last weekend was up your alley, otherwise known as the dore alley fair. like folsom street fair, it’s a leather and fetish event in san francisco. it’s much smaller, the crowd is more local, and the weather isn’t as nice (unless, of course, you’re shooting film).

like folsom, my friend emery was gracious enough to host a party at his house, just a short walk from where all the action is.

i decided to take the rolleicord with me, since i haven’t used the camera for some time. it turned out to be a decent camera for street shooting. relatively small, quiet, and the xenar lens is pretty sweet.

This is one of my photographer friends, Yve Fontilea. She’s an easy bay based professional photographer. She and I agreed to do a mutual portrait session. We met last weekend at the Alameda Naval Base, which has an endless supply of interesting backdrops for pictures. A cute downtown area, barren huge parking lots, abandoned and active warehouses, Navy ships, subsidized housing.

These were taken with my Burke & James 8×10 camera, with the Gundlach triple-convertible lens. The film was Kodak TXP 320 pulled to ISO 80, developed in stock Xtol for 5 minutes. Printed on Ilford MGD.1M glossy RC paper.

You can see one of the pictures of me Yve took, here.

I’m finding this combination – lens, film, developer – works really well for these portraits. The lens itself has so much character, it really makes these images work. I feel sometimes that I’m just enabling it, I’m not really doing much at all myself. I just set it up, point, and shoot.

in san francisco, pink saturday is the day before the annual gay pride parade. the parade itself is a spectacle in itself, with an estimated 1.2 million attendees. the night before the parade, however, is when the craziness happens. a large swath of castro street and market street are blocked off. the area becomes a multi-stage concert venue and block party.

as is our annual custom, we went to a house party in the castro before coming outside to brave the crowds out on the street. i decided to bring what i’ve called the party camera, a crown graphic with a sunpak 444d and four grafmatic backs. entering a sweltering house packed with people, bringing such a huge camera, heavy camera might not cross your mind.

preparing for the party reminded me of last year’s folsom street party, where i felt really disconnected with the scene. this was a little different. it felt more like bringing along one of my crazy cameras to a party where all my friends were. “oh, you need to let schlachet take your picture with his crazy camera!”

i did learn a few lessons from shooting with this setup. first, when the subject is very close i should be looking through the camera and ignoring the sports viewer. second, when i slow down and think my shots come out much better.

overall, i am pretty pleased with the set. it’s quite an experience shooting hand-held 4×5 at night, let alone seeing your friends at a party in large format.

i am still learning now to scan and produce images for the web. i find it fairly frustrating — dust on prints or negatives, dust in the scanner, the scanner not pulling out all the times, different color profiles, file formats and storage. what i consider “photography” has its perils and roadblocks, but none of this stuff is what i signed up for. i’m glad i’m not scanning all the time, it would probably force me more offline in my work.

this is erik leung, a local digital photographer. we agreed to do mutual portraits, and we went to this wonderful spot he had previously scouted. the sun was already getting low but i managed to get in a good shot at iso 2500. the sun made a wonderful backlight.

i contact printed this image on ilford glossy rc, part of a growing collection of images of photographers.

this is brad evans, talented street portrait shooter.

last weekend a group i’m in on flickr held a bar-b-que in golden gate park. i brought my burke&james camera and holders loaded with 320TXP. i shot portraits of some of the group using the gundlach rapid rectigraphic. these are contact printed onto ilford mgd.1m paper with a #3 filter. these dark images are so nice on paper in front of your eyes, and i can never get the scans to look just right.

coy, with his partner erwin.

rai

adam

reese

it was also wonderful to spend time in the darkroom again. i vowed to not post negative scans as much, while producing more physical prints this year. the negatives from this set turned out very evenly exposed, so printing was very easy. i think the 8×10 is my favorite portrait camera by far.

So I am in a flickr group called Blow-Up!, named after the 1966 movie by Michelangelo Antonioni. The movie is about a photographer who accidentally catches a crime scene on film.

The group on flickr has become a collective of largely San Francisco based photographers, many of whom shoot street. The lot of us decided to do a show, a public display of our body of work. There were 21 of us in the show, demonstrating a variety of styles and subject matters. The show is currently up at Cigar Bar & Grill in San Francisco until May 21st.

The above photo shows me with some great local Photographers: Jansen Zhang, Andrew Chin, John Agoncillo, myself, Chris Jewell, and Jose Marco.

