First film camera, film vs digital, & ASA (Analog Season Adventure)

  Anybody who has been following me knows that I was gifted and refurbished a Hasselblad 500C.  The 500C was the camera used for C M Y K (still available at the STORE until Winter), but few know that most recently I picked up a Canon AE-1, the camera that really started it all.  Way back in 1999 and 2000 I work at a pizza place.  This helped pay rent and fund a defunct cable access show I was interested in writing and filming with a group of guys I recently met.  For a number of reasons it failed, but it was necessary.  During our promo and marketing photoshoot I worked with a friend who was starting a legitimate photography business herself.  I was looking at her work and was really attracted toward the (what would be known eventually as "bokeh") background blur and use of shallow depth of field.  I then, as a hobbyist, started looking for a camera to just screw around with.  My boss at the pizza shop let me borrow his Canon AE-1, and along with researching how to properly expose a photo I was free to just shoot whatever, wherever, whenever.  Many years later, I found several film negatives.  Here's a couple from the roll I can share. 

  I say "this is what I can share" because the other photos have people in it and I don't have their permission to show their likeness.  None of these have anything illegal, but I doubt an ex-girlfriend or some people I don't even talk to anymore would want to see themselves magically show up on a blog online, so I bow out from showing them.  None the less given the opportunity to use my boss's camera over the summer was a watershed moment in my life as that was when I wanted a camera of my own to shoot more often and eventually for money as a business.  

  I was asked once on Facebook; "Hey Bender, do you prefer film or digital?". That requires a good and somewhat lengthy explanation, so Nathan, here it goes... (finally)
  Ask an audiophile about vinyl or the best quality of audio and it will be a polarizing answer.  While the analog sound gives the fidelity you want/need digital HD is similar but lack the comfy feels vinyl brings.  Funny thing about that though as a counterpoint, it really is only a matter of time before technology catches up, and with that analogy somewhat explained...
 I learned everything I knew about film through my camera's viewfinder and built-in light meter.  Other cameras wouldn't give me that opportunity if it wasn't baked in, so I consider myself lucky in that respect.  I would have some severely under or over exposed shots if my camera didn't teach me how to compensate the shot through shutter speed or aperture control.  When I went to digital I already had that knowledge, but this time I was given immediate satisfaction as I could see how the shots came out right after the shutter snapped the photo.  In short, I learned on film and I perfected on digital.  That doesn't answer the question but it should shed some light on my preference.  Digital has its place when taking photos for a business, shooting for an engagement, or capturing headshots.  Immediate satisfaction and the ability to capture, edit, and send out a photoshoot in less time than it would take for film is an unbelievable convenience.  I would add that even the picture quality is top notch in modern day digital cameras.  How so ever, nothing goes you those comfy feels quite like analog film.  Film would be obsolete if it wasn't for people like Peter Lik (who shoots medium format panoramic film), or David Brookover (who shoots large format film).  These people know like I know that film will never die because digital can't replicate film in certain respects to clarity or color for larger than 35mm format.  You could argue saying it's the film, not the camera and in digital replicate it (film's look),  but it's really beyond that.  Shooting analog, in any format, is just simply a more personal, enjoyable, and therapeutic experience over digital, which seems almost cold.  Again, in riding the line, digital is great!  Digital, no matter how you nit-pick, has gotten to and is advancing over film photography as a whole when it comes to color, resolution, and fidelity.  Where it falters for now is in Medium and Large format photography, which to most (non-photographers) is unimportant and doesn't apply to them, which is fine. So if forced to make a recommendation; as 35mm and smaller formats go, go with digital; but in medium and large format photography, film's benefits outweigh digital.

  I hope this answers you question Nathan!  This brings me to a smaller announcement I wanna throw out there; I'm going back to film.  This won't take over my digital photography 9 to 5, rather it's a seasonal (Summer into late Fall)  kick back and fall back to my original analog roots.  These shots will be shared online through my recently re-established Flickr account, and choice shots may find it's way to the store. Either way this first year of film will see me use the following films.

