i am now the proud owner of a used rolleicord v. turns out the woman i bought it from, her husband works at action camera, this cool little shop in west portal that has a large collection of vintage cameras on display. her husband is also the president of the camera club in san francisco. we chatted a bit about the clubs we belong to. she parted and i wandered around with my new acquisition, shooting the inaugural roll of film. a woman who passed by commented that her father had left her the same kind of camera, so we struck up a short conversation. the camera is very fun to use, and such a conversation piece. when i got home i developed the first roll, and everything looks great. i can’t wait to take it out and play some more.

this morning in front of the coffee shop i saw a guy playing a guitar, smoking a cigarette, and doing a crossword puzzle.

do you remember
there was a time ahaha
when people on the street
were walking hand in hand in hand
they used to talk about the weather
making plans together
days would last forever

erasure, “chains of love”

worked on the portfolio book tonight. i made twenty-four 8×10 prints tonight. i used my darkroom notes to reproduce some of them, and took notes on new prints i made. i decided i should have more than one set of prints. one set is going into a portfolio book my #1 fan got me. ive been working for more than four hours.. exhausted..

last night did an impromptu studio session in my apartment with a friend. setup a backdrop, setup lights, took several shots on two rolls. on one of the rolls the shutter was too fast and the curtain cut off part of each frame.. i was still able to salvage some of it. i got a few really nice shots out of it. this will be my first time signing a model release form (and asking someone to sign one). and i’m learning a ton by doing all this. gosh, each time i photograph someone my mind fills up with everything that goes on!

so the first real portraits i’ve done had mixed results.

i had some preconceived ideas on the images i wanted to produce. in reality, neither of them happened.. but i did learn a lot and know how to fix things.

first, i learned a hard lesson about blurry backgrounds. they have little to do with depth of field. after reading numerous discussions, arguments, and articles on the subject, the concensus is the real affecting factor is the ratio between the focal length and the aperture (i think this was referred to as the “working aperture”). for instance, the ratio of my f4/200mm would be 200/4, or 50:1. to increase the blur i need to increase the ratio. it’s unlikely i can get a faster lens for the pentax at that focal range, so the obvious answer is to get a longer focal length at the same aperture. i read good things about the f4/300 and f4/600. they are more likely to give me the affect i’m looking for.. unfortunately, i’m not quite ready to plop down $1200 for a used lens.

second, the f4/200 is great for portraits. but the depth of field is pretty narrow so i should have used the tripod. it’s not that handling that large of a lens is an issue, it’s body movement. it clearly wasn’t shutter speed either.. it was sunny out and i was shooting at 1/125 at f/4 with asa 50 film. if i leaned forward or back a little, it threw the focus off too much. i had the tripod with me, i just had too much faith in my ability to stay still. trying to get a close up crop was too difficult.. the lens can’t focus up close enough. the answer to this is extension tubes or bellows — moving the lens away from the film plane. either of these options most likely requires a tripod for handling.

so, options? getting the first shot means i need a longer lens. i could invest in a larger prime.. or a pentax 2x converter (i’ve read bad things about third party teleconverters for p67). the 2x converter wouldnt be much use elsewhere as my primes are 45, 90, and 200. maybe 600 would be a good next prime..? another idea is to move my subject further away from the background… not quite what i want, but something to consider since it’s a zero cost solution. getting the second shot means bellows or extension tubes.. or cropping. i always hate to crop, but it is a zero cost solution to this problem. i guess it’s not like i’m losing much definition since i’m dealing with 6×7.

so it was a definite learning experience. it was fun. and i hope to keep up with it and do another try.

finished filing my tax returns for 2003. yay!

tomorrow i’m doing test shots for my people project. here’s to pushing myself..