Photo Sessions
Rolleiflex TLR with Fomapan 100 speed film.
Every so often an interesting prop finds its way into a photoshoot. Normally I shy away from props simple because they can look like such a gimmick in most cases but here I thought it worked quite well. Probably because the “live saver” is such a simple shape it integrates nicely into a photograph that is slightly abstract and all about shapes.
In what I can only imagine as fate, there was some nasty weather brewing up while this photographs was being created.
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Captured with a Sony A-850 DSLR on Sauvie Island near Portland
The other day I used a digital camera for the first time in what feels like years. It was a bit of a last minute shoot and I didn’t have much film on hand other than a few rolls of consumer grade 35mm color film. Plus, the weather outside wasn’t great and I didn’t want to chance getting one of my film cameras all wet. Most of my mechanical SLR’s like the Minolta SRT-101 can take a bit of rain, but I wasn’t sure how bad it was going to be so I figured my digital camera could be the sacrificial lamb should the weather go really south.
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Photographed with a Hasselblad 500 C/M and Fomapan 400 film.
I’ve mentioned on this blog before how many people don’t realize just how dark it can get when photographing in the deep forest. Even on a bright and sunny day, the tree cover can get so incredibly thick that it feels like one is trying to make photographs at night. Or at the very least in the late evening.
I was experiencing that challenge when photographing this scene with my Hasselblad 500 C/M and a roll of Fomapan 400 speed film. Exposing the scene at f/2.8 and 1/15th of a second still left me a little underexposed forcing me to compensate a bit in the development process. I think I managed to pull it off, and thank goodness I have a fairly steady hand as I didn’t bring a tripod with me on this particular photoshoot.
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Photographed with a Mamiya C330 TLR and Ilford Delta 100 film.
It looks like I’m on a bit of a streak here when it comes to processing images from studio sessions. This image is going back a number o years but as I mentioned in my previous post, sometimes revisiting the “details” in a simple studio image can be a wonderful thing. If memory serves (seriously, I think this image is at least a decade old at this point) I was using a Mamiya C330 TLR mounted to a tripod. Taking a look at the negative before scanning it I was using Ilford Delta 100 for my film stock. That is a rarity for me as I typically prefer Ilford FP4 when using slower speed films. I couldn’t say now why it is I had some Delta 100 on hand but there you go.
The highlights are a bit blown out on the right side of the frame but I did manage to keep most of the details in the scene intact. All I had with me was a single flood light with a very bright 500 watt bulb in it so I had to point the light at the wall and bounce it back toward the model. I would have preferred an umbrella or a soft box to diffuse it but sometimes the art of photography is about making due with what you have on hand.
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Mamiya RZ67 with Kodak T-Max 400 speed film.
Sometimes the most simple of materials is all it really takes. Someone willing to patiently sit in front of the camera. A long cloth to hang up in the background. A window with light subdued by an overcast sky. That is really it. I used to make images with this very simple set up back in my college days all the time. Only back then it was even harder as I was more than likely making photos and portraits in a 5th wheel trailer. Oh yes indeed I was living the bohemian lifestyle for sure back then. Now days I have the decency to at least operate with this kind of set up in a full fledged apartment living room! Talk about an upgrade!
I do very much enjoy the detail one can see on the model’s skin in this image. That is largely thanks to the large-ish 6x7 negative produced with the Mamiya RZ67. Despite the overwhelming size of the RZ67 I find that it is very easy to put a person at ease when working with it.
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