35mm
-ILFORD XP2 ASA 400
-Fujifilm Provia 100F
-Fujifilm Natura 1600
-Kodak Gold 400

120
-Kodak Portra 160
-Fujifilm Velvia 50
-Fujifilm Velvia 100
-Lomography Turquoise 100-400
-ILFORD Delta 3200

Several rolls of the films listed will keep me busy for a bit, and I look forward to going analog over the Summer, but more importantly going analog into Disneyland....
  October, I have a family trip planned as we go back, back to California for baptisms.  While there, we (the family) plan on spending a few days in my "laughing place", Disneyland.  This family vacation will not entirely or to great length be documented digitally, which should make for some really creative photos.  I'm pumped, if not for Disneyland for giving myself the freedom to do whatever in film photography without feeling like I NEED to nail this shot of said person place or thing.  So swing on back next week, cause I have a questionnaire for you readers.  This will help the site and me have a roadmap to expectations into the future! Thinks for stopping by, and have a great rest of your week!


 

Project CMYK: BLACK SKY

 Some time has passed and after Yellow City was shot and developed, a long unfruitful winter sank in.  During this time CMYK had one last piece to do, and it was a toss up how the vision of the final part was going to see completion.  Amidst a housing move and an absolute deadline of Spring 2016, some unknown sacrifices had to be made.  One thing was certain about BlacK Sky, it was going to be of the night sky; not just the night sky but a multiple shot long exposure night sky.     Being in Illinois, and moreover a suburb, my biggest obstacle is light noise in the night sky.  Looking around for ideal areas I found Weinberg-King State Park, which had light noise comparable to Joshua Tree National Park; a park I had their pleasure of visiting many times at night and where learned why exactly it's called the Milky Way.  That being the case, the composition was set: long exposure of the lightless night sky taking up the lion's share of the frame bathing the less shown rolling hills. 
 
   

  It's was of course not without set backs; firstly was a move we were planning from our previous house into another one, but within a brief period of time as our former dwelling was sold and needed to move quickly.  Secondly, it was now the dead of Winter and as such certain reservation slots during the winter season were halved, seeing as not a lot of campers come there especially at that time of year.  Third, was the equipment; long exposures of the night sky need something greater than just a tripod.  This required a star tracker, a device that follows the night sky based on the North Star's location.  Without the device, you get what I shot.  Regardless of the set backs the move was made, it was the first "clear night"with optimal light pollution in Woodstock, and I chose to instead of paying for a $300 star tracker to piece together a star trail composition of 6 shots at 30 minutes per shot.  The film was an easy choice, or so I thought.  See there is black and white film developed like black and white film, and there's black and white film developed like color film. The difference other than cost was time, and as time was not on my side, developing the film like color film was my only option.  

BLACK SKY
f/16
6 shots @ 30 minutes each
Ilford XP2 SUPER

... And with that, CMYK a labor of compromise, color celebration, and time being a worse enemy to me than myself was over.  Printed, sent out to those that helped me, and framed for the world to see I still felt incomplete.  Maybe it was only at it's time that it didn't feel right, because I can say with 100% certainty looking back almost one year from when K was shot, this was a huge proud moment and accomplishment in my photography life. Well...on to my next couple ideas I've been kicking around "Local F" and "Meat Your Maker" for 2017, but I suppose my next announcement/blog is to open another accomplishment I'm proud of, and put a lot of time and energy into, much like CMYK.  I guess you could say that this project I have releasing January 10th is...
 
 
 ....Epic

Project CMYK: YELLOW CITY

The third installment for the "behind the scenes": Project CMYK brings us to a challenging piece, Yellow CIty.   Utilizing Lomography's Redscale film the idea was simple: summer time, yellow sunset with Chicago bathed in oranges and reds. Where this fell short was time.  Photography being a hobby of mine and secondary source of income sometimes has to be put on the back burner.  This brings us to one year ago almost to the day where I'm instead of shooting a summer themed shot, driving into Chicago in autumn during an unusual cold front and windy flurry weather (hey I had my camera and put it off long enough).  While scouting around I remembered a location near our Adler Planetarium that I shot Windy City, using that I knew to repeat greatness I would have to get away from the city and out on the lake.  Pictured are crashing waves on the lake, but like most things, the picture doesn't do it enough justice.  To guesstimate, the waves crashing twenty feet away from me got as high as 5-7 feet which coupled upon the cold gusts that cut me to the bone; needless to say I was miserable.  I did find comfort in just getting back to not only shooting photos but to be apart of something greater than my own personal photos I shot here and there; I was doing this to show how appreciative I was to be able to shoot with this wonderful camera.  Weather aside, I was quickly losing light and while I had an inkling they wouldn't come out as I wanted, I wasn't ready for how far off they mark they would turn out.  

