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i’ve decided there are not enough good images of the pentax 67 camera on the internet.
so i submit mine to the world wide web, for its bots to discover and index. i hereby give permission to use this image as long as credit is attributed to me, jason schlachet.
this is one of my favorite cameras, with one of my favorite lenses mounted on it.
whenever i go on random drives i see the most interesting stuff. tonight was no exception. who knew, at 10:30pm on a wednesday you can have interesting experiences.
boman and i were driving down near the shipyards and we saw a light. a light so bright it was completely illuminated a nearby building. we thought it was someone welding (it seemed reasonable at the time). as we drive closer i could hear it. then we saw flames. not the usual fire flames, but white flames. it was a transformer up on a pole. throwing sparks, on fire so hot it was white, and buzzing and zapping loudly. it was really quite a spectacle. we got out from under the power lines and watched it for a little while longer. as we left, a firetruck was headed down there. wow.
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last night we had some friends over for some shabu shabu. i always get nervous when we serve dinner - i wonder about portions, leftovers, not having enough, etc. last night we did pretty well.
you might be wondering why there’s a space shuttle above. two of our conversation topics were origami and photography. i decided to give one of our guests a piece of film and some scissors (to cut it square and burnish the folds). it took him a while, and the folds got progressively more difficult to fold. he eventually made it all the way through. way to go, chris!
i’ve never seen film folded like this before. it’s too bad it won’t stay together easily, i wonder what it’d look like if i developed it.
240 Ws shot through a brolly at 5 feet is reading as f/8.
need. more. power.
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thanks, jim, for the color correction!
this is an image i shot at work in our server room. a contractor had left a ladder and dangling wires from installing new power outlets. it happened to be just under a single light to create this scene. workplaces can have interesting light.
shot this with my trusty rolleicord on fuji provia.
my brother and me. last night i did a set of prints from my 8×10 negatives. they came out as strangely as my neg scan did. i think the problem was the lighting. it was a bright and sunny day. i had everybody stand on the back patio where the light was coming through a screen. it was bright but well diffused. i liked how the light felt but my negatives didn’t have much oomph to them. they do have sort of a glow quality to them, though. i brought them to work with me to view them in different light.
i think the tonality is fairly there. i just can’t decide yet.
i found this bacon at whole foods that must be three times the thickness of regular bacon. when it cooked down it was still huge. so yummy. that plus my favorite coffee and some chili/tarragon eggs.
good morning.
yesterday morning i took my 4×5 up to a back road near highway 92 (off 280) to try shooting the fog. i was hoping to do something like N+1 or N+2 but i didn’t read up enough on the procedure. instead of underexposing and overdeveloping (which i think is how it’s to be done), i overexposed. i decided to develop normally but constantly agitate. (agitating a plastic tray in total darkness with no music or people around for 9 minutes gets old fast!)
i really wished i had more contrast in the background. though, any more contrast would have drastically affected the foreground. how do you control local contrast? maybe it’s easier to do in the darkroom. does this kind of scene merit the use of a hard gradient ND filter?
the negative came out ok. it looks like my slight forward tilt did its thing in keeping everything in focus. i shot it with a carl meyer apo-process f10/12″, f/64 for about 20 seconds. the 400 pixel wide scan doesn’t look at great in my opinion, which is why i link to the larger versions. photoshop treatment was: clone out dust, auto-levels, slight unsharp mask, crop, resize.
this morning as the sun was coming up (well, the light in the fog was getting increasingly bright) i was on a side road where a lot of bicyclists park to start their ride.
a biker parked next to my car and, while he was getting ready and waiting for his friends to show up, casually asked me about my camera and what i was doing. the first question was, “is that a hasselblad?”
i was using my shen-hao (shown previously) so it was a little funny. i told him about the camera and showed him one of the polaroids i had done to check focus and composure.
i think with the bellows extended, a hasselblad might fit inside the shen-hao.
i’ve always thought it was funny when people posted about that question, and now it’s happened to me.
for those not in the know, there are many models of hasselblads, very fine swiss made cameras. they have been very popular with professionals and serious amateurs. they are system based cameras: a basic body, a lens with built-in shutter, multiple backs (polaroid, film, digital). it’s the kind of camera system you grow into and pass down to your children (because they last for generations).
