The 52 Project, Week 38: March NYC Trip Part I

Fanning through an inbox one late January evening, I opened up an email from none other than the host of the Film Photography Podcast, Michael Raso. Apparently, fan reception from the first two recorded episodes had gone well enough that another month of podcasts was in my future. At the same time, Lauren was looking for any excuse to make her way out to NYC for some interviews and portfolio reviews with some BIG name publishers. A match made in heaven? I certainly thought so. ^__^

Portra 400 beasts that grain, even @ ISO 3200!!

 Some fumbling around with schedules and running around like headless chickens later, Lauren and I found ourselves spending a long weekend in New Jersey, with a few days blocked off for NYC.

Our first day there, we got into our hotel pretty quickly, considering the 9 hour drive, checked in, and headed straight off for Manhattan for a night on the town. After seeing all the sites we could from 7pm onward, we stopped off in Times Square for some fun and slightly more than planned out portraits. This was serious business, so a test Polaroid was even taken to make sure the horrendously underexposed film was at least metered correctly.

The results aren't anything to shrug off either. Click either of the two Lauren portraits to view a larger size, but the images stay pretty clear with relatively pleasing grain throughout.

A tad more grain, but still great!Enough film banter, this was quite a long trip with many interesting things going on, so I'll cut right back to the story.

Later on that night/early the next morning, continuous rains in New Jersey along Rt. 23 had gotten bad enough that we were woken up ~4am to evacuate our hotel. Normally, Lauren and I both being chill people, we wouldn't have minded the temporary discomfort, but this Friday morning was VERY different from others. Less than six hours from our evacuation time, Lauren had to be well rested, cleaned up, in NYC, and ready for her big, BIG interview with Harper Collins Publishers (they're HUGE, Google them). Anywho, we made it through with minimal sleep, and pressed on through another busy morning in Manhattan. 

Easily the coolest guy in NYC!After an incredibly successful interview and celebratory mega-burritos at Chipotle, Lauren and I continued our quest in NYC south-bound towards The Impossible Project NYC Space. Lauren didn't really take much convincing to go, but just in case she did, I'd previously setup a meeting with my Film Photography Podcast Print Exchange buddy, Antonio Alvarez. An awesome photographer and all around great guy, Antonio was kind enough to not only spend some time with us at impossible, but give us a guided mini-tour around Soho, treat us to some Two Boots Pizza, and even give us some of his awesome Polaroid Spectra prints!

This film loves purples and blues! On the last leg of our trip out and about with Antonio, we started passing by all of these great little nook-and-cranny shops that you just don't see in little-'ol Findlay, OH. Compelled as I was, I managed to snag a few candids of some NYC barber shops in full swing late Friday night.

Sadly, since this post is already looking pretty lengthy, I'm going to sum it up here. Thursday and Friday were the mere tip of the iceberg of awesome that was our long weekend trip to NYC. More from the FPP side of the experience next week.

Something Good: Portra 400, shot @ 3200, pushed to only 800, prints and scans beautifully!

Something Bad: Lots of fluorescent lighting and/or overcast haze can cause excessive fogging-type grain in photos at such a high sensitivity. I haven't seen grain strcuture like this since shooting Fuji Pro 800Z in direct overcast cloudy haze.

Something Learned: New Portra 400 is luck freakin' duct tape, more on this later.

Next Week: One of the best weekends ever, minus the whole driving in Jersey thing.

The 52 Project, Week 34: Make it a Mamiya!

This week, I'd like to discuss a VERY real issue that affects millions of photographers worldwide. Gear Acquisition Syndrome, GAS as it's more affectionately called, is a truly debilitating disease. It starts off much like any other addiction, with that first purchase. Be it toy camera or serious SLR rig, that first purchase never seems to be enough for GAS's insatiable appetite.

"I'll just go ahead and get one more lens for that Canon AE-1", you say.

It's already too late! Soon the "absolute" statements start becoming more and more ridiculous, all to fuel the never-ending GAS.

"But if I never try that Hasselblad 503CX, I'm sure there's something in photography that I'll be missing!"

And if there's still a shred of money left in your bank account, large format sets in. 0__0

"Wow! That 4x5 rig costs less than the Hasselblad. See? It's not that bad, I'll just go ahead and buy that too."

Little do you know, that film, paper, enlargers, chemistry, and a home darkroom are lurking right around the corner. At this point, it's best just to committ yourself now and save family and friends the pain.

Seriously, though, when one takes the next step by purchasing new photographic equipment, it's VERY easy to let the commercial interests grab hold of you and never let go. Got a photography magazine handy? Just open it up and look around; read an article or two. It becomes apparent through this magazine that the only conceivable way to become a better photographer is to buy whatever they're selling. And they're selling A LOT! Instead of dreading over what you don't have, how about going outside, having fun, and maybe take some fun pictures? You'll learn way more about photography doing/shooting what you love, and have more fun while doing it!

