The 52 Project, Week 15: Elegant, Electric, Ektar 100

 Like stated last week, this week is all about color, and boy is there ever color!

Released in 2009, Kodak Ektar 100 film was introduced with the promise of being the world’s sharpest 100 ASA color negative film. Though it seems like a pretty tall claim, as of 2010, there really aren’t that many color negative films that are new to the market. Some more information can be found on Kodak Ektar 100 here:

Kodak Ektar Data Sheet

Stockholmviews Review

Roger and Frances Review

Kodak Ektar Flickr Pool

My $.02, Ektar is vibrant, saturated, and sharp as hell! Let’s cut to the samples.

Color gives this game a very cool feel.

Scan 1: Riverside Park Shuffleboard

Yep, I'm using a subject from last week into this week's post. These old folks were also my first test for Kodak Ektar. They also gave me a chance to explore how it handles incredibly bright back-lighting. 

Nah nah na nah nah!

Scan 2: Scottie Puppy Tongue

Just on my way out of the park after finishing my B&W roll of Tri-X, I came across this adorable Scottie puppy. He was quite excitable and happy to see the camera so close and down on his level.

Their hotdogs are as cool as their stand.

 Scan 3: Jim's Hotdogs at BalloonFest

 Previously the owner of the Findlay famous Jim's Gym, Jim the fitness guru has now forayed into the world of hotdog vending. You should check them out if you get a chance.

Jimshotdogs.net

Jim's Hotdogs on Facebook

For some reason she thinks I'm photogenic.

 Scan 4: Lauren Bagley with Pentax K1000

 Thanks to a Photography 101 class and a lot of bad influence from me, Lauren has become a fellow film nut. Heck, she even just won a copy of Pat Sansone's "100 Polaroids" from the awesome guys at The Film Photography Podcast. Oh yeah, they also gave her a Polaroid camera loaded with Impossible Project Film. Yeah, I'm a bit jealous.

Something Good: Got daylight? Got something that needs to “pop”? Ektar 100 is your go-to!

Something Bad: Not bad so much as a coping point, but this fantastically sharp film needs to be made in a faster version. ASA 100 has a lot of uses, but not nearly as many as say 400. :p

Something Learned: Ektar 100 is interestingly pleasing on skin tones. It has a similar skin tonality of Portra NC with a magenta “kick” while maintaining beautiful yet controlled saturation of pretty much everything else.

Next Week: This blog will be featuring an absurd amount of wieners, that is all. ^_^

The 52 Project, Week 14: Old People in the Park

So the great photo catchup begins.

This project is starting to change me, I can feel it. Prior to the onset of this unforeseen commitment, I spent at least three hours on the computer daily. Now? I’m getting sunlight, exercise, and am even meeting new people. This project most assuredly will be the death of me. x__x

Anywho, this week whilst not being at the computer, I went to the park to stalk senior citizens. It’s nearly as fun as it is creepy.

As soon as I hit 50, shuffleboard's my game!

Scan 1: Waiting on Their Turn

Heading out to Riverside Park in Findlay, OH on a late summer afternoon, the last thing I expected to see was a group of senior citizens enjoying a lively game of shuffleboard. Before this day, I thought shuffleboard was limited to senior centers and discount cruises; the more you know...

The game was intense, but no smack-talk.

Scan 2: Still Waiting...

This game requires quite a lot of patience. It's kind of like corn-hole's great great great grandfather. They were even keeping score on a chalkboard. Very awesome.

She backsteps, she shoots...

Scan 3: The Deciding Shot!

About as much action as one would expect from this game, but it was still a lot of fun to watch (and set up cool shots).

At least some people can appreciate nature.

Scan 4: Subtle Stroll through the Park

After a rousing few matches, I followed one of the not previously pictured couples around the park for a shot with a little more "awww" appeal. Success?

Before we skip right to the week's analysis, a little about the film used this week. It was all good 'ole Tri-X 400. Nice silvery skin tones, a pleasant brightness curve, and classic film grain. Minus a slight bump to the blacks, these scans are fresh off the Epson V700. For future info about the scans, all you have to do is click the photo, and you'll instantly be taken to the shot's Flickr location, where you'll find another brief description, what film the shot was taken on, and what shutter speed and aperture was used to make the photo. If you should find yourself lost in Flickr and wish to make your way back here, each photo description contains a link back to its corresponding article.

