Week 1 - P-Sharan (Camera of the Week)

The week of January 10-16 was the first week of my "Camera of the Week" challenge. Of course, it would happen that the P-Sharan was the first out of the bag (literally). That has been the camera that I've been using almost exclusively since I got her. Ah well, that was the chosen camera. Not too much exciting to talk about, except when I got that roll of film back, pressed it against the window of the van to see it better, my breath was taken away.... I am amazed EVERY time I unroll that film. Everything looks lovely through that pinhole...



I'm using the Agfa Clack this week... Stay tuned!

And So It Goes...

I am still working steadily on the book, "Impressions through a Pinhole". I've also installed BookSmart from Blurb, where I'll be publishing the book. I've started playing with the layout of the images and have found that many fit so well as a double page spread. I am thinking that I will single out my favorites or the strongest images on a spread of their own.

I am going to have these professionally scanned so I can make decent size prints of them (the negative is smaller than 35mm) and hopefully find a venue for a solo show once the book is done.

I have just recently gone through another roll from the P-Sharan and got 5 images out of the 16, so this has really gotten my excitement going again. I have nearly 25 images to choose from now. And now for another sneak preview...

No Mo SoFoMoBo

As my faithful readers know, I signed up for SoFoMoBo way back when with the full intention of completing a photo book of 30 images in just 31 days. Well, I'm just 6 days to the end of my "month" and I have 15 images that I just absolutely LOVE and 15 images that I haven't even seen, yet. So, what to do? Well, I have decided that I will not be finishing the SoFoMoBo book. It is not because I am Giving Up. It is simply because I do not want to make a book filled with images that are just "OK" to me. But, SoFoMoBo has been an incredible jumping off point for what I am going to be doing. With these 15 images that I have already (all from the P-Sharan, of course), I will be completing a book by the end of the summer. It will be the book I wanted to make for SoFoMoBo, but with the time, effort, and creativity needed for the quality book I will be proud of. So, keep watching the blog for previews of the images for "Impressions Through a Pinhole".

I love my P-Sharan pinhole

I know, I've gone on about this camera before. But, this camera is just giving me dead on exposures every time (and I mostly use the helpful little suggestions printed on the back). And that ghostly quality of them, is just to die for. ;) But, I mentioned in an earlier post about participating in SoFoBoMo 2009 and I've been thinking about how I was going to accomplish this task. I think I've decided to dedicate the whole project to the pinhole images I make with the P-Sharan. The most obvious obstacle, and biggest, of course, is the time it will take between making the images and waiting for the processing. Maybe this will get me back down in the darkroom for home processing. At least, I won't be waiting 2-3 days... This will put a crunch on at the end of the month, I suspect. But, seriously, how could I shoot with anything else???

Sifting and Sorting

I'm still going through the negs from last weeks trip to the Fredericksburg Battlefied Cemetery. Seems the P-Sharan was the winner of the day with quite a few images I'm pleased with. The P-Sharan SQ-35 has 4 different photographic "styles" (regular pinhole, "soft focus", regular pinhole w/ vignette, "soft focus" w/ vignette). I was playing around with all of them that day and I'm liking the regular pinhole w/ vignette. I've noticed that the "soft focus" leaves a little ray of circles (like the pattern of the soft focus pinhole) and I'm not too fond of that. Besides, handholding the camera gives everything a soft focus, right?

Took the Kids for a Walk...

No, not the human kid. And not the doggie kids, either. The fantastic plastic (and cardboard) toy cameras were out in the nice weather today. I headed to the Fredericksburg Battlefield & Cemetery because it has lots of walking space and incredible trees and hills. I actually shot 5 rolls of film. Of course, that's not too difficult since the Holga WPC only takes 6 images per roll. But, I did forget to wind the film correctly in it, so maybe in a few days I'll have another happy accident. Here are my babies, posing for the camera phone on the Sunken Road wall! :)

The first roll from the P-Sharan...

I finally had a day to take my new P-Sharan out for a test drive. It was sunny, it was relatively warm (not that cold would have stopped me now), and I was *not* sick in bed, and I had plenty of people to look after my daughter. And I have to say the first roll was a total success. Nearly all the images that I remember taking were exposed relatively well and were just what I'd expect from a pinhole camera.... Blurry! Seriously, I was very happy with the first results. It's loaded with a roll of black and white film now and I'm going to try the cool filters it came with (soft focus & vignetted edges). Expect more from this lovely camera...

Another Camera Adventure...

Well, I've finished the P-Sharan in about 3 hours. I was hoping to take it out for a spin tomorrow, but it seems that the rain may be here and the camera is mostly cardboard. Oh well, I guess I can wait a few more days, since it took me 12 days to get it all together. Isn't she beautiful?

P-Sharan SQ-35

Oh my... It's been awhile...

Well, my husband just couldn't wait until my actual birthday (Dec 6) to give me my birthday present. His excuse? I wouldn't be able to enjoy it on my birthday since we are having a birthday party for my daughter (also born on Dec 6) on Saturday and our neighborhood progressive dinner is Saturday night. Yeah, he just couldn't wait that long. It was good, believe me. He bought me the P-Sharan pinhole camera, but this is the square format one with a soft focus filter. It is SO cool. Now, I just have to put it together.... Stay tuned for the building of "Shar".