Week of 02/11/2013: The Last of Ortlieb's Brewery

Location: Site of former Orlieb’s Brewery, near 3r^d and American Streets.

Camera: Superheadz Black Slim Devil

Lens: 22mm

Film: Tri-X

Develop: HCll0 1:49 for 200 ISO rating-6.5 minutes

Scan: Epson V500

Proof: Epson 3880 using Quad-Tone Rip*

Paper: Canon Pixma II Gloss for proof, Museo Silver Rag for final.

Part of the mysterious power that the urban landscape possesses for the camera is that it is ephemeral and ever changing. I knew this site would soon be seeing the wrecker’s ball to remove the last structures, so back in October I got my licks in. Desolate spots hold for me a special photographic appeal and there was nary a soul around.

*Quad-Tone Rip is a program I’m really enjoying. It controls the printer directly for black and white printing and allows the user to bypass all the mumbo-jumbo of the Epson print procedure. Common printer profiles are built in, others you can create them. (Something, which I haven’t done as yet.)  The software will work with conventional Epson cartridges but it was designed for Cone Piezographic (archival carbon) inks, something that I am planning on setting up in the near future. 

02 04 2013: The Space In-Between

Location: 22^nd and Pine Street vicinity

Camera: Superheadz Black Slim Devil

Lens: Superfat 22mm, plastic, most likely a doublet.

Exposure: f8@ 1/125 approx

Film: Tri-X 35mm

Develop: HCll0 1:49, 6.5min at 68F

Scan: Epson V500

Proof: Epson 3880 on Canon Photo Glossy II

This shot was in many ways un-meditated. I had framed the scene zooming out to 35mm and it just didn't seem to cut it. Though I could tell the light was far from optimal for a toy camera with a slow lens and high shutter speed, I took a chance.  What happens at the point of capture is fairly incomprehensible and, as I’ve found, like lightening, it rarely strikes twice in the same place. The moments captured by the camera are not just optical phenomena. I’m not even sure exactly where this was taken, but chances are I won’t get to re-shoot. It’s the fine surprises, like this one, when the unconscious and the capture device have entered into cahoots, which keep me shooting day in and day out and walking miles in the cold. 

Week of 01/28/2013: Blame it on Nipper!

“Much nonsense is divinest sense.”-Emily Dickinson

I remember in graduate school trying to articulate in a critique (and badly I may say) that I was interested in creating on canvas the same kind of feel that a 78rpm record can engender—the way the sound emerges from a noisy maelstrom.  I believe I was trying to recapture a childhood memory of listening to obsolete shellac discs-- possibly that first awareness that there was something bigger, fuller, more interesting, and (probably more dangerous) out there; more than I had imagined my future could be.

I never did figure out how to create that kind of haunting resonance in paint (though I tried and failed repeatedly), yet that center did not vanish. It’s the background jumble, the disorder, the big mess, and the nonsense that attracts my sensibilities. I’m watching the kitchen door as it were and finding it much more interesting than the parade out front. 

Last week I rambled into Fairmount. I nearly passed this one by, perhaps because I fear repeating myself. When I shoot film, I find I’m much more selective about what I photograph. I slow down (even more!) and really examine what’s in the viewfinder and think about what the final print may look like, yet something told me “Go ahead.” 

Buy on Etsy: Click Here

Title: Dangling Conversation

Size: 8” x 12” @240 dpi

Location: 19^th and Spring Garden vicinity

Camera: Nikon F100

Lens: 35-70mm Nikkor Zoom

Film: Kodak Portra 400, 35mm color

Develop: Lab

Scan: Epson V500 (scanned as black and white)

Adjustments and slight crop in Photoshop

Printer: Epson 3880

Proof: Canon Pixma Glossy II

Week of 12/24/2012: South Philadelphia Rambles

1800 Block of Iseminger Street, South Philadelphia:

Odd empty spaces, Philly has many, especially between buildings; neglected accesses where time seems to stand still. Often, these spots appear drab and undistinguished. I like to think they are simply waiting ever-patiently for the right light and atmosphere so they can, at last, reveal their stories.

The day I shot this was a long, fantastic jaunt in the urban landscape yielding many images where the power of nature seemed to be smiling down on me.  I revel in such good fortune but don’t count on such luck, making mental notes of places I need to check out again. This will definitely be a spot to revisit.

Tech:

Camera:    Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2, Olympus Digital Micro 4/3 14-42 zoom.

Exp:          ISO 200 @f14, shutter speed, not recorded, approximately 2 stops under meter.

File size:   11” x 16” @240 dpi

Proofed:    Epson 3880 on Moab Lasal 235 Paper

Other:       Slight perspective correction and cropping as well as contrast/value

 adjustments and conversion to b&w in Photoshop; much masking done by hand.        

