Film is Dead?

Here is a link to an interesting story about a resurgence of Kodak film use.

The use of film has been relegated to a niche but the niche seems to be growing especially among younger professional photographers and fine art shooters. Film does have it's own look that can't be duplicated digitally, it's not better or worst, just different. I think that different look is what many people are after.

There are a number of informational sources specific to the use of film, magizines and some websites. Here are two resources on the Web that you may like to check.

First is APUG the Anolog Photography Users Group and Second is the podcast Inside Analog Photo Radio.

If you still shoot film check them out.

Baby it's Cold Outside

I drove my daughter back to Chicago yesterday, so on my way back I stop at St Joe and took a few shots of the Lighthouse. Man it was cold and I didn't have any gloves.

But I did manage a few nice shots anyway.

Camera Talk

Here is a link to an interesting bit in the Summit Daily. I ran across it looking for something unrelated, sometimes a bum search can take you to very some interesting places.

http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20081110/AE/811109989/1057&title=On%20Photography:%20Camera%20curiosity


After reading this article, I saw myself in the very situation. I'm not big into photo gear as a rule. I do own a lot of stuff, much of it old, like me, but I do get sucked into the what camera do you use conversation way more than I should.

In high school the editor of the yearbook and I were sent to a week long seminar on dealing with putting together the year book. He went to the classes for editors and I did the photography track. The main photo instructor was a very cool guy. He had worked for one of the big papers in Chicago for years.

He made a comment that has stuck with me for all these many years. "It's not what is between the photographers hands that count, but what's between his ears".

I try to remember that quote when I get involved in a serious camera talk. I doesn't always work but I try.

I guess the better question one should ask is how did you shoot that? Not what did you shoot that with.

I Disagree Strongly

I enjoy listening to photography related pod casts. While I was listening to the "Inside Analog Photo Radio" pod cast for October 18Th 2008 the guest made a comment that made me cringe.

The guest was Steve Anchell author of the "Darkroom Cookbook" and it was a very good interview, he talked about his book, how he got into photography, the value of silver photography and a lot of other interesting things.

I was in agreement with most of the things he talked about until a comment was made about digital photography. He called it basically it is a point and shoot Photoshop process. He said digital is not about photography it's about Photoshop. When he uses the term photography he means a silver based process.

With this I Disagree Strongly.

To me It doesn't make any difference how you make your image, the basic process is the same. You focus light and expose some type of media to capture your image. Then you take your image and process it either electronically or chemically to arrive at your final piece. Granted making a B&W print using film is quite different that make a B&W print with your computer and an ink jet printer, but you still go through some kind of a process to get there.

I'm sure that as older processes we replaced by newer ones you had the same kind of debate churning in photographic circles.

I shoot film and I love it for many reasons, but I also shoot digitally and the same is true there.
They both do things that the other can not, but that doesn't make either one better than the other.
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Leaving Your Comfort Zone

As photographers we all have things we would rather shoot. These are generally things which we are familiar with and that we are good at making photographs of. When we shoot these subjects we know what to expect.

What is hard is when we attempt to do something new or different. But when we leave our comfort zone we learn so much more.

There are many reasons people don't try new things. I would say the biggest reason is people are afraid that their images will suck and they will be embarrassed, and shunned by their family and friends.

Every bad image you make is the best way to learn what not to do. It couldn't be a better learning experience. Than the next time you shoot you will do a bit better job. It will also make you look at the things you shoot best in a different way and help to keep you improving your over all photography.

So try leaving your comfort zone once in a while, you'll be glad you did.

Photo Fun in the Dark

My friend Steve and I met at the State Park in Grand Haven MI Saturday to shoot the sunset at the pier. He just bought a new Canon recently and wanted to give it a good workout.

The weather was perfect.After the sun went down we made some photographs of the lights on the pier and then went and got coffee. We wandered around the downtown area shooting all kinds of things.

It was a nice adventure.

Maps the Photographer's Friend

I just finished listening to another podcast by Lens Work Editor, Brooks Jensen entitled " The Seduction of Maps".
http://www.lenswork.com/podcast/LW0461%20-%20The%20Seduction%20of%20Maps.mp3
I whole heartedly agree that looking at maps is very exciting as you plan a photographic trip to a new place. In fact that is one of the first things I do when I plan a photographic excursion.

