Expired Kodak Gold 200 - Kinetic Toy Camera - Landscapes

As some of you know, I've been working my way through a year long Roll-A-Week project. Essentially, I've been shooting a minimum of one roll of film per week, every week. Occasionally though, I will end up shooting more than one roll of film in a week, and, in those cases I don't always post all of my photos over on the blog dedicated to the Roll-A-Week project. 

Week 23 of 52 happened to be one of those weeks. Since I was shooting a roll of ORWO NP 20 that had been expired nearly 40 years at the time of exposure, I decided to shoot a back up roll of film to be sure I had at least something to show for the week should the ORWO not work out at all. Luckily, the ORWO did produce some images, which left me with these photos to share here on this blog. 

These photos were all taken on a roll of expired Kodak Gold 200 that I ran through a small plastic/toy camera called a Kinetic. Often rebranded as one of the more popularly known toy camera's stamped "Time" or "Sports Illustrated" the Kinetic is a full plastic body/plastic lens camera with an auto fixed focal 50mm  f/1.6. Essentially a toy point and shoot with three pre-set focal distances (the always useful person, group of persons, mountains) this little camera actually turned out some decent results.

 Ater scanning these images I wasn't overly enthused or concerned about going through them. Once I saw that my roll of ORWO NP 20 for the week had turned up some decent images I figured there wasn't really much use in going through this 12 exposure roll of cheap film that I had run through and even cheaper camera. Today though, when I decided that I may as well look and see what I ended up with, I was more than pleasantly surprised with the final images. 

This roll of film has actually been a good reminder to something I've always known but often forget... the cost of your camera, film, supplies, etc., only go so far. Beautiful images can be created by even the cheapest cameras. Like with any trade or hobby, better tools can help you do a better job but are not always necessary. A highly skilled photographer could essentially use a disposable camera and take better images than an amateur with their choice of the most expensive gear. I'm not saying I fall into either of those camps, but I do think it's nice reminder that sometimes you can achieve more with less. To put it simply, as a friend of mine always says, "Only a bad carpenter blames their tools." 

Ilford HP5 Plus - Canon Canonet QL17 - Toronto

Toronto's CN Tower

Last week over on the Coalesce52 blog I posted some of my Fuji Astia 100 images from Toronto's Chinatown. While I was in Toronto I also shot a roll of 35mm Ilford HP5 Plus using my Canon Canonet QL17 GIII, which is what you see here. I must say, the more I shoot Ilford's films in any format the more I enjoy them. Take a look at some of my favorite images from this roll and then be sure to check out my Chinatown images over on the Roll-A-Week blog. Enjoy!

View from the CN Tower

Downtown Toronto

Lakeshore Blvd

Little Boxes on the Hillside

Kodak Ektar 100 - Canon FTb - A Little On Process

This past week I shot a roll of Kodak Ektar 100 color negative film using my Canon FTb with a 55mm f/1.2 lens for my year long Roll-A-Week project - Coalesce52. After getting the film developed I started to go through the slow process of scanning and organizing my negatives and was reminded of a video that I had watched a few months back over on FStoppers. Photographer Scott Kelby, during the Google + conference in San Fransico, spoke to a live audience about how to work your scene to find the best composition. He even went as far as to take you through his RAW images to show you his own personal process and how even a professional photographer can shoot many images before arriving at the final image. It's an interesting video and if you have time to watch it I definitely think it's worth checking out (I personally love listening to photographers of all genres and backgrounds as I think you can learn something from everyone).



Of course, this concept of high volume shooting to perfect your composition is much easier when you are shooting digital. Now a days, you can essentially take an infinite number of shots (that's only a little exaggerated) and have the ability to immediately see on the back of your camera what your results are. So, what if you're not shooting digital? Well, I was surprised to find that I actually do this a bit when I'm shooting film - more with 35mm, less with medium format, and, almost not at all with large format and instant films (unless the shot is very important to me for one reason or another... then I might give the subject two exposures). 