- filed more reports than ever, helped others file reports
- got flack on a poorly scheduled and potentially dangerous internal audit
- dealt with multiple groups of external auditors
- none of my 2005 “goals” were done to completion (only one of them has measurable work done)
- the admin i helped hire got fired within the same year
the good items to report:
- did not go postal or flip out under pressure/stress like he did during the data center move
- did not start using pot or other mind altering substances, alcohol consumption remained level
- will return to work after the holiday break is over
chinatown buttons. found these in an alleyway. shot on provia with my pentax 6×7. with the light and the buttons, how could i pass this up? scanning this made me realized i might have left the previous picture (chris and jon) backwards. oops.
i got my film back today. i’d nearly forgotten what kind of film it was. fuji provia 100F and 400F. the rolls shot with with my rolleicord and pentax 6×7.
the image above is from the pentax.. that’s chris and jon. we went shooting one day at the ferry building, then up to chinatown.
everything came out great. the quick scans i did are pretty decent. but everything looks like it was exposed properly, even the roll from the rollei. shoot chromes, i am always worried that i will overexpose and lose information on the film. i’ve had some not-quite-there frames but overall my luck has been good.
looking at transparencies through a loupe is really spectacular. putting my eyeball right up to the objective checking out the detail and color.
getting back into shooting, i am brewing all sorts of ideas in my brain. i need to find the time and attention span to follow through with one or more of them. :-/
1 bottle castell de falset 2005 montsant
3 tbsp dijon mustard
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
2 garlic cloves minced
3/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
2 large chicken breasts sliced into halves or thirds
open the wine and pour a glass. set the bottle aside to breathe.
preheat the oven to 450.
start on the wine while you mince the garlic.
mix the mustard, tarragon, garlic, and olive oil in a bowl.
salt and pepper the chicken pieces, cover in the mustard mixture, then completely coat in breadcrumbs.
lay the chicken pieces on foil on a baking sheet and put into oven; bake for 15-18 minutes, turning half way through, until golden brown.
serve with wine.
i also whipped up some potatoes (peel, parboil, toss with salt and italian seasoning mix, pan fry in evoo). oh, did i mention the wine?
yum.
tonight we had a fabulous evening with ann. it was supposed to be with boman and jimmy, but neither of them could go.
when i was in elementary school, my parents would take us to the indiana repertory theatre to see the nutcracker suite. it’s a great performance to see at chrismas time, and it was composed by one of my favourite composers, tchaikovsky. i suggested we go.
we managed to avoid the lots and garages by scoring a parking spot two blocks away. then we headed into the fabulous jardiniere. highly rated on citysearch and a block from the war memorial opera house. ann recommended biale zinfandel, which was superb.
then the performance. it was fantastic. lots of children. free cookies and milk during intermission. and plenty of childhood memories for me. all except the freezing temperatures and icy roads. this, i think, is the only ballet i’ve ever seen. and i’ve seen it plenty of times, but years ago. the dress and sets were awesome and the performance was moving for me.
i’m so glad i got to go. thanks for making it happen, boman.
this is my brother tom, and his wife michelle.
i figured out what was causing my reflective negative scans to turn out bad. well first, this is not the right way to scan negatives. :) second, the answer seems to be curves adjustment in photoshop. i mucked with it just enough to get the above scan looking presentable. now all i need to do is get some darkroom time.
today i got around to getting some of my photo chores done. i took 3 rolls of provia (mixed 100 and 400) to the lab for processing. tonight i managed to get 4 8×10 sheets developed. these were shot when my brother and his wife were in town. luckily, it looks like all four came out great. everything looks pretty sharp as far as I can tell. i will see once i’m able to make a contact print. (that reminds me.. maybe i’ll shop around for a contact printing frame)
the camera in use is a factor in photographs. if it takes me a second and an electronic flash to take a picture of someone with a small point and shoot.. it’s completely different than using an 8×10 camera, metering the light, asking the subject to hold still, and sliding the film holder into the back of the camera.
running through my checks (stop down the lens? close the blades? cock the shutter? not move the camera?) before i get around to actually exposing film. “look at the lens for me. hopefully i didn’t forget anything stupid. last time i did this i was taking blurry pictures because i’d had a few drinks.. hehe”… smile… zzpddzzzzzzzzzzz. “thanks!”
it also helps that i was taking pictures of family.
yesterday i saw a gentleman taking a picture of a chef in front of a restaurant.
rolleicord on a tripod, about 8 feet away. sun was setting and the restaurant was in shadow, so soft even light. i recognized from a distance he had a sekonic meter.
i always stop when i see photographers at work so i can observe them. the more i observe the more i realized they’re rarely different than i am. i was out too with a rolleicord loaded with provia being pushed a stop. the only difference is, i am shooting so seldom these days.
i was talking to my stepbrother ranier yesterday about certain styles of portraits i wanted to try…
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