Tania – Olympus OM-10 | Vivitar 135mm f2.8 | Kodak Portra 400

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Test shoot with Tania on Sunday.  All shot with Olympus OM-10 with Vivitar 135mm f/2.8 on Kodak Portra 400.  Can’t say this was an overwhelming success but was good to try out a new combo but don’t think that it will work for me.  Still think I will look at buying a square format Medium Format such as the Yashica 124g as and when a suitable one comes up and try something like this again.  Also feel that I have overexposed these shots so need to meter more accurately.

Shooting with models is certainly not a speciality of mine, yet, but each time I do it I learn more so need to overcome my resistance to it and push forwards.

Black and white photography: ‘mags and rags’ Victoria bus station

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"black and white" "square format" "series' "photography"

Victoria bus station

Another addition to the ongoing series ‘mags and rags’, this time a black and white image photographed at Victoria Bus Station last night.

Newspapers and magazines are a great distraction for us when we have idle time on our hands,  so waiting rooms such as this prove fertile ground for a photographer like me working on series looking at what may be the last days of physical newsprint.

With scenes like this though, it seems hard to envision a future of people of all ages, backgrounds and sexes united in a single pursuit.  There are no format issues, compatibility or hardware restrictions. Everybody has the same access to the available content in an affordable medium.

Not for me to judge, will just carry on documenting what I see.  You can see all of the black and white photographs from the ‘mags and rags’ series here.

 

post script:  Decided to continue to experiment with the square format by digitally cropping the original image.

Black and white photograph: Bottle and Jug

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"black and white" "photography" "square format"

Another experiment with square format

Following on from yesterday post, Experimenting with square format, I set out today with a squarer point of view in mind.  I also managed to squeeze in a visit to a couple of camera shops here in Norwich and let them know I was on the lookout for a Yashica 124g.

Anyway, walking around Tombland I noticed this beautiful old etched glass in a closed-down pub.  From the signs in the main windows, it looks like somebody has the intention of re-opening this place and I hope they do.  Hate seeing pubs closed down.  But I really hope they can retain these beautiful old original features.  No longer is there Bottle and Jug entrances to our pubs, somewhere to nip in and get a quick drink and a carry out.

So back to my original point.  I had my Fuji X100 with my but wanted to keep my eyes open for opportunities for square format images.  As much as I want to experiment with a square medium format camera, I don’t want to waste money on something I won’t use.  So back to this etched window.  Framed it with a square crop in mind, and made the photograph.  Framed it with the ‘bit’ I wanted fairly central to the frame with the view to cropping in Aperture later.

So back at home.  Image was cropped in Aperture and converted to black and white in Silver Efex Pro.  And something I don’t normally do is add a ‘film type’ filter to my black and white images.  But for want to experiment, I sampled a few and added the Kodak TMax 400 Pro.  I really like the contrasty nature of this film and think it adds what I wanted to this image.

Bottle and Jug is now available to buy as a fine art 12″ x 12″ open edition black and white giclee print in my shop on Etsy priced at just £25.00 (excl p+p)

Experimenting with square format

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"landscape' "colour" "field of straw" "golden hour" "square format" "1:1"

Experimenting with square format photography

Okay, this is purely an experiment to see what a difference my work will look like if I consider adopting a square format for my photography.  I know us photographer suffer from what Zack Arias terms “G.A.S”, Gear Acquisition Syndrome, but I am seriously considering buying a square format analogue camera.  Something has been niggling me recently and it won’t let go and I think I may have finally identified it.

Why Square Format?

I bought an Olympus Pen at the first half of 2011, just after I cleared out all of my Canon 5D MK II kit.  The Oly Pen was to be my stripped back, start again, find my way camera.  And it would have stayed that way too but the optical viewfinder option was just too hard to get used to.  Perhaps if I stayed with it longer I would have found a workaround but I didn’t love it enough to persist.

Anyway, I digress.  What the Oly had was the ability to switch format to 1:1 which gave you a square format image.  Now I was framing via the optical viewfinder so it was hit and miss anyway but I liked the option but didn’t realise until this week how much.

The Oly Pen square format option was just an in-camera crop of the jpeg image into a square format.  If you only shot in jpeg, which I did on the day I tested this, you would get a square format jpeg back.  However, if you shot jpeg and RAW, the RAW file would retain the 3:2 format for you to work on as you chose later on but you also could download the square format jpeg.

"woman smoking" "smoker" "smoking" "monochrome" "black and white"

Above: jpeg square format shot on the Oly Pen.

I currently shoot with a Fuji X100, a brilliant little camera capable of incredibly great image files.  However, the Fuji X100, the Olympus OM-PC, Oly Pen, Canon 5D MK II and Canon 450D I owned before that all share two thing that bugs me.

1. I absolutely cannot get used to, or comfortable with, orienting these cameras into portrait mode.  The Fuji X100, with its left sided viewfinder, is particularly difficult but the dSLRs as well always felt awkward to me in this mode.

2. I like to shoot in close but always feel with 3:2 format that I have something ‘extra’ at the edge, top or bottom of my frame.  I try to eliminate where possible by coming closer but still I have more than I want or need.

Going back to the image above of the lady smoking in Trafalgar Square, I don’t feel like I have extra space, nor did I have to bend my arms into a shape to change the way I held the camera to get this image.

I am also enjoying the instagram app on my iPhone which also employs the square format to my images.  I know this is by virtue of a crop but, regardless, this little app seems to do a good job of it.

iPhone 4 | instagram

But why buy a film camera if digital is the future?

As well as thinking about going ‘square’, I also want to move into Medium Format.  I will continue to shoot with my digital Fuji X100 for day to day stock photography and grab shots, but I want to experiment with producing much higher quality prints and for that I believe I need to look at investing in a medium format camera system.  Entering the MF arena in digital means an investment of upwards of probably £6-8,000.  Entering analogue film medium format second hand systems is much more practical with kits starting at around £100.  I appreciate on top of that there is film, processing and scanning costs, but regardless, it is the only option available to me at this time.

But there is another reason.  Although a lot of what I shoot is eventually processed as a black and white image, I do enjoy and appreciate colour photography.  The reason I don’t do more is that in many cases I actually don’t trust my colour manipulation and correction in post processing.  I know there is no right or wrong, but I don’t have the confidence in what I do with colour.  However, using different film stocks will allow me to experiment and find a colour ‘style’ or palette I am confident with and can apply to different shoots as I visualise them.  Whacking on different filters in Nik Colour Efex Pro on a trial and error basis just doesn’t suit me.

So why not save money and crop digital files?

The top image on this post is a crop.  I don’t normally crop any of my images.  If I don’t get it right in camera, then I have to suck it up and learn from my mistakes.  I will allow myself to straighten a horizon but other than that the orientation of the image stays the way it was originally created.

Today, I worked on a few images to see what would happen if I applied a square crop.  Some of the images look okay.  Again this is subjective but I can see potential in doing this. But, and it’s a big but, the way I shoot is determined by the format I am shooting in.  The top image would have been created differently if I had shot square at the time rather than cropped.  I could see that when I was experimenting with where to ‘fix’ the square cut out to the image.  So for me, I don’t think post-production squaring is going to work for me.

So what medium format square camera to go for?

I know little about analogue photography.  I know less about medium format photography.  So I asked somebody who knew more about both than anybody else I have encountered in the interweb.  Jonathan Canlas is a film evangelist and shoots with medium format cameras.  Whilst I don’t think square is necessarily his thing, he did suggest that a low cost way to get into square medium format was to buy a Yashica 124g or a Holga.  The Holga to me didn’t work.  I have played with these before but they feel too, I don’t know, toy-ish for what I want.

I want this camera to have the ability to create fine art prints and so would like to be able to depend on the results I will get back.  So, by process of elimination, I am now trawling through ads for a good / excellent Yashica 124g for not too much money.  Seems to be that around the £120 – £150 mark will get you a decent example.  I wanted a second opinion and so had a Twitter conversation with @timothycochrane last night and he highly recommends his Yashica, so much so he even photographed Richard Hawley with one in a portrait session.

What next?

  1. Secure the funds for my new / old Yashica 124g
  2. Find and buy suitable rig
  3. Buy Jonathan Canlas’ book, Film is not Dead
  4. Experiment with film
  5. Attend the Film is not Dead workshop in Surrey, May 2012

Points 1 – 5 are feasible, point 6 I am still working on but it is a definite maybe as long as I can get the money together.

Whatever happens, experimenting with a square format will only do me and my photography good and I look forward to seeing the results.

Cropping? Think I will leave that to somebody else.

post script: links in this post to external sites / information is for your convenience only.  These are NOT affiliate links.

Black and white photography: Bright lights of London

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"light pollution" "office lights" "black and white" "london" "green park"

Bright lights of Londons office environment

The contrast of the night drawing in against the relative bright lights coming from London offices drew me to create this photograph on the X100 in Black and White.