I showed three images, all 8×10 contact prints. I hung them a little lower, in an attempt to get people to get up close to them. And man, I look like a nerd here.

All in all, the reception was pretty epic. I think everybody in the group is riding high after the event, and there is already a “let’s doing this again!” idea posted to flickr. I’m so proud to be part of such an awesome group. These people are as passionate about photography as  I am.

these photos are by paulino love.

i want to share a gift from my parents with you. this is a picture my dad took of me sleeping on the floor. it was taken in october of 1976, so i was a year and a half old. today i turn thirty-five.

as a tourist in bangalore, if you want to do some shopping you end up at brigade road. it’s a dense commercial area that is home to a plethora of outlets, shops, stalls, and street vendors. you will be yelled after and followed by people peddling their wares, offering to be your rickshaw driver for the day, take you to the best sites (bangalore palace, cubbon park, etc). i loved walking up and down, but found it tiring after a while.

this was my first time in more than a week that i’d heard spoken languages other than arabic, kannada, and other local dialects. i found it slightly comforting that i wasn’t the *only* foreigner around. i saw americans and europeans i secretly labeled as “pale ones” to myself, although outside of a few glances and knods, never interacted substantially with them. there were a lot of people i couldn’t quite place — indian complexion with asian features. maybe sri lankan?

i know so little about the world.

visiting a foreign country where your native language is spoken but not indigenous is an interesting experience. it’s like lending a someone a camera .. the mechanics of its use are the same but the product are different. you know what it’s capable of, but the resulting product brings a few surprises. this is how i felt about english in bangalore.

i found this land ownership sign along outer ring road, where my company’s office is located. these signs were everywhere. a few things about this particular sign struck me. first was the contrast between the english words and the indian name. second was the land on which this sign is posted. like most unused plots of land here, it’s mostly flat and very dusty, the front edge has piles of trash, and the rear usually is home to squatters. people live in these concrete brick boxes or even tents.

the reddish-brown color of the dirt here became the underlying color of everything – my the buildings and signs, the air i breathed, my shoes, and my clothes. southern india certainly has a certain color palette of its own.

i was also crazy hot while i was there. mid- to upper-nineties every day. for three weeks. i was so glad i packed mostly shorts.

(click the image for a larger version)

the auto-rickshaw, so abundant they merit their own wikipedia page. these are little three-wheeled cabs just large enough for two adult passengers. they’re the easiest way to get around if you have a short trip in mind.

usually you bargain with the driver. most travel sites recommend not getting in a cab unless the meter is used. you can see in this picture the red sign on the meter is still up, i had negotiated a flat rate for this trip. the drivers will say almost anything to not use the meter, including stating that the meter is inaccurate, they can’t make change, your trip is taking them too far out of the main area, etc. if you decide on a flat rate you negotiate that as well, and hope you aren’t being ripped off. and by “ripped off” i mean down to the rupee. and when all this is over, you realize you’ve just spend a lot of time arguing over one u.s. dollar‘s worth of money, or less.

one day, i was standing in a small group of rickshaw drivers trying to figure out which one knew where i wanted to go. i wanted a specific intersection near the bangalore palace grounds. they knew the area, but not the roads. the usual thing to do is to go as far or as close as you can, and ask someone there for directions. oddly, at any hour of the day there seems to be someone around who can point you (or your driver) in the right direction. anyways, i was standing with a group of drivers when a stranger walked up, and in clear english asked me if i needed help negotiating. he talked to them in kanneda (the local dialect) and decided that my 300 rupees was far, considering how far i was going. this ~35 minute trip was going to cost me just over $6. i had already brought the price down from the originally stated Rs 500.

i hate to negotiate, but after a few rounds you get used to it.. especially if you get a feel for how things really are and know what you’ve paid in the past.

the road to the left in this picture is actually the service road, a parallel road used to enter/exit, merge, and access the local businesses.

in the united states, this would be considered a two lane road. when traffic is heavy in bangalore, this road would carry vehicles 3, 4, or maybe 5 vehicles across depending on their width. the roads are ruled by large busses and trucks, then any space is filled in by cars, followed by auto-rickshaws, any remaining space filled by two-wheeled motorbikes. vehicles are like water that flow through the streets like a canal.

photo was shot on kodak portra 160vc +1 1/2, with a widelux f7. click for larger version.

a project at work evolved into a three week business trip to india so i could setup new infrastructure and do some hands-on training with my colleagues there. i just returned to the u.s. this past weekend and i’m still suffering from jetlag, but slowly things are returning to normal for me.

