Month: February 2010

Slight Thaw with HP5

Posted by Chris Klug – February 28, 2010

MacConnell's Mill, Pa, 2009

No, I wish this shot was taken this February, but it was taken last February on our first visit to MacConnell’s Mill about 35 minutes north of us. Today we received another four inches or so; this winter in Pittsburgh is now officially about to crack into 4th place on the all-time list for most snow in a winter since they’ve been keeping records.

The bright spot today was discovered as I scanned a roll of HP5 that clearly I had exposed last February on a trip back from Mesa. On the same roll were many wonderful images of the woods in winter on a cloudy day such as the one above. Nice tones and detail, exposed with my Ftb and 35mm f/2 FD lens, a lens whose virtues I have extolled in the past. Also on that roll were shots from a trip to Saguaro National Park, so pretty obviously I went there right after I returned to Arizona.

Developed in Rodinal, Mr. Paul

Oops! Wrong Filter!

Posted by Chris Klug – February 26, 2010

"I don't think that looks like an 81a . . ."

Heh, so sometimes I can get myself into trouble. Last fall, in the middle of fall foliage, Peg and I went to Allegheny Cemetery. I took the 5D with me as well as the F100 loaded with Ektar. Being a reader of Mr. Rockwell, I was taking his advice and put an 81a filter on the lens, hoping to add a little punch to the warm tones of the leaves. Ahem, warm indeed.

I sent the roll off to North Coast (this is the same roll that had the image taken on the street I posted a while back on the street of the South Side of Pittsburgh here). The first few frames of the roll were taken on the street, the rest in the cemetery with the filter.

The phone rings one day after I shipped off the film. On the line is the tech at North Coast who is doing the scanning. She telling me that the images display a large color shift, and asks whether I want her to color correct during the scanning. “They were taken with an 81a,” I tell her. “No, don’t correct.” “OK,” she replies. “Just checking.”

I get the roll back, and the cemetery shots all look like this. I’m flummoxed. I look through my filter kit, and can’t find a filter that would have given me this acid-yellow. I continue to be flummoxed until I pack the Mamiya 645 for the trip to California.

I put the 8mm lens on the camera and take the lens cap off. There, in all its glory, is a deep yellow b&w filter. The light bulb goes on (dim though it may be). THAT’s the filter I had obviously used on the F100 (either thinking it was an 81a by mistake) or had been left on for a roll of b&w I had shot.

I used an 81a on that same trip (a REAL 81a this time) and can’t wait to see the results.

But, can you imagine what that scanning tech thought as she got off the phone with me? “81a my a–.”

Winter’s Night

Posted by Chris Klug – February 25, 2010

5D Silver Efex

I have mixed feelings about this image, but I wanted to post it anyway, because it shows so much of what I like about the 5D. Mixed feelings because I think, as I look at it, that I should’ve moved the tripod a few feet to my right so as to move the birch more towards the window in the composition. But I may be quibbling.

Winter continues to linger on here. However, I just received word that I’ll be traveling to Brazil for work in a few weeks. Never been to South America, and I would imagine there might be a picture opportunity or two there for me. I’ll tell you one thing, I’m going to be packing light. Probably just the 5D, one lens and the Bessa with the 35mm Biogon. Street shooting in Rio, anyone?

Guilt

Posted by Chris Klug – February 19, 2010

Soft Morning light

So given what the weather is like back in Pittsburgh, I feel a little guilty posting this image. I captured this yesterday morning as I went for a walk before my conference began. Yes, it was a little cold and damp, but, lordy, it’s LaJolla and it’s the beach and meanwhile it’s still snowing back in the ‘Burgh.

Stay warm, everyone!

Landing at SFO

Posted by Chris Klug – February 17, 2010

5D with TMAX preset

Standing on a walkway near the marshes through which the power lines ran, you could see planes landing at San Francisco airport, about 10 miles north on the same side of the bay.

This morning I’m flying to San Diego for a conference, leaving out of San Jose airport. My flight was at 8:20, but when I arrived at the check-in at 6:30 I was informed that the fog had cancelled my flight. Flights could leave in the fog but not land, and my plane was coming from somewhere else, I guess.

So, I’m sitting in the airport and I thought I’d post another image from earlier in the week.

Yesterday I met Colin (the friend with whom I had gone to Point Lobos a month ago). He proudly displayed a whole kit of Mamiya 645 gear he’d purchased from a wedding photog who was getting rid of it. Colin got a great price and he now has TWO bodies, a long telephoto, and a nice wide angle to go along with his standard lens.

