Here are more of the photos from the shoot I did this past weekend with my first roll of Portra 160. Enjoy.
Author: Nelson
First Roll of Kodak Portra 160
Yesterday, I did the first part of a photo project I’ve been itching to get started. I used Kodak Portra 160 and a Canon Elan 7 to take these photos. There are lots of them, so my next 5 or 6 posts will be from this series. Because of the “macro” nature of the characters, I decided to use blur to fill out some of them so they wouldn’t seem so scrawny. In a few shots, I used a very narrow depth of field to give objects in the foreground a sense of movement, as if the photo was taken while the subject was moving its head or weapon (see the last photo). The overall result was absolutely surreal. This approach did not work in my favor with a few of the shots, but generally it was very effective. The series was lots of fun to take, and some of the results were unexpected (read that as “learning experiences”), but most of them were great. I hope you enjoy them!
One word about Portra and this series. In many of the shots, the shutter speed 1/20 to 1/60 of a second. Most of them were closer to 1/20. I used a small rubbermaid container as a stand for the camera and looked through the viewfinder at a 90 degree angle to focus and compose. Strangely enough, this made composing MUCH easier. Go figure!
Also, I did test using Tv on the Canon to get a shutter speed that was more conducive to taking some of these photos handheld. Canon did not like my selected shutter speed and could not give a ‘proper’ aperture value, meaning the shots in question were not exposed properly. The Portra’s latitude more than made up for my gear limitations. As far as this film is concerned, I’m in love. I have 15 more rolls of Portra 160 on their way to my grubby hands as I type this. Yes, it was that incredible. I do have a few rolls of Portra 400, but the ability to overexpose 160 by a stop or two makes it a superb film to use in some of my older cameras, too.
I hope Kodak is around until my fingers are too bent from arthritis. I want to use this film until they have to pry my camera from my cold dead hands!
Summer
I haven’t had a real holiday this summer, but it’s fast approaching. Vacation might not even happen in the proper season of Summer, but that’s the thing about the South (and sometimes the Midwest). It stays hot long after Summer’s gone. I’m waxing a bit nostalgic over the past couple of years, as they’ve given me some of the most fun holidays I’ve ever had.
Captain and his crew on the deck.
Stealth photos on the lake are always fun. This one is of Matt enjoying a beverage while we motor around the lake.
The bar on the dock is completely decorated in what I affectionately refer to as “liquor swag.”
After a tough day on the job, this Stylus Epic got a much-deserved break.
I hope all of you are having a great summer so far. Thanks for reading!
Doughnuts and More Found Film
Nothing gets my sweet tooth more excited than driving past a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop and seeing the “Hot and Fresh” sign flashing in the window.
During the day, Krispy Kreme looks like just another place with a fun sign.
But once night falls, its evil glow can topple even the strongest effort at resistance. The glow of the sign gets into your head and you can’t get it out. Every time I pass the place at night, I say to myself “The glow gets into your soul.” Hah! Luckily it isn’t getting into my belly.
Here are a few more of the “found film” shots. I love these!
Atlanta skyline with just a wee ( read as “a lot”) bit of lens distortion. I need to take some better gear down to that overpass and try this shot again.
Here’s my friend Dan, who was with me the day I shot the roll of film. I think he was over the whole thing. 🙂 Nine years of waiting to be processed did soften these shots, as can especially be seen in the photo of Dan. The cast has also gone very green. I chose to leave these photos as they are instead of doing any color correction on them.
Apologies for the short post today, but my day is starting earlier than usual. Have a great day and take a picture of something!
Found Film of My Own
I love reading blog posts that deal with “found film” that is removed from thrift store cameras. The images are sometimes haunting and always interesting at the least.
When I was gathering up a bunch of film rolls to be processed, I thought all of them were recently exposed. Until I got the negatives back, I had no idea that two rolls of film had been floating around my bedroom for about nine years. It was humbling to be reminded, with photographic evidence, of a day I could only half remember. As soon as I saw the negatives on the camera store’s light box, I was transported back to this day in 2003.
The shots in this post are from a forgotten trip to Oakland Cemetery, located here in Atlanta, Georgia. The image quality has deteriorated in many of the photos, but I don’t have a problem with that. These images have been slightly softened by time, just like memories.
These were all taken with a Canon RebelTi and Fuji Color 100 film.
I hope you enjoyed them. Part two of these “found” images comes tomorrow.
Days and Nights in Midtown Atlanta
First of all, thank you so much to all of you who dropped a like on my post yesterday. An extra special thank you goes to those who saw my blog fit to follow. You guys and girls have so much talent, I just hope I don’t disappoint.
These shots are from the same roll of Agfa Precisa 100 as yesterday’s post. Many of them were my attempt at making a pattern or flat image seem to be larger than life. I enjoyed them, and I hope you enjoy them as well.
I have always been captivated by tagging. The artistic styles are simply astounding. I can say nothing as to what the “tag” itself means or represents, but I still think it’s pretty cool.
