Winter River Scenes

The Withlacoochee continues to be very low. I spent an evening out by the river last weekend and shot some 4x5 (these are all T-Max 100 developed in FX-39 1:24):

 

 

Pops in the Park 2014 @VSU

I run the sound at our annual music scholarship fundraiser, Pops in the Park. Normally I never do photos because I'm too busy working at the mixer and also because the lighting isn't very good after dark. However, this year I brought a camera to shoot some, especially since we were able to borrow a few hot lights for the show.

Here is my workstation, and the crowd on the lawn:

But before the on-stage performances, the VSU Steel Drum Band plays a few tunes under our big oak trees:

And here's various jazz groups and featured soloists performing:

For these photos I used my Nikon F5 and 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-S, or my 20mm f/2.8D, with Tri-X film developed in Spur HRX.

Fun with Wet-Plate Collodion - 10/17/14

My friend Kaleb stopped by VSU yesterday to show off his new portable darkroom and wet-plate setup. I've wanted to see him make some plates for a while but we haven't been able to get together until now.

I documented some of the process. I shot my Nikon SP 2005 with 50mm f/3.5 CV Heliar lens as well as some with my Pentax 67 and 105mm f/2.4 lens. I shot color in the Nikon (Agfa Optima 160, expired) and T-Max 100 developed in FX-39 (1:24, 68°F, 20 minutes) in the Pentax. Here are the images:

 

I also grabbed a quick couple of portraits of some of the photography students hanging out and having their photos made:

It was great to finally see the process in person. Kaleb and I are already planning some collaborative wet plate projects, so stay tuned...

In the meantime, I will have to see if I can get some scans of the plates!

Traditional Indian Wedding in South GA

A few weeks ago I was able to tag along with a friend who was shooting a traditional Indian wedding. It was a pretty awesome event and I had a lot of fun. I used my Pentax 67 and a few different lenses. I am still going through the images but here are just a couple of the photos. I will do a larger post at a later date.

More T-Max 100 + FX-39

Testing continues using TMX and FX-39. I think I underdeveloped it a little this time, with a too weak dilution. The light was also a little flat. This developer may shine most in bright sunny conditions, which is also where TMX struggles the most.

These were taken with my Leica M6 and a variety of lenses, but mostly the 21mm Skopar:

 

VSU Blazin' Brigade Pre-Game - September 2014

A couple of weekends ago, I went to the football pre-game show with the marching band and shot a variety of images. I used my two Linhof Technika cameras with a 150mm f/2.8 Xenotar and 250mm f/5.6 Sonnar lenses. I mostly shot T-Max 100 and a couple sheets of Portra 160VC.

I also tested a new developer with the T-Max 100 sheets, a lesser-known one called FX-39. I am quite amazed at the tonality with it. It's designed specifically for T-grain films and I really liked it!

Here's the images: