Roll 7

Shortened roll again today; I cut a shot of Observatory Hill Dining Hall that just didn't come out right and also a second version of the butterfly shot. Happy New Year, everyone.

ARTS 2110 - Roll 7 - Ilford HP5+ 400

A pile of umbrellas outside Scott Stadium; security doesn't allow them in. Presumably for the rather obvious (and prudent) issue of poking people in the eye by accident.

1/125 f/4

This is again a pretty heavy crop, but a better shot of a squirrel this time. A lot of these shots are cropped from the original negatives, whether to crop in on the detail for these low-res web versions, to improve the composition (working with a square composition is tough) or because I couldn't get close enough at the time (there are no zoom lenses for this camera, not that I'm a big fan of zoom lenses anyway).

1/125 f/5.6(?)

Newcomb Hall 1 (all from 10.13.2009)

1/30 f/2.8

Newcomb Hall 2 (I retook this one later, at the advice of Pam).

1/30 f/2.8

Newcomb Hall 3 - printed as part of my final portfolio.

1/60 f/4

My dad. I could not for the life of me get this to print right (at the time, at least). It came out way too light and low-contrast, and once my prints dried, they had already started to brown (presumably from being under-fixed). You can see from the digital version too, even in Photoshop I had a lot of difficulty getting contrast into it; it still feels flat and muddy. I could punch it up and lose the highlights (but it was cloudy so the sky ought to be grey), and crush the shadows, but I think that ended up looking not as good. Bottom line: partially an exposure problem (possibly caused by flare on my light meter or more likely lens flare on the exposure from backlighting).

1/250 f/8

This butterfly was already dead, near Ruffin Hall and Culbreth. My dad blocked the wind so it didn't move while I made its picture.

1/125 f/5.6

This is still too grey; looking up at an overpass between two buildings on the Downtown Mall.

1/60 f/4

Newcomb Hall 4? An antenna outside the game room which I managed to front-focus on very slightly, getting the bricks instead. It was okay, but I think I ultimately stuck it from my final portfolio.

1/125 f/2.8

I managed to get fantastically sharp focus on these plants (weeds?) in front of the student memorial between Newcomb Hall and Clemons Library. I was probably on my way to or from work; I often carried my camera then (whereas otherwise I usually left it at home) and rarely found occasion to use it, going pretty much the same path every day.

1/125 f/8

Roll 6

This roll is largely the product of some relatively free time surrounding fall break 2009.

ARTS 2110 - Roll 6 - Ilford HP5+ 400 - (for reference) - started 10.2.2009

On my way downtown. My attempt at street photography, which of all types of photography, is probably the kind I am worst at.

1/60 f/4

On my way out of Georgianne Stinnett's exhibit "Daemons" at Second Street Gallery. She taught me photography in high school! Her photos were of unfinished taxidermy armatures. I didn't print it this well, and people in the critique were unsure whether the picture was taken at day or night; it was at dusk, braced on a construction barrier.

1/4 f/5.6

This was on the way back; some skateboarders were staring at some police officer across the intersection (as stereotypical skateboarding teenagers are wont to do) and I was debating whether to try and photograph it or not; I couldn't get closer (there was a road in the way and besides, I was not about to involve myself in whatever was going on over there) and it was too dark, really, but once this jogger crossed the frame, I had to trip the shutter. It was reflexive. It's been cropped heavily because I was so far away, and there was a crescent at the top of the frame from where I must've bent the film during processing. It's definitely a Cartier Bresson 'decisive moment' reference. On the print, I tried to spot out a crescent from creasing the film during development (this is almost impossible to do) but I just cropped it out of this version. I think in both versions I spotted out some filter flare of the squad car lights.

1/60 f/2.8

These are some IRC residents I met randomly at breakfast one day over break, who generously invited me over for s'mores later.

1/125 f/8

This one didn't come out on the contact sheet, but I was sure it would scan all right. Turns out it was a little too dense for that even; lately I am tending to overexpose things in order to get shadow detail, but sometimes end up losing highlights. Here I lost both; even film is only film.

1/60 f/5.6

I printed this weird little (fungus?) ball way too light for critique. It looked good on the contact sheet and the scan looks all right. I don't recall whether I ended up putting a reprint of it in the final portfolio.

1/125 f/5.6

My shadow was unavoidable here. The angle on the door and that silly sign made it too good to pass up.

1/125 f/11

I printed this without enough contrast, then accidentally spit on it while trying to blow dust off it. I realized that this was a sign from God that it wasn't actually a good photograph and moved on. I didn't show it at critique.

1/125 f/5.6

I actually got much closer than this, but with my camera and lens setup, there was no good shot close to the door, and I bailed instead of trying to go inside (I had work in a few minutes, if I recall correctly). You can see that I like this angle on doors, as well as photographs of places that you're not really supposed to see. Secret dungeon of Minor Hall.

1/60 f/5.6

Secret pipes of Minor Hall, running alongside and underneath McCormick Rd.

1/60 f/4

This squirrel tail, just stuck in the ground. I couldn't make this up. But it could just be a reference to this.

1/60 f/2.8 1.5 stops of bellows compensation

I could do a set of lame photographs from the end of every roll. You can tell because it's very near where I live. Still, continues on the industrial-pastoral theme. Not bad, but not great.

1/60 f/4

Roll 5

Not actually a very good roll, but here it is.

ARTS 2110 - Roll 5 - Ilford HP5+ 400

On my way back from a guest lecture (near Architecture School) from photographer Tim Davis, who explained that "the camera is the ultimate slut; whatever you point it at, it will say, 'Oh, yeah! That looks great!' The camera doesn't care what it is."

1/60 f/2.8 (?)

Waiting for takeout, longish exposure braced on the table. The food was only okay... much like the photo.

1/8 f/4

It rained a lot over the semester, and I was more nervous taking the Mamiya TLR out in the rain (especially since it's so large and uses a waist-level finder which can get rained in easily.) I was determined to do at least a couple shots in rain though. Here, I was protected by the covered bicycle parking area in the Brown quad.

1/30 f/2.8 (?)

I followed this man for a minute or so before he was still enough to take his picture (my Mamiya TLR is not a quick camera to use). That hat was too cool not to photograph.

1/250 f/4

There's that wall again; this one was in my final portfolio. This wall is just great; there are some shots of it in color which I'll post later.

1/125 f/11

Here's the shot that echoed the carpet... extreme closeup on moss. Unfortunately it was so hard to frame and make the exposure that the end result is kinda lame.

1/125 f/4 2.5 stops bellows compensation

The moon rises over people on their way to the U2 concert.

1/60 f/8

I grabbed a takeout tray from Runk Dining Hall and took a place outside the stadium for Muse, which was the opener. I got this neat view of Bono's personal spider-shaped starship.

1/60 f/4

I stood next to this guy and I sort of forgot what we talked about, but I remember him saying that he had never used a computer, which he remarked must be a rarity nowadays. He said something about my camera being really complicated, I think, but my camera is probably over 30 years old. Note the upside-down filter flare. HP5+ isn't Acros (though it is 2 stops faster), and my efforts to pull shadow detail out of this photo end up pulling a lot of grain/noise with it. You can only underxpose by so much, after all. This might be one of those photos that wouls look better printed than scanned... if I could cope with spotting all that dust out.

1/30 f/2.8

My take on the hundreds of fans with camera-phones and small digital cameras (which for some reason no one can figure out how to turn the flash off on them). Note that this picture is not actually any good either. Exposed slightly better... partially an illusion from the massive flare off that light.

1/30 f/2.8

More flare. It was very hard to kneel low enough to get the moon in.

1/60 f/2.8

Parking garage under John Paul Jones arena... highlights pulled in a lot. Compare this with one shot on color slide film to realize the exposure latitude problems that slide film presents. It's in a more recent post.

1/30 f/5.6

Bonus: This is a preview of my current project; trying to build a scanner camera. There are a couple of ways to do this; I'm just trying to do the easiest way I've seen, and it's been pretty tricky so far. Update: This project is tabled for now; the scanner remains at my parents' house.

Roll 4

Technically after midnight, but I am still on college time, so it doesn't count.

ARTS 2110 - Roll 4 - Either Fuji Acros 100 or Ilford HP5+ 400... I'll check

Long exposure set on the table. Others in class found it flat and lacking contrast (i.e. the lighting is boring) which is true, but that was my intention... I was drawing form some work we went over in class. It's all right but admittedly not that interesting. I should've made it flatter, maybe, if that was the goal. That clock is huge! (Observatory Hill Dining Hall)

1/15 f/2.8 My hand slipped

Dirt. Pam (my photo teacher this semester) said that she had a friend who took exclusively photos of dirt, because dust spots don't show up against it. This was in my final portfolio. TLR enabled me to shoot straight down without getting my feet in frame.

1/125 f/4

Looking up a tree. Close to the dirt.

1/60 f/8 Focused on base of big branch

Weird canyon between Clemons and Alderman.

