The 52 Project, Week 2

Here it is, week 2, and so far The 52 Project shows no signs of stopping (especially since I'm already shooting and processing weeks 3-5). This week I made the switch back to color film, Kodak Portra 400NC, and I must say it's already becoming an old friend. The shots I've chosen for this week vary quite a bit, and each bring their own unique aspects to the table. Without further adieu, here's my picks:

When you've got a beard this big, sausages sell themselves!

Scan 1: Kimmel's Mountain Man Meats

This fine specimen of a "man's man" is a Findlay local and proprietor of Kimmel's Mountain Man Meats. The beard is striking, and looks even better than when not tied up in a hair net. At first, it looked like a giant fake beard, but when I realized it was the real deal I asked him to let it all hang loose for the shot. And this guy was all about it, he combed and waxed it just for this portrait. I think I'm going to have to start a photo series on awesome/unique hair.

Simple compositions are fun every once and a while.

Scan 2: Vivid Vases at Val's

On a gloomy Saturday afternoon, I was looking for something, anything to shoot. Walking through the living room of another Findlay area artist, Val Escobedo, I was struck by the extremely calm atmosphere created. I did my best to capture the feeling I had once I walked in the door, simple and relaxed.

Looks like they're not taking their basement with them.

 Scan 3: Leftovers of the Hammond House

On the same day as a deadly wave of tornados passed through Wood County, OH, I was on assignment for a local couple needing coverage of an Ohio Historical Site while it was being moved across Findlay to the Hancock County Historical Society. Quite heavy burden as the 1850's house was cut into four large pieces, loaded up, and shipped along the main streets in Findlay, OH. This is what was left of the original site, a messy, empty, foundation.

Sleeping ktities make the all manual action of the 'Blad that much easier.

Scan 4: Kay Kitten Sleeps Again

I simply couldn't help myself. About 10 minutes after last week's capture, I had to see what she'd look like on color film.  Just look at her, she's adorable no matter how technically flawed the photo may be.

Something good: Quite a few keepers this week, with a lot of varying subjects and styles. The color processing was handled by a pro lab, Miller's Professional, aka Mpix on the consumer end. They did a great job, and have awesome specials with rush processing and same day shipping.

Something bad: The color off-camera shots I tried just didn't feel right upon looking at them. Technically, they were alright. A little bit of flair, but colors that screamed "gel your flashes to match the ambient!". Also, scan 4 really doesn't have focus on the intended subject, although that is one sharp couch.

Something learned: Most all of Kodak films have great exposure latitude, as demonstrated by the wide variety of shots displayed this week. Portra NC films, however, are very, very picky about lighting situations, and fair much better in natural light than any other lighting situation. I'll have to practice more with artificial and mixed lighting with this film.

Next week:  I'm trying to broaden my film horizons a little more, and will be experimenting with Kodak Tri-X (B&W), and Fuji Pro high speed color films as soon as I'm done hunting down the USPS man that still hasn't delivered it to me. >__<



The 52 Project, Week 1

Since this is the inaugural edition of The 52 Project, let's cover some of the ground rules for how these posts will (hopefully) be laid out. Firstly, we'll have story time. I'll discuss what I shot, how I shot it, and maybe even have a fun story in there. Next, we'll look at what I chose to scan, and why (sometimes I may choose non-keepers). Following the images I'll have a quick review section, giving a quick rundown of the good, the bad, and the ugly of the scans shown. And finally, I'll include a little bit about what I'd like to do better/differently in the next week of shooting (this is a learning process, after all).

Having shot my way through six rolls of color 120 film, this first roll of black and white is actually my 7th ever. I'm slightly more confident when shooting, but still playing it safe, using a predictable combination of 400 speed film and metering with the built-in Kiev 88 meter. I'm fascinated that this meter is 10 years older than me but still somehow works; and very accurately at that! Well, enough beating around the bush, let's get to the shots!

Kay doing what kittens do best!

Scan 1: Kay Kitten Sleeping

Not much to say here: I love cats, blog readers have asked for more blog posts about kittens, and compositions with lots of hidden triangles are fun. Besides, with a kitten this cute, my buddy Berb needs to share this adorable kitten with the rest of the world.

House found on Sandusky Street, Findlay, OH

Scan 2: Cool House in Findlay Ohio

I usually don't like architecture of any kind, but this house was more about the creepy feeling I got while walking past. The very contrasty colors on the front of the house really make it pop.

That's not scanner dust, just a visibly dirty wall :p

Scan 3: B&W 6x6 Self Portrait

While winding last week's roll of film down, I suddenly had the inspiration to break out the unused pc sync cords in my lighting bag and see if they could trigger my wireless, off-camera strobes. "Son of a bitch, they do!" This was more a test than anything else, and had I not clipped off my toe at the very bottom of the frame, I'd probably like this image even more.

Something good: Got a lot of good shots this week, uploaded 5 keepers to Flickr (you're seeing 3 of them). All exposures were either spot on or slightly underexposed (good for enlarging and scanning). This is a very good thing considering it was my first ever hand-processed roll in the darkroom.

