Tough Decisions Towards Better Photography

Good morning, afternoon and evening everyone!

Hope all is well with you all

I have a very interesting circumstance to speak to you about

The first couple of months of this year have been a bit hectic for me

My birthday passed, i took a break from shooting film, i finally got settled in at my new home, moved some stuff around at job and worked on some things with family

And also….sold off all my digital photography gear..

Finally! Caffenol CL

Ladies and Gentlemen and all readers of this blog, I finally decided to do it

You’ve probably already read a previous post where I mention this very dedicated group of individuals who use Coffee to develop film (more accurately Coffee, Vitamin C and Washing Soda)

If you’d like to catch up by reading that previous post, here is the LINK

After some searching on the inter webs, I located the holy grail for all things Caffenol, http://www.caffenol-cookbook.com/index.php

It’s chock full of recipes, tips, and other great resources

Pushing Ilford Delta 400

Hello Ladies and Gents

Hope all is well!

As of late, I’ve been doing lots of shooting with Ilford HP5 (bulk rolled) with HC-110 developer.

I use in both 35mm and 120 formats, the 120 is amazing especially when pushed with Rodinal or Pyro PMK

I really do enjoy that film and it works great for me, and as a matter of fact..when I really think about it, it’s possible Ilford HP5 is my favorite B&W film ever!

Actually, I think Ilford as a company may be making most of my favorite film products

Not a surprise since they’ve been dedicated to top notch film stuff for decades

So back to the subject..

My love for HP5 lead to me wanting to try out its brother, Delta 400, who i’ve heard great things about and have minimal experience with honestly..

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 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.

The Kodak / Pakon F135 Scanner

Hello Everybody, hope all is well

I’ve been busy and studying hard as always (all the while juggling work and life) but it’s great to get back to the blog

As many of you know, i do a lot of film photography work (i prefer it even though i do work with Digital photography as well) and i develop 99% of it at home, mostly 35mm.

After i develop my 35mm rolls, i would always scan them using the Plustek 8200i film scanner and use the Silverfast or Vuescan software to convert them into JPG/Tiff format

This would take a very long time (even though i loved the results!) especially when developing 3-4 rolls at the end of the day, which is often

I began to think about how there may be a faster way of doing this without spending a lot of money on labs or much more expensive scanners..