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 film from college. I miss photo class, we had fun :)
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 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 in Kentucky :)
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.
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 ;)
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?
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 :)