Here's is an example. I have made many trips to Michigan's UP to photograph waterfalls. I have a very nice book by a photographer from the Detroit area of his black and white images of UP waterfalls. He included a companion book with directions to help you locate the waterfalls in his book. I used that but I also used a Michigan county map book, that I had for many years, for the greater detail. It made it much easier to find the location of the falls I was tring to find.
My daughter gave me a new map book last Christmas, updated information and in color. I should be al set, at least for the state of Michigan.

Two great resources for online mapping are Google Maps and Microsoft's online mapping site

http://maps.google.com/ http://maps.live.com/

Not only can you use them to plan a route to your destination, but you can see satilite images of the area you are planning to visit. I think that that is the best part. I can see what a place looks like before I go there. The Microsoft site even has what is called "Birds Eye View" for some locations.


Maps are a photographers best bud.

End of an Era

I read with a bit of sadness an AP article printed in our local on the paper on the probable demise of Kodachrome film. I have mostly been shooting digitally myself for quite a long time, so I guess I am a part of the reason for this happening.

I loved Kodachrome. I shot it exclusively for many years, even after the E6 films had improved to a point they rivaled Kodachrome quality.

About 25 years ago I was in the camera department of a local store and they had all of their stock of Kodachrome 25 marked down to a dollar a roll. Most of them were 36 exposure rolls.
It was close dated but I bought all they had and put it in the freezer. I think I ended up with about 50 or so rolls of the stuff. It lasted me about 10 months. I was sad to shoot the last roll of it. It was a very sharp film and I loved the colors that it gave me.

Even though Kodak hasn't officially announced they are ending the production of this great film, the current stocks of the film have a 2009 expiration date, and as of yet they haven't produced any more.

I'm sure that it will be a mater of time.

Maybe I'll get a few rolls and shoot them before this film goes the way of the Dodo. So I can say I shot it till the end.

Great Big Sea Part II

Here are the pictures I promised.

If you read my last post you know that I went to Ann Arbor, MI to see the band Great Big Sea last Wednesday night.

Well my wife and I went to see the band last Saturday night in Chicago at the Chicago Celtic Festival.

Our daughters got us a room at the Palmer House to celebrate our 30Th anniversary.
What nice kids.

We had a great time even though it rained the whole time we were there. We sat there watching the band from under our umbrellas, it was a grand adventure.

Even though we got quite wet, I think it was the best GBS show I have been to so far.

Seeing this band twice in less than a week's time was way cool.

Maybe I'm turning into a groupie.............

Great Big Sea

I know that this isn't the best image I have ever made, but since I took it with my cell phone I think it turned out ok.

Last night I went to see one of my all time favorite bands in the world, Great Big Sea. They hail from Newfoundland, Canada. I guess the best way to describe them is Sea Shanty meets rock and roll.

They haven't been close enough for me to go and see them in about a year and a half. So I had to go. Plus I was able to wrangle a seat in the front row, so it was imperative to be there.

In addition to the show in Ann Arbor, Mi last night, they are playing at the Chicago Celtic Festival this Saturday, so my wife and I are driving down to the windy city for the weekend and plan on seeing them play there.



If I get any better pictures I'll be sure to post them here.



Check the band out. http://www.greatbigsea.com/

I have a darkroom again (sort of)

Saturday my friend Steve invited me out to burn some 4x5 film.
We met at a restaurant in Grant, a small town about 10 miles straight north of where I live.
We shot all of the film we had loaded on the old grain elevator in town.

I decided to process my film that same day. It usually takes me weeks to get around doing it, but I changed my normal procedure and souped the film right away.

After they were dry and I looked at the images. I wished that I could make even just contact prints, so I went up to the barn dug all my equipment out of the boxes it has been stored in since I moved and set it up.
It's not as nice as what I had before I moved and there is no running water, but it will do the job until I come up with a better solution.

America's National Past Time

I Got a pair of tickets to the last regular season home game of the West Michigan White Caps. I took my brother's son and we had a nice time.
The seats were in the second row back right behind home plate so I brought a camera and long lens along.
The images aren't Sports Illustrated quality but I had fun shooting some of the game anyway.

