skaters

If you walk by the memorial to the Grand Army of the Republic in Washington D.C on a warm, clear weekend, you'll almost certainly see a few kids on their skateboards, attempting grinds and kickflips, and generally just hanging around. Sometimes, when I have a few minutes to spare, I hang out in the area and take photos, just to see what I might get. 

I'm only sharing four photos in this post, but I took most of a roll of 35mm while observing the skaters. These particular photos capture the most distinctive elements of the scene. The bright sunlight and hard shadows that add additional dynamism to shots of jumping and flipping.

There's also photos of the skaters themselves. Which is to say that, in addition to practice capturing action, the 45 minutes or so I spent in the space were a useful exercise in breaking out of my comfort zone and approaching people for photos and portraits. I have two in this set. The first is of our first skater, triumphant after landing a trick. And our second is of another skater, not seen in any of the above photos, just resting while the others try their luck with the pavement.

To get a larger view of any of the photos here, just give them a click.

hasselblad xpan

Part of the fun if photography is it gives you a different way of seeing the world. Depending on the lens or format or camera, you can experience your surroundings in a profoundly different way. Late last year, I rented a Hasselblad XPan with the aim of capturing my surroundings as a series of panoramas. I was aiming less for sweeping vistas—the usual usecase for the panorama—and more for something cinematic.

I used the camera in two places, primarily: Charlottesville, Virginia—where I live—and Birmingham, Alabama, where I was staying during a weeklong reporting trip. The XPan also saw some use in Washington DC, but not too much.  There's not much to say about it as a camera. It's a bit heavy, but otherwise easy to handle. It's a rangefinder, which means you don't see the frame through the lens and have to use your imagination to get something of a sense of what the final image will look like. The focusing mechanism on the copy I used wasn't fully vertically aligned, which was only a problem for close focusing. 

I shot 8 rolls of film on the camera, but rather than bore you with every photo I took, I figured I would do some curation, giving you the highlights. Let me know what you think in the comments.

more from the truck graveyard

A few quick details about these photos. I took them with a Fuji GW670 rangefinder loaded with Kodak T-MAX 400 film. The light was fading, and so everything was shot at either f/4 or f/5.6. For most of these I was far enough away that it makes no difference, but on a few you can see the somewhat shallow depth of field.

I was told that the graveyard may be cleared in the next year, so these might be the last photos I'll have a chance to take there.

another visit to the truck graveyard

This is the second time I've gone to this truck graveyard that's out near Columbia, Virginia. I brought my large format rig, equipped with a few transparencies and a few sheets of black and white film. I don't have much of a story here. The light was perfect, and I had plenty of time to take photos. The first picture is a personal favorite because of the incredible light. Everything just pops.

an autumn ride down skyline drive

In early November, just before the trees gave up their leaves, my wife and I (and the dog) took a ride down Skyline Drive, the scenic highway that goes through Shenandoah National Park. I wanted to shoot a few sheets of 4x5, and brought my Crown Graphic along for the ride.

Skyline Drive is incredibly scenic, but my favorite photo was of these leaves. Despite the sharpness of the photo and the relatively accuracy of the colors, there's still something dreamlike about the photo, perhaps a product of the shallow depth of field.

The remaining photos are from various points along the highway. We didn't drive the whole thing—the dog got pretty restless after about 2 hours—but we drove enough to get a few decent photos.

And here's a photo of the dog, taken in a smaller format, since she would not sit still for a large format portrait.

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a few photos of kansas

I moderated a panel in Hays, Kansas last month, and had a chance to drive through a nice chunk of Kansas. I didn't have time to photograph everything that caught my eye, but I did take a few pictures, and these are the ones that were worth sharing. I used a Fuji medium format rangefinder and Kodak T-MAX 400 film.

a few thoughts on my favorite camera (and photos too)

I own a lot of cameras. But my favorite is a Fuji rangefinder in 6x7 format, nicknamed the "Texas Leica" because of its size. Despite that size (and really, it's no bigger than most DSLR rigs), it offers, for me, the right combination of quality (from a sharp lens exposing large negatives) and ease of use. You can almost shoot it like a smaller camera, capturing street scenes as if you're working with 35mm.

Of course, you can't this level of detail, depth of field, or tonality with 35mm film. As compositions, I'm just OK with these first two photos, both taken on Charlottesville's Downtown Mall. But I'm sharing them because I think they capture the technical advantages of medium format film, as well as the tonal qualities of T-MAX 400, which is fast becoming my favorite black and white emulsion.

On to color film! These shots were taken at the annual harvest festival at Albemarle Cider Works, just a few miles from town. The film is Provia 100f, a transparency film that's hard to expose right, but offers great colors and tones when you do it well. Even here, in what's obviously overcast weather, the colors pop (take a look at those apples in the last photo of this bunch).

The next three photos are just snapshots. Nothing special, just compositions I thought were worth taking. But, to sing the praises of this camera again, it is very versatile despite its medium length fixed lens. I can't shoot anything that needs an exceptionally wide perspective, but I can shoot most things the way I'd prefer.

And these last photos are from a recent trip to Farmville, Virginia, just about an hour south of Charlottesville. It's on my to-do list for the new year to take another trip down to do a little more photography.

pastels and heavy grain

Earlier this year I bought several rolls of Lomography F2, a limited run film that was released suddenly and disappeared just as quickly. Here’s how Lomography described the emulsion:

In 2010, we bought the last ever Jumbo Roll of original 400 ASA film from some renowned Italian filmmakers. Then, ever the ones to experiment, we left the film to age like fine wine in oak casks in the Czech Republic. Thankfully, our crazy instincts were rewarded — seven years later, we went back to discover that this fantastic film still produces refined colors with a beautifully unique tone. It’s one-of-a-kind Color Negative with an X-Pro feel, and we’re so excited to share it with you!

Having shot five rolls of this stuff since its release, I’m not sure that it has an “X-Pro”—read: cross-processed—feel. But it does have an interesting look, with soft almost pastel-like colors and heavy grain.

I attempted to shoot my final roll of this stuff in a Nikon L35AF that I picked up. But that camera was a dud, and few of the shots I took were worth the time to scan, edit, and share. I put the roll in a different camera, my trusty Leica M5, and came away with a few photos I liked. All of these are snapshots from around town. Here, for example, I have photos of people spending time on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall.

I like the second photo in particular; there’s a pleasing symmetry between the glass, the building, and the concrete.

The rest were taken on my various afternoon walks with the dog. And in fact, she features in the final shot of the bunch.

a day spent walking through (part of) san francisco

This is pretty self-explanatory. I was in San Francisco and had a little time to explore. As always, I had a camera with me—in this case, a Leica M5 with a 50mm lens and a fresh roll of Fuji Provia 100f. I shot most of the roll in the course of an afternoon, and finished it the following morning.

A few observations about these photos. Provia is a transparency film, and I leaned into its qualities, namely high contrast leading to deep blacks. It occurs to me that I shot this roll like I would a roll of black and white film, with an eye toward enhancing contrast and capturing shadows. You see that in the first photo of the group.

Scanning these was a bit of a bear. There were heavy color casts on some of these photos, so I spent a lot of time trying to correct for them.