Caffenol CL vs. Kodak HC110 😵

Hello Everyone,

My apologies on the time between posts lately as I’ve just moved to a new place and also got a quick mini-vaca in recently (more on that later) from work

As mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been developing ALL my black and white film with Caffenol (specifically Caffenol CL) in place of all the chemicals I used to use

I mostly shoot Kodak Tri-X, ilford HP5 and also the Lomo Earl Gray films these days. All have been developed in Caffenol mixtures

I was very serious about being happy (also a bit shocked) about the results I was seeing

But is it really as good as I’ve been viewing it or has the romance between this developer and I finally ended?

Rangefinder Love: Fuji GW690III

Today I’d like to tell you about a camera I’m slowly beginning to fall in love with

I think in part due to the fact it reminds me of my time with the Leica M when I first really started to delve deep into film photography but in a much larger format

It’s definitely not a camera that can fit in your pocket, but what you sacrifice you portability, you gain in image quality and resolution

The camera I’m speaking of is the Fuji GW690III, a fixed lens medium format film rangefinder

If you’ve never seen what one looks like, it’s basically a Leica M on steroids with some differences since it was designed by Fuji and not Leica

My Trip to New Orleans with the Holga 120, Leica M2 and M8

Hello everyone!

Not long ago I was fortunate enough to have saved enough $$$ for something I’ve been planning on doing for a long while.

A trip down to the “Big Easy” New Orleans, Louisiana!!

Once I felt comfortable with funds 🙂 I went forward and made reservations for the flight and hotel stay

Now, this trip was not just for vacation, but also to spend some time solely dedicated to photography.

During my planning for the trip, a couple things went through my mind..

My Day with Lomo Film

hello everyone 🙂

For all you film photographers out there, I’m sure you’ve heard the whispers (or loud arguments) of how Lomography film is primarily a “novelty” “not to be taken seriously” or “not to be used professionally”

I know I have..I never really knew why people were saying these things

Whenever I used to pass by the NYC Store to get some 120 film developed/scanned (before I started to do myself) they were pretty nice to me

I admit I never bought the Lomo film while in store…but hey you never know right?

Well one day…I was having a some fun shooting on the streets and after finishing a roll I reached in my bag for more film and discovered I had forgotten to pack more film

I just happened to be near the store so I decided to go for it and purchase some of the Lomo Color Negative 400 ISO film

The 3 rolls right before i developed at home using the Tetenal C41 Kit

I purchased a pack of 3 rolls, loaded my M6 and went back out into midtown Manhattan

I’d like to share these results with you now and give my opinion afterwards

  
  

And now for my thoughts…

I honestly wish I would’ve tried out this film sooner.

I think it performed AMAZINGLY and the character of the film really added to the shots that I took

Maybe it’s me and my preference for how the good shot is made and developed…maybe i’m biased because it’s my own work…maybe i just love film photography so much that it’s hard for me to hate ANYTHING about it haha..or maybe this is a really good film with a bad rap..in either case, i’m happy with these shots and had fun experimenting with this film

This just goes to show that you can never take someone Else’s word on something.. go out and try it yourself and come to your own conclusions.

It’s the only way to really know

I don’t think this will be the last time I shoot Lomo film, I hear that their black and white 35mm is very good also!

Be sure to check out Lomography’s great site with some interesting articles and examples of work

http://www.lomography.com/

Peace and Blessings everyone

DIY Rodinal Part 2

My next test for the Homemade Rodinal formula included a bunch of Ilford Delta 400, my Leica M2 and the Summicron 50mm F2 Dual Range 🙂

I have to say i was very excited to view these results as this was the first time i did a full day of street shooting with a certain vision in my mind in a long while.

I had pictured a more gritty type of feel to each picture, even though these images were test shots, i was very happy to see that those images in my mind were being successfully transferred through my hands, into the camera and onto the film

These were all shot using NO METER (aside from my head) in a number of different lighting conditions.

Two Film Formats at Once

Hello Everyone!

Been a while i know…i’ve been up and down, left and right and all over the place lately.

Felt it was time for a much needed update 🙂

I recently did a shoot with a friend at his apartment to test out a new lens for my Pentax 645n and also to get more used to shooting in low light conditions.

We agreed that we would use one light source only, dimly lit, so when i would push the film there would be more shadow details.

I also decided to bring along my Leica M2, which i haven’t used in a while and was happy to have out with me.

It was kind of interesting having them both in my hands and switching between the two.

The Voigtlander Nokton 50mm F1.5 VM Lens

Every Leica shooter (or M mount rangefinder shooter) often dreams of getting their hands on one of those Summilux or Noctilux lenses to put on their camera.

They are of the finest craftsmanship and are legendary for performance and durability. People literally spend insane amounts of money to get one, or even a couple!

Like this will all of a sudden put you in the league of Henri Cartier Bresson or Gary Winogrand or any of those Leica greats we often read about and study

I have even found myself trying to justify selling a limb or every thing I cherish to purchase one lol..

The Nikon F3 and the Georgia Guidestones

Hey everybody,

I know this is kind of a weird title for a post but as we all know “every photo has a story” or at least in my opinion they should

I read a lot..no seriously like ALOT, even on my smartphone or computer I’m always reading up on something

Ok maybe not like on a scholarly level of in depth endless reading but I definitely spend a good part of every day within the texts of things I’m interested in learning more about.

I’ve got books on religion, ancient folklore, aliens, conspiracy theories, history, photography, sports, comic books and a bunch of other such subjects.

Resolutions for the New Year

Happy New Year Everyone

Hope you had a good 2014, and are looking forward to a productive and successful 2015

These last couple months have been very inspirational for me not only from my own work, in my opinion, getting better but also my friend photographers

We push each other and study, we criticize and we practice, I’m actually thinking of starting a collective in Jersey City, where I’m from..but I’ll save that for another time

This new year I plan on working even harder on my work and hitting the streets as much as possible.

Developing C41 (Color Negative) Film at Home

Could it really be easier than developing Black and White film?

Ted Forbes from one of my favorite YouTube channels, The Art of Photography, definitely thinks so.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve been thinking that the main reason why you don’t hear about more people developing color film at home is due to it being pretty complicated.

After watching this video Ted released recently on the steps taken to mix, make and develop with the chemicals it definitely does not look as difficult as I had first thought!