So after all this preaching about the GAS and its horrible consequences, why would I got out and purchase new gear? At the moment, I keep telling myself necessity, future weddings, commercial gigs, etc. Deep down inside, though, I know the answer is that it's just plain cool and "I can't live without one" >__<. I now present to you, the Mamiya 645AF. 

A few quick things about this newest acquisition:

• It takes 120 film, like the Hasselblad, but also takes 220!
• It produces a negative of 6x4.5cm, giving 16/32 shots per roll 120/220
• It has spectacular autofocus, metering, and shooting modes, sometimes better than my Canon 1D!
• It auto-winds the film from start to finish. A lifesaver in higher pressure environments such as weddings.
• It accepts manual focus lenses from the long legacy of Mamiya 645 lenses.
• It's future-proof. Should the future of film somehow turn grim, I can slap a digital back on this baby, assuming of course I can afford a new car. x__x

But enough about the camera, let's get onto some samples!

Pretty standard outdoor test shot.

This first roll of 16 through the Mamiya needed to be done with a pretty well-known, baseline standard of all films. Therefore, I had no choice but to use good 'ole Tri-X. Everything was shot at ISO 400, with a +1/3 stop compensation, just personal taste with this film. The film was later souped in D-76 stock for 7.5 minutes, making for results ANYBODY, even photo students, could expect from this camera.

The indoor test shots were surprisingly sharp!

Moving indoors, the camera performed quite well under low light conditions. The AF assist beam, also known as the moment-spoiler, does a pretty good job finding a subject quickly and accurately. Once the light falls below a 1/4 second exposure, however, it seems to hunt forever. The shot to the right was taken at 1/15th second, a pleasant surprise beckoning back to my days of silly slow hand-held digital exposures.

High contrast indoor scene? No problem.

Around the same time I started testing this camera out, I got the bright idea to make a few how-to videos in HD for both the Mamiya 645AF and the Hasselblad 500C. You can view the Mamiya 645AF video below, and you can find the Hasselblad 500C video here. Lauren, to the left of this paragraph, was kind enough to be my lovely production assistant for the day. We made it easy by agreeing to do one-takes only. x__x

Something Good: The Mamiya's meter is fantastic! Light readings were always spot on a variety of different light.

Something Bad: The shutter release noise and auto wind noises that the camera makes can be a little loud/annoying if in a sound sensitive environment. Just something to keep in mind.

Something Learned: I need to stop cutting my head off in future videos. For some reason, it sounded like a good idea at the time of recording. Now I know better.

Next Week: Back to the 'Blad + B&W.

The 52 Project, Week 29: 8x10 around New York

During my brief time in New York before and after my guest spot on the early November 2010 episode of the Film Photography Podcast, I had some free time to roam around some other cool places in New York and play around with the 8x10. The same as last time, these are all scans of quick and dirty contact prints on Oriental RC VC paper with very little correction in post. Click the scans for a better view plus exposure data.

The deep downtown area of Newburg, NY, quite run down, but in a very photogenic way!

This image definitely took some "cojones" to take. I was in a VERY bad neighborhood for quite some time scoping out and setting up this image. Thankfully, I'm still around to share the urban decay of Newberg, NY with everyone. P.S. If it looks like a meth house, smells like a meth house, and has gunfire like a meth house, chances are its a meth house. >__<

Moving on.

A very unusual view from a scenic outlook of the Hudson River and Poughkeepsie, NY. Just ignore that little "squiggly" in the corner :p

So just when I thought things couldn't have gotten any hairer as they had earlier that day in downtown Newburg, I got hassled not once, but twice by Poughkeepsie police about shooting with my 8x10. Apparently, having anything on a tripod that looks more menacing than a point and shoot is "against city ordinance". After explaining that I wasn't Ansel Adams or planning to score big bucks of the above image, they were a little more relaxed with my shooting; they still followed me back to my car, however. >__>

This image helped to kick off my love affair with long exposures on the 8x10. For all you sports shooters out there, you just won't get it.

No real drama with this exposure, unless of course you considering a long exposure in a heavy downpour and 45 degree weather to be a problem. For large format? Not so much. ^__^

Keeping it short and sweet, onto this week's lessons...

Something Good: Each 8x10 sheet metered very differently, but with a little Zone System came out with even density in the negative with consistent print times for the contact prints. Yay!

Somehting Bad: Hair and dust are the bane of my scanning existence, nuff said.

Something Learned: Big cameras attract lots of attention (duh), both good and bad. Know your equipment, but know your photographic environment as well. If things get sketchy, ask yourself if getting the shot is really worth that extra risk.

Next Week: The big 'ole sheets of Tmax 400 keep on coming. And even though there's not going to be any new emulsions or processes, I guarantee the subject matter will keep things fresh!