The 52 Project, Week 12: Take Me Out to the Mud Hens

Ever since my mother and grandparents moved out to Northwest Ohio in 1990, my grandpa has had season tickets to the area AAA baseball team, the Toledo Mud Hens. Sound familiar? Probably. The Mud Hens have been "world renowned" thanks to repeated exposure to the team name in the classic television show "M.A.S.H." As a farm team to the MLB team, the Detroit Tigers, the Mud Hens were great in the 80's, sucked in the 90's, and most recently have been a pretty darn good team. In 2003, they relocated from the rustic Ned Skeldon Stadium in Maumee, OH to the brand spanking new Fifth Third Field in downtown Toledo, OH. To sum things up, my grandpa LOVES baseball, and thereby, the closest team he can watch play, the Toledo Mud Hens. And even though he's pushing 80 years old, he goes to nearly every home game, knows practically everybody there, and is the happiest old guy I know for doing it.

80yr olds outside, 12yr olds inside.

Scan 1: Grandpa and Art

Once a group of four retired guys that go see the Mud Hens together, increasing age coupled with health complications have brought this jovial quartet down to a duo. Their spirited expressions towards the camera indicate they plan on going to ball games for the rest of their lives. For both Art and my grandpa's sake, I hope that's a long time.

The one kid not kicking the mascot.Scan 2: Girl with Muddy

One of my fondest memories of the Mud Hens was getting to hug/high-five their friendly fowl, Muddy the Mud Hen. I couldn't help but capture this little moment that definitely made this little girl's night.

Best seats in the house.

Scan 3: The Cheap Seats

As the next few weeks worth of The 52 Project will prove, photographing the elderly and their most candid moments is something that brings me great joy. This retired couple viewing the game from nearly the left field foul line was just "cute".

Something Good: Looks like all this expired Kodak Portra 160NC & 160VC from 2002-2004 isn't so bad after all.

Something Bad: All three of these shots are a little too "left heavy" for my taste. Add to that the tendency of expired film to blow out at the slightest bit of overexposure, it appears as though I've much to learn with these 30+ rolls of expired film stock.

Something Learned: You don't have to shoot the action at a sporting event. Considering my previous job included action, action, and more action, it's nice to kick back, enjoy the game, and snap some real candids when I have the chance.

Next Week: More of this 160VC, used with a little more caution and control, used with my best EVER model. ^__^



The 52 Project, Week 11: Back in Black...and White

 This week, after an absurd three week hiatus/disconnect from the internet, I'm going to start by doing something different. Before seeing the scans, I'm going to go over what I learned, not about film, but about the digital workflow/lifestyle.

Something Good: I backup my data bi-weekly. In the event of a total system meltdown, I still have my bare necessities. Also, my film scans from Millers come on an archival DVD, so no worries on color film; oh, and it's film, not a digital file, I still really have it. :p

Something Bad: My laptop hard drive was fried, one of my backups failed, and reformatting the system and re-importing, installing, and setting up preferences was a bitch.

Something Learned: Though it may take only a few days to get a system up and running again, life tends to get in the way of the regular blog, Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr posts.

Next Week: Though it's over two weeks behind, should be up tomorrow. The last week of July, I accompanied my grandfather to a Toledo Mud Hens game. We had a blast, and I got a few cool expired color film images.

Now let's see some B&W scans:

I honestly had no idea what it was...Scan 1: Abandoned Chair

If the following series of images looks familiar, it's for good reason. This is that exact same, creepy house. I had a spare hour to mess around, so I grabbed some Tmax 100 and made a trip back. It was about 4:00pm, and I probably could have benefitted from some higher speed film, but this along with the next three images turned out sharp (enough). Processing was pretty standard, D-76 @ 70F for 6.5 min, regular agitation. Oh, but this time my fixer wasn't exhausted, so the scans have some extra "kick" to them.

Shaky floor boards are shaky. >__>Scan 2: Abandoned Kitchen

I'm never walking deeper into this house again, period. The floors appear old, rotted through, and they are. While snagging this view of what looks to have been the kitchen, my right foot started to sink through some shaky floorboards.  I managed to recover from the near miss, but also managed to miss-wind the Hasselblad and mess up my next frame. It's alright though, you can squeeze a 13th frame out of a 120 spool if you're careful while loading.

