Fresh from the scanner!

Processing black and white film happens to be the easy part of the battle. It seems the bulge of the effort is getting in from the drying rack to the photo enlarger without amassing vicious particles of of dust and micro hair. Like seriously, was that a pubic hair? How did that even get there. Becomes incredibly irritating when I’m trying to produce a print for submission and a less than 1mm thick shirt fluff looks like its an inch long when blown up to 6×9! Yeah straight from a scanner I have that nifty clone and stamp tool, but once its been hit  with light and dunked into that first tub it’s done. Making the matter so much more pensive, I don’t have an unlimited supply of enlarging paper. Thank goodness I purchased in bulk instead of picking some up from the local stores, making bank on students in dire need of classroom essentials. Shooting and developing was the fun exciting part. Enlarging is where I start sweating and hoping everything is in line before I press the run button. I find myself taking my can of air and microfiber cloth into the enlarging room, probably the wrong way to do it. Any tips from the film savvy?

First image was done to display shallow depth of field, second for high shutter speed and the third for kicks. I had better pictures for high shutter speed usage, but I liked that one.

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Nuit Blanche

This is quite a piece of work. I couldn’t decide whether to post the Video, or the Making-Of first. It was created by Spy Films production house, who interestingly made a video for Yeasayer, a group I happen to be fond of. Give this work a look, be amazed – then watch the Making-Of and then sit there in awe.

[Via Vimeo]

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My First Contact Sheet

Processing my first roll of Tri-X I found it comfortingly simple. Though, I still felt like it would have been so easy for me to just easily screw it up. In the darkroom I made my first contact sheet, fumbling over the reverse use of aperture on the enlarger and learning the wonderful usage of test strips. Still working on this first project, definitely excited.

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Megan Fox by Greg Williams

Sometimes I think about what the perfect photoshoot would be like. While this piece is relatively old, IMHO this is probably as best as it could ever get. The Megan Fox factor is a no brainer. Greg Williams filmed this on a RED and the stills taken from this video were used in a 10 page editorial in Esquire. While that is absolutely incredible, I’m more taken back by the absolute seamless fluidity of it all. Careful lighting, precious camera placement and effortless environmental engagement. Watching Greg Williams’ moving portraits for Esquire make me consider the many aspects of a simple photoshoot and change my expectations of them. I could probably spend all day talking them up.

[via Vimeo]

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Photography 1A

This semester I decided to take Photography 1 because I really wanted to learn darkroom techniques. It’s interesting taking a step away from the LCD screen, I find myself out of habit chimping an imaginary screen. Using an iPhone lightmeter probably isn’t the best way to go about things either. Giselle came over today to help me out with my first project. I feel like a semester’s worth of Tri-X is going to have some sway on what you’ll be seeing in this blog. I’m going to be processing that first role of Tri-X this week and I’m actually a little nervous about it all. Paulo tagged along and snapped an action shot while we were standing out there in some serious skin biting cold.

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