india was pretty crazy. i spent most of my time on the outskirts of bangalore, karnataka, the “silicon valley of india”. it was an amazing mix of third world country and modern technology. some of my commutes to work included cows on the street, women carrying large baskets full of wares on their head, ox-pulled carts, corporate logo backpacks and RFID badges.

of course, just before this trip my borrowed camera developed a light leak. so i borrowed another, which happened to have some exposure problems (i’m soooo glad i tested it before i left!). so i travelled to india with my iphone, two malfunctioning canon ae-1 cameras, and my widelux f7.

i tracked down a small camera repair shop and had both canons serviced. the leaking body sounds a lot better but i wasn’t able to address the leaks. the other body also sounds better now, but still needs work. so i shrugged it off and proceeded to shoot with just my iphone and my widelux for three weeks. not quite what i was expecting.. but i can’t complain.

this picture exemplifies my experience in bangalore: construction, laptop bags, dusty roads, and cows.

i was walking down mission street (2600 block) when i turned around to see a girl and her mother next to a UPS truck. the girl was vomiting on the street while the UPS delivery woman was unloading packages. *snap*

i love these little moments. this is why you prefocus and stop your lens all the way down.

a couple weeks ago, i went out shooting in embarcadero/northbeach with some flickr folks. after lunch, reese and i made our way back through chinatown where we ducked into the wok shop. it’s an old family run business where you can buy hand-hammered woks. beyond the woks, there are a ton of other kitchen gadgets, tools, and other tchotchkes. when we saw this mirror amidst all the laterns, i knew i had to take a shot of the two of us….

part of attending the folsom street fair is attending my friends ted and emery’s annual folsom house party. this year, i did things backwards and different. i attended the fair first with photographer friends, then later showed up at the party. i had two cameras and a bag full of film with me once i got to the party, so i was in a shooting mindset.

i ended up with images that are pretty different from usual party photos. when i’m at a party or out with friends, i am very rarely shooting them with a camera. so this was a unique opportunity to do so. i felt fairly disconnected from the usual goings-on since i was in this different mode. i’m not sure i’ll do it again, for a couple reasons.

so here’s a glimpse into what i experience at ted and emery’s annual folsom party. enjoy.

a week ago i went to the annual folsom street fair, an event that draws a crowd of 400,000 people to vendor exhibits, food, demonstrations, live music, and dance parties. in the past i’ve gone to a friend’s house party, since he lives at the end of the fair site. this year, i had a very different experience.

i started my day with breakfast with a group of photographer friends, wandered through the fair with them with our cameras. i rendezvoused with my friends reese and frank, and later met up the party folks.

folsom is quite an eye-opener for the uninitiated. there is a lot of public nudity, bondage and leather, and spanking going on. it’s interesting in that private fantasy and behaviors are on display. you see a lot of extreme preferences.

i was out with two cameras, both loaded with arista premium. the 24×36 frames are from a canon ae-1 program shooting at iso 400. the wide frames are from a widelux f7, shooting at iso 200. all film developed in rodinal 1+50.

arista premium 400 at iso 6400. rodinal 1+50 for 45 minutes. shot with a widelux f7.

found in north beach, san francisco.

heading back from north beach with reese we photographed some of the bikes we saw along our path. this was my last 6×7 shot of the day.

pentax 6×7, 90/2.8 lens. shot on ektar 100.

in may of 2009, our friend jonathan decided to plan a trip to yosemite to hike up half dome. the time finally came around and six of us took a friday off and camped in the north pines campsite and eventually made our way up.

i’d never actually been to yosemite before and it had been a long time since i’d done any proper camping. it was so fun, and the park was amazingly beautiful in every way. on our first night, galen grilled up some steaks and veggie packets and corn. we had a large delicious meal before packing it up and going to bed early.

the next day we woke up at 6:30am and had another sizeable meal, and headed off on a 4-5 hour hike to the half dome site.

i won’t try to trivialize the hike. thousands of people do it every year. you start at a high elevation, and you go higher (a gain of 4800ft). you hike through the woods, up over two waterfalls, and up large rock steps for hours. then you can see the half dome site.  that means you must again climb the last very steep rock steps up to the rock face. at that point, you need to make a go-or-no-go decision to actually scale the rock face.

