Posts tagged ‘Tri-X’
No Special Way
Vancouver, October 2011
“There is no special way a photograph should look.”
“The photograph is a thing in itself.”
– Gary Winogrand
Vancouver, Oct 2011
One of my goals in 2012 is to take a street photography workshop either with Peter Turnley or Mary Ellen Mark. My street work is ‘ok,’ but I really want it to improve.
If a Day Goes by . . .
Tri-X, N-1, D-76, Studio City, California
“And if a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it’s as though I’ve neglected something essential to my existence . . .” — Richard Avedon
While I would love to accomplish this, and indeed share that feeling, the undertow that is my life ofttimes intrudes. This image is a sort of cousin to the image of the sidewalk a cigarette stub a week or so ago.
Still scanning, and more to come.
It’s the subject matter that counts
Akron, Ohio, Bessa R2a, Zeiss Biogon, N-1, D-76, Yellow Filter
“It’s the subject matter that counts. I am interested in revealing the subject in a new way to intensify it.” — Harry Callahan
Well, I guess I’m not the only one interested in these quotes. There’s a whole web page set up to store and retrieve quotes from photographers.
This image is from yet another roll of pulled Tri-X. Shot in Akron, Ohio on a day when I went to see a Todd Rundgren concert.
Also, playing with the theme, but I haven’t yet figured out how to edit the background of the side boxes. I’ll get there.
Making Visible
Tri-X, N-1, Bessa + Biogon, Venice Beach
“Art does not reproduce the visible. It makes visible.” — Paul Klee
“What reinforces the content of a photograph is the sense of rhythm – the relationship between shapes and values.” — Cartier-Bresson
Part of the reason I’ve been putting quotes about photography in my blog l,lately is to make me think about process. In the last year, as Mike Peters has gently and appropriately pointed out, I’ve been distracted quite a bit by equipment. Partly to push myself beyond that, and partly because I think about artistic process quite a bit (I teach it in my coursework) I have been reading a bit lately.
Venice Beach boardwalk
When I come across an image in my scanning where I am reminded of a quote, or am reading and I come across something that I think is appropriate, I have been putting it in the post.
Venice Beach
Not that I agree or disagree with the quote, per se, but rather that the quote made me think.
And I hope it makes you think, as well.
A simple shot
Tri-X, N-1, D-76
This shot looks simple. It was, however, deceptively tricky (for me, anyway). The following things challenged me about it:
- The bright afternoon sunlight, the dynamic range
- White flower
- Shadow detail I wanted to retain
- There was a wrought-iron fence between me and the fountain, and I was shooting a rangefinder, which meant that I had to manually position the lens through the bars and guess at the framing, because in front of my viewfinder was a vertical bar, making it impossible to see accurately.
Luck saved me in the latter case, and pulling the development saved me in the former. Especially on very sunny days, the advantages of N-1 development (which I am now a huge fan of) gives me a look that I just love in b&w film. Those who have followed me know that I have long sought a ‘look’ in b&w that digital just, for me with my limited Photoshop skills, anyway, cannot give me. I dabbled with HDR for a while, and I’m not against it, but the kind of feeling images such as the one above deliver I’m just entranced by.
I used to use the Nik Silver Efex (v1) ‘pulled preset, which I loved, but they eliminated it in v2 (don’t know why). The look above really gives me what I want. As good as the Efex p[reset was, it only approached this feeling, it didn’t nail it.
More to come this weekend.
The Destination of Photography
Santa Barbara, CA; Fuji 160s
“The destination of photography is to reveal what something or somebody looked like, under a particular set of conditions, at a particular moment in time, and to transmit the result to others.”
Bill Jay, On Being a Photographer
I have been reading a publication called Lenswork for about four years. It is a high-quality bi-monthly periodical centered on black & white photography, mainly but not exclusively digital. The editor, Brooks Jensen, has a Podcast and seems like a very articulate, well-educated photographer/publisher. I enjoy the issues quite a bit, and have listened to 90% of the podcasts over the years. Before passing away, Bill Jay was a columnist, and a wonderful one, within that magazine. Loved his insights into photography.
Venice Beach, California. Pulled Tri-X.
As you have noticed, of late I have been quoting Susan Sontag from her series of essays, ‘On Photography.’ I have been reading with great interest your responses to the quotes, but have not been responding to your thoughts. The lack of response is intentional, and my choice to quote from Sontag is also intentional. Other writers on these questions and issues will be quoted in the future, as with Bill Jay today.
Enjoy
Another Habit of Seeing
Bessa R2a, Zeiss 35mm f/2, Tri-X, N-1, D-76
“Insofar as photography does peel away the dry wrappers of habitual seeing, it creates another habit of seeing: both intense and cool, solicitous and detached, charmed by the insignificant detail, addicted to incongruity.”
Susan Sontag, On Photography
Nobody ever discovered ugliness through photography
EOS 3, Tri-X, N-1, 70-200 f/4 L
“Nobody ever discovered ugliness through photographs. But many, through photographs, have discovered beauty. . . . what moves people to take photographs is finding something beautiful. Nobody exclaims ‘Isn’t that ugly; I must take a photograph of it.’ Even if someone did say that, all it would mean is ‘I find that ugly thing . . . beautiful.”
– Susan Sontag On Photography
Happy Thanksgiving! New Images!
EOS 3, 70-200 f/4 L, Pulled Tri-X in D-76
First off, Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers, where-ever in the world you might be! I developed a few rolls of Tri-X pulled one stop to see the difference between that and Plus-X (as I search for an eventual replacement). There’s an overall softer quality to the Tri-X, which, while I like it, is not quite the same.
These images aren’t bad at all, just not the same look.
I had started off that day with a client’s portrait session, and while I did most of those images on my 5D, I captured about a half-roll of Tri-X in between setups. Many of my friends had sung the praises of pulled Tri-X for portraits, and a number of them came out quite lovely.
Soft Light
Biogon, Bessa R2a, Tri-X, DD-X
Just a couple other images from that Chicago trip. I am a sucker for the kind of light that appears in this image above. The softness of the light coming through the window against the crispness of the items on the table.
I tried this image with more expsoure for the people
And a second try for that image in the alley
