Archive for April, 2012
I survived! Next year, I’ll definitely be doing it again.
Right now I’m too busy to type a blog-specific post about the event, so I’ll just link in what I wrote over on Google+ here (pics included)
Kodak Portra 400 is a magnificent creation. I know I am starting to sound like a broken record, but the range of tones it delivers is nothing short of spectacular. Kodak did it right when they created this emulsion, and as long as they keep making it I will keep buying it! Sure, I will shoot other color films – slide or negative – but if there is one I make sure I always have on hand it will be Portra 400.
On the same outing as my first-ever attempt at portraiture using my little Kodak Retina IIa, a folding 35mm rangefinder that has been out of production since 1954, I shot a roll of Portra 400 with Gaby. With the Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8 lens mounted on my Mamiya C3, a twin-lens reflex camera that is at most a decade younger than the Kodak, it is really hard to go wrong. Of course, if you happen to have had another lens mounted recently you might have forgotten to lock the lens and allow light to strike the film plane. It is even possible that you fail to notice this until you have wasted three frames of your favorite film. Fortunately, Gaby was happy to pose for the missed shots again and I could not be happier that she did.
General street photography has been the primary use of my Kodak Retina IIa since I first bought the German-made folding 35mm rangefinder. The internet is full of wonderful portraits taken with similar cameras, and since the Kodak packs a very sharp Schneider 50mm f/2 lens I decided to see if I could achieve pleasing results if I used it for portraits. Gaby made for a gorgeous test subject, and I’m pleased to report that this little pocket camera is quite capable of delivering great results.
Last weekend, I took a trip up to Chicago to hang out with my friends Ella, and Lianne. While I was there, and they were occupied at a workshop run by Brooke Shaden, I wandered the city with my camera bag and my go-to travel duo: a Kodak Retina IIa and Mamiya C3. I met some cool people there, and got some nice negatives out of the trip.
Kodak’s Portra 400 color negative film stands on its own. It doesn’t need my praise, but it’s going to get it anyway! I love this film. I really, really do – especially in my medium format camera. Such wonderful skin tones, and a great latitude in a wide range of lighting conditions. It almost seems to understand mood, and respond with appropriate tones. Here’s Sara again.
Back before Christmas another case of Gear Acquisition Syndrome flared up and I found myself the owner of a large format camera. As any home-developing film photographer does, I admire the work of Ansel Adams. Unfortunately, I live in Houston – the least geographically interesting city in the hemisphere. I decided that since it takes hundreds of dollars in diesel to get myself out to places I’d like to shoot landscapes I would give large format portraiture a try. The film developed nicely, and quick flatbed scans reveal that the negative information should come out pretty awesomely on paper when I print them in my darkroom. Sara was awesomely patient, and wonderfully still while I was composing, focusing, and then finally taking these photographs. I’m pretty happy with the way they came out.
This year, I did what many do for spring break and headed for Vegas. The major difference was that I had no intention of attempting to find out exactly how much I could drink before being hospitalized, or doing something brain-dead like going all-in against a World Series of Poker winner. No, my mission was to visit my friend Lisa and take some fun photos in the desert around Vegas. Armed, as usual, with my travel duo (Kodak Retina IIa and Mamiya C3) I did exactly that. Some of the resulting negatives will certainly find their way onto my wall.
