Blog I have not forgotten you. I've been so swamped with accounting and history its not even funny. I've been shooting like mad though, so all is not lost. Fair just ended, I'll have some shots from that up soon. Just doing some scanning right now then it's off to bed. some of my stuff on ebay is ending tomorrow, I hope it all sells. probably won't. oh well. if anyone must know, there's a nikkor 28mm f/3.5, tamrac 5608 pro 8 bag, and some other assorted treaties. send me a flickrmail and I'll see what I can do for you. as always, flickr.com/photos/mathewm. later, and hopefully an update soon. got some new gear in and on the way, maybe a review or two ahead. more to come this week, promise.
for the first time. kindof. Terri needed some help (rippeephoto.com, have a looksie. She's a good friend and I'd definitely recommend her for engagement, wedding, and baby photos if you're in or around San Diego) and i offered my services. Got there and helped set up, standard stuff. backdrop for these shots she does at every wedding. The guests write a message on a piece of paper, hold it up, and pose. It's really cool and a neat (and easy) way to get a shot of everyone.
Anyways, the bride was running a little late getting ready so Terri was really busy with her, I just plunked around and shot a bunch of detail stuff. Nice ceremony and everything, but I really wish I had more to do instead of making sure the backdrop didn't blow over in the wind. I mean, there were only like 40 people at the wedding anyways so I was pretty extraneous, but I still wish I could have done more. Oh well, I was only there in an auxiliary sense anyways, and I guess now I've got some stuff I can add to my portfolio. Maybe next time.
I definitely admire the wedding photographers out there, but that stuff isn't for me I don't think. Too many batteries, too many CF cards, too much going on, and too much responsibility for those shots.
I've got a lot of post to still go over, and I'm waiting on a roll of NHG800 to be developed. Speaking of, I should really get down to Little Italy and pick up my Ektachrome and Neopan at Chrome.
I think this is my favorite shot of these little gift boxes on the tables. There's another that's not up on flickr yet that runs in a close second. I've also got to think about b&w, too. I've got some decisions I need to make on post and what I could put in a portfolio possibly. I just really liked this one because I got the tones very neutral and undersaturated and without a strong contrast, which seemed to be the theme with the colors for the wedding. If you go look at my flickr you can see what I mean. Baby blues, seafoam green, pinkish orangish flowers, pale blue tablecloths. I processed this shot very vividly as well, but I think it pops too much and doesn't accurately reflect the subject or the wedding. So yeah, I finally figured out how to utilize my Vintage Lightroom preset and I've pretty much got it figured out. I was always trying to change color temp when I really needed to look at the primaries because the yellow cast was coming from the reds. Anyways, more shots on flickr, more to come tomorrow from the wedding, and I'm gonna get my new little project up by Wednesday (Chloe, you will finally wet your pants in relief). Also, Ektachrome 1600, Neopan 1600, and Fuji NHG800 by mid-week, hopefully scanned and processed.
Just a reminder, I still have a Canon A2E on eBay, as well as a bunch of other photo-related stuff, so if you're so inclined reference my previous post and you'll see what's there. probably soon to go on eBay: North Face Recon backpack, Tamrac Pro 8 Camera bag.
Sorry about the absence, been busy with moving out of school, horrid finals, starting summer school, etc. Finally got a place, we hope. It's on Vicente and 24th...ish. Still need to finalize paperwork, get the lease signed, etc, but we're workin on it. first on the list, but it gets kinda hard with 500 miles between here and SF. But yes, we will be moving into a place in the Sunset, 2br/2ba, nice kitchen and bathrooms, all the good stuff. happiness all around.
Did some work for Marion Knowles (one of my mom's photographer friends) the other day got a grip of film out of her fridge. I love when people think they'll never use it and just give it away. makes me feel all warm and happy on the inside. And she had some legit cameras to shoot it with, so it's not like there wasn't a capability. Oh well, one person's trash is another's treasure. Got about.....10 or so rolls of Kodak's B&W C41 film, in 2 varieties: the Portra BW400 and the T400CN. 10 rolls of Provia, 5 rolls of velvia, some superia, reala, NPH400, NPS160, NHG800, a roll of kodak gold, 2 rolls of kodak HD, which I assume is a consumer oriented version of UC or something like that. or maybe just a finer-grained gold. who knows, I'll have to find out. I think it's in the Pentax right now. actually no, NPH400 is in the pentax, and the Kodak HD is in the OMG. NHG800 in the Nikon. more on that later.
Also scored a roll of Ektachrome 1600 (win!) and scala 200. sending that one out should be interesting. Took the Ektachrome (god that is a hard word to type for some reason) to Chrome in SD. Prices are about as good as Photoworks so hopefully that will be a good place to get my E-6 developed. they send out their B&W though... freakin weird. Develop E-6, sendout for B&W. makes sense. Their price also includes mounting, so I hope I get a discount on that since I hate mounted slides. anyways, I'll have those ready and hopefully up by Wedesday.
Back to the NHG800. I'll be assisting Terri Rippee at a wedding tomorrow, hopefully the Nikon will deliver. and the NHG. and the neopan. will also be my first time doing anything photographic at a wedding. actually, I think it'll only be the second wedding ive attended. that seems weird to me. so, two rolls of NHG800, a grip of Neopan, and some NPH400 or NPS160. I'll bring both and I'll just have to see what kind of light I have to work with.
as some additional news, I've got a bunch of stuff on eBay. if you need some vintage flashes, I guess I'm your guy. I've got...
