12/16/2013 Gray Day

Location: Near 10^th and Callowhill

Camera: Panasonic Lumix G2

Lens: 14-42 ED zoom @35mm

ISO 200

Exposure f11 @ 1/200

Image size (cropped/scaled up) 16” x 16” @240

Print: Epson Artisan 1430/Cone Color Inks/ Moab Lasal

I've actually become better in the cold than I used to be, but the day I took this was not made for photography. It had been gray all morning, but looked like it might clear up. I felt the newly fallen snow would not last long, and I had to move. (I was right!) Around 12 I set out with a few flakes coming down. This became more intense and the temperature rose enough so that it was now a very wet snow. The streets were slushy.

I took only the very compact Lumix since it was about as much camera as I thought I could handle given the iffy conditions. It’s not a cheap device, but at this point its value as a trade-in is low and if I happened to fall into a mud puddle, life would go on. Despite the nasty conditions I enjoyed working, but after about two hours, it was clear, it was probably not wise to stay out much longer. I was also getting tired of wiping wet snow off the top of the camera and wondering if the electronics were going to fail. My hands were getting stiff even though I had three layers covering them.

Pretty much done, something made me steer slightly east on my return walk home. When I saw this week’s landscape I nearly shot it hand-held, but again, something told me to drop the legs of the tripod and get every last grain the system could render. The file revealed in LightRoom (just installed) far more detail than in SilkyPix, the processing program that came with Lumix.  Even the structure of the water tank panels on the skyscraper is discernible. Because of this, I was able to both heavily crop and enlarge the image by scaling it up, considerably.  

This is not the type of light I usually photograph and the goal was to create a print that conveyed the gloomy look of things but was not flat and lifeless. I was able to do this, by making a fairly flat print to start, but applying local contrast to important details. It probably got a little out of hand, and could have been done more simply, but I was able to control many areas of the print, quite easily even though there is a lot of hand-drawn masking. 

12/09/13: Cast Iron Front

Location: North side Girard Avenue near 6^th St.

File size: Approx 13” x 19” (full frame)

Print size: 8” x 12”

Camera: Canon EOS 5D

Lens: 24-105 Zoom at 24mm

ISO: 200

Aperture: f22

Speed: 1/50

Print: Epson Artisan 1430/Cone Color Inks/ Moab Lasal

Iterations to final: 28

I had made a similar shot a number of weeks ago on 35mm with a monopod, but no matter what I did, I could not wrest a good print from the negative; the light was clearly not right, too flat. I watch the sky and the light a lot, but last week I did t more so than usual with trekking on foot to re-photograph this in mind. The day I shot this, nature cooperated going from a fairly overcast morning to strong, raking sunlight in the west around two pm.

I hung around long enough for the cars on the street to leave and was able to shoot from the outer edge of the parking lane so as to get a view straight to the ground. I also did some medium format shots on the tripod I had brought along.

Although the initial quick proof on my kitchen door made me think this would be an easy print, I was deceived. I had a great deal of difficulty balancing the desire for a strong graphic structure, the tonality and also being sure the textures were strong. The pilasters are nearly pure white on the bottom and dark rust on the top, further complicating things.

This print, though vivid and spatial still doesn’t show as much texture on the iron facade as I’d like. There are still some techniques in the post-processing and printing that I can try when I’m set up to do them. It will be interesting to see what the medium format shot reveals. Do I need to get out the 4x5 for subjects like so as to reveal the micro-textures I desire?

Week of 12/01/2013 Experiments in the Cold

Camera: Canon EOS 5d

Lens: Canon 28-105 zoom @105mm

Exposure: f9 @ 1 sec

ISO: 100

Location: 10^th and Callowhill

Image size: 10” x 15” @ 240 (cropped)

Print size: 8” x 12” (Horizontal on 13 x 19 paper)

Printer: Epson Artisan 1430/ Cone Color Inks/ Moab Lasal

Although I definitely have my spots, my vantage points in the city that I return to, I’m becoming more and more convinced that it’s the unexpected, the impromptu capture that keeps the blood flowing. This one spontaneously happened while experimenting with a loaner camera and a light tripod with a 3-D Junior Manfrotto head, as I went to revisit the site of last week’s shot.

The system worked well and I found it to not be so ungainly that it was a liability. Some heavy elastic hair bands allowed me to attach a carry strap for toting around the legs. The camera held even in the vertical position and the combination also worked as a very solid and portable monopod. All that was missing was a quick-release arrangement to easily mount and remove the camera out in the cold. 

The optical quality of the full-frame Canon trumps the micro 4/3 Lumix; especially noticeable is the difference in image detail. This is not surprising given: the sensor is markedly bigger, the lens is pro-grade, and the system has an image stabilizer. The trade-off is the Canon is about twice the bulk and weight and lacks the rotatable fly-out screen of the Lumix, which I love when taking shots at high and low angles. The Nikon FM2n, the 35mm I often use, with the same focal length zoom, is about 2/3 the size and weight of the Canon.   

Film has its strengths and weaknesses, but mostly I am enamored of working with mechanical cameras. Food for thought is these recent full-frame digital images are, in a number of ways, superior to the home-brew scans I’ve been doing from 35mm. At the size I’m printing, an un-cropped image approaches the medium format shots I’ve done plus there is no immediate cash outlay.  So far, they feel right when printed.  

11/25/13 Analog or Digital?

