Jason

July 15, 2012

empty commercial space, market street and kearny. arista premium 400 in rodinal 1+50. m4-p with the elmarit 28mm.

things have been so.. dull lately, photography wise. it seems a lot of folks i know are in artistic doldrums. i’ve been trying to force myself out before or after work (or both).

since i’ve been shooting more 35mm lately i’ve studied the hyperfocal distance method of focusing as an excuse to get out and shoot more. i burned half a roll practicing, and found that the speed and simplicity elevated my confidence when shooting people. still need to work on my framing.. maybe 28mm is too wide. it seems like iso 1600 is probably a sweet spot.. at 1/1000 sec i can shoot at f/16 or 22 during the day and set my focus to h.f. and just point and shoot. it’s fast enough that i can switch to regular focusing as the sun goes down.

anyways, shooting more 35mm lately has been fun. i think the m4-p is a great take-everywhere camera (though I think i need to borrow/rent a 35mm lens to see if i like it better than 28mm). my heart is still with large format, though. especially for portraits. it seems more legit to me. not sure what it is.

Part of the photographer flock

Jason

June 1, 2012

(2048×1631)

Last weekend was SF Carnaval in the Mission. The parade starts at 9:30 (usually later), but the interesting parts happen before, around 8:00-8:30 when the performers and floats are preparing for the event.

Of course, with each passing year more and more photographers show up early for this unfettered and intimate access to the show. By 8:30, at 24th and Harrison, there were so many photographers roaming around I felt sorta dirty. I was part of this mob of dudes, trying to get in my shots of the girls. If you asked someone to pose for a portrait, there would be other guys behind you taking the same shot from nearly the same exact point. I felt like I was just part of this flock of greedy image-grabbers.

I’m also out of practice with my Crown Graphic. It’s such a fun camera (except, frankly, for all the photographers who stopped me to ask about it) for an event like this. When you handle a variety of cameras, you do sorta get in the groove with one. After a long period of absence from it, you lose it. It takes a while to get it back. This is especially true for the Crown Graphic.

I spent most of my morning with other photographer friends, which makes up for the bad feelings that started my day.

Kodak TMAX 100, accidentally underexposed, developed in Rodinal 1+50 for 15 minutes.

Partying with friends

Jason

January 6, 2012

I decided to start this new year shooting film. I took these at Scott and Andy’s house. It was our first Monday Night Dinner of the year, plus our friends Jonathan and Adrian were in town from Sydney, so they decided to invite a bunch of friends over. It’s always nice to catch up with friends you’ve known for a long time. Through our weekly supper club, Andy and Scott are getting better at cooking, especially for groups. What a great social tradition.

These images were shot on Tri-X 400 with my Rolleicord.

Paul Sowards

Jason

January 5, 2012

Paul Sowards
(2048×1617)

Meet Paul, he’s a film shooter like me. He approached me last weekend, saying he wanted to meet “the guy with the Crown Graphic”. He shoots street portraits in b&w and color and we had a lot to chat about. I tend to make a lot of film shooter contacts on the street.

I hadn’t shot for a long while, so the piece of tape and light leak are what I get for being out of practice.

This is 320TXP at box speed, souped in Rodinal 1+50 for 15 minutes.

Giving Thanks

Jason

November 24, 2011

Today I give thanks to my parents who provided such a rich childhood for us.

The Jensens

Jason

October 22, 2011

(1655×2048)

It was Travis’s idea to do a family portrait before their family increased by one. I’m glad he called upon me to do it; I’m always looking for portrait subjects. We shot this in the plaza at California/Davis streets. I don’t often shoot more than one person at once in Large Format because the focus can get a bit tricky, but I think this turned out pretty well.

This is again the Carl Meyer 12″ Apo-Process lens. I don’t have many 8×10 lenses, but the ones I do.. I really like.

Eva on California Street

Jason

October 22, 2011

(1653×2048)

This is another portrait of Eva. We decided to try one on California Street on one of the cable car lines. In the distance you can see the cable car line going up a tall hill, though in this print you can’t see it. Still, I think the 12″ Carl Meyer makes a great environmental portrait lens. I’m beginning to like it a lot.

Eva

Jason

September 24, 2011

(1656×2048)

I had the privilege of photographing Eva a couple weekends ago. We met in the morning to do some family portraits downtown. I did a mix of LF shots, Ektar 100 with an old 210mm Tessar, 8×10 320TXP with a Carl Meyer 12″ Apo-Process, and my favorite portrait lens – the Gundlach Rapid Rectigraphic. I surprisingly love the CM shots, I hope to have one of those posted after I return from vacation. This one up above, though.. be sure to check out the larger version of it. It’s lenses like this that drive me to Large Format so easily. It’s the process of shooting Large Format that drives me to do portraits.

As always, I hope Eva likes this photo as much as I do.

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