Tag: photography

Barrow House Inn, Saint Francisville, LA

Posted on by Nelson in Uncategorized

I gave it a good college try when I was looking for some riveting information about this bed and breakfast, but came up with nothing more than the place having been built sometime in the first decade of the 1800s. The inn is located on Royal St. in Saint Francisville, LA. The place is actually quite welcoming from the outside, but this angle gave the place bit of a foreboding mood in my mind. Perhaps I’ve watched too many paranormal television shows. Either way, I was pretty pleased with the shot.

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This shot is a detail of the iron work that cradles the inn. As is the way with many local places built in this era, the iron work is what elevates a historic structure to an even greater level of interest and beauty.

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This is one of the planters that lines the front area of the inn where the foundation is built up above street level. I’m not really sure if it is the same period as the inn itself, but I lean toward that not being the case. Either way, the lion faces on them were quite captivating.

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That’s it for today. I hope you did enjoy the photos.

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Saint Francisville, Louisiana

Posted on 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.

 

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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.

 

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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.”

 

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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. 

Ilford Pan F 50 (Part 2)

Posted on 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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

Tea Time

Posted on 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Out of Hibernation

Posted on 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

Blurry Kitty

Posted on by Nelson in Uncategorized

One of the things about using film cameras is that you don’t always finish the roll in a timely manner. My Elan II had the same roll of film in it for quite a while, which brought up a few surprises once I finally had the film processed.

Blurry Ginji

This roll was processed a couple of months after Ginji had left this world. I was a bit surprised when I got my negatives back and saw this image. I had taken several photos of him during his decline from cancer because I wanted to remember him. The photos showed him getting gradually thinner from lack of eating, and they were honestly very hard to view. Even now, his absence makes my heart heavy.

This photo, however, shows him in his prime and in his favorite place to sleep when I would be away at work. The camera blur was a bit unfortunate, but not unexpected. I was crouched on the stairs trying to take a handheld shot like some sort of goofball. When I look at this photo now, it does remind me that I do miss him terribly, for he was truly one of a kind. But more importantly, the photo shows someone I love and reminds me that there was more than sickness to remember in our brief two years as friends. The blur almost gives him an ethereal quality. Yes, I’m trying to justify a mistake I made, but the image definitely made me look at him in a different way.

I can only wonder how the photo would impact me had it been sharper, but it remains one of my favorite photos of him before he had to go.

I Think I’m in Love

Posted on by Nelson in Uncategorized

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!

Autumn Leaves

Posted on by Nelson in Uncategorized

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.