I forget that these exist until I see them; relics of the not-so-distant past when people didn't carry mobile phones, and needed a way to contact someone away from home. This phone is near the National Building Museum in Washington D.C., on the 5th Street side. I didn't notice it—my wife did. But once she pointed it out, I had to take a photo.
These two shots are the best photos from a roll of film I shot at the end of November, when I attempted to do a few long exposures. All this means is that the time allotted for capturing the image was greater than a second.
In the case of the first photo, the exposure took about 20 seconds, with the camera mounted on a tripod and the shutter attached to a release cable. In the case of the second, which took me two tries to get right, the exposure was 1 minute and 35 seconds.
I used a Fuji GW670 rangefinder and Kodak Tri-X for these photos. The Tri-X was pushed 2 stops to 1600, which accounts for some of the extra graininess.
I was bored a few weekends ago, so I grabbed my Yashica Mat TLR (think a Rolleiflex clone), my tripod, and a roll of film, and went to the National Arboretum to take photos in the fading light. This was mostly a test of whether I could use the Yashica on a tripod without causing too much shake or otherwise ruining the photo The result is yes! I can, even with strong winds that make steadying anything a challenge. Which opens up new avenues of shooting with that camera.
In the meantime, here are the photos. I'm not a huge fan of the first one, but I like the subsequent shots quite a bit. Film was Kodak Portra 400, and I ended up taking most of these shots at f/8 and a ¼ or ⅛ second shutter speed.
I took these photos a few months ago, on two separate walks through D.C. I usually approach people when I want to take their picture, but in this case, they walked up to me. We chatted about my camera—the gentleman in the second photo sold cameras at an outdoor stand—and I snapped a picture before I left.
I used one of my medium format Fuji rangefinders—6x7 negatives—and my usual black and white film, Tri-X. Both were exposed for the shadows cast by their hats, which means the full frame was overexposed by about two stops. The tonality and three-dimensionality of the photos is why I greatly prefer shooting medium format to 35mm.
I have this ambition of shooting even more portraits next year, but we'll see if I can continue to power through aversion to approaching strangers.
A while back, I received an Olympus OM-1 from a very generous reader. He also sent a couple of lenses, including a 24mm lens that brings an ultra-wide perspective. I gave it a spin last month, and these are the results. You'll notice I focused on murals and buildings, since if this lens is good for anything, it's capturing the full image. These were all taken on the same day.
These photos are from the first week of November up until the election. I spent most of that time in North Carolina, covering the final leg of the Clinton campaign and criss-crossing the state. It was exhausting, but a lot of fun. I didn't take as many photos as I would have liked, I took some, and here are the few that I liked.
This guy was selling Clinton gear for everyone to enjoy.
And this was his table of gear.
I passed this garage, and this car body, on my way to Raleigh.
A giant American flag from a Clinton rally.
On election night, I was at CBS News in New York City. These are a few shots from the green room.
A decorative hat of campaign buttons and stickers.
Frank Luntz, on the phone.
These next few photos are from the day and night after the election. Looking at their composition and lighting, I think they reflect my mood pretty well.
Walk-in's welcomed.
Going down to the subway.
I think, if I ever make a print of this photo, I will call it "alone."
I recently sent an old SLR to a repair shop to be refurbished. It's an Olympus OM-1 that I received from an extremely generous reader. It needed a tune up, and the shop did that and more—replacing old parts and even adding a new focusing screen. As soon as I got the camera back, I loaded up a roll of film (or at least, a half roll) and started shooting. I'm still working on focusing—I've decided I'm bad at focusing everything other than a rangefinder—but I'm mostly pleased with my first set of photos. The initial batch were in black and white. I used Kodak Tri-X, with an orange filter attached when I needed a bit of drama.
These first photos are just snapshots from around Washington D.C.
I shot the rest of the roll while I was visiting Charlottesville, Virginia for a talk. I brought the orange filter along, hence the extremely dramatic photo of Alderman library. It's a bit much as far as effects go, but I wanted to give that filter a spin. This is also my first use of the 24mm lens I bought for the Olympus. It's not the sharpest lens I own, but it has a certain classic character that I like a lot.
For the last few months, I've used a Nikon L35AF for most of my day to day 35mm snaps. It's a great camera! Small, lightweight, with a sharp lens and lots of character. Unfortunately, about a week ago, I dropped it while biking to work. It hit the pavement as I went down hill and promptly shattered into plastic and glass. RIP.
Luckily, I didn't lose any photos. And I have a back-up camera! A recently refurbished Olympus OM-1 that was gifted to me from a reader, with a 35mm lens I picked up from eBay. Those photos are forthcoming. In the meantime, here are the last few shots I took before losing the camera to my negligence. The film is Fuji Provia 100f, a vibrant film that I'm moving away from because it's a bit too expensive and not versatile enough.
(Also, you may notice that I'm doing my photo blogging here at my website, instead of at my VSCO Journal. Long story short is that VSCO is real cumbersome. This isn't a perfect solution—it's a bit of a hassle to edit on my iPad—but it's good enough.)
