Erica Hampton

Photo

Fri, 11 May 2012 09:45:46 -0700

ericahampton: I really love the painterly-ness of this…yes...

Thu, 10 May 2012 12:00:50 -0700

I really love the painterly-ness of this…yes painterly-ness is a word.

This is a piece of a photo-stitch I did on my iPhone. I’ve decided I hate the way the images are always blurry and not quite right no matter what I do, but I love it in this instance. I am really impressed with the colors in this and I love the blur and the ghost figure that is Xander ;) I really want to do more like this…..

Our last trip to Joshua Tree we decided to camp. We camped at...

Wed, 09 May 2012 12:02:07 -0700

The rock is trying to eat Xander! Oh No!

Mike and Xander

Our campsite

Near Queen Mine

Exploring Queen Mine

Don't laugh, I was freezing!

Xander being epic with Maeby ;)

Xander and Mike high above me.

Maeby looking exhausted.

Our last trip to Joshua Tree we decided to camp. We camped at Jumbo Rock campground and we all had a great time exploring and climbing. Xander loves finding hiding spots:) We ended up freezing that night because we were not properly prepared, even the dog refused to climb out of her burrowed spot in the sleeping bags. But, we had fun!

Children grow up so fast! This is my cousin Taylor from 2006 as...

Tue, 08 May 2012 10:32:00 -0700

Taylor 2012

Taylor 2010

Children grow up so fast! This is my cousin Taylor from 2006 as compared to a few weeks ago. I love her :)

Mike and I love Joshua Tree. We love the desert in general and...

Mon, 07 May 2012 12:01:43 -0700

Mike and I love Joshua Tree. We love the desert in general and Joshua Tree is just so close we can make a weekend trips. We love wandering unencumbered and without any real goal in mind.

While trying to organize my photos I found and old roll of Holga...

Sun, 06 May 2012 12:01:25 -0700

While trying to organize my photos I found and old roll of Holga film from college. I miss photo class, we had fun :)

While trying to organize all my photo stuff I came across some...

Sat, 05 May 2012 12:02:16 -0700

While trying to organize all my photo stuff I came across some Holga film from college. This was my view from my apartment in Ypsilanti. I had the best view in the whole building :) My friend, and crazy talented photographer, Jami is the ghost face on the far right.

Photos of my sister Rachel shot on my Holga. These were taken a...

Fri, 04 May 2012 11:56:02 -0700

Photos of my sister Rachel shot on my Holga. These were taken a very long time ago, probably 6-7 years ago. I remember I had just gotten my Holga and all the little cheesy filters that go with it. I shot this roll of my sister when she came to visit and it sat undeveloped until a couple of weeks ago.

I really like these. I like the double exposures and over lapping. My previous post with the photos of my Dad and Xander seem to be getting positive attention even though I’m just inconsolable in regards to the damage. I just don’t see it as a happy accident, nor is it the nature of the film and camera. It was not intentional or an experiment. I was not in control of the process after the initial exposure and that ,to me, makes them….just plain damaged. But these shots, I don’t mind the imperfections, it’s just the nature of the film and camera.

I remember having the weird little prism filter on and trying to overlap and double expose things. It was intentional with the knowledge that it was also an experiment where the results would be unknown. It was one of my first rolls of holga film and I’m pretty happy with how these came out :)

Old Holga shot of the creek behind my Grandmother’s house...

Thu, 03 May 2012 14:23:50 -0700

Old Holga shot of the creek behind my Grandmother’s house in Kentucky :)

I….had to step away from my camera after getting home from...

Thu, 03 May 2012 12:02:00 -0700

I….had to step away from my camera after getting home from Kentucky.

I lugged that giant thing and all of it’s necessary parts through the airport because it made my luggage too heavy and I didn’t feel like paying the overweight charge. I carried it like an awkwardly shaped baby. I took it with me everywhere while in Kentucky just in case it was the right time to use one of my 6 sheets of film.

I haven’t shot film since college. I have never flown with film. I just assumed the signs at security where correct when they said anything under iso 800 was safe for the scanners. I should have listened to the voice of my college photo prof in the back of my head that kept saying “Don’t assume, it makes and ass out of u and me”….get it?

I was excited to get home and ,instead of developing them myself, hand over my film to the guys that have never mucked up my negatives. I was excited to see the shots of my Dad and the ones I took of Xander. I was excited to see the lens I borrowed from Vu in all it’s glory.