All because I posted images I had captured with my 645e. Hmm, that purchase has rippled out to two friends now, Paul and Colin. Anyone else?

West Side of the Bay

Posted by Chris Klug – February 16, 2010

South of San Francisco, along the western shore of SF bay, they have a walkway along the water’s edge, both giving the residents a place to exercise as well as preserving the marshlands at the Bay’s edges for wildlife. Running along this walkway are these power lines. The graphic nature of the outline struck me. I spent a while here, playing with the fog and the graphics. Also captured a roll of HP5 with my Mamiya.

Jack London Square

Posted by Chris Klug – February 15, 2010

Balloons don't help sometimes

I’m in California on business this week, and yesterday went to Jack London Square in Oakland to do some street shooting with the 5D (first time for using that camera in that role). Functionally, it worked well, focussed quickly, exposed well, very nice, but four separate people walked by me and said some variant of “now THAT’s a camera!” (the 17-40 zoom with the lens shade is honkin’ huge). No bad vibes, no bad looks, it’s a tourist place so no one thought ill of me (I wasn’t the only one walking around with a camera) but for being ‘invisible,’ well, not so much. A smaller lens would be ideal for that role with the 5D; the camera worked wonderfully. If there was a pancake 40mm prime, it would be great. A big prime wouldn’t work (I’ve been looking at a Sigma 28mm f/1.9 prime, but the filter size is 77mm, so it’s probably similar in size to the 17-40).

I also brought the 645e with me and shot some images yesterday with the new 45mm lens I bought from a local PA photographer who’s selling all of his old film equipment. It’s kind of an heartwarming and sad story. His family owns a photography business and has run it for 60+ years. It’s based in Johnstown, PA (site of the famous flood in the late 1800s). His uncle opened the business right at the end of WWII, and it’s been in continuous operation since then. I don’t know how many photographers Johnstown supported in its prime (which is gone now; they had another big flood in 1977 that ripped the heart out of the town; Bethlehem Steel closed their plant after that flood and it’s been downhill ever since). But this guy’s business clearly was the main photography shop in Johnstown. High school portraits, family portraits, weddings, etc. All on film. He showed me a half-dozen Bronica medium format cameras, a half-dozen Mamiya 645s and 67s, all mainstays of his business. At one point he employed 24 people to shoot, process, print and matt/mount photographs. He showed me row upon row of negatives (high school portraits, mainly) that he is trying to give to the local historical society (and they’re not sure they want them!!)

But it is not an exaggeration to say that the history of this town over the last 60 years is sitting in the negatives this guy owns.

However, digital has ripped the heart out of this long-profitable family business. The reason is simple: he made most of his money from prints. He kept the negs. But, today, if he delivers a print to someone, they just scan it and distribute it to Aunt Marie and Uncle Joe and all his profit disappears. Not to mention that everyone has a cell phone with a camera built in. The only way he can make money these days is on the shoot itself, which, back then, was only the beginning of the business. Now I understand why top wedding photographers, whether they shoot digital or film, charge $10k. That’s the only profit point in the process anymore.

So now he packages DVDs of Quicktime movies of the images and distributes them. It’s just not the same. He’s closing the building downtown where he inhabited three floors for 60 years and selling everything inside. I had never really understood how a photographer like him made his business work when the business was in the volume, but now I do. You have a bunch of enlargers with mechanical rigs to, for example, exposed 8 head shots on a large piece of color paper that then gets cut up into wallet prints and stuffed in envelopes and delivered to the clients. Lots of pieces of hardware you never would think of being part of the photography business. He was part photographer, part printer.

Now he sends all his prints from digital (Nikon D200s all around) out to places like Mpix because ink jets burn through so much ink he can’t make that part of the business profitable. He employs five people now, and, as he put it ‘when they leave, they won’t be replaced.’

If digital has ripped away the ability for small-town photographers like this guy to make a living, we’ve lost something important in our society. Look maybe he just didn’t adapt, and I sure don’t know what alternatives existed for him. But the business that his uncle sold to his father that he inherited is done. There’s nothing left to leave to his daughter. That’s a shame to my way of thinking.

Velvia on the Beach

Posted by Chris Klug – February 10, 2010

FTb, Velvia 50 North Coast

Here’s a nice little image of sun and beach on this snowy day. Captured the day Colin and I shot the sunset in Pacific Grove. While my 5D was on the tripod, I walked around with the FTb and the 28mm FD lens, loaded with Velvia 50. The gent had a camera in his hand, capturing close-up images of the rock, or his foot, or something.

