georgia – Fotografia

Ilford Pan F 50 (Part 2)

Posted on July 31, 2012July 31, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

Here are a few more shots I held back from yesterday’s post so it wouldn’t be so incredibly long. If you haven’t read the previous post that has the majority of the photos in it, these were taken with a Canon Rebel Ti film SLR and Ilford Pan F 50 black and white film. The photos were taken at the Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell, Georgia.

They decided to take a break, but i was too eager to keep shooting. I got this stealthy photo of them relaxing before we continued on the trail.

I do a lot of shots like this for some reason. I just love putting tree branches against a sky backdrop. I know it’s nothing too special, but I like it because of the darkness of the branches in the front against the sunlit branches in the background.

Even now, I feel deprived that this is the only owl I have ever seen in the flesh. They are beautiful and mysterious creatures. I’m not exactly sure why the owl was in a caged habitat unless it’s injured in some way. Thankfully Mr./Mrs. Owl didn’t mind me getting close enough to take a photo.

That’s all of the shots from this roll other than the ones that actually did turn out a little shaky. Overall, I consider it a very successful outing. I am usually quite happy to get 2 or maybe 3 shots from a roll that I like. This only leads me to believe that I need to develop my photographic senses in the viewfinder AND when looking at the finished result. If weather permits, I’ll be posting some more new shots later this week. See you soon!

Ilford Pan F 50 Film

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

In the days of having more stores carrying film a few years back, I absolutely adored using Ilford PanF 50 film. I mainly only shoot on my off days, which means it can only happen once I drag myself out of bed and have large amounts of coffee. By then, the light conditions are much more conducive to using ASA50 film without a tripod.

This particular roll of Ilford PanF 50 was taken during a trip to Chattahoochee Nature Center a few years ago. While I know it may be a bit of a cop-out to post old photos instead of new things, these photos are worth sharing. They haven’t surfaced before now because I have a problem critiquing the images I take. I get the negatives back and always think most of them are terrible. Now that I have the ability to scan them and inspect them on a larger scale, I’ve learned to hold my judgement until the scans are finished. I usually find that I like more of them than I would have otherwise thought. When I only had the prints or contact sheet to critique, it was very difficult for me to “see” the images in front of me.

At any rate, these shots using my Canon Rebel Ti and Ilford Pan F 50 film turned out great, and I’m delighted I gave them a second look. These were scanned with an Epson V500 using their negative holder. The photos, amazingly, were not touched up in any way other than removing dust bunnies here and there. These have the tones that I usually have to play around with in PS to achieve. Pardon the excessive patting-my-own-back narrative in this post. I love these images enough that they deserve a little respect. Enjoy!

For me, this shot was the winner of the day. The tones, the composition, and the clarity of the subject against the blurred background were all pretty much spot-on.

Carpenter bee taking a late lunch. I love the way the left and right halves of the photo are different enough to stand on their own as perfectly good images.

Photo two of the carpenter bee. i like the one above a bit better, but the bee was in better focus in the photo below.

This shot was a surprise. I didn’t even remember taking it, but I think I pretty much nailed the composition.

One of the nicer covered bench areas for taking a rest from the nature trail.

The clarity on this scarecrow is simply amazing. I can’t stop looking at it.

There are a few shots left from this roll that I’ll post in a day or two. I didn’t want to post everything in one post, plus I can tell this post is already incredibly long and image-heavy. I hope you enjoyed seeing these. I always appreciate feedback about technique or recommendations of any kind. Feel free to chime in with a comment if you’re so inclined. Thanks!

Tea Time

Posted on July 28, 2012July 28, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

Shopping in thrift stores is the one thing I love to do about as much as I love taking photos. Like anyone afflicted with the thrift store obsession, I have certain things I like to collect. Among these are mid-century California pottery, cameras (of course), some Japanese porcelain figurines, and tea sets. I don’t even care if there’s a little damage to some of the pieces or if the set isn’t complete.