The above is what I got back. The strange lines and all the other f’ed up-ness you see is from the xray machines at the airport. I don’t think I’ve ever been so upset at loosing an image.

I can’t wait for summer! We have so many adventures...

Wed, 02 May 2012 17:53:00 -0700

I can’t wait for summer!

We have so many adventures planned; a long weekend at Disneyland, swim classes, lots of camping and trips to the beach!!

ericahampton: Yesterday was my first full day home from our...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:39:29 -0700

ericahampton:

Yesterday was my first full day home from our road trip to San Francisco. Mike and I are working on Square Book, a photo book project we hope to have launched sooner rather than later. The trip was quick but I had managed to take 11 exposures on my 4x5.

I spent the afternoon developing and scanning. To my dismay several of the negatives stuck together and were ruined. Almost all of them had scratches and weird artifacts. At the moment I do all of my film transfers in a black bag, I have no dark room. I think this adds to the scratching and rough handling.

The other weird damage and artifacts I’m fairly certain are caused by uneven chemical exposure. I’ve only developed one other set in the developing tank that I have and I had similar problems. Of course the negatives sticking together is simply caused by user mishandling :P

I’m headed out for MI/KY today and will be gone for a week. I’m taking the 4x5 and will have some exposures to develop, but the plan is to have those done at my local camera shop. I want to take some test photos around the house to see if I can solve what I think is a lack of chemical exposure problem.

I’m frustrated and embarrassed, but I’m learning.

Good news is I think I’ve got the exposure thing down. All the negatives seemed properly exposed. Thanks to Vu for letting me borrow his lens!

Above is what would have been a pretty cool photo of some cattle on our way to Big Sur. You can see the original is pretty darn messed up. I cropped it as little as possible and cleaned it up a bit. I loved seeing cattle by the ocean. I have a thing for the ocean and for cattle so this just made me happy :) I think Mike Instagrammed a photo and said ” These cows live and hang-out on a cliff overlooking the pacific. Mid-West cows, you’re doing it wrong”. It’s true ;)

Mike and I took a trip to San Francisco this past weekend....

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 18:59:56 -0700

Mike and I took a trip to San Francisco this past weekend. I’m developing and scanning like a mad woman but I won’t have anything to post for a while as I leave for Michigan/Kentucky tomorrow.

I thought I would post this pic of Maeby I shot with my 4x5. I’m having issues with my developing tank so I’m having to crop my negatives quite a bit. At any rate, I thought this was cute.

Several week ago I was talking to my Dad on the phone and he was...

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:12:29 -0700

Several week ago I was talking to my Dad on the phone and he was telling me about a photograph that my uncle Jeff had of their biological dad when he was 7-8 years old. He couldn’t believe how similar they looked and said it even made him do a double take when he first saw the photo. I of course, being skeptical by nature, didn’t believe him. I wrote my uncle Jeff a nice message on facebook and a short time later I had a copy of said photograph.

The photo to the right is the portrait of Xander I took, over the christmas holiday 2011, on my 4x5. He was 7.5 at the time. Such a handsome kid, if I do say so myself.

The photo on the left is my paternal grandfather, whom I never met. I’m assuming it was taken on a camera similar to the 4x5 I’ve been using, but who knows. He was also around 7- 8 in this photo. Probably late 40’s. Notice the trendy bottle cap buttons?

At any rate, when I saw the photo I just about fell out of my chair. I know they don’t look exactly alike, but wow!! So many striking similarities! What do you think?

This photo of Mike was taken the same day as this photo of...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:53:00 -0800

This photo of Mike was taken the same day as this photo of Xander B. Like the portrait of Xander, this photo was also way over exposed….and the focus is a little off too, but I like it!

My order of dark room chemicals came in the other day and I keep reading and re-reading directions on how to mix the chemicals, development times, etc…I’m a little nervous to get started! I’m sure it will be fine once I just spend an hour or so with no distractions :) I have a few sheets to process and I’m excited to see how they came out :)

This is an overexposed image of Xander shot on tri-x 320...

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:03:00 -0800

This is an overexposed image of Xander shot on tri-x 320 using my 4x5. I sent this out to be processed and scanned the negative with my Epson V700.

One of the draw backs to my 4x5 is that the lens has no shutter, so all exposures are manual. Actually, I think I should rephrase that and say the draw back is that I’m not experienced enough with the lens/camera combo to know what I’m doing…yet :)

This was taken in the middle of the afternoon under the shade of many trees. At the moment I have a box of tri-x 320 and so I set the aperture to f/11 and metered for those setting. Of course the suggestion was about 1/36 which is not possible without a shutter. At the time I had completely forgotten about pushing/pulling film so I just used my hand and covered/uncovered the lens as quickly as I could and sent it out to be processed fully expecting total failure. Results? You guessed it, way over exposed.