Something bad: Having been the first ever hand-processed roll in the darkroom, I was bound to mess up. My last frame had two lines streaked over it from touching part of the unused film on the plastic reel. Oh well, 11 out of 12 good exposures is still better than my digital record ever was.

Something learned: This week really gave me a respect for the darkroom process, and the look of black and white film, which too often is badly emulated in digital. Hopefully throughout this project, this interest in black and white will blossom into something more.

Next week:  I'll be getting back to Kodak color films with some more Portra 400NC. Granted the black and white off-camera lighting results, I'd really like to try it out in color and see how it looks. I'm still building up a library of film, but would like to try just about everything I can to learn as much as I can. If anybody has some suggestions for film, processing, etc. please leave a comment and I'll be sure to get to it.



Where the Hell Have I Been? The 52 Project, and More.

Right, so, the past month hasn't exactly been the kindest to me, stress-wise, but now I feel a little more on-track, focused, and ready to get back out doing what I do best. What happened? Employers, wishy-washy clients, and an overload of "pro bono" work finally got the best of me when it came to working up some blog posts. And though they may not have the same tech-junkie tone to them, I assure you they're still coming from the same overly-opinionated guy. ^_^

So what's new? No I'm not talking about photography news, there's plenty of other outlets for that; this post is going to be fairly egocentric, so let's get to it. New in my life this past month: more individual freedoms as to Mat Marrash Photography, the purchase of a film camera, and the considerable slowing-down of my photographic processes. Yes, that's right, a film camera; and not just any film camera, the medium format legend, the Hasselblad 500C.

My "New" Hasselblad 500C, Fantastic Camera, Stunning Imagery!For starters, yes, this camera is old. It is, in fact, six years older than my mother (and probably better condition since it hasn't had two kids :p ). Why would any rational, tech-minded person do such a thing? Simple reasoning, there's nothing I can find for less than $10k in the digital world that comes close to the feeling I get when I see the big, beautiful 2 1/4" negatives that come out of this camera. So what does this new addition to my photo lineup mean to you, the readers? It means two things, firstly that yes, I will be talking about how much film is aiding my lifelong study of photography, and secondly, that the photos you see from now on will be a mix of film and digital, with a stronger emphasis on quality over quantity. This baby only gets 12 shots per roll of 120 film, and with two film backs, I've got 24 shots to get something good before a 2-3 minute down period of speed reloading. Quite a drastic change from the 1D Mark II which doesn't even fill it's buffer until 26 frames have gone through, a 3.25 second process.

A random but adorable Pembroke Welsh Corgi at Findlay's Riverside ParkNow onto the processing aspects of film, or total lack-there-of. The image you see to your right has had NO processing, only cropped from how it was scanned; hell, there's even some scratches and dust because I was too excited to get these things online! Why should I care that there's no processing involved? The past two years of my photographic life have been spent worrying about a suitable editing workflow. JPEGs and RAWs out of camera just have no chance of looking like this! Even with the help of some store-bought presets, there's a good chance this look can't be achieved without considerable effort, time, and extra money. And as of lately, these are things I'm finding I have less and less of. It's relieving and equally terrifying that all I have to do is finish a roll, mark it, and send it off to the lab, (now if I can find a lab that doesn't terrify me with the consistency of their results).

So film is slower, not instantaneous, and every single aspect of the camera is manual, what is there to like about film? Exactly that, slowing down is the key. I thought it would take longer to happen, but I'm sick of going to a sporting event with reasonable expectations of coming back with several hundred images, only to cull down to the first hundred. It feels cold, sloppy, and frankly, unprofessional. I've always liked to be more deliberate with my images, and 12 shots to get a keeper or two sounded right up my alley. Little did I know my keeper rate would be much higher than the 10-20% I've been used to with digital. Here's some examples from my first two rolls of film through the Hasselblad 500C. 11/24 isn't bad, especially considering that the first roll was improperly wound, resulting in another 3 keepers that just wouldn't scan properly due to inadequate negative spacing >__<.

What good can come from slowing down, spending less time on digital, and more time on film? To be honest, I'm not entirely sure, but I hope that with a good year of consistently trying it, something cool is bound to happen. Enter "The 52 Project"

Over the next 52 weeks, I plan on:

1. Shooting at least 1 roll of 120 film per week.
2. Processing the film at a lab for the first 10 weeks, then by hand.
3. Scanning and uploading at least 3 images from each roll to Flickr.
4. Updating the Blog on my progress of The 52 Project.

It's a hefty order, but I'm up to the challenge and will start with the postings next week! Technically, I've already got enough finished rolls to cover me for the next 2 weeks, but I'll be fair and try to have genuinely new stuff for each week. Personally, I like the idea of a 365 challenge, but with the nature of film, processing, scanning, etc., it seems a little more reasonable to have results for once a week rather than every day.

For those wondering if I'll still have other content besides The 52 Project, of course I will! It may not be as frequent, but there's already some blog posts on the back burner and I plan on having a lot of nicely spaced content throughout the next month or so. So stay tuned, things are going to get VERY interesting!