march 2017—roll 4

You'll notice that this "roll" of film only has five shots. That's because the other five shots (with this particular camera, you only get 10 exposures) weren't any good. And I'm not even that thrilled about these five. There are two I genuinely like: This first one—of the young woman walking up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, in her dress—and the shot of the MLK Memorial, which captures how imposing it is.

I'll say that the photo of the young woman was a darkroom challenge. She is underexposed, while the background is a bit overexposed. Getting a properly balanced print took some time, and I think I accomplished it. Although I'm not so confident that I would share the results on the internet.

march 2017—roll 3

I have several cameras, but I try to alternative between them and limit myself to using just a few every month. In March, I shot nearly all of my medium format on my 6x7 camera, which has a "normal" focal length, roughly equivalent to the typical person's field of vision. It's ideal for the kinds of shots you get when you're just walking around, which is largely what you'll find on this roll. The exception is this interior, from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, which is just a short bike ride from my apartment. The normal perspective makes interiors feel cramped, and for the first shot on this role—that of a small shrine—it works. The film is my usual, Kodak Tri-X, overdeveloped to extract more detail from the shadows.

march 2017—roll 2

I have no idea why it has taken me so long to write about these rolls of film, but it has. This second roll of March has one of my favorite photos from that month: A shot of Union Station around 8am, right when the morning sunlight was making its way into the main hall. Even on 35mm, it looks fantastic, with great tones throughout. I've been meaning to make a print of this photo and maybe I will the next time I'm in the darkroom.

march 2017—roll 1

I have no real sense of when I took this roll, but I do know I took most of the shots while hanging around Union Station, and the rest were shot around town. The film is Kodak Tri-X 400, the lens was a Canon 35mm Leica screwmount.

february 2017—roll 10

My final roll of February was a roll of "redscaled" color film I put through an Olympus OM-1 I used to own (since sent to a good home). The red color comes from the fact that you are shooting through the red layer of the emulsion. It's a cool effect, and as I think I've mentioned before, it also means that you are capturing a mirror image of what you see, which is also pretty neat. These photos were more or less taken on a stretch of D.C around Union Station and the Capitol Building. I can't say I'm thrilled about them all, but I figured I would share them nonetheless.

february 2017—roll 9

I try to shoot at least one roll of slides each month, and this is that roll! Why shoot slides? Despite their expense and the general hassle of metering them well, slides offer a level of clarity and color that you can't quite get from color negative film (or digital, IMHO). This slide film is Fuji Provia, which offers moderate levels of contrast and saturation, making it a good general purpose film. The best photo in this batch, I think, is the street portrait of the middle-aged gentleman. It showcases the clarity and sharpness of both the film and the lens, an older (circa 1960) Canon screwmount lens for Leica rangefinders.

february 2017—rolls 7 & 8

These photos are from a short trip to Baltimore, which we took as an excuse to have dinner at Woodberry Kitchen (you should get on that, if you haven't). My favorite photo from this batch, as you may have gathered if you follow me on Twitter, is of the spiral staircase. It was a happy accident; I had taken the photo on my digital camera, and used the metering settings to take a shot on the 6x9 camera I brought. But I forgot to account for the ISO on the digital camera—it was 1600, versus the 400 speed film I was using. (Kodak T-MAX.) Despite this, the photo came out well and easy to print! Like I said. A happy accident. 

february 2017—roll 6

I have no actual idea when I started or finished this roll, but I know it happened sometime in the middle of the month, which makes it roll 6. This is the second of my self-developed rolls, Ilford HP5 Plus, rated at 200, shot using a Leica M5, developed in D76 for 6 minutes 45 seconds. Like most of my 35mm work, these photos were taken around D.C, snapshots of daily life in the city and anything that catches my eye.

february 2017—rolls 4 & 5

I paired these rolls together because I took them on the same day. One, during a walk around the National Gallery of Art's east wing, and the other while walking home from that event. I used a Fuji 6x9 rangefinder—which just means the negatives were very large—and two kinds of film, Ilford Delta 3200 and Lomography Redscale (regular color film that's been loaded backwards to create an unusual red effect). I'm meh on the redscale stuff, but I like the black and white work; the straight lines and open space of the east wing works very well with monochrome photography.

february 2017—roll 3

I shot this roll during a trip out to Bluemount, Virginia with a good friend of mine. It's in the hills and mountains of the state, and we were hanging out at a house perched on one of those hills. Beautiful scenery, and great subjects for landscapes and still lifes. I used a Fuji GSW690 camera and Kodak T-MAX 400 for film. Lab developed.