olympus stylus epic – Fotografia

Saint Francisville (Final)

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

This is the third and final post of photos I took on my last trip home. The photos are of a church that I have a bit of a connection to in a third-person sort of way. My father told me years ago that when he was about the age I am now, he helped paint and do roofing work on this church. Considering the fact that this was almost forty years ago, the connection is distant at best. But when I walk past this church, I imagine him much younger and working on this building. Here are the photos. I still marvel that a little point-and-shoot camera could give such great results. I did have to tweak contrast just a tiny bit in post, but it was the smallest amount of adjusting I’ve ever had to do to any images I’ve taken up to this point.

When I go back, I’ll be doing a bit of shooting with my Bronica SQ-A to see what I can do in medium format. I hope you enjoyed these images. My next post will be in color. Portra and the Nikon FA.

Saint Francisville, Louisiana

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

A small town in Southeast Louisiana, St. Francisville was founded in 1809 and is home to a large number of historic buildings and homes that are representative of the time period. There’s a Wiki page that has some general information, but you might have fun clicking on the “Myrtles” Wiki link you see. Ghosts!

Speaking of, I feel like I’ve been a ghost lately. Not posting and just reading and silently admiring life happening through the posts of the WP bloggers I follow. I’ve been a busy guy, but admittedly a bit lazy, too. I hope you like the photos I took during my last trip to St. Francisville. They come from my first attempt at B/W film using a point-and-shoot camera. The Olympus Stylus Epic has blown my mind once again. I took a bunch of photos, and almost all of them turned out beautifully, only needing a small tweak because of the intense midday sunlight I was working with. I will admit the photos are rather touristy, but the deep South is not a place where one walks up to someone’s house taking pictures at their doorstep. The police department, the courthouse and the jail are all a block from where these photos were taken, if you know what I mean.

I’m going to break the photos up into a few posts, so let’s get started with the first post.

This is a house along what is a long street of historic homes. I didn’t have my notebook with me, so I can’t tell you the name of it. Funny thing, though, I met the owner’s son just before I took this photo. The kid was completely oblivious to why people stop to take photos of his house. Poor kid.

This is the garden/backyard of the house in the first photo. I loved the light cutting through the trees down onto the grass. The lawn and the statue did give me a feeling of “Midnight and the Garden of Good and Evil.”

This is a house that tends to be a repeat photo every time I go home to visit. Something about this place makes me want to take rolls of photos. I really do wish I could get closer to this place. The detailing is simply breathtaking. Perhaps next time I go home, I’ll walk up to the door and ask. Hopefully there aren’t any mean guard dogs trotting around.

The combination of the bright sunlight and ASA400 film produced a lot more grain than I wanted in these. I think the next trip will require some Ilford PanF 50. Hope you like these, and look for more tomorrow.

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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Dear Kodak, Thank You…

Posted on February 10, 2012February 10, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

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.

http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/2145203/kodak-phases-digital-businesses-film-alive

In honor of this decision on Kodak’s part, all of the shots in this post were made with Kodak film.

KC3

Decoy 2

Monster!

Now it’s time to go buy some Portra.

Thank you again, Kodak, for keeping it real when the chips were down.

Lazy Days

Posted on February 5, 2012February 5, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

Since it’s so rare that I get to have Sunday off, I figured I’d share some lazy photos to fit the mood of the day. Hope you enjoy.

Top photo taken with Olympus Stylus Epic and Kodak slide film.

Next two photos taken with Yashica T4 and Afga Precisa 100 film.

Somebody’s Watching Me..

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

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.