With that in mind, here's a look at my miniaturized process for two of the setups that I shot with this roll of film. My first final image is one that I featured over on the Coalesce52 blog and you can also see that image at top. Here, seen below, are the three images that I took right before I ended up with this shot (click for full view):

You'll notice, not a lot of change. These images, though, are very different in my opinion. My position moved, my distance from the subject changed and my rotation relative to the subject changed. Now, keep in mind that I wasn't thinking of the aforementioned video or process when I was shooting these images. I was simply going about my standard shoot process knowing that I wanted to get the best shot possible and that I only wanted to shoot 4-5 images on this setup. Had I stopped after the first exposure, I would have ended up with a decent image, but just three images later (I feel) I ended up with a much stronger composition.

Below you can see another example of my process, this time a bit more dramatic, as I worked my way through another setup. The first two images were pretty awful:

And I kind of felt that after I made these exposures, so, I rotated my position a bit to end up with my next two exposures - which were better, but not quite there yet.

And that's when my composition completely changed - I rotated even more to square myself to the subject, I raised the perspective and switched to a vertical orientation. Of course, as with most things, it's all a matter of opinion which of your images you like best, but I believe that my final image (below) is a much cleaner, stronger composition than the above four images that led me to it.

Now, I do undertand that what Scott Kelby is discussing and what I am showing here are essentially two different things. Shooting film though, is a very different thing than shooting digital. One of the key differences with my process (besides the limited number of exposures I'm shooting per subject) is that I can't see my images after shooting them to check for exposure and composition. I can't compare one image to the next. And that, is where pre-visualiztion and expected outcome becomes so important. 

Knowing that I was shooting a 36-exposure roll of film I was comfortable leading myself through this process of experimentation and making extra exposures throughout the course of this shoot. Of course, I didn't know that I was doing it and didn't realize it until I saw my negatives lined up - okay shot, adjust, okay shot, adjust, okay shot, adjust... Good image. Then, when I started to think about it, I realized that I actually go through a similar process when I'm shooting medium format, large format and instant film with one key difference - I don't actually fire the shutter. I set up my image and view it through the camera, I move and do it again, and again, and then back, and again... but eventually I end up with the final Image I'm looking for.

I'm not saying that my process is the correct one, but Scott's video and my most recent negatives made me consider my process and how it changes with the format I'm shooting. Personally, I think that's all that improving your process takes sometimes... something that catches your attention and makes you examine the way you go about things. I might not change significantly moving forward, but, with my next roll of film I will pre-visualize and think a second longer before I fire the shutter each time. That's what I love about shooting film though... it makes me stop, it makes me think and it helps me improve my approach to nearly everything, not just photography.

If you stuck with me this far, thank you, and if you'd like to see more from this roll of film please visit my Week 5 post on the Coalese52 blog. If you have any thoughts on process or want to share your own I'm alway happy to get a few comments.

Enjoy. 

Kodak TMax100 - Canon Canonet QL17 - Winter

As I mentioned yesterday, the new Coalesce52 project blog is up and running now with work from the first couple weeks of the year. As I continue to shoot and post images through that site, I would like to point out that I will be making every effort to keep up with this blog as well - not only with photos from my 52 week project (though I'm sure you'll see many) but also with my usual menagerie of instant films and the occasional digital image.

I will say though that one of the perks of this new project, despite it's time consumption and demand for constantly finding new subjects, is that it does offer me a much broader selection of images to share through this blog. Already, in just 4 weeks, I've shot three different cameras and four different film types - a trend that I hope continues throughout the project allowing me stretch into even more film types I may not be as familiar with.

All of the images that I'm sharing here today were taken with Kodak TMax 100 using my Canon Canonet QL17 Rangefinder for Week 1 of the Coalesce52 project. This is the second roll of film that I have run thought this camera (you can see the first here) and I am again quite happy with the results.  

The TMax 100 that I shot these images with was a 36 exposure roll and I ended up with quite a few images that I liked. The high exposure count of some of the 35mm films that I'll be shooting this year will be really helpful when it comes to populating content across multiple sites. I also wanted to point out that these particular images were all shot right around dusk with very little daylight left in the sky. Despite this being a 100 ISO film it handled the low lighting conditions quite well - though I'm sure the Canonet's f/1.7 lens didn't hurt with that either.

Hope you enjoy todays images and of course if you'd like to see more from this roll please check out the Coalesce52 Week 1 post here.

New Year Long Project - Coalesce52

Week 1 Camera and Film

You might recall that a few weeks back I mentioned starting a new, year-long film project. Well, I am now four weeks underway with that project and wanted to share a few of the details with all of you in case you are interested in following along. 