at the base of the rock face there is a pile of gloves. you put on a fairly well matched pair because you will be slowly ascending the rock using cables that have been installed on the rock. it’s slow, because people are taking their time, or taking a break, or panicking and turning around and descending. it can take 20-25 minutes to get up there if you decide to go up the “outside” of the cables, or over an hour if you decide to stay within the cables like most folks.

once you are up the rock face, you are at the top of yosemite national park, 8842ft elevation. you have a panoramic view of the valley, and a chance to relax with everybody else who has made it to the top. i was so exhausted and breathing such thin air, that i was wheezing at first until i relaxed a bit. at several points along the hike, i didn’t think i could make it and was formulating back-out plans in my head. i’m so glad i pushed forth and went all the way. in light of foot/hip problems i’ve been dealing with over the past couple years, i feel very accomplished having done this.

at the top of half dome, you are cooling off from the breeze and taking in one of the most amazing sights i have personally seen. the bad news is, you have another 5 hours to hike back and are racing to get back to your camp site before it gets dark. i paused along the way back, wondering how the hell did i go *up* all of this??

hiking half dome was quite awesome and i’m so glad i did it.

notes:

• 2 litres of water is not enough for this hike. filtering fresh water to replenish your store should be done
• eating a granny smith apple on the way down was AMAZING
• if i were doing it again, i would start the hike much earlier and before sunrise.
• having a good flashlight is essential for the trip back

all images were shot on arista premium 400 at iso 6400, developed in rodinal 1+50 for 45 minutes. shot with a widelux f7.

i shot both of these last month on a small excursion with gordon and cindy. gordon showed me his recently acquired horizon perfekt swing-lens camera. it had been so long since i shot sheet film, so i had my shen-hao 4×5 with me and shot a set of hp5+ sheets.

both images on hp5+ 4×5, with a nikkor 210mm lens on a shen-hao camera. rodinal 1+50 for 11min.

last week i attended vmware’s annual conference, vmworld 2009. since i am doing so much shooting this year, i decided to bring my widelux f7 camera with me to the conference. by carrying it with me, i managed to meet a lot of photographers there, including many who shoot (including one 4×5 guy!). the conference ended up being a good venue for shooting, despite the low light levels.

after registration, you walk down moscone center’s wonderful staircase down to a long line of shiny new infrastructure that is running the show.

the keynotes were large productions. giant projected video screens. the large video cameras looked quite sophisticated. i took a peak in one that was near the stage. on the screen it artificially marked all hard edges in the scene.

the camera operator and the attendee behind him both noticed my camera, and i talked to them both about my widelux. the attendee had a horizon camera (also a swing-lens panoramic) but didn’t think of bringing any film cameras to the conference. i don’t blame him. it was at this point that i realized i must be the only one of 12,800 conference attendees carrying a light meter.

the first lab session i attended was vSphere 4 – New Features, Best of, Advanced Features. there was quite a hiccup in the lab infrastructure and a lot of time was wasted. this of course started a flurry of bad things being said over twitter and blogs. vmware managed to solve most of the problems and had late-night repeat sessions for those who wanted to repeat labs that had broken. the gentleman i paired up with for the lab was a manager and didn’t seem to be interested in much hands-on experience, so i was able to drive and go pretty fast through the material.

this is dan chu, vp of emerging products and markets, from vmware. he’s about to start a panel discussion about extending information technology beyond the traditional data center (the cloud). a bit too high level for me.

the scale of vmworld was pretty immense. this is the self-paced lab room, a huge room full of thin clients with a row of supporting infrastructure up front. the conference staff was nice enough to let me in specially to take pictures.

one of the meal rooms. i estimated about 1,500 seats in this room.

these guys are david baldwin (our technical account manager) and martin klaus (my speaking session owner). they’re stationed at the lab manager kiosk in the vmware booth. in the evening, the expo area was catered as people scatter around learning about new products and getting their badges scanned to receive more information (in exchange for gifts like tshirts, stress balls, and ball-point pens adorned with logos).

by the end of the conference, there was a day/evening of relaxation. retro game stations, air hockey and shuffleboard, food and drink, and rock climbing. the conference ended with a live performance by foreigner.

i’d never imaged taking a picture at a concert with the widelux. i had a few frames left in the camera, had my light meter with me, and thought.. what the heck. meter the stage, hold the camera pretty high, and burn the rest of the roll and see what happens.

all images are taken with the widelux f7, on arista premium 400 rated at iso 6400. developed in rodinal 1+50 for 45 minutes with agitation every 3 minutes.