Week 5 - Pinhole Blender Mini 120 (CotW)

Well, week 5 of Camera of the Week got off to a bad start. After days and days of dark grey skies and snow, I finally took the Blender out for some fun. I also decided to shoot with a zone plate instead of the pinhole. Unfortunately, with the roll of film inside (ISO 400) and the aperture of f/64, the exposures were less than 1 second. That is quite difficult when your shutter is a piece of gaffer tape! There were light leaks on most of the roll caused by opening up the can and... OOPS ...finding a roll of film in there. The color on the roll wasn't very colorful, so I changed it to black and white... I definitely will take this out again in the spring!



This week's camera is the Golden Half Chelsea Maika edition. Stay tuned...

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".

SoFoBoMo 2009

I was reading Matt Allen's Photo blog this afternoon and he mentioned an event for photographers SoFoBoMo similar to the NaNoWriMo event for writers. So, in a nutshell, you have 31 days to make 35 images and create a PDF book of them. So, since I have been wondering about my project for the year and finding some sort of idea recently, I am going to take this opportunity to create something tangible that may actually turn into an actual paper book! We'll see. Thanks, Matt, for the info!!

Trees in the Wind...

It's funny to look back at my photography just 7 or so years (postcards) and to see how different I see things now (abstract? or impressionist?). It seems the less discernible things in the photograph, the more I "see" in it. I was enjoying the backyard in this very windy, yet warm, winter day with my dogs and my daughter. I liked all the movement of the trees (while hoping they wouldn't fall on the house!), so I grabbed the D70s with the pinhole body cap and tried to capture the feeling of the afternoon. This one really struck me...

Kodacolor VR

Hmmmm... Just finished the roll out of my new Yunon and I discovered this little gem inside. When I purchased the camera I had opened it to look inside, discovered the film, and immediately closed it. I knew it was Kodak because of the yellow, but I had no idea it was old. According to the wiki it was discontinued in 1986. There is no date on the canister, but this thing could be more than 20 years old???

Around the Yard

It was an unusually warm day for February. So, Alexis and I spent the afternoon putsing around the yard. We threw the ball for Moose, filled the bird feeders, hung the corn for the squirrels (who've eaten through a bird feeder to get to those seeds), and built a nest in the yard for a very large baby bird (Alexis). All in all, a very productive day. Don't even get me started about the frenzy of dessert making that I did this morning... I took out the Nikon D70s with the digital pinhole bodycap and made some images. Mostly, crap, but fun nonetheless.

Fall...

Well, fall was here and now is nearly over. Our trees in the yard seemed to be quite uninspiring this year. But, as I explored a little further, I noticed this tiny fire red maple in the woody area of our yard.

Negative Space

The Center for Fine Art Photography has a Call for Entry for an upcoming show with the theme Negative Space. I will be entering 3 pieces, including Two Poles, Colonial Beach Pier After Ernesto, and my hope for glory, Bridge with Train taken with my Pinhole Blender...

Long lost trip to DC

I made a trip to DC quite a few weeks ago with the hubby & daughter. Reminder to self... Never take daughter downtown after bad night sleep. We were there for almost an entire hour! Seriously, I think the travel time in & out were longer than the time spent in town. So, my pictures were SERIOUSLY lacking even though it was a PERFECT sky that day. Many clouds and cool shadow & light play. Ah well. I did get a nice pinhole shot of the Washington Monument.

Those tall trees...

I was out in this beautiful unusually cool August day (76 degrees!!) making some images with the digital pinhole. Funny, how you go out with an idea and end up coming back with something completely different than you started with. I started playing with panning the camera up while looking at the many pine and tulip trees (two very tall types of trees) in our back yard. I like the vertical-ness (hmm... maybe I should have held the camera vertical!) of the image that wasn't planned...

I need a cleaning person...

When I graduated college, I had my own place (rented apartments & owned a townhouse) for 7 years (until I got married). I had very clean, neat places. Then I got a dog (Dinah), then a boyfriend (now husband) with 2 dogs (Bubba and Danielle), then another dog (Rusty), then another dog (Jack), then a HUGE house, then another dog (Buckers, yes 6 dogs now), then a daughter (Alexis), then slowly 5 dogs, 4 dogs, 3 dogs, 2 dogs, 1 dog, and lastly 2 dogs (now Dinah & Moose). It is tough being the only neat freak in the house. I've spent the last 3 days cleaning, neatening, and otherwise trying to control this mess I've got growing around me. I'm tired...

Snapped on the Pinhole...

Well, after playing "macro" with my compact point & shoot camera for quite a few days, I decided to snap on the NO DUST digital pinhole bodycap from Pinhole Resource on to my D70s. So, the past few days have been full of blurry flowers and mushrooms instead of crystal clear ones. Ha, ha... I'm having fun and that is all that matters. Here is the blurry picture of the day!!

My new pinhole "Can-mera"

Well, I've finally done it. I've made a pinhole camera from one of those decorative popcorn tin cans with houses covered in snow and decorated for Christmas. Just perfect for a hot July! Can't tell if there is a light leak or if it was the fact that my paper was expired. Not to worry, there will be many more to come! Here is one of my successful images from it.

Pinhole Photography

Seems odd that after all these years of photo classes and my use of "toy" cameras that I haven't ever used a pinhole. Not that I didn't want to, it just seemed so limiting since you basically need a darkroom nearby. Now, I'm talking the box (or paint can) with a pinhole and a piece of photo paper in the back. That nice big paper negative. Well, I was lucky enough to sign-up for the last spot in a pinhole workshop at Gari Melchers home in Fredericksburg, VA. It was taught by Steve Griffin, a professor of Art at UMW and pinhole photographer. His favorite subjects include the beach scenes of Colonial Beach, VA. This is quite convenient since his studio (including traditional darkroom) is just blocks from the water. Anyway, he set up this make shift darkroom a kitchen and 11 of us walked around the grounds with our pinhole paint cans that Steve provided. It was an amazing experience! I am even more motivated to build my own and get the darkroom in my basement back to work. Here is my favorite catch of the day. I scanned the paper negative and positive and combined them as a diptych.



Want more information on pinhole photography? Check out the Pinhole Resource and Eric Renner's book "Pinhole Photography".