my friend writes an expat/travel blog about china over at Interactive Expat, she featured some of my photos and writing in a guest post, check it out and some of her other posts too or on twitter
Guest Post on Interactive Expat
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Pan100 with Ilfosol3
sunny days, slow films
I bought a roll of Ilford Pan100 a while back but waited some time before loading it. I wanted to save it for the right time. A nice slow black and white roll deserves something special. So I waited till the bright sunny days of summer. I got out my Canon A-1 with a handy 50mm 1:1.4 lens and loaded it up. I had a plan, ideas, and a focus. Completed the roll, drew the shades, closed the bathroom door and went to work. After developing it took over two months to finally get the negs scanned, and when I got them back, I was disappointed. Continue reading
Gear Profile III: Ricoh 500 G
A rangefinder that I'm proud to have in my collection of gear
Stats:
- 35mm rangefinder
- Manual and shutter priority shooting modes
- Hot shoe and PC sync
- Shutter: leaf shutter, bulb, 1/8-1/500 sec
- Lens: 40mm f/2.8 Rikenon lens
- Meter: lens mounted CdS meter
- Strengths: compact and light, relatively fast lens, convenient controls
Expired HP5+
stronger contrast and stronger grain from expired HP5+
Last summer I was visiting home and happened across a garage sale. My eyes were instantly drawn to the words ‘Ilford’ plastered on a package of photographic paper. At this point I hadn’t been doing much with film, had yet to try developing my own film, and didn’t quite know when I would ever need photographic paper. But I bought it anyway, it was maybe five dollars, couldn’t hurt. The pack came with two rolls of H5+, very nice. But it would still be over six months before I use them.
HP5 Plus with Ilfosol 3
this is my favorite of the batch
This is my first batch of 120 that I’ve developed at home. I ran some HP5+ through my Yashica-D and shot at box speed. The only developer I have at home right now is Ilfosol 3. The Massive Dev Chart gave me a time of 6:30 with a 1+9 solution. Overall I’m impressed with the results. The contrast isn’t as strong as I was expecting, but more what I wanted. The grain was great. Just the right amount to add some texture but not so much to detract from the subject. I just developed some expired HP5+ 35mm film and am waiting for the scans to get back. I’ll be sure to post that soon to compare the results.
Gear Profile II: Minolta x-700
Here's my Minolta x-700
Stats:
- 35mm SLR
- Manual, aperture priority, and programed automatic exposure modes
- Hot shoe
- Exposure compensation (±2)
- Horizontally-traveling cloth shutter, up to 1/1000sec
- Lenses: MD Rokkor-X 45mm 1:2, Tokina 35-70mm 1:4
- Accessories: extension tubes (12, 20, and 36mm)
How a Story is Told
I feel that all art consists one basic thing: a story (or a why). To tell this story you need three more basic things: a subject (what), technique (how), and style (how again). For an effective piece, each of these components should be the result of a conscious decision.
Subject
In photography the subject is usually pretty clear; it’s what you are taking a pictue of. The subject should be obvious when looking at a photo, but not every photo has a clear subject. That’s where many snapshots are lacking. When you casually snap a photo of a scene in front of you, your eye might know where to look, but the eye of an objective viewer may not. The subject may be where most of your story is. A clear focal point will draw the viewer in and put them into whatever story it is that you are trying to tell. How is that subject made more clear? Technique and style…