1/60 f/8

This wall is a favorite and recurring subject in my photography. Near Brown Residential College.

1/125 f/4

Mystery stairs. I later went down... locked doors and graffiti cursing the people who locked the doors. Near Math Department.

1sec f/16 Tripod+Cable release

This was incredibly dusty. I printed it for a critique, but didn't use it in my final portfolio. Ultimately just okay.

1/60 f/2.8

A theme emerges: pastoral scenes with industrial objects in them. Also near Math.

1/8 f/22 Tripod+Cable release

Crop in on an exposure of a squirrel. Stopping motion, or something? Right after I took this, I saw a butterfly that actually held still, and I was about to take its picture until I realized it was being swarmed by ants and couldn't escape. I blew on it to dislodge it and saved its life instead.

1/250 f/2.8

I took this one upside down, which is possible to do with a waist level finder (and pointless with a prism finder) which gets you a higher angle at the expense of making it really difficult to control where the camera is pointing and hold it still.

1/125 f/4

I asked if I could use this as "stopping motion" even though it was a lie. Pam asked what I meant, and I said that it was parked, though you couldn't tell in this shot. Pam replied, "Well no, not since you told me!"

1/125 f/4

This is a blatant effort to finish the roll, a macro of my carpet. The C330F can focus really close. A future shot will echo this one, but in general it is pretty boring.

1/4 f/2.8 Tripod

Roll 3

The assignment struck me as sort of boring: stopping and showing motion, shallow and deep depth of field. On the other hand, it's a good way to get familiar with your camera and make sure everyone's on the same page. And I work much better with an assignment than without one. You'll notice I have a great deal of difficulty actually stopping motion; my shutter had a max speed of 1/500 sec (leaf shutter) and my film was 2 stops slower than the 400-speed film everyone else was using. Also, I finally put on the porroprism finder (cheap-o prism finder) which I found too dim for everyday use, because it made it easier to follow moving subjects. I had gotten my spotmeter (Minolta Spotmeter M) by now.

Also, I'm pretty sure they're out of order; I'll try and sort that out later.

ARTS 2110 - Roll 3 - Fuji Acros 100

Deep depth of field

1/8 f/11 Cable release

Acros was picking up shadow details in the foreground tree on this shot... you just can't do that with digital, not without HDR. This shows night-time construction of Bavaro Hall, and like a moth, I am drawn to artificial light sources at night.

1/4 f/4 Tripod+Cable release

This was definitely the third shot on the roll; it was in my portfolio twice; once as a smaller version in a matted diptych. I have blurred over a very distracting highlight in the lower left; it's still visible, but much more muted, as I intended (it scanned wrong). The upper-left highlights I was able to bring in using only the scanner. A good shot for Acros, and an example of when TLRs can go wrong; either I didn't notice that distracting highlight, or didn't see it because I was looking through the viewing lens. I had made a great print of this that somehow disappeared and showed up scratched, so I had to re-do it. Slightly better the second time ; ) Location: beside what used to be Garrett Hall. It doesn't look like this any more.

1/8 f/22 Tripod+Cable release

Shallow depth of field. This photo was an observation (satire?) of Jingoism, not an endorsement.

1/500 f/4 Tripod+Cable release

I didn't like this shot, but had to print it as my best attempt at stopping motion. As someone in class pointed out, the lady in the background makes the shot much more interesting.

1/500 f/4 Tripod+Cable release

I joked that this shot could be an advertisement for my spotmeter (a very precise reflective light meter). I got it intending to learn the Zone System (I didn't) as a replacement for a meter I had been borrowing that didn't work very well. This one is bulkier, but pretty accurate.

1/125 f/2.8 Tripod+Cable release

I think my dad proposed later that I take this shot and I told him I already had. Deep depth of field. Not super-UVa, but anyone who goes there will recognize this as Newcomb courtyard.

1/8 f/22 Tripod+Cable release

Ehhh... more 'stopping motion.' This is quite a crop; I was further away in reality. Nothing else to say on this one. Nameless field.

In long-exposure land, smoking looks like yawning.

4sec f/2.8 Tripod+Cable release (guessed at time)

No one knew where I took it from, but I was on top of a parking garage on 14th St.

6sec f/2.8 Tripod+Cable release

The dish on the conveyor belt is blurry, thus showing motion. I kind of like this one.

1sec f/8 With camera sitting on a counter

On my way to class. Neat light, but clearly an effort to finish the roll.

1/500 f/2.8

This roll is maybe 50% identifiable as UVa...