Untitled Places

In an attempt to put some "form" to my pBase gallery, I regrouped my current work. My favorite new gallery is the one called This Place Has No Name.



This gallery groups together of all my recent images of places that have intrigued me into taking their picture. I do a lot of shots like this.



They typically don't get a lot of attention when I post them online, but I don't care. I'm really enjoy them and enjoy seeing them grouped together. It's like they have a cause now, a raison d'etre.

US 101

Here's a very small section of US 101, the big gnarly freeway, a portion of which serves as a pipeline up and down the peninsula from San Francisco to San Jose. US 101 follows the entire contour of the western edge of the San Francisco bay. The well worn strecth of US 101, between the two cities, is unremarkable, and ugly, a utiltarian patch of concrete and tar, that is both, hated and cursed, and absolutely necessary.

Bumper-to-bumper at 80 MPH, the passing traffic kicks up dust and trash, the flotsam and jetsom of life, hubcaps careening, spearing toward the shoulder, rubber melting, oil spraying, and billboards.


Tri-X in FX15

Closer

With the weather being the way it's been here on the west coast, I find I turn inward, inside, when I can't go outside. So, when inside, when I want to photograph, I look at things closely, closer. How convenient for me, then, that I recently acquired a macro lens, a Nikon 55/2.5, for my Nikon SLR. The timing was good.



If you've visited here before, you're probably well aware that I'm not a flower photographer kind of guy. So...


Here's a shot of some rotting berries!

When I look at these images, I realize just how much I enjoy shooting film. It'll be a sad day when we're no longer able to shoot film...I'd rather not end this post on a down note, maybe on a dark note:



Thanks for visiting!


Nikon FM3A Nikkor 55/2.5 Kodak 400UC, Fuji Superia 400

A Bridge (to cleanse the palate)

The San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge from Treasure Island. This shot depicts San Francisco's notorious summertime afternoon fog as it sweeps in over Twin Peaks and Sutro Tower.

Looking For Purple

~Click to see larger~

I sought something purple, but found nothing. I sought something "meaningful," and found this. An image for the weekend.

Minolta CLE, CV 28/3.5, Tri-X

My Better Half

It must be half-frame time. Oscar, publisher of Single Coated (the photoblog) posted a delightful half-frame image on his blog, at about the same time I had taken to carrying my Pen Ft with me again. His image inspired me to actually attempt to finish the 36 exposure roll of Kodak 400UC I had trapped in the camera.

The half frame camera is a really wonderful and different format. It is the analog equivalent of the digital point & shoot. At 72 exposures/36 exposure roll, there's really no holding back. Armed with a half-frame SLR, anything and everything is fair game. Shooting with my Olympus Pen FT, and its double-stroke film advance, makes me feel like some 1970's hipster revelling in his cutting edge state-of-the-art doofus gear.

Printing half-frames normally usually results in images like the ones below.



Sure one could scan and size the individual "frames," but the side by side look is so inherently "cool"—like two frames from a 16mm movie, that breaking up the pairings is too hard to do.



Everything takes on such an unusual and cinematic look.

If you're interested in seeing some other photographers who shoot half-frame, check out Keith Goldstein there on pbase and on RFF as Kbg32.

RJ

The Summicron 50/2 is a wonderful lens, a joy to use.



Here's a shot of my son. I love the glow and the bokeh exhibited by the lens. The lens and the boy are both beauties.

Leica M camera, Summicron 50/2, Fuji NeoPan 400

Railyard Outing

I was invited to shot this last weekend with a group of local photographers, some of which are RFF members. It was a great excursion to San Francisco's railyard for old streetcars. The city maintains a "collection" of the cars.

I shot with both color and black and white. Here are some of the early results, a first whack really.




If interested, look HERE for more images.



A special thanks to Allan (Kaiyen on RFF) for putting this offer to shoot with his photo group out to local RFF members. I'm really glad I was able to come along.



I usually shoot alone, so this was interesting.



Details: Kodak 400 HD, Leica M4-P, M-Hexanon 28/2.8

The Haunting

Last September, I screwed up this roll, and it haunts me to this day. The roll (and two others) represent about 3-hours of effort while shooting at a street fair, on a day when everything seemed so right, seemed to 'click' (pardon the pun). This was one of those rolls that I knew had some interesting shots. One of those rolls that photographers rush to process, and then pull out of the fixer at the earliest possible second, to view the results.

I accidently processed this roll in partially exhausted developer, and when I pulled it out from the fixer, I knew it immediately. At the time I was thankful and hopeful, because the developer had at least partially processed the roll(s).

In hindsight, however, I would rather have had the roll completely destroyed, because I can see the images, the compositions, and I know I had some decent shots.



The one above is about the best I can pull out of the roll with this scan and scanner. I recently picked up a new scanner, so I'll probably give the roll one more effort. I'm still hopeful.

BTW, I've not made the same mistake again.

Begin Again

...

Rangefinder Photography Book 2 Available Now

I'll take a little time to announce that the Rangefinder Photography 'A Gathering' is available from Lulu press HERE. This is the second book from the membership at RangefinderForum.com (RFF). BTW, the first book is also available from Lulu and currently sits on the publisher's Top 100 list.

'A Gathering' is a collection of images taken with rangfinder cameras. Ninety-seven (97) international photographers contributed 2 photographs each to the cause, providing a biography, photo titles & descriptions, and technical data.