I was schooled by a friend on what the guy above is actually saying with his body language and this gesture. I couldn’t stop laughing at myself and my naive idea of what he was doing. No hard feelings, man.
I thought about cropping this photo so the angry dude to the left would be excluded. In the end, cropping it make it look contrived, and the angry dude threatened to beat me up. I left the photo as-is, and I love it. Status Faction, indeed.
The following shots were taken with an Olympus Stylus Epic after a night of drinking at the Atlanta Eagle, which is a place you’ve seen to some degree in yesterday’s post. I knew these photos were not going to be perfect since taking night portraits with a point-and-shoot loaded with 100ASA film (after a night of drinking) is sort of a recipe for disaster. Yeah, some of them are blurred. But at 3AM on a Saturday night, what ISN’T blurred?
I know this is a bit of a long post, but I wanted to also include a couple of shots that weren’t so extreme in color, but still very vibrant. Also taken with the same Olympus Stylus Epic, these are at a sports bar in Midtown. Consider them as sort of a palate cleanser after all that exotic color!
This one’s another miracle shot considering it was hand held in this lighting. I do really seem to like tempting fate.
I call this one “RGB” for obvious reasons.. the red, blue and green hues from the televisions that are cast on the ceiling. It’s not super cool subject matter, but I just love the color distribution.
Thanks again for checking out my blog. The next couple of days will be busy with work and doing a shoot that I’ll have in some upcoming posts. Until then, I hope you have yourselves a great weekend.
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Out of Hibernation
Huge apologies for dropping off the radar for an extended period of time. Life got stressful, pressing matters had to be dealt with. I humbly return with a whole slew of new work and upcoming projects.
Make no mistake. I haven’t been able to post, but I’ve been reading and enjoying all the posts from those I follow.
So without further delay, I hope you enjoy these.
This was the first shot from a recently-acquired Olympus XA. What was meant to be a test roll turned out to be a treasure. The film used for all the photos in this post was Agfa Precisa 100. The cross-processing accentuates the over-exposure in some of the photos, but I love them all the same.
Atlanta Eagle. This is where me and my boyfriend have drinks and while away our Saturday nights. Definitely a different experience from any other pub/bar in the city.
This building is directly attached to the Atlanta Eagle. At night, you’d never guess this is what this obviously vacant building looks like as there are no lights on the building itself. Over on Flickr, I titled this one “The Castle is Ruined, But the King Still Lives.”
On a softer note. This was taken at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri using the same XA. This little baby did such a good job, she’s been given a roll of Portra 160. I can’t wait to see how she amazes me. Thanks for reading.
Taking Little Diana on Vacation
These are from a roll of film I put through a Diana Mini. The look of the photos that come out of this camera are.. well, gamey at best. Sometimes, though, it produces some really fun shots. This was such a great trip for me, and it was definitely a different experience using this little plastic camera. Honestly, I didn’t trust it. I thought I’d get a roll of unexposed or fogged-out film from it. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case.
“The Bar is Open” Need I say more?
The Captain at the controls!
Lunch time!
Swimming, Fishing, Hiking!
Captain and First Mate
The camera is highly unpredictable, which I suppose is part of its charm. The sometimes fuzzy, usually washed-out nature of the photos is something one either loves or hates. In general, I haven’t formed an opinion yet, but I love all of these examples.
Taking Care of the Lawn
Visiting my dad at my sister’s place was a bit of an experience. I hadn’t been close to a horse since I was five or six years old. Now there’s a whole “herd” of them living on the property she shares with her cousin. It was very strange being awakened by the sound of up to seven horses galloping across the property in the morning. I’m not that much of a city boy, but it was something brand new to me. The morning after I arrived at my sister’s place, I decided to go see how cooperative these horses would be to me taking some photos.. the answer was “not very cooperative” unless I was a fair distance away. Oh, well. Still managed to get some good shots of them in spite of their diva personalities.
The hilarious thing about these photos is that they’re being taken in the “front yard.” That shows how rural this place is. One thing for sure, you might be star struck when you first see these beauties.. but you’d still better watch your step.
What Do You See From Your Window?
These were all taken on a cold Winter evening over the course of a spectacular sunset. I had already taken a few shots of the sweetgum balls you see in the first photo, so my AE-1 was already out and ready for more pictures. I looked out my window and saw a sunset that seemed to become more glorious by the second. The sky close to the horizon started to take on the color of lava running out of a volcano.
Sweetgum balls! This was the first time I ever saw them on the tree! Normally, I found them on the ground with my bare feet. Oops.
Vignetting below, presumably from shooting wide-open aperture.
The photo below looks like it was taken on another planet, if you ask me. The orange and red areas of the sky give a sense of distance in an unexpected way.
The photo below is one of my favorite photos. Everything lined up to give me all the elements I wanted. How often does that happen? (A tripod and zoom lens didn’t hurt either.)
Fotografia 