Different Icicle

Posted by Chris Klug – February 9, 2010

5D yet again

Same shoot as the other day, different frame, trying for an effect in color. Color Efex was used for a film effect in this case. I don’t think this is as effective as the last image, but the blues and the golds were a theme of the light that afternoon.

We’re supposed to get another 5″ – 8″ later today, and the city has been hit pretty hard by this storm. We live in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, and we’re really pretty ok. The roads are clear, we can get to the stores, etc. These neighborhoods are newer (our house was built in the 1970s). All the power lines here are buried underground, and I guess the roads are easier to clear. South of Pittsburgh, in the South Hills (which are older), many neighborhoods have been without power since Saturday and many roads are still not cleared. The University has been closed for two days, and as I said above, we’re supposed to get another dumping tonight, which will probably make things worse.

This image is actually an interesting study in DOF. It was shot using Peg’s Macro lens at f/5.0. I was looking up at the icicle more than I was in the previous image, so the plane of focus is not parallel to the ice. Only the lower part of the high-lit icicle is in focus, and the drip is not. At 100% you can almost see the plane of focus slice through the ice; it’s quite fascinating.

Missing Lens Caps

Posted by Chris Klug – February 7, 2010

5D

Ok, so yesterday it was kinda comical around here. There was the snow, of course. But as I looked out the window at the photographic possibilities, what hit me was a chaotic combination of opportunity and equipment, to wit:

  • I had my Mamiya 645e in working order;
  • I had just been reminded what a lovely film Ektar is, but all I had was 35mm, so I couldn’t use it in the Mamiya;
  • I hadn’t really had much chance to use the F100 I bought last fall, but the roll of Ektar was shot with that camera, and that reminded me I wanted to use the F100 more often;
  • Of course, there is the relatively 5D and all of its possibility.

So, I started hauling everything out. The F100 had a roll of HP5 loaded and half-shot. Thank goodness I had the ‘AA’ batteries for that body charged. I took it outside, took a incident reading (I don’t know the F100′s meter well enough to adjust a reflected reading from it with all the snow and glare) and fired off the remaining frames of HP5 (thinking all the while ‘gads, what a nice film camera the F100 is. Man, how it handles. Hmm, I gotta get a modern auto-focus lens for this baby . . .’ and on and on). With the HP5 finished, I then loaded a roll of Ektar in the F100. Check.

Oh, wait, the Bessa has a roll of HP5 half-shot in it, too. I’ll fire off the rest of those frames (‘ooh, how nice the snow will look with that Zeiss lens, wow . . .’). So with those frames finished as well, I then loaded Ektar in the Bessa. Check.

I grabbed the Mamiya and loaded PanF into it. Just so that I’d have a different POV with that camera, I put the 150mm f/3.5 on it, and went looking for specific mini-images to pull out of the whole with the telephoto. Quickly burned through a roll of PanF, loaded another. Now I’m working three cameras, mind.

Came inside at that point. The sky was still overcast. The kitchen table was strewn with bodies and lenses. Peg says “it looks like you took out every camera we own, dear.” She’s about right.

A couple hours pass, and the sun comes out, with the sky a brilliant blue, and the sun peeking through clouds to the West.

5D & 17-40 Zoom

I go back out with the 5D, the Bessa, and the F100. I shoot a bunch of images, looking for color this time. I go back in, grab the Mamiya, capture a bunch of close-ups of branches in b&w, go back in, take out the exposed roll and load Velvia 50, go back out. Get more images. The contrast between the blue of the sky, the warm late-afternoon sun and the white snow is striking. Expose the roll of Velvia 50 and go back in for the F100 and the Bessa. Grab the FTb, loaded with Tri-X and with the 28mm FD f/2 mounted. Shoot a couple images with that camera, but grab the 5D again for the color. The sky darkens and I go in.

Today comes and I go back out, finish the roll of Ektar in the Bessa and the roll of Ektar in the F100. Shoot the remaining Tri-X of ice cycles near the front door and then get the 5D and Peg’s macro lens, with which I capture the image at the top of this post.

After all that frenzy I realize that I have mis-placed the lens cap from the Mamiya 150 lens and also from the 28mm lens on the FTb.

Peg is laughing all the time. I really enjoyed myself, though, and I wouldn’t trade the chaos for anything in the world. Below is an image of me with the snow blower working my way up the driveway, captured by Peg on her 40D yesterday.

That snow blower is worth its weight in gold, I tell ya