A week ago, I happened upon a couple of early 1930s harp tables and decided that I would use them as a base for taking some still photography shots of some of the tea sets I have. Using the same extremely shallow depth of field to showcase a certain detail or design, I took to task. The photos you see here are some of the highlights. Incidentally, these photos were taken with a Pentax K-1000 that was also thrifted somewhere in the midwest by my partner in crime. I cleaned it up and replaced its light seals the night before these were taken. Anyway, here we go!

First up, the most complete set I have. Some gorgeous hand-painted Chikaramachi from Japan. The teapot’s spout has some damage, which is the place most teapots are injured. Even with this damage, the colors and scenery in these pieces was just too gorgeous to pass on. I wonder whose pantry these were sitting in for 70+ years? Strangely fascinating.

Next is a tetsubin with three tea cups and holders. I’ve had the tetsubin for at least a year and a half, but these cups and holders came along a couple of weeks ago. I had been hoping to find something that would even remotely go with the set. Luckily, these came along.

Finally, my most recent find was several pieces of a Nippon Noritake pattern. The teapot is badly damaged on one side, which I may show in a later project. For now, I wanted to let this girl show off her beauty in all its glory. Sadly, this is the only cup I was able to get. Luckily, there’s a saucer to go with it. I hope I can get my hands on more of this pattern.

And to end this post, here’s my shameless plug for Kodak Portra 400. I was so excited about using the Pentax K-1000 for this project, I forgot to set the ASA on the camera to 400. The camera was set on 200 the entire time. On top of that, many of these shots were overexposed on purpose by about 1/2 stop. With latitude like this, I’ve already ordered and received another 15 rolls. Now if Autumn will just get here already.

Portra 160 (Part 2) and the Robot Invasion!

Posted on July 18, 2012July 18, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

Here are more of the photos from the shoot I did this past weekend with my first roll of Portra 160. Enjoy.

Doughnuts and More Found Film

Posted on July 11, 2012July 11, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

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!

Days and Nights in Midtown Atlanta

Posted on July 7, 2012July 7, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

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

Posted on July 6, 2012July 6, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

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.

What Do You See From Your Window?

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

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.)

First Visit: Oakland Cemetery

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

Before I get too far into this post, I want to give a *HUGE* thanks to Lisa over at FoodTable//LaVieEclectique for awarding me with the Liebster blogging award! It’s nice to get a little recognition, and this totally made my day. Thanks again, Lisa! And to anyone else who reads my blog, you should check out Lisa’s blog as well as the blogs of the other people I follow. They’re all great reads from very talented people.

I haven’t posted in a few days, so this one is a bit picture-heavy to make up for it. I hope you enjoy them. There are really too many of these to put in one post, so it will be a two-parter. I’ll post the others tomorrow.

I’m not exactly sure what these blooms are, but they were everywhere around the cemetery. I thought they deserved a little representation as being a vibrant sign of life in a place that has a reputation for being only about the dead.

This statue is one of the last things I see every time I go to Oakland. It’s near the front where my car is parked, but the cemetery’s path takes you on a loosely-circular path that brings you to this statue at your walk’s end. I was so excited when I looked up and saw this shot just begging to be taken. The hazy sky and buildings of downtown Atlanta were a perfect background for this statue.

This was the first photo I took upon my arrival at the cemetery, once I had visited the visitor center to get a map. Yes, the cemetery is big enough to require a map. This statue has such a “real” physical presence, and I think I caught it pretty well with the composition.

These flowers were growing along the first leg of the path through the cemetery. Daisies, I think? I’m not up on my flower knowledge. If you know what they are, let me know!

I’ll be posting more from this visit to the Oakland Cemetery tomorrow. I’ve posted photos from this cemetery before, but I just keep finding more and more of them. There is so much to see, and I’d love to show you as much as I can! Have a great day and look for more tomorrow!

Family Portrait (of sorts)

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

Yesterday’s photos were from the first roll I took with my Canon Rebel Ti. These two are from the second roll I used on the same day at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. I was almost done with my tour of the gardens when I happened upon this little pond at the rear of the orchid conservatory. It’s usually empty, but a family had moved in. Have a look! These photos still make me smile.

We Are Family

We Are Family 2