Lawn Mower Races

I don't know if it's just an American phenomenon or if it happens everywhere on earth. If it has a motor on it they are going to race it.

July 20th Sparta Airport. Sparta MI.

Tiger Woods, Me and the Zone

This past weekend the village of Sparta had thier annual " Town and Country Days" event. It runs five days and there many things to see, do, eat and drink. But I couldn't get to any of the festivities until Friday night so there were a few image making opportunites missed to be sure.

Saturday night as I was roaming around the carnival trying to get some of that action, when I realized someone was trying to get my attention. My cousin Chuck who I don't see very often and his wife were leaving to go home, they saw me and called out. I didn't even notice them right away because I was in the "Zone".

I never noticed until this past weekend how oblivious I am to things around me while I am shooting, but still I am seeing the smallest details at the same moment. It's a bit freaky.

I'm sure this must be true for somebody like Tiger Woods, to tune out the rest of the world but be so into the shot or putt you are attempting.

The zone is a great place to be. At least for short amounts of time.

Shooting the Blues

A lot of the personal images I have been making during the past few of weeks have been of blues musicians.

I wouldn't call West Michigan a Mecca for the blues, but we have had some pretty good music around the last few years. Some of it local and a number of acts outside the area.








For quite a number of years now a local classic rock station has put on what they call "Blues on the Mall" in downtown Grand Rapids on Wednesdays.




I love the music but I really have a great time shooting people in the crowd. It is an eclectic group of folks to say the least.

The 4th of July

The 4th of July was a day of photography for me this year. I started in the morning shooting black and white film with my view camera and ended the day shooting fireworks at night.

I did spend a bit of time mowing the lawn in the afternoon. Then I went to Rockford MI, a small town a few miles east of my house. They had a blues band playing until just before the fire works started.

Here are a few shots of Cherri and the Violaters for you to look at.

Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Two weeks ago my wife, our youngest daughter and I traveled to the Upper Peninsula . It was mainly a family trip but I did manage to fit in some personal photography between the shopping expeditions and visits to the tourist traps.

CTS

My daughter Emily attends Chicago Theological Seminary. Like most grad students she works doing various things to make the rent each month.

One of the things she does is to work at school doing custodial kinds of things. She called me a while back and invited me down to photograph inside some of the interesting parts of the building.

" I have keys" was what she told me.

I asked my good friend Steve if he was interested in going along and he went with me. He brought a 4x5 and I brought a medium format camera plus we both brought DSLRs. I think we both got some interesting shots.

Thanks for the invite Em.

Flickr

Every now and again I look through the newest Flickr up loads. http://www.flickr.com/photos/

It always tells you how many images were uploaded in the last minute. This is what it said the last time I looked. (There were 4,974 uploads in the last minute)

I would call this a holy shit amount!

Most of the time I look it's anywere from 2000 to almost 6000 once and if I had to guess it is usually in the 3000 image range on average.

If you take 3000 x 60 minutes that gives you 180000 phots per hour. Damn.

Then if you take those 180000 image x 24 hours you'd get 4320000 image a day.

You can do the math if you want to for a week, a month or a year. It makes my head swim.

All I can say is who the hell is shooting all these pictures?

What do you shoot and what do you shoot it with?

I really like to listen to and read what Brooks Jensen has to say. Brooks Jensen is the publisher of Lens Work magazine and also has a pod cast that I find very interesting. I just finished reading the Jan/Feb 2008 issue of Lens Work and it started me thinking.

What you shoot and what you shoot it with says a lot about you as a photographer. I should also say how you shoot what you shoot is also telling.

I shoot a diverse range of subjects.

I also shoot with a number of different cameras, formats, film, digital, etc. I love working in the studio for the control it gives me.

But when it comes right down to it I love to photograph old weathered wooden things with black and white film using large or medium format equipment.

I guess that says a few things about me.

You be the judge...

David Hume Kennerly

Last night I attended a talk given by David Hume Kennerly a former White House photographer about his new book of photographs taken during the Ford Administration.

It was very informitive and entertaining, he is a great speaker.


I even bought the book!