I like the illustration of the square box offices that house many of us for over 40 hours a week too, like battery hens working to produce ‘ on demand’ for the benefit of profit.

Too profound?

Black and white photography: Overnight Snow in Norwich

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"black and white" "snow" "snowing" "winter" "nighttime"

First 'real' snow of 2012 in Norwich

Although a few flurries of snow have fallen in Norwich this year, last night saw our first real proper dump of snow.  Motivating myself to go out at 10pm last night was easy enough when scenes like this are just outside your window.

Originally processed in colour for my Alamy365 stock photography project, I went back to the image again as I saw that this could make for a dramatic black and white print.  Initial reaction has been so good that it is now available to buy as an open edition 12″ x 10″ Hahnemuhle Fine Art Pearl print, unmounted and unframed, priced at just £25.00 (excl p +p).

Shot on the Fuji X100 mounted on a Slik tripod.

Street photography: Shadowy character on the streets of London

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"black and white" "street photography" "shadows" "long shadows" "midday sun"

A male character casting a long shadow on the streets of London

Photography rules suggest that shooting anywhere too close to midday is a no-no.   However sometimes it’s great to be a rule breaker.

With the sun higher in the sky around lunchtime, it creates lovely long dark shadows, something I think looks great in street photography.  It gives the whole a photograph a different narrative.  In this case, the male character photographed on the streets of London from a coach window looks more menacing.  In fact, he is probably just a normal person waiting for a lift or a friend.  But that’s the power of the contrasty shadows, obscuring his face and creating a looming presence on the pavement.

Read the small print

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"street photography" "black and white" "short sighted" "long sighted"

Always read the small print

Spending all day out in the cold on the street photographing can be tough on both photographer and their equipment.  I tend to find that on a typical street photography day the battery on my Fuji X100 will last until I get home, dependent obviously how trigger happy I have been.  However as the temperatures drop, the charge on my camera and iPhone seem to run low much quicker.

So I often take refuge in the nearest Apple store to recharge my phone, free of charge – thank you Apple, swap batteries over in my camera and generally try and get some warmth back into my feet and  hands.  Anyway, whilst waiting for the phone to hit 50% charge, I noticed this lady browsing the iPhone 4 with a magnifying glass.  She must have spent in excess of 20 minutes like this, oblivious to what was going on around her in a pretty packed store.

Street photography doesn’t have to be out in the street, human characteristics and traits are evident both indoors and out, you just need to keep your attention primed.

Now I can’t understand if this lady is long-sighted or short-sighted?  As a glasses wearer since the age of two, I still get these two terms confuddled.  Help out in the comments box below please.

Film is not Dead book and UK workshop

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"film is not dead" "book" "analogue" "film" "photography" "jonathan canlas"

Film is not Dead book - click to buy from Amazon UK

As I mentioned in the ‘mags and rags’ fine art investment’ post at the end of last week, I am doing whatever I can to attend the Film Is Not Dead (FIND) photography workshop run by analogue photography evangelist Jonathan Canlas in Surrey this May.

This workshop is limited to just 10 places and is the only one in the UK in 2012 and at time of writing just 4 slots remain.  Now by virtue of writing about this workshop on my blog, there is a very big chance that you, or somebody else, will hear about FIND for the first time, pull out your cheque book and go bag yourself a place.  And if you do, the chances of me attending just got slimmer.  But I am a believer that if I am meant to attend this workshop, then somehow I will get there.  And if I can help spread the word about analogue film photography, then I am happy to do that so others can explore another option to digital.

"piggy bank" "small change" "FIND Surrey" "black and white" "photography" "analogue" "film"

Savings to date for FIND Surrey 2012

Smashing the piggy bank today is another small addition to the fund.  May only be about £10 in here but as my old mum used to say “every little helps”.  And if it doesn’t get me to the FIND Surrey workshop this May, it will help pay for the Film is not Dead hardback book Jonathan has just released.  At least that will get me started in my search to understand film photography that much better.

If you wish to help me get to FIND Surrey this year, you can buy one of my photobooks here or a limited edition fine art print from the ‘mags and rags’ series here.

Update:  My Piggy only netted my £5.07, so got a way to go yet :-)

If you are going to FIND Surrey, I hope I get the pleasure of meeting you in May.

And lastly, if you just want to know more about shooting film photography, Jonathan Canlas’ new book, Film is not Dead – A digital photographer’s guide to shooting film is available  now on Amazon UK.