Too much development, this image has it.Scan 3: Abandoned Hallway

Somewhere between Scan 2 and Scan 4 resides this image. There's some cool old wiring sinking down from the second floor, creating this stark contrast between it and the far window. Oh, and note the floor closer to the bottom of the frame, it's even more precarious with a few intact boards to walk across; looks like I got lucky with these ones.

The title should've included "abandoned", I know.Scan 4: Toilet Humor

Probably my favorite of this week's images, this scene of an abandoned bathroom is powerful and contrasty, but without being overly shocking or disgusting. What you see in the toilet bowl is nothing more than wood scraps, dust, mold, and dirt. Interesting what well over ten years of weathering and neglect can do to the room of the house dedicated to hygiene.

The 52 Project, Weeks 8&9: Playing with Pets

To be perfectly up-front and honest, this week's 52 Project doesn't offer any originality, unique-ness in shooting style, or variety of subject. If you're looking for a photographer that will bring nothing but groundbreaking, original work to his/her blog posts week after week, chances are that you've hit the wrong link. What this week's post does provide, however, is a series of photos surrounding a subject that I inadvertently tend to shoot  a lot of, pets. I could name five photographer buddies right now that would "poo poo" the idea of shooting everyday animals. I mean, sure it looks amateur, but for a good reason. Amateurs are still out there doing what they love, for free! Shooting pets is my way of coping with people that won't smile, agree, or pay their photography bill on time; and it also works wonders for finding a new perspective.

Anyway, lets have some fun, look at some medium format frames of pets, and be sure to comment on ones you love/think are silly/would like to see more of.

Scan 1: Portrait of a ChickenA regal rooster, some fine fowl...

My immediate impression of this rooster was "smug". He's proud, cocky (pun intended), and king of the coop, too bad he's only about half the size of all the other chickens. That comb of his is sharp, and I don't mean in the aesthetically pleasing way either; just click it to get a full size, this sucker is sharp!

Rugged and worn, this cat has had a hard life.

Scan 2: Sleepy Barn Cat

This sickly little guy and his scruffy face just wouldn't leave me alone. I saw the barn door/window light coming in, and this image instantly clicked in my head. If this cat were human, I'm most certain I'd find him in Central Park snuggled up with some newspaper in a cardboard cabin.

 "Hey Gary, I'm thinking about getting a dish..."Scan 3: Ducks' Conversation

There are two reasons human beings keep other animals around. The first is for consumption, we're hungry and most of us believe that literally every other organism is below us on the food chain. The second reason, however, is that we look for the small, glaring bits of human nature within other animals. Some people can really project this feeling, crazy cat ladies, and others merely find entertaining pieces of humanity, Lolcats. I believe I'm treading the fine line in pointing out that these two ducks appear to be having a discussion, probably cable vs. satellite.

Bob really needs to get a Brita filter.Scan 4: Bob Drinking from the Sink

This old indoor/outdoor barn-cat doesn't have much of a playful disposition or face, for that matter, but he does have an unusually high curiosity for dripping water in the sink. Being the devil's advocate I am, I went ahead and turned the faucet on just enough to make any environmentalist burst into tears. But the adorable lapping of said wastewater makes it ok, right?

She's this happy to see everyone, no joke.Scan 5: Maizey, the Happy German Shepherd

You will be hard-pressed to find any German Shepherd as inbred and as happy as my dad's dog, Maizey.  She was originally intended to be a guard dog, but she proved too friendly and now spends her days running about a three acre yard.

Wow, she actually looks kinda cute. Scan 6: Mitzi at the Window

Ah window light, you seem to compliment the Hasselblad so well. This gorgeous light even has the power to make this neurotic, sheds as a defense mechanism siamese cat look cute and contemplative.

Something Good: These two weeks were a joy to shoot. I was just having fun, composing on the fly, and spending literally no time post-processing these images. Heck, most of the images came out incredibly sharp.

Something Bad: Despite my warning at the beginning of this post, I'm bound to get flamed by my photography buddies. It happens, and I'll simply take my lumps.

Something Learned: Almost all of this post's work was done from a crouched or prone perspective. I've felt that my viewing angle has lately been confined to the position of +/- one foot from my chest. I think this has changed and will continue throughout the duration of The 52 Project.

Next Week: Some VERY interesting, different, and fun work courtesy of a NYC based photographer, Abish. Definitely stay tuned for this one.