from my morning shoot last saturday.
super-angulon 1:8/90, f/32 at 1/2 sec. shot on portra 400nc with a shen-hao. i really need to do color 4×5 more often. a friend asked to see the original scan, so i’ve uploaded a jpeg at (14680×11501) made from the original tiff. warning: this file is 16 megabytes!
discarded chair in a chinatown alleyway, oakland, california.
this alley was a treasure trove of great objects, light, and graffiti. i found some similar alleys in san francisco’s chinatown, some locations i hope to use for portraits in the future. i think my current desire is to go there with my 8×10 and a subject or two.
there’s a beauty about the early morning hours of the day. even on a week day, such as the friday on which i took this picture. the streets are clean, fresh meats and produce are being unloaded from trucks. it’s somewhat quiet out, and all the shop owners are greeting each other outside with smiles. it kinda reminds you that you’re about to experience a new day, with new possibilities.
ilford delta 100, souped in rodinal 1+50. pentax 6×7, 135/4 macro.
metro blog curbed.com has been posting about the goings-on with the Giant Value building recently. it seems that this building, and the theatre to the right may not be around much longer once the details of the development are finalized. i decided to start documenting the building, as it’s such a huge (giant!) landmark in the mission neighborhood.
i was our early this past saturday to shoot the building with my shen-hao 4×5. i ended up shooting two sheets of 400nc and 6 sheets of tmax-100. while i was out, i talked to a few people who passed by, asking about my camera. two gentleman who were curious then offered one of those God pamphlets. an older guy who grew up in the mission and was taking photos of these old buildings “before it’s gone,” he said. turns out we were there for the same reason.
you know, the film photography scene in san francisco is even larger than i thought. there’s the rangefinder folks i’ve recently met. and through apug.org, i’ve discovered a few other novices, one of which is looking for something to go shooting with (along with several other individual film shooters). the other day, i was coaching a friend on the purchase of a large format camera. i just feel there is certainly a scene here and i’m becoming more of a part of it. which feels awesome. i have a feeling that 2009 is going to be good for me, artistically speaking.
this is an alleyway in the heart of oakland’s chinatown. leonard and i discovered it on our walk. the alley was so interesting, with a myriad of textures and colors. it was lined with back-doors and windows. you could peek in and see workers in the back of businesses. sweatshops, leonard said. it was clearing up and pretty sunny this day, but the light in the alley was nice. i must have taken a dozen shots like the one above. sometimes a scene just sort of draws you in.
fuji portra 160vc. shot with a pentax 6×7.
fresh pork delivery in chinatown, san francisco.
mornings in san francisco are pretty nice. if you’re out early enough, some neighborhoods are completely empty. some are slowly getting warmed up, like chinatown. delivery trucks are coming in and store owners are rolling up the store front covers. some pockets are very much alive. on this particular street, i watched a delivery man toss pig halves over his shoulder and haul them into a shop. the image above is the stock of fresh pork in his truck. it’s not something you see every day.
fuji portra 160vc. shot with a pentax 6×7, 135/4 macro lens.
