Nothing signals the start of Fall like the State Fair, 125 years of Texas Tradition!
Archive for the ‘Geek-Speak’ Category
State Fair Time!
Saturday, October 15th, 2011Some random color…and Tuesday Black and White
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011I missed posting last week, this week’s not as big as some of my other Tuesday Black and Whites; so I added some random color images to fatten this post up! And I dragged out one of my favorite cameras; My Olympus 35SP! I forget sometimes how fun it is to shoot with, as well as how sharp the lens on it is….
Still Loving the Ilford Xp-2…I need to buy and shoot some of it in 120 pretty soon…and buy some more in 35mm, I only bought three rolls to test it out! (lesson, always buy tons of film, even when you’re trying a new stock out, because either you’ll like it, or you’ll learn to like it the more that you shoot it…)
Tuesday Black and White
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011This is a special Tuesday black and white for me, because sometimes when you want to move forward you have to look to your past. Since my return to film, I’ve been searching for different stocks that I’d like to use on a regular basis, and I decided to buy some film that I’ve come in contact with once before, when I was 15 years old and didn’t know any better.
It was 1992, I was taking my first ever photography class. Our teacher was starting us out on the basics: black and white. He told everyone to go out and buy some black and white film for our first assignment. Me, not knowing anything, went down to Wolf Camera and purchased a roll of Ilford Xp2 (not knowing that it wasn’t traditional black and white film). I was so disappointed when some of my more knowledgable classmates told me that I couldn’t develop the film in class because it used color chemicals. I threw the roll in a drawer at home, bought some Tmax, and went on my way. I don’t know what ever happened to that roll, but I never touched Xp2 again….that is until now.
I purchased 3 rolls of XP2 so that I could test it out, because I’m looking for some black and white film in 120, and a current favorite of mine right now, Kodak BWC400cn, is sadly no longer available in 120 (I did manage to get my hands on a fresh pro-pack with an expiration date of this year!)
However Ilford Xp-2 is readly available in 120!
I think that I’ll be shooting more of this film in the future!
A bored Self-portrait…***edited for Geek-Speak***
Monday, April 19th, 2010With some dirty wrinkled seamless I had lying around…and an excuse to test out my new Creative Light softbox, I think I’ll be buying some more of their stuff, this is one Nikon SB-80 flash, very even coverage. From a 1 x 1 softbox.
I’m Shootsac’n! ***Attn Geek-Speak!***
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010I recently ordered a Shootsac, a great way to solve a problem every photographer who shoots with multiple lenses faces: What to do with your extra lenses while you are shooting? When I’m at a wedding, I usually carry a 17-55, a 85 1.4or 1.8 and a 70/80-200 2.8. That was when I was shooting DX, but due to a recent investment, I joined the Nikon FX camp with a brand new D700 and now I’m back to shooting primes. I’ll be carrying a 24, 35, 50, an 85 and a 80-200. Five lenses. In the past, even when I was carrying only 3 lenses, it was always a problem carrying the other lenses around, I would usually sling a smaller camera bag on my shoulder which was a pain. Especially because you would have to keep the lens caps on when you put a lens back in the bag. Enter the Shootsac, it’s made of neoprene firm enough to hold the lenses in place, and soft enough so that it doesn’t scratch the glass. When I got home today I found a box from Adorama on my front porch.
I was wondering how I would wear the ShootSac along with the R-strap that I usually wear when I shoot, two straps crossing each other across my chest, but I’m anxious to try it out during a live shoot!
I loved the tip card from Jessica Claire, I wonder if you get a different one for every product you order. You can change out the covers for different patterns, the majority of them are more feminine, so I stuck with the basic black, can’t go wrong there! One thing that I did notice walking around with it, the neoprene gets hot against your body if you wear it messager bag style. I’m going to have an opportunity to test it out fully in a little under a week and a half, can’t wait!
Went to A Camera Show ***attn photo-geek alert!***
Monday, February 1st, 2010I’ve been waiting for it seems like forever to go to a camera show, but it’s not like none have come around these parts; they have. I saw that this past September, there was a show in Grapevine. I just always seem to hear about the shows AFTER they’re over. It’s been years since I’ve been to a show, they’re always a good place to pick up little odds and ends that you might have a hard time finding in your local camera shop, and you didn’t want to pay full price from like B&H or Calumet Photo. Plus if you want to get some old film or early digital gear, there’s no better place to get it. I was excited because my favorite place to buy my gear KEH, was going to be in the house – buying gear on the spot and paying you in cash, then and there. So I unloaded a couple of D1-series bodies that I stopped shooting regularly with when I bought my D300, and I said goodbye to my Tokina 12-24. A great lens, I just wasn’t using it enough to justify keeping it. Now that KEH put some cash in my pocket, I’m torn about what I should buy…I know that I’m getting a lens, something in a focal length that I’ll use. I’ve narrowed it down to either the 85 1.8D, or the 20 2.8D….choices, choices.
I came across this one dealer’s table…well he wasn’t really a dealer. He was a collector who was trying to sell off some of the cameras that he had collected throughout the years. He was worried what would have happened to his collection if he passed away, that his kids would sell it at a garage sale, not knowing the value of the items. He had a lot of great stuff, he let me shoot some photos of his items:
He had a lot of old Nikon manuals for lenses and for some of the motor drive models, and I wish I had bought that old Bolex! Everything that he had was in immaculate condition…
He had 3 of those Speed Graphics, 3 of them, all in excellent condition. Check out the box of KodaChrome II movie film by the old Bolexes! And he was telling me how cool I would look with that Nikon 300 2.8 attached to one of my Nikons….I don’t really have any use for glass that long, but I couldn’t disagree with the coolness factor!
Other than the cold hard cash that KEH put in my pocket, the only other thing that I left with was something else that is easy to find at camera shows: old film. I saw a vendor selling rolls of film for $1 a roll, so I bought four rolls of Ektachrome 160T:
***Yeah, you’re seeing that right Expiration date: August 1984. I’m curious to see what kind of results I can get from 26 year old film, see how much color shift I get! Even though those eighties Kodak boxes are awesome as well, I hate the thought of cracking them open to get at that film inside.