I still think it’s lovely. It has that antique glow to it doesn’t it? Most importantly I knew what I was doing wrong and I know how to fix it. I think a slower speed film is in order as well as testing out some filters. While I’m waiting for my order of t-max 100 to come in I’m going to try pulling the 320. *fingers crossed*

I’ve posted a few images and talked about my 4x5 camera...

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:04:05 -0800

I’ve posted a few images and talked about my 4x5 camera and how much I love it, but I’ve never talked specifically about the camera itself. I wanted to share some images and my experience with the camera for a few reasons; one, I have no idea what kind of camera it is, where it was made or who made it; two, I’ve only used a large format camera a few times in college and I’m super excited to learn all I can about this contraption and share my mistakes and successes as I go.

As you can see it’s quite a clunky looking thing. Some knobs are missing and others have been replaced with hardware store finds. The rails look new but everything else has signs of much love. There was a hole drilled into the bottom left of the front plate. I stuffed it and wrapped it in black electrical tape. I’m handy like that.

It has a metal frame, not wooden. Looking through antique turn of the century cameras showed all wooden frames. The bellows seem to be made of the same material that the bellows in my Pocket Kodak Jr, which was made in the late 20’s. Even with that information I have no idea what to even guess the manufacture date is on this thing. If you have any ideas, please share :)

There are no serial numbers or manufacturers names on any part of the camera. And the lens, seems to me to be quite old. The only thing printed on the lens is the aperture settings of 4, 5.6, 8 and 11 and REF. No14A/1101. There is no shutter.

I’m super in love with the lens and the unique quality it gives to the images. I love the antique portrait glow that they have. I’ve always wanted to recreate it somehow and now I have that ability. I may not know much about where the lens came from or who made it but I love it just the same.

So far the camera and lens have worked great. Any issues where determined to be user error - in other words I need to work on my metering. I am planning on purchasing a modern lens with a shutter, just to have something around with more control. But, I’m not in a hurry….

I just received my order of darkroom supplies today. I have everything I need to process my own film which will save me tons of money. Also, Mike bought me a scanner for christmas so I can scan my own negatives. This feels good, it feels like the right place to start again :)

Xander B loves bubble baths! Mike gifted me a few packs of...

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 15:57:00 -0800

Xander B loves bubble baths!

Mike gifted me a few packs of Impossible Project film for Christmas. I’ve been using it in my SX-70 with unpredictable results. Most of the slides are a blobby mish mosh and some have small sections that were exposed but the rest is the blobby mish mosh. The filter that is suggested for use with an SX-70 doesn’t want to stay put and one exposure will be fine while another exposure of the same subject/lighting/etc…is just a mess. Last year we had the same problem and I think we were hoping the film would be more stable after letting a year pass, but out of 3 packs of film I have maybe 5 shots that are useable. Sad. I think we will be buying Fugi in the future. In all honesty I’m not sure why we haven’t been buying Fugi from the get go….

I do love this shot, it’s a little flat but I don’t mind. Xander reminds me of some sort of human/algae eater mutant :)

Xander and I went to Kentucky for Thanksgiving. This was taken...

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:31:00 -0800

Xander and I went to Kentucky for Thanksgiving. This was taken on the one day it was not raining and cold. It was a beautiful day, warm enough for Xander to run around in the creek without his shoes. We hung out with the dogs, searched for fossils and tiny water creatures and got super muddy feet! After cleaning up we then traveled into town to have Thanksgiving dinner with my Mom’s side of the family. It was a great day.

Mike and I went on a road trip (to celebrate his 30th birthday)...

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 07:10:05 -0800

Mike and I went on a road trip (to celebrate his 30th birthday) from LA to the Salton Sea stopping at Disneyland, San Diego and Julian along the way. We took along my 4x5 view camera. This shot was taken the morning of Mike’s 30th birthday in our hotel room in San Diego.

I love this camera! I’ve been wanting one since college but never invested in one. Since testing it I think I’m going to invest in a scanner and a lens with a shutter.

This was taken on Tri X 320 f/4 for 3 seconds. I had forgotten my meter and just guessed on the exposure. My exposure guesses worked for this shot but I *way* over estimated exposure times on some other shots of the desert and they aren’t usable. Oh well, lesson learned!