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!

"Live" Interview with Film Photography Podcast

Copyright 2010 Michael Raso, Film Photography Podcast

Part of the reason I haven't been as prolific with the blog lately is because I've been on the road for the past two weeks. I'll be home, up and running by next week. Until then, here's a short little spoiler of the awesome-ness that has been this trip. 

Last Friday, I spent all day in NYC at the Jacob Javits Convention center at the 2010 Photo Plus Expo hosted by Photo District News. While there, I got to meet and talk with the hosts of my now favorite photography podcast, Michael Raso and Duane Polcou. For a little over a year now, both Duane and Mike have been hosting the Film Photography Podcast, a neat little internet radio program about all things analog photography.

Over the past couple of months, I've mentioned them here and there, but at this point and time, I'm hopelessly addicted to the podcast. It's funny, random, not too technical, and just plain enjoyable to listen to while in the car, processing film, or just sitting around trying to come up with a witty blog post. :p In July, a fan letter I wrote made it onto the show, and as of today I'm on the November 5th edition of the podcast. Be sure to check it out:

November 5th Film Photography Podcast  (right click "Save As" to download)

You don't even have to listen that long to hear where I come in, I'm first up. ^__^ If you didn't have a chance to visit PDN, though, the podcast has plenty of coverage of the latest in greatest from PPE (well, as long as you don't care about digital :p).

Make sure to show FPP some love, they're great guys supporting an ever-growing community. Send 'em some film, old cameras, make a quick little Paypal donation, or even shoot an email, it'll definitely be appreciated.

FPP Flickr Group

FPP on Facebook

FPP on Twitter