Week 2 Camera and Film

Coalesce52 is, in a nutshell, a 52 week project that I've begun with a couple of my other creative friends. Every week through the remainder of the year I will be shooting a minimum of one roll a film per week in an effort to shoot more film throughout the year. My friends Scott Meivogel and Anthony Zart will also be undertaking the year long project with me - Scott shooting a roll of film per week the same as me and Anthony creating an original written word piece and illustration ever week. Early next year you can catch some of our favorite pieces of work (likely the top image from each roll of film) in a gallery show at Aperture. Meanwhile, however, you can visit our project blog to keep up with some of the images that will not be seen at that show.

Week 3 Camera and Film

I was going to share a few images from the first couple of weeks here on the blog, but, I'd think I'd prefer that everyone jump over to Coalesce52 instead to see not only my first two weeks posts, but, also check out some of the early works from Scott and Anthony.

Week 4 Camera and Film

Once again, in case you want all the info, here it is in short form:

Web: Coalesce52
Twitter: @coalesce52
Email: coalasce52@gmail.com

Thanks everyone for your continued support in my blog and I hope that many of you carry over to follow this other excited project throughout the year as well.

Enjoy.

35mm Rollei Retro 100 - Canon FTb - Coney Island Part 2

Simply stated, this is a continuation of yesterday's post finishing out my Coney Island images with the Canon FTb and Rollei Retro 100 film. Be sure to check out Part 1 if you haven't already. Enjoy.

35mm Rollei Retro 100 - Canon FTb - Coney Island Part 1

You might remember back in May that I went to New York for a couple of days for some business meetings, and, that while I was there I got the chance to go to one of my favorite places - Coney Island. I've already posted a couple rounds of photos from that trip through Coney (here and here) but I think this round is actually my favorite. I don't like to post too many photos at the same time, so, I've decided to break this post into two days worth of photos.

All of today and tomorrow's photos come from my Canon FTb and a roll of 35mm Rollei Retro 100 that I picked up in New York at the Lomography store. Rollei is most definitely one of  my favorite 35mm black and white films that I've shot with to date and previously the Rollei Retro 400s 120 version of this film gave me some of my favorite medium format film images (the Trikes and Edgewater at Night). I'm now very tempted to buy some of Rollei's 4x5 sheet film to see how it compares.

That's about all for today's post, but, be sure to check back tomorrow for the other half of the Coney Island images that I'll be posting at that time.

Part 2.

35mm Rollei Retro 100 - Canon FTb - Samantha

Back in June I posted a couple of photos of my brothers kids after they were in town for a visit. As I mentioned then, the youngest, Samantha, didn't get her photo posted because I didn't attempt to photograph her with my Crown Graphic as I figured it'd be nearly impossible to get her to sit still long enough. I did, however, snap a couple shots of her with my 35mm Canon FTb using some Rollei Retro 100 that I had loaded up from my earlier trip to New York. I'm in the process of scanning, resizing and saving all of those images now. So, in the meantime, I figured I would quickly share one of my favorite image of Samantha. Enjoy.

Kodak Elite Chrome 200 Expired - Canon FTb - NYC and Brooklyn

Flat Iron Building

Not really a whole lot to say about this post, but, as I mentioned in this earlier post, I have a few images to share from a roll of expired Elite Chrome 200 slide film that I ran through my Canon FTb with a 55mm f/1.2. This is probably the quickest that I have ever gone through a roll of 35mm film (shooting an entire roll in a few hours) but I'm working on using this format a bit more. I don't know why, but this is a format I've often avoided to a degree - perhaps just because I take forever to finish a roll, which of course, means it takes forever to get to see the images. Whatever the case may be, there will be some more 35mm in the near future including some Rollei Retro 100 from around Coney Island and some Fuji Astia that was taken this past weekend during Analog's Pulse that is being cross processed by Old School PhotoLab in New Hampshire as we speak.


But, for now, here are the remainder of the Kodak images from New York City and the Park Slope area of Brooklyn. Enjoy.