Week of 12/17/12, The Concrete Muse: Northeast Philadelphia/ Medium Format Love/ New Etsy Store!

A first photographic immersion into a country, a city, or a neighborhood is always problematic. I haven’t the temperament of a photojournalist and I don’t like feeling like a tourist. My desire is always to spend time, lots of time, and really start to let a place sink in. If I ever photograph a city like Paris, I’ll have to go and live there first.

My Philadelphia is much like William Penn’s; it ranges as far as I can walk on a good day. Occasionally, I enjoy the modern-day luxury, usually on the return home, furnished by the Market-Frankford Line or The Broad Street Subway. The Northeast is beyond my usual perimeter. Having occasion to be there a few weeks ago, I decided to make a day of it, riding to the end of the El and then walking around.

I was not prepared for the landscape. It was so spread out, so bleak and so uniform. I’m told it was developed en-mass after WWII and it certainly has a kind of cookie-cutter look. There was certainly an interesting mix of people and cultures there, but where was the evidence in the landscape? I puzzled over how I could ever capture it or what there really was to fix on film. Off the beaten path and in back of what seemed like an endless strip-mall sprawl, I shot this one, solitary frame. 

Tech:

Film: Tri-X  120 rated at ISO 200

Exposure: by guess, approx. f8 @125

Developer: HC110 1:49, 6.5 min (-20%, 1 stop) at 68F 30 seconds initial agitation,

two inversions every 30 seconds thereafter.

Scan: Epson V500

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Etsy Store! I now have a selection of  hand-proofed archival prints, including this one, up for sale. They range from inexpensive postcard sizes up to very reasonably priced 12 x 16's.

I will be adding more in the coming weeks.

Etsy: Click here! 

Cheers,

RA

Week of 11 05 12: The Concrete Muse

This week’s photo was taken from the South Street Bridge in Philadelphia back in August on Kodak T-Max film using a Superheadz “Black Slim Devil,” a Japanese toy 35mm camera that sells for $30 and has a very wide angle of view. Be sure to grip it far back and from the ends, or your fingers will end up in the frame! It’s a lot like the one-use Fuji Quicksnap, except it is reusable and you can load it with any available film stock. I love using this camera because it weighs close to nothing so it’s easy to carry around and it’s always ready to shoot. There are no adjustments and I keep the camera in my bag all the time with film advanced and the shutter set.

This instrument drives home the notion that it’s not so much the camera as simply being there and ready when the moment strikes. Years ago Popular Photography ran an article entitled “C.Y.C.W.Y.—Carry Your Camera With You.” I couldn’t agree more, in fact, I feel like something’s missing if I don’t have some kind of photographic device at hand. Assuredly, this capture is not optically or technically perfect and I had to exercise a fair amount of legerdemain in Photoshop to get a solid print and it will probably see a few more iterations. I seem to always want more detail, depth and tonality, but in my thinking until someone invents the perfect camera, it’s far better to forgo some of that rather than missing nature’s ephemeral spectacle. I often carry this camera and a more bulky medium format, shooting both if time permits.

Success! Press Release and Images for The Big Nude Pinhole Shoot at the Rotunda

For Immediate Release:

09 18 12

Local photographer dares big-time fail; receives audience ovation.

Possibly the largest figure tableau ever created using pinhole photography and light painting happened Monday night, in West Philadelphia as part of the Philadelphia Fringe. RA Friedman, working with fifteen brave volunteers and two talented assistants, filled The Rotunda performance space at 40^th and Walnut with nude bodies and then captured the scene using primitive analog technology—a camera that takes Polaroid style film that is little more than a box with a tiny hole cut in the front. Friedman has been refining his self-invented technique since 2010 and received Kickstarter funding to do this first large-scale shoot. The shot was first set up with people clothed (bottom image) and then social armor was shed as people bared it all for the camera’s unblinking eye (top image). 

Says Friedman: “I really did not expect the hearty round of applause from the event-goers after I passed around the second, and final, nude group shot. This kind of work can’t happen alone. One needs a great crew, excellent collaborators and people who enthusiastically support the project. Really, the kudos should go to the subjects for taking the risk and generously giving their best energies.”

Each who attended the event paid $20 to get a copy of the final image and be enfolded into Friedman’s work, as they became both audience member and nude model. Friedman has a New York City shoot planned to happen in the next few months and is already scouting possible locations and planning fundraising. Art and photography enthusiasts can check out Friedman’s work through Sept. 30^th at Ven and Vaida, 18 S. 3^rd Street in Philadelphia. Six large figure and nude pinhole works are on view, as well as other pieces from the photographer’s edgy endeavors. Hours are Tues-Sat 11-7 and Sunday 11-5.