Needless to say I was able to work with it, but to color shift orange highlights to yellow, I needed to shift blues and oranges of the shadows to something complimentary.  Purple seemed like the best route as a compliment to yellow, and with a fix the Sears Tower's antenna, it was fixed in post, and off the the printer. Looking back I would have made time to shoot this under "brighter" conditions, I also would have blown through all three rolls over a week of trial and error shooting. I treat this project as birthing four babies, and I can't choose a favorite because each one bring something to the table, but this one; this was a watershed moment.  Coming out in this crappy weather with one roll of film on a whim, and getting this shot, of my favorite city, with all these memories in the capture of this piece really made me appreciate the project as a whole.  In the next and final installment, "BlacK Sky" I'll go over a long fruitless winter, and a compromise that yielded the results I wanted to a t...or K.

Yellow City
Hasselblad 500C
f/8 @ 1/60
Lomography Redscale 100
 

Project CMYK: MAGENTA FOREST

In my last wordier blog I explained the conceptual process that went in for my "thank you" to those that helped with the repair payments, the iterations of the project, and lastly how Cyan Fields wasn't the first shoot in the project.  But what was, and why? Well to dive into this I have to retouch how the "year of seasons" was structured. Spring was always going to be shot with an "asian cherry blossomy" look or feel.  The intent was pinks and fuchsias and fit a pastel spring freshness.  As previously discussed though, winter already beginning to end.  The start of this project needed to happen as soon as an arboretum, with the look and feel i wanted, was found.  The film was a toss up between Fujifilm's Velvia and try to get permissions to shoot early Golden Hour, or try and buy a roll of Kodak Aerochrome EIR film and get at least one shot of the ten exposures to be in focus and framed how I mentally perceived it. I went with the second, knowing full and well that trying to get into an arboretum early would be an extra unnecessary step in shooting the first of four pieces. So it was off to 

the internet to find a supplier of Aerochrome film.  Now, Aerochrome film was used in the past by the government for surveying arial shots for intelligence agencies.  As technology got better the used for Infrared Film was no longer needed, and with that the film became more a novelty than a regularly used medium.  Cut to 2015, where I'm bidding on it from the only known vendor of 120 type Color IR film, who lives in Italy, for $110.  Regardless, if that's the film I committed to there's no way around it, and no substitutions. At this time I have the film en route, and my attention now goes to a location, but not for long.

 

  A beautiful private arboretum in Rockford, priding itself as a Japanese garden was perfect, and with little else known about the place my wife and I were off.  Anderson Garden was quite beautiful, and while I could have chosen several different places to set up and shoot, I was deeply moved by the spot where the waterfall was. The bridge was of the same asian style I was looking for, and the fellow filter needed helped give the assortment of green leaves a pink and "magenta" look. If given the opportunity, and the money, I would re-shoot there again for other magenta looking shots. How so ever I had one last hurdle to overcome, the development process. See, color infrared film isn't like regular film (obviously) and needs to be developed in AR-5 chemicals in E-6 as opposed to the C-41 process. Finding a place that did it was difficult, but in looking around I actually found a place in Chicago that had a two week turn around time, and the silver lining was I didn't have to mail it elsewhere and wait longer. So to that, Gamma Imaging in Chicago has my thanks.... So how did it come out? Below, less slight cropping is the result.  A great start to the project, now to Yellow City.