On RFF a question arose regarding "who did what" on the project. I'll try to define that here. The book was created by a team of 5 RFF members. I am happy to have been a part of that team. While the "responsibilities" within the team, were defined, they were never strictly the province of any one member. Any and all decisions were discussed thoroughly by the team. The broad general roles fell something like this:

I, 'RayPA' (Ray Angelo) worked on compiling and editing the back-of-book information (bios, image descriptions, tech data).

'back alley' (Joe Rizzuto) a moderator at RFF, as well as a poet/photographer, wrote the dedication, and represented the membership of RFF throughout the behind-the-scenes process.

'Joe Friday' (Brett Solberg) worked within the "restrictions" of the first book's layout & design, and found a truly unique look for book 2. Brett basically laid out the entire book. He also compiled and managed images, applied the necessary sharpening, designed the covers and just about everything else having to do with the look and feel of the book.

'Rover' (Ralph Meliso) was essentially the team leader/project manager and editor. He held and managed the deadlines and submissions. He also acquired the permission necessary for the use of the essay (the winning essay from a RFF contest), gathered and compiled information, chased down missing information, vetted the final document.

'GeneW' (Gene Wilburn) was part of the initial project design and conception, helping to provide direction for the project.

'A Gathering' looks very nice, and is a nice acompaniment to the first book. While the first book had 25 photographers, two images each, 'A Gathering' took any and all comers who responded and made the deadlines.

We've an excellent collection of images and some real talent both here in this book and at the RFF gallery. If you get the chance, check out both.

From the San Francisco Orchid Show

I'd never been, and was amazed at the passion surrounding these plants. People are fanatical about orchids, which is fine. Everyone should feel passionate, or fanatical, about something (guess what I'm fanatical about).



Plants were put up for display and lit up with lights, and affixed with ribbons and claims of "Best," "Runner-up," "Honorable Mention," etc. People with macro lenses on their cameras, and soft flashes, crowded around the winning entries like they were Hollywood stars.



I came totally unprepared with black and white film loaded in the camera, intent on shooting the periphery, the people. I felt compelled to "look the part," and snap a few shots of these strange little beasts. It's odd. I don't consider them flowers at all, because hearing stories about how and why some of these plants evolved into their existence was fascinating, weird, and seemed almost willful on the part of the plant, almost devious, intelligent. That's kind of creepy, cool, but creepy.



In the end, we came home with several new housemates. They're beautiful, but they're still not flowers to me.

And now for us fanatics: images caught with a Leica M4-P, Summicron 50/2 lens, Tri-X.

Phat Plus-X

Can film type affect your shooting style?



Lately I've been reveling in Plus-X, and all its glorious mid-tones. It's gotten to the point where I end up close to a flat (low contrast) image, because I concentrate so much on those fat middle tones.



So, with my 100' roll of Plus-X I've been inspired to search out those tones. I find myself pointing my camera at sticks and stones, which is not what I like shoot, but the above image gives me a little faith that I can embrace Plus-X for shooting on the street.

You Own the Theater

You own the stage, the players, the script, the responsibility, the theater.

Once Upon a Time

One story.

Once upon a time,







The End.

A fast single-coated lens shot in full sun, what's that like?

I like fast lenses, even though I may rarely shoot near-total darkness. I like having the capability on the wide end to reach into shadows and pull out detail. My bias towards fast lenses comes from my days as a photography student, when the only camera I had to shoot with was a YashicaMat 124. It had a very good lens, but I was constantly bumping up against that f3.5 limitation. You couldn't have convinced me back then that 3.5 wasn't slow.



So here are some images, shot with the same CV 40/1.4 SC used in the previous post, in full sun, unfiltered (no UV either), on Tri-X, and processed with a solvent developer, designed to be similar to D76, but to give about a 2/3 stop speed increase over D76.

40/1.4 Nokton SC

A recent acquisition from Cosina Voigtlaner, the 40/1.4 Nokton SC, is the single coated version of the 40/1.4 Nokton (multi-coated). I've been wondering about this lens for a while, so when I acquired it, I immediately slipped onto my CLE, with its convenient 40mm framelines, and hit the streets for a test roll, or two.



I'm not lacking for a good 40mm lens. I own the M-Rokkor 40/2, which is very nice, but the single-coated version of the Nokton, with its reputation for being a good lens for shooting black & white was too much to bear.



Reports on this lens have been mixed. It reportedly has inferior bokeh. I'm not a bokeh chaser, but a lens that exhibits quality out-of-focus areas is very pleasing.



I own the Konica Minolta Hexanon 50/2, which IMO, has excellent bokeh.



What you're looking at here, are images from the single-coated Nokton, from the first two rolls, in fact. I've not been able to form an opinion, but the lens seems to have a look considerably different from the CV lenses I own. For example, it is completely different from the 35/2.5 and 28/3.5 and closer to its sibling the 50/1.5. I particularly like the midtones as rendered by the 40/1.4, the skin tones on the portrait, and the tones on the basket and face of the woman, in the image above.

I'll post more as they come in. The film types here are PlusX and TriX.

California

Three impressions of the place I love, California.



Three views of my California



It seems the camera can make strangers of friends, family, and places.



Enriching that relationship.

Waving Beauty

Summer 2005.
Minolta CLE, Cosina Voigtlander 28/3.5, APX 100

An Image

This is a favorite image of mine. If I remember correctly, it was shot using a CV 90/3.5 APO Lanthar. For me, sometimes, a favorite image, becomes a favorite image for reasons beyond the visible. This image is nothing special, really, but it carries a lot of memories with it, tangible, sensual ones.