Location: Ridge Avenue near Lemon Street

Image Size: Approx 13 x 19 @240 dpi

Print: 8” x 12”

Camera: Nikon FM2n

Lens: Nikkor 28-105 Zoom

Film: Kodak Portra 400, developed by PhotoLounge

Scan: Epson V500

Conversion to black and white in PhotoShop

Print: Epson Artisan 1425/ Cone Color Inks/ Moab Lasal

This image seemed to be calling to me to go and reshoot even though the day was bitterly cold. Miraculously, I caught a similar light and cloud shapes that also work.  The re-do was with the micro 4/3 Lumix on a monopod at a low ISO. I also did a capture with an amazing 6 x 6 cm 120 film folding camera made by Zeiss in the 50’s called a Mes Ikonta. I’ll be posting some of the Zeiss shots on the Concrete Muse Facebook page.

When the cold wind is whipping by, I want to keep things as simple and easy as possible so I can think about what I’m photographing.  A single camera with a zoom lens fills the bill, but I really wanted to see what a large negative shot of this would look like. The Mes has very small controls on the shutter for aperture and speed.  Additionally, the film advance is via a red window that has a tiny tab for opening and closing its cover. Top that off with a rangefinder that is a separate window and a manually set focus! It’s just too fiddly for serious winter use in the field; my hands started to feel like ice cubes.   

The negative had some long, thin scratches, possibly created when I slid the film out from the mylar sleeve that it came in. These I carefully repaired using the healing tool in PhotoShop.  I created three scans that I then combined: one for the foreground, one for the sky and one for the dark area of the broken wall on the right.  The print felt to me like it didn’t need to be a full 13 x 19 and would work better printed somewhat smaller.

The two prints at similar size, make an interesting study. The second digital version is below. The medium format version will be posted in the next few weeks. 

Week of 11/18/13

Location:  Broad and Tasker Streets

Camera:   Panasonic Lumix G2

Lens: Olympus 14-42 ED

File size and print size: 10” x 15” @240 dpi

Print: Epson Artison 1430/Cone Color Inks/Moab Lasal

It had started out as a bright and sunny day, but had quietly transformed into a gray afternoon. The section of Pennsport and South Philly I had trekked turned up little; even the junk shop I had photographed a scant few weeks ago, I could not locate again. All I seemed to encounter were row upon row of well-maintained homes. On Delaware Avenue one feels as if one is standing on the precipice looking down on the end of humanity. If I ever figure out how to squeeze that into a photograph, I’ll really have something!

I think of the photography more as a journey than a destination. I don’t worry if my travels yield no photographs. The images always seem to find me. Lo and behold at Broad and Tasker I spotted an empty store that beckoned me. This was another case of barely remembering taking the shot, except that I recall repositioning my left hand to get a better composition and then the second figure appeared in the background and I hit the shutter.  The man in profile is like a specter from the days of The Rat Pack. It was not until I got home and brought up the file that I noticed that the reflection was the same man I remember noticing shortly afterward. He had trucked past me as I made my way home.

The print required a lot of time to let me know what it needed, to find its pictorial structure. There were twenty-two iterations.

Week of 11/11/2013 Divagations on a Deux Chevaux

Location: Near 16^th and Spruce

Camera: Argoflex ca. late 40's)

Lens: Varex Anastigmat,75mm, f4.5

Print size: 11.5 x 11.5” @1880 dpi

File size: 30” x 30” @240 dpi

Film: Agfa APX 100 re-spooled to 620, 2010 Expiration

Develop: HC110 1:49, 9min @68F

Scan: Epson V500

Print: Epson Artisan 1430/ Media Street ECR Inks/ Moab Lasal

This full-frame shot was probably done around 2011. I’m getting better about developing film in a timely manner, but this was part of a rather large backlog that I’ve been slowly denting. I had recently shot some more of this very old (2005) APX film in the studio using my old Rolleiflex and fairly careful metering using a digital camera to measure the exposure. I mainly wanted to see if I could hit the right developing time for the odd, but convenient developer dilution I use. I think I’m in the ballpark but it was clear the negatives were not consistently exposed; some were extremely dense, others thin.  This negative was dense in the light areas, about right in the mid-tones and somewhat thin in the dark areas, definitely a challenge!  The image was just quirky enough, to convince me to go ahead and see what might unfold. 

The Cone pigment inks seemed to have been clogging the print head, so I flushed everything and temporarily went back to my old Media Street dye inks.

The Argoflex is an estimable camera especially considering that a non-overhauled one goes for about $25 on e-Bay. The lens is fairly sharp lens and has a nice bokeh. It’s smaller than most twin lens cameras and somewhat lighter as well; a great way to try one’s hand at medium format photography on the cheap.  

Week of November 4, 2013: West Philadelphia

Image Size: Approx: 13 x 19 @240 dpi
Location: 34th and Lancaster
Camera: Nikon FM2n
Lens: Nikkor 35-105 zoom
Film: Kodak Gold Max 400
Scan: Epson V500
Proof: Epson Artisan 1430/ Cone Color Inks/ Moab Lasal

As I recall, the day I shot this, it seemed nothing was really falling into place, I had walked around a lot but little seemed to feel like it would it make a photograph.  I don't worry about this too much.  Letting go of all the unnecessary stuff in my head is as important as making the images. Then I saw the clouds and the rooflines and the photo was just "there" in the viewfinder. Likewise, the print seemed to be self-guiding and didn't fight me. It politely asked for certain things and I obliged, getting a result that I liked in seven or eight trials, rather than twenty or more.

West Philly, that always seemed so rock-stable is also seeing changes in the landscape. This is very much a mixed use area. The concrete block and hedgerow you see in the foreground that looks so at home here are part of a typical 7-11. Right across the street, Drexel has just demolished a rather unassuming low building that I think was an engineering research lab and it looks like they are preparing to put up something very tall and large. The landscape is always in flux.