Cab outside Center for Alternative Photography

Basketball Courts in Park Slope Brooklyn

Traffic Signal - East 30th St

Store Front in Greenwich Village

Street Vendor on Broadway

View from the Impossible Project NYC Space

Expired Kodak Elite Chrome 200 - Canon FTb - NYC Subway

I just recently have gotten some of my film back from being developed. I will probably do a longer, more comprehensive post soon with some of those images but for right now I don't have a lot of time. Quickly though, I do want to share one of my favorite photos from a roll of expired Kodak Elite Chrome 200. This was shot in the New York City subway with my Canon FTb. I'm not sure what it is about this photo that I like so much but for some reason it really stands out to me. 


I'll post some more from this roll soon and hopefully have a few other things to share as well. I'm off to Milwaukee and Chicago tomorrow for work and plan to take a camera or two with me in case I get the opportunity to snap a few photos. Fingers crossed.

35mm Rollei ATP 1.1 - Last images from this roll

It's rare for me to get a lot of photos out of one roll of 35mm or 120/220 that I like and think are worth posting. The fact that so many have come from this roll of Rollei ATP is even more surprising. My first glance at these negatives led me to believe there was hardly anything worth trying to salvage from the entire roll. Everything looked to be a bit underexposed and ATP doesn't have much leeway when it comes to missing the exposure. With a little work though, I've found some things that I'm glad I didn't just ignore without even scanning. Sure, technically these aren't perfect photos... but then again, when has that ever been what this blog is about?

In case you haven't read any of my previous posts featuring this film, these were all taken with a Canon FTb using the Canon 55mm f/1.2 lens and an external Sekonic meter. The image at top is from an early spring trip along the shore of Lake Erie. This spot is now one of my favorite Cleveland beach spots and is located in the Huntington Reservation. The second image, also from early spring, is from outside a great wine and beer store located in Chagrin Falls. And finally, the image below, is a little still life that I set up while over at Aperture Photography and Variety one afternoon. It was actually the very last exposure on the roll - I only had one shot, and while I would have preferred to have been able to get a second photo bracketed a bit higher, I still like what I ended up with.

Hopefully, very soon, I will be getting back some color slide film of NYC images and some black and white 120 of varying things. As soon as I do, I'll start posting those selects. Stay tuned...

35mm Rollei ATP 1.1 - Chicago

A long while back I went to Chicago and took a lot of photos. Now, as I wait for some of my recent things to be developed, I figured I would post what is probably my last batch of images from that trip. I found these, like so many other things, on an older roll of 35mm Rollei ATP 1.1 that I shot using my Canon FTb.

If you'd like to check out more of my Chicago images, here are six previous posts that you can check out featuring multiple different film types - 1. Polaroid Sepia, 2. Impossible Project Black Frame Poor Pod, 3. Impossible Project Orange Flash, 4. More Impossible Orange Flash, 5. Black Frame Poor Pod in Wrigleyville , and finally 6. Some Kodak Ektachrome Elite 200 Slide Film

Of course, if you're not interested in any of that, you can just enjoy the rest of the images in this post.

35mm Rollei ATP 1.1 - Photos with Natalie

I figured I would follow up my most recent post about Rollei ATP 1.1 with some more of the photos that I came across on that same roll of film. These were actually taken as far back as October of last year when I headed down to the Columbus area to shoot with Natali. At the time I had posted a shot taken with a Polaroid 250 using expired Polaroid Sepia and mentioned that I had taken some 35mm images as well that I would share in the future when I finally got the roll developed. Well... eight months later here we are.

At first I was a little disappointed when I scanned these images in, but, after looking at them in comparison to the rest of the images on the roll I decided these weren't as bad as I expected. I did put in a little time working on the levels and contrast of these images after they were scanned to get them to where they are now. Whereas I am generally a purist with my instant film scans, I am a little more liberal with my 35mm, MF and sheet film scans. Since I'm not yet at the point of developing my own film, which takes away a certain amount of control, I am alright with considering Photoshop my digital darkroom for negatives after they have been developed and scanned.

  
You will notice though that overall I didn't do much work on these in the way of retouching as I would my traditional digital model photography. In fact, I ended up liking the sloppy scanned borders, dust and grit so much that I decided to keep all of those things in tact just as they came in. I think the high contrast, gritty feel of these photos actually works really well and the more I look at them the more they grow on me. 

As I continue through this roll of Rollei ATP 1.1 I'm starting to think I may need to give this film another go around. Yes, it is a bit more difficult to shoot, but I think the results can be very nice when all is said and done.