Something Good: The senior citizens being photographed were good sports. When shooting more than one or two frames of an interesting subject, I’ll ask the subject. Luckily enough, they agreed, so long as I didn’t interrupt their game. Old folks take shuffle board about as seriously as most men do the Superbowl.

Something Bad: I only got there to capture the last two matches for the day. Also, I forgot to ask them when they were playing next. >__<
Something Learned: I need to learn when to and not to make use of back-lighting. I the above situation, the results were overall okay. Black and white negative film is at the top of the dynamic range scale, so long as your metering is spot on.

Next Week: A sucker-punch of color to the face! I try out the sorta-new Kodak Ektar 100. Believe the hype, and then some!

The 52 Project, Week 13: Little Miss Japan

Life really has a way of getting in the way sometimes...

A slew of incredibly cool things have been happening lately, and as soon as I've finished processing them, this blog might start to get back on track. >__>

Leaving this stagnate for over a month has been awful. A six week hiatus while in the midst of catching up an already behind project is a formula for disaster. This blog was established for BOTH the reader and for myself to reflect upon the week by week trials of shooting film. Hopefully busting my ass this month will get me back to such a point. To readers who've stuck by and checked up occasionally through this dead period (you know who you are), Thank You.

*Now back to our irregularly scheduled programming*

Back in August (<__< I know), a very long time friend, near and dear to my heart, came back from her studies in Okayama, Japan to visit friends and family. Though my time with her was short, we certainly made the best of it. There are a couple more rolls and scans waiting in the wings, but Laura's just such an expressive, wonderful girl that the four scans from this one roll should tell you everything you need to know about her.

Yeah, I can't believe this dog is 12 either. Scan 1: Laura and Nick, the Happy Mutt

Laura LOVES dogs, period. Old dogs, inbred dogs, ugly dogs, slobbery dogs, and of course, the cutest of cute puppies; they all manage to make her day. If you start to see an unusually high number of random dog photos on this blog, part of the reason was I shot them for her. ^__^ This particular dog is her old pal, Nick. And although at 12 he's not moving as well as he used to, taking a walk down the street with Laura seems to turn him into a puppy again.

Ah window light, you always go down smooth.Scan 2: Laura at Squire's Castle

Squire's castle, just outside of Cleveland's eastern suburbs, is a great place for anyone to take a photo. During the summer you've got temperate weather, boat loads of window light, and a ton of windows with which to pose pretty girls. So I decided to follow through with all the hype and give it a go.

An imcomparably genuine smile. Scan 3: Happy Laura

The following two scans were both an exercise in Laura's expressions and a testament to the dynamic range found in color negative film. Completely unlike digital, I didn't have to horribly underexpose my subject just to obtain a desirable background. I just metered my shadows, pointed, and shot. Voila! For you hardcore tech geeks, my SBR (subject brightness range) was about 10-12 stops. And considering only a little sky is blow out on this not-so-cold-stored 8 year old film, I'll take it.

Could you tell we were having fun with this?Scan 4: Laura Peace Sign

If Laura's somehow talking with somebody without smiling, it's more than likely because she's in the middle of flashing one of these. Yeah, it's definitely a Japan thing that she's picked up along the way, but we'll forgive her for that. ;)

 Something Good: This old Portra comes to life in the shadows! Just make sure to limit over-exposure of your shadows to no more than two stops; otherwise, we're talking Chernobl-esque highlights.

Something Bad: Like any old, medium to high speed film (yeah, 100 was FAST film back in the glory days of Tri-X and Tech Pan) flare is something that needs to be unscrupulously controlled. Scan 2 was acceptable to myself, but others will argue.

Something Learned: So long as this old Portra 160VC is shot in overcast to shady conditions, the skin tones and saturated landscapes it produces are magical. Try it in direct sunlight or flare, and it becomes just another color film.

Next Week: I plan on catching up, but in no particular order. These updates can be expected to occur at a rate of two to three posts per week, not necessarily all including photographs. We'll see. ^__^