The coral cactus turns out to be much more unusual than I thought when I picked it up a couple of years ago. I naively believed that it grew naturally like this. False. Apparently, it is comprised of two succulents grafted together into a new, Franken-plant. Still, a fascinating object to photograph with its complex surfaces. The image shown here was captured using the Rolleiflex SL66 and the 120 mm f/5.6 wide open at f/5.6. The film was Tri-X and it was souped in HC-110.
On a trip to Chicago not too long ago, we spent the entire day at the Art Institute. It was mid October and the temperature was what you might call coldish -- with an abundance of wind and rain as accompaniment. A perfect excuse to spend our day inside looking at art. I was documenting the trip with my trusty Contax G1 fitted with the wonderful Zeiss Planar 45 mm f/2 lens. I was shooting Ilford HP5+ pushed two stops. In general, I'm not one to push film -- if anything, I'll pull by a stop. What's the old saying, "Expose a lot; don't develop too much"? Words of wisdom as long as the light cooperates, which it did not do on this overcast day.
One of my favorite frames shows a sculpture called Family of Robot: Baby by Nam June Paik. It was made in 1986 using state of the art (at the time) Samsung monitors. According to the artist, “One must … know technology very well in order to be able to overcome it.” Thirty four years on, I think there's still plenty to work on in this regard...
What is it about certain photographers and walls? The more banal and suburban, or decrepit and entropic the surfaces, the better, it would seem. In the interest of full disclosure, let me state up front that in the past I have spent significant time as a card carrying member of this group, as unflattering as it may be to publicly admit such a thing. I once heard a museum director dismiss this kind of photography as being trivial — a topic only an amateur with no access to interesting subject matter would undertake. Fair enough, I suppose.
Our home was built in the early 1950s. The architect paid a great deal of attention to how the structure was placed on the land as well as within the landscape. As a result, we are rewarded with lovely views in all directions. The Foca L'Universel is a French rangefinder camera from the same era as our home. It is also well thought out and meticulously crafted. Mine sports a 35mm f/3.5 Oplex lens. It is a camera similar to one the original owner of our home might have used. I hear he was a world traveller, so owning a French rangefinder is not outside the realm of possibility. This Foca still works wonderfully well even at the ripe old age of 70. I hope to be in such good repair at that age!
The photograph shows the view from our bedroom looking north. Our dog is buried near a persimmon tree not too far from here. We have to look past the holly to see her resting place.
This image was captured on Kodak Pro-Image 100. I'm pleased with the result, and I think it was rendered in a unique way by virtue of the old optics. That is one reason to shoot with these vintage cameras. In fact, there is only one thing I don't like about the Foca: the persistent smell of cigarettes permanently embedded in the leather. Merde.
There just aren't that many options available for doing infrared photography on film any more. But I wanted to give IR a try because I thought it might be helpful for one of my long term projects. According to B&H, there is Ilford SFX 200 and a couple of stocks from Rollei/Agfa (including Rollei Infrared). Ilford SFX 200 was the only medium format emulsion in stock at the time I was hatching this plan, so in the end, my decision was pretty straightforward. I decided to use my beloved Rolleiflex SL66 (and the 80 mm f/2.8 lens) for this shoot as correcting for the focus shift is relatively easy to do (I followed the recommendations found in L. A. Manheim's "The Rolleiflex Way"). To cut the visible light, I took an old Bay VI filter and replaced the original glass with a Hoya R72 insert from another filter. It is a bummer to have to take the filter on and off to focus and expose, but the bayonet makes it pretty easy. When setting exposure, I allowed 4 to 5 stops for the filter. According to the available data, I was working with a pretty narrow sliver of NIR light from about 720-740 nm. I think that is a good way to to learn about the possibilities of IR photography, right? Walk before you run. Maybe we should call this little experiment NIR photography? The next film I would try is the Rollei Infrared, that has sensitivity out to 840 nm.
To say that I was very pleased with the results would be a bit of an understatement! The detail was excellent and the grain was under control. The relatively narrow wavelength band close to the visible region gave results that were familiar to a visible light shooter like me, and also tamed the crazy white foliage effect that is sometimes seen on emulsions with sensitivity deeper into the IR.
I've only had one old film camera actually turn into a brick while I was shooting it, and that was a Rolleiflex SL2000f. That little misadventure is perhaps a story for another day. Suffice it to say that the experience put me off purchasing any fully electronic cameras for quite some time. However, the pull of being able to shoot with the most advanced Leica reflex camera ever made (for pennies on the dollar) was too enticing to resist. So, after a multi-year search, I finally found a well sorted R9 for a reasonable price, and here we are. So far, the camera has served me very well indeed. If for any reason my R9 spontaneously expires, it will make a very nice doorstop or conversation piece. In the meantime, for this outing, I decided to use it in tandem with the 50mm Summilux lens, and paired this combo with a roll of Kodak Pro-Image 100. I was hoping that the lo-fi look of this film would suit the urban-ish landscapes I was hoping to capture.
I was pretty pleased with the results I achieved. I have no idea what is behind the blue door, by the way, but I will tell you that the door is locked. And then there is the propane tank in the shadows on the right hand side. Draw your own conclusions.
A bouquet of red roses in the house is always an invitation to make photographs. On this particular day, I decided to put a roll of Ilford Ortho+ into the Rolleiflex SL66 to see if I could turn the red roses black -- perform a little photographic alchemy, if you will. There is no symbolism here -- for me, at least, I promise -- I just hoped the roses would look interesting on film. My favorite lens for the SL66 is the S-planar 120 mm f/5.6, and that is what I used here, stopped down quite a bit for deep depth of field. I shot at box speed since the scene was illuminated with natural light. I spot metered on the leaves, letting the highlights do as they pleased, knowing the film had me covered. In the end, I was delighted with the result, and I particularly like the contrast in tones between the 'black' roses and their reflections in the mirror.
Here is another image acquired using the Mamiya C330 and the Sekor 105 mm -- again, shot wide open at f/3.5. As with the previous image, the rendering of the lens here is pleasant and overall, I am very fond of the results it produces. I think I prefer this lens to the others I own for the system (the 55 mm f/4.5 and the 80 mm f/2.8).