Hasselblad 500C  
@f/11  1/60 seconds ISO 400
Kodak Aerochrome EIR Film

Project CMYK: CYAN FIELDS

As a retrospect, and behind the scenes, I thought I'd take time out in each blog to discuss one of my more long drown out projects.  This one starts out with an odd request for charity.  It was back in about 2014, and I received a Hasselblad camera from my Father-in-law. I had it valued with repairs at $1,200, and while it would have been easy to just sell it for parts and buy one repaired for 3/4 the cost, it was given to me so I felt obliged to see it fully refurbished and shot with it. The camera was a Hasselblad 500C the same brand that went to the moon, and while I've shot 35mm, I always wanted to get back into film, and into the medium format. So the long quest to get this fixed started, and the individual that helped me with this was kind enough to let me do a payment plan monthly. Every now and then I'd either double pay or miss a month but $1200 was starting to be a hassle for my Hassel. It was around November then when I told people that if they were so kind, in lieu of present or well wishing if people could donate to help pay off the camera repair, I'd be grateful and find a way to give thanks.  Turned out four individuals took to, and helped me in a big way by paying off the remaining balance and allowing me to have a fully fixed Hasselblad.  The moment I got my camera back from the licensed repairman I set to coming up with a four part art piece as a way to thank them. I didn't know what route I'd go down, but the video I made was a start.

  Some time passed, and it was apparent of two things, creatively I was in a rut, and I was teetering between two types of work to get this project started.  The first route had a more macabre undertone and was utilizing originally black and white photography.  As an example, one picture had a woman with antlers on her head and stilts on looking down at the viewer with a look of vengeance as a knelt medieval soldier looked away in horror as his face was covered in caked on blood and dirt.  I wanted to have this more "family friendly" and displayable in somebody's house, so I needed to go with my second idea which was more seasonal landscape idea.  When thinking about the seasons objectively I also wanted to link that with a color theme, that lead me to different films to capture the feel of the seasons.  Blues would be used for more as a cooling compositional color and so Winter would utilize Tungsten film. To those unaware, Tungsten film is film that shifts color temperature of lighting from the yellow and amber colors from regular tungsten lightbulbs to whiter balanced lighting. The purpose behind this is because when shooting outside, daylight shifts to bluer tones.  So the idea is simple, shoot in the winter, outside, and create a cold atmosphere. The one off putting element would be inside a house in the distance with warm inviting candlelight. this would be the start to the "year of seasons". The below sketch is would was originally  imagined. 

  So with a clear cut plan laid out what changed this idea to the current Cyan Fields product? Time. As mentioned it had been some time and while nobody was expecting any kind of gift in return as thanks, I felt it necesaary to show my appreciation. However a year had passed, and just as I was getting out of a creative rut I still had that feeling of owing something to these great people. So the year started with spring before I could capture the winter shoot and I personally needed to finish this before autumn. Deadline proposed, I had limited time to start and finish this project.  A new idea hit me while researching spring's color composition for the previous "year of seasons", a four color combination that I was familiar with and saw promise: CMYK.  I wanted to tie the color combination to a theme as well so all shots would be outdoors of landscapes: Field, Forest, Cityscape, and Sky.  

  Having already plotted the Yellow to go with the Cityscape, the Magenta to the Forest, and the blacK to the Sky the last color to landscape combination was Cyan to the Field composition. While the Tungsten film was still "on the table" as an option, I wanted the piece to be heavier on the cyans and turquoise.  One option was to try the same company I got my red scale film from, Lomography. The limited supply of "Turquoise Film" color shifts most every other color to a shade and hue of blue, with blues color shifting more to yellow and orange. Pictured below show a. the peppers how they are originally viewed, while b. is seen through the Turquoise film.  

original photo by: IHAVE2PILLOWS 

  The idea was to get rows of corn to turn cyan, AND to not turn the blue sky yellow.  Turning the blue skies yellow, brown, and orange I felt would take away form the overall composition, so I needed a solution. The only answer was to use the yellow filter I previously shot with one the first shoot Magenta Forest.  The subsequent result was with little to no post production editing other than cropping, is what the final product looks like now.  The last thing I wanted to focus on each piece was to print them out uniquely on different types of paper.  While Cyan Fields was the second photo shot in the project, it was the first I picked for unique paper. The different films, compositions, and printed on papers gave the project as a whole a unique feel, don't you? Well, I'll bee back for part two, Magenta Field, and to discuss the choices in different papers as well. Thank you for taking time out to read this, and check back in a week for the next update here on the blog!


-Bendersama

CYAN  FIELDS

w/ Yellow Filter overlay
Lomography Turquoise Film
f/11
1/250

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