagine that camera and printer combined with a few apps that allow you to visually recreate the old instant film? Or a digital camera and printer all in one with all of these iPhone style apps that allow you to edit in the field? Don't get me wrong I love film, but I love photography more than any aspect of it. Give me an iPhone camera with a few more megapixels and all of the apps and the ability to print anywhere in the field and I will use it.

I am going to make a regular part of this blog a sampling of the images I have and will create with the iPhone and all of the apps. I will do my best to list the apps used, but I am not going to go into the details of exactly how the images were created. Here is the first image. It was created by a composite of 3 separate images and a combination of the AutoStuch, Cool fx, and PhotoStudio apps.

iPhone
AutoStuch, Cool fx, PhotoStudio

PX100 - Round 2

Ok so I took the SX-70 Sonar to Easter with the Fam loaded with my second pack PX100. The day was pretty overcast but still bright enough that you could wear sunglasses. Temperature was in the high 70's (degrees F). Learning the lessons from the first pack I kept all of the subjects (the Fam) close and focused on getting a good image. As you can see from the first image these conditions produced very good detail and the contrast is much better than the first pack. The light/dark dial was centered for all of the images.

SX-70 Sonar
PX100

As I said in my last post I thought that this film could use a bit of adjustment in photoshop. Now I am not very experienced work in color but I think this next image shows the potential. The tricky part is trying to keep the same color tones.

SX-70 Sonar
PX100

This next image has the lens pointed in the direction of the sun and you can see that as you would expect the image is a bit more washed out. I did use Photoshop to darken the image.

SX-70 Sonar
PX100

Here is another image with no Photoshop adjustments (other than to make it look as close to the original as possible). The images after this show a few experiments adding body heat to the development.

SX-70 Sonar
PX100

This image was developed in my pocket and heat was added via friction from rubbing my hand over the image for about 30 seconds. The image is darker and has a slight red tone as we expect. The shadow detail tends to go away. This method also is pretty hard to control since you can't see what is happening when the image is in your pocket. I tried twice more to replicate this and both times the results were darker and more red.

SX-70 Sonar
PX100

I decided to test out my idea from the last post. I shot this image with the dial 1 tick toward the white side of the dial (giving more exposure). I placed the image in my pocket to develop, checking it every 5-10 seconds until I saw that the image was primarily showing yellow and brown tones yet still had some of the light blue tones from the protective paste. At this point I started rubbing the image between my hands creating heat. I was able to significantly darken the image yet keeping the red tones from showing up. I am going to practice this technique as it has thus far produced the best tones and contrast.

SX-70 Sonar
PX100

First Flush - PX100 (New Polaroid film)

I took the new instant film being produced by the Impossible Project for my first test shoot today. The rumors on the street were this was a pretty tough film to dial in and very sensitive to temperature and light during developing. Please excuse the rough scans here (newton rings and all). I just wanted to get my first experience out there and let everyone get a feel for what worked for me and what didn't and hopefully I will start to see some other lessons learned from other shooters and we can all start to figure out this film.

These images were taken with my SX-70 Sonar. Everything was shoot in Alexandria VA, USA. For the outside shots most were in bright clear sunny conditions. Some of the last few were bright sunny hazy conditions with hazy cloud cover. The first shot was shot indoors, the exposure was a couple of seconds (guessing by the sound and delay), handheld, with the light/dark dial centered.

1. Polaroid SX-70 Sonar
PX100

As you can see it looks very over exposed. Either the light meter in the camera gave to much exposure or maybe this film needs less light under these conditions. The reciprocity curve might not hold out here, though if that is the case this is the first film I know of that needs less light at long exposures.

The next shot was outside in full bright sun with a clear blue sky. Again the light/dark dial was centered. This seems to be the perfect conditions for this film. This is the best contrast I got all day.

2. Polaroid SX-70 Sonar
PX100

The next shot was of an alley way with shade and sun, same light as the above shot. Again the dial was centered. I wanted to see how it handled a very contrasty scene. The image has less contrast then above, but all in all the film did pretty good here. You can already see this film is not going to be a very high contrast film. Actually it feels very much like Polaroid Chocolate shot with a Holga.

3. Polaroid SX-70 Sonar
PX100

This next image was shot in the same bright sun with birght blue sky, but I moved the dial one tick mark toward the darker side (giving less exposure). You can see the muddiness that results and the much less contrast. Still this has potential. It does suggest that only very minor adjustments of the dial will be necessary.

4. Polaroid SX-70 Sonar
PX100

This image was shot an hour or so later. It is still bright and sunny, but now there was a thin layer of clouds basically turning the sky into a big bright softbox. The subjects were further away here. And all in all the contrast is way down and I did notice this film has problems with object far away, they always seem to be hazy. Dial was centered again.

5. Polaroid SX-70 Sonar
PX100

Same exact conditions as the above image.

6. Polaroid SX-70 Sonar
PX100

The conditions here were the same as well, but I moved the dial half way to the next mark toward the lighter side (more exposure). You do see a slight increase in detail in the tree line and the water seems brighter.

7. Polaroid SX-70 Sonar
PX100

Finally I put the dial back to center. Same weather conditions. This time I put the film in my pants pocket and kept my hand over it to warm up the film. This film is supposed to get a red hue if the developing temperatures get to hot. You can see the added heat does start to give some red hues, it also caused the image to darken much more. Essentially this the same image as image 6 (same settings and conditions, take probably 5 minutes apart). Yet this is much darker. I now wonder if under these bright hazy conditions you might overexpose a bit and then develop in your pocket to create a better image.

8. Polaroid SX-70 Sonar
PX100

My first impressions are that this film has potential. It is going to take some time to really dial it in and find the right lighting conditions to really make it shine. I will say it has allot of potential if you combine it with some Photoshop post processing. At the retail price this is going to be expensive to learn this film. Hopefully if enough of those who use it share their experiences we can collectively figure it out fast :)