The Click Means I'm Alive
Kodak is keeping the film side of its business alive and well. They’re finally realizing that their film business IS profitable and that the “niche” of film photography is still quite large. Go to the link below to read more.
In honor of this decision on Kodak’s part, all of the shots in this post were made with Kodak film.
Now it’s time to go buy some Portra.
Thank you again, Kodak, for keeping it real when the chips were down.
So about a year and a half ago, I was at a thrift store and happened upon a pretty little camera. I had never heard of it, but it turned out to be a real treasure. What did I find? A Pentax Espio Mini, aka Pentax UC-1 in the US. Everything about this little camera was so sleek and clean. When I learned of its razor-sharp lens, I was in awe. I had found something so special, I was actually afraid to use it for fear of somehow damaging it. They don’t show up regularly and aren’t easy to buy on a whim.
Well, I finally got up the nerve to put a test roll through it. I wanted to use it in a variety of lighting situations without flash, so I used Fuji Superia 400 film. Being a test roll, there’s not a lot of story in many of the pictures as I was trying to test the lens a bit. Here are some of the highlights. I hope you enjoy them.
Pirate!! I was especially stricken with this photo. The tones are beautiful, and she is such an easy model to work with. I’m still trying to figure out how to get rid of the noise in the right side of the photo. I did have to color correct these photos because my scanner made the colors very flat and grey. Once I had the photos consistent with the prints made from the negatives, I was left with this strange pixellated anomaly on the wall. Perhaps a book on Photoshop is in order, no?
An army of Santas.
Remember that Spotmatic? I decided it deserved a better portrait than my dusty iPhone lens could provide. Ahh.. much better!
This is a funky building I pass on the way home from work. The light at this intersection catches me every time, so I figured I’d make the most of my time.
If you can’t tell, I’m pretty excited about this little camera all over again. I hope you enjoyed them, and I’ll be posting a few more in the next day or two. Also, if there are some film photography bloggers you like here on WordPress, I’d sure love to know about them. If you have any feedback, comments, or blog suggestions, feel free to drop me a line. Thanks!
Too excited to take a better photo, that is. This Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic with a Super Takumar 1.8 prime lens was rescued from a Goodwill store for a paltry 9 dollars. I’ll post another (better) photo when she’s all cleaned up.
This is a shot from the test roll I put through my first Olympus Stylus Epic. I wanted to test the focus to be sure everything was in order, but I also wanted to see how it would present depth of field in brighter light situations. I think the little guy handled it pretty well. The frog statue was a more-than-willing model for my test shot.
Taken with Olympus Stylis Epic (Mju II) and Kodak slide film.
Taken with Canon AE-1 and Ilford Pan F film
Taken with Canon Elan II and Fuji Velvia 100 film, processed in C41 chemicals.
Taken with Canon Powershot SD400 digital camera.
Taken with Canon Rebel Ti and Fuji Color 100 film.
Taken with Canon Rebel Ti using Ilford Pan F film.
Taken with Canon Rebel Ti and Fuji Color 100 film. A circular polarizer was used to give this effect to the leaves. I almost jumped out of my skin when I turned the polarizing filter and saw this through my viewfinder. I took another photo, focusing on fewer leaves of the same tree.. Below was the result..
Almost dream-like. To this day, the top photo remains one of the favorite photos I’ve ever taken. I’ve always been infatuated with the season of Autumn, but never saw any sort of “foliage change” until I moved to Georgia.
Fotografia 