The 52 Project, Week 36: Toledo Cat Show

By now it's probably becoming quite obvious...if there's an event in the greater Toledo, OH region that has animals, I'm there! Surprisingly enough, I never thought of myself as an animal person, but take all the casual animal pictures out of The 52 Project, and it starts to look pretty empty. Oh well, guess it wouldn't hurt to add a FEW more weeks of animal fun into the "pool". 

Judges carefully examine each contestant.

The weekend just before Valentines Day 2011, I dragged Lauren along with me to the Toledo area cat show titled, "My Stormy Valentine". Typically, this name is in reference to the god-awful weather Toledo experiences this time of year. Thankfully, I don't know a single cat show that doesn't take place indoors.

Personally, I attend the show for the Maine Coons.

If you've never been to a cat show before, it's an interesting time, to say the least. People from all over the region bring their domesticated divas to a large gathering of similarly aged/bred cats to be crowned "Champion" or "Best of Breed". Each breed of cat has its own unique, aesthetically aimed standards that judges coming from all around the country are trained to identify via inspection. The process looks as weird as it sounds, as you can see by the pictures littered throughout this post.

Check out the grain, pushed 400 -> 3200!

 Usually when attending this cat show, I set small goals for myself. In years past, I've set goals such as "photograph owners that look like their pets" or "capture as many different breeds as possible". This year, it didn't really feel like there was any such goal, but as the afternoon progressed, it became evident that I was on candid duty. More than years previous, I concentrated on the interactions between the judges and the judge-ees.

This Maine Coon was not a happy kitty.

 The lighting in this building was horrid, to say the least. Everything you see this week was shot with Kodak TMax 400 @ ISO 3200, pushed in D-76! Cats, like any other small animal, move fast and require the fastest shutter speed you can get away with. Most, if not all, of these shots feature a shutter speed at or above 1/125th of a second. Having already run out of Ilford Delta 3200, TMax 400, another modern "T-grained" emulsion, was my next logical choice.

Something Good: My initial meter readings were spot on! Everything was metered using an old-fashioned, non-electric Sekonic meter.

Something Bad: Given the immense amount of fall-off from the few large light fixtures in this building, I had to choose my shots wisely. There are a few shots from this role, not shown or uploaded to Flickr, that came out incredibly, incredibly thin!

Something Learned: Even in the most basic of film developers, D-76, usable results can be achieved in a push so long as time, temperature, dilution, and agitation are controlled to the "T".

Next Week: Pushing some more TMax 400, for more animals!

The 52 Project, Week 23: I Think There's a Pattern Here

On yet another seemingly boring Sunday afternoon, which may after today be called “8x10 Day”, I took to the streets of Toledo, OH looking for an image. Not feeling adventurous enough to go all the way downtown, I started at the Toledo Museum of Art and started working my way east, in hopes of an interesting image. Having the same kind of photo on my mind as taken in Week 20, I knew this kind of image might take a while to find; two hours to be exact.

I still need to work on scanning these contact prints.

Finding the patterned building leading against the sloped street was the easy part, filling it with somebody was much harder. Quite hard to tell in the photo, but I was on the opposite side of a four lane, very busy highway. So even when someone/a group of someones were coming into the scene, that doesn’t mean a semi, school bus, or sedan wasn’t. >__>

After about an hour and a half of queer looks, honked horns, and explaining this camera outfit to passers by, I was done; something needed to happen quick. Just then, a small pickup truck pulls off the road, nearly up onto the sidewalk, which would have simultaneously ended my loaner 8x10 and this project. Turns out, it was the owner of the building that the Eastman Commercial had been staring at for nearly two hours.

“Oh crap, here we go,” I thought.

Judging by the manner with which he pulled in front of the shot, I wasn’t expecting anything pleasant. Fortunately for my optimistically paranoid self, he was a fan of all things antique, AND willing to “pose” for shot with his building. He pulled away, only to come walking back into my shot 15 minutes later.

That brings us to this week’s key issues.

Is this image too much like Week 20’s?
Is the feeling of the image compromised by the fact that the person was encouraged to participate? Is it still Street Photography?

Why are there no answers here? Much like anything else art, the answers to these questions are entirely subjective. But that doesn’t mean you out there can’t weigh in. I’d welcome your open and honest opinion, as comments and critique only serve to help the artist. Thanks for playing along.

Something Good: Having well over an hour to meter the shot, compose, recompose, etc., etc., the shot and its processing were more than controlled, even with a red filter on a directly sun-lit scene.

Something Bad: Aside from the drama llama that comes riding in from the aforementioned issues, there’s some obvious dust spotting on the negative itself. This is the result of a dust being trapped on the darkslide and migrating to the unexposed sheet prior to exposure. Drats. >__<

Something Learned: There’s really nothing quick about the large format process, and I think I’m really starting to like it.

Next Week: A deliberate and very personal portrait.

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. ^__^