Voigtlander VC21B
Vivitar 2500
Focal M500CS
Achiever 115A
Sunpak DC-3
Flashes not for the strobist types, the only manual control is via distance and aperture. the Achiever and Sunpak do have PC cord connections though. also on ebay: an old pentax strap, a .45x wide angle/macro filter for a 58mm thread, a lowepro TLZ mini case, and Marion's Canon A2E. it's nice, you want it. canon professional/domke gripper strap included.
I shot this in a DIY softbox. inspiration/idea from the master himself, David Hobby. at least I think it was his blog... oh well. it's just your average medium sized cardboard box with four sides cut out of it, a poster board sweep, and copy paper taped on the top and right side, and also the inside left to act as a bounce. Shot a 420EZ at 1/16 or 1/32 through the top and a Sunpak 422D through the side, also at 1/16th.
In later shots, I snooted the 420 because I was getting weird shadows from the solid parts of the box. you can see them to the right and left of the body. stopped the aperture way down so I could tell where the light was hitting and adjusted the flash until it was hitting the paper diffuser and only the paper diffuser, not any cardboard. tried to control the light spill from the 422D but I just didnt have the time or materials to try to flag the background. the other shots turned out fine, but if I was doing serious work for pay, that would have been rectified. all in all, a great DIY project that took about 45min from start to finish (my box cutters suck, I ended up using kitchen shears) that gave me some good high-key product shots for ebay. certainly nothing worthy of calling art, but shit that definitely works for its purpose.
On the film front: this is what I love about Velvia. awesome.freaking.colors. taken at the Tulip Garden in Golden Gate Park, SF. You get some weird types there. Asian guys with fat tripods and D3oos with huge lenses mostly. Anyways, this was scanned on a V500, which I think is a ridiculously good scanner for the amount of money you can pay for it. 3200dpi gives you 14.7mp images (according to Adobe Camera Raw) from 35mm frames. not too shabby at all. it does kinda lack in the B&W department. Vuescan just doesn't seem to be able to hit the exposure correctly for Neopan, FP4, or HP5. And I'm hating Epsonscan. stuff turns out sharper but its because of an aggressive unsharp mask, and it just doesn't give the highest quality possible. I'd recommend shying away from it, and also because it has a really hard time recognizing dark negatives and slides (im talking in terms of the positive image here). Anyways, enjoy.
About this whole photo class thing. goddamn SFSU and its BS rules.
After my visit to SLO i'm kindof lusting after giant softboxes now. got to play with some Dyna-lites in Photoflex boxes and I am really impressed. Considering it took us like an hour to setup for one shot, I don't think it's going to be a purchase I'll be making anytime soon. I mean, we did have to set up a sweep, 2 soft boxes and lights, a gradient, and the actual product shot, but a big softbox is a serious investment (for me, especially because of space constraints, and my utter lack of funds and hardware to support it) especially to get the most out of it. Besides, a Westcott double fold on a Manfrotto Nano Stand is infinitely more compact, easier to setup and take down, and depending on your subject size and proximity, can replicate a softbox in terms of light quality. Except for the catchlights. Anyways, I'm gonna throw some more information out in the coming few days. its late but I've got some ideas floating about in my head that I'm gonna try to formulate into a coherent, concise flow of words.
I just wanted to throw it out there that Chloe's super delicious. I really wish she'd shoot more, she's really good. you can find her at her flickr. if she'd ever get out of shooting only assignments for photo classes, her photostream would be populated with many many more great shots. But I promise, she's much more awesome than boring beginning photo class assignments indicate. As an aside, this is the first real photo ive posted that's horizontal.
is this for fucking serious? a lower-division, introductory photo course that I CAN TAKE TO MEET A G.E. REQUIREMENT AND YOU DON'T FUCKING LET ME REGISTER FOR IT? WHAT THE FUCK! This is some serious bullshit. just cuz I'm in a major that's going to actually make me real money doesn't mean you should get all jealous and pretentious-starving-artisty and bar me from taking this class. I'VE BEEN WAITING TWO FUCKING YEARS for a chance to get into this class, and now look what you've done. you've shattered my hopes and dreams is what you've done. well screw you and your tight-ass darkroom SFSU Art Department, I'm gonna develop IN MY FUCKING CLOSET and blow your panties off. bitch.
in other news...
I'm going down to see Chloe for the weekend. There's a gala for the art dept at SLO so we're going to that, and I should be doing some studio work with her. mostly helping set up but i might get a few shots in. forecast is for rain, but hopefully it'll blow through today and tonight. I just don't wanna be stuck inside all day. There's some lovely hills in the back of SLO and I'd really like to shoot there more, weather permitting. We'll see tomorrow.
Anyways, I just wanted to take this time to talk about what to pack. Don't pack what you don't need. Let me rephrase. Don't pack what you ABSOLUTELY don't need, or if its something you might end up needing then make sure you have it available to you at your destination. I'm bringing the kitchen sink, just because that's how I roll.
Nikon N8008s, Nikkor 28mm f/3.5 (technically, I don't need this, since chloe's got a 28mm that's a stop faster, but I really like this lens). I left my 50 at home since Chloe's got one and I can borrow it whenever. The E-500 is coming too along with the 14-45 and the macro. because I like wide and I like tight (two concepts that go together as much as Nazis at an Annie Liebovitz gallery, if you're talking about something besides photography). Bringing both my flashes too, wireless triggers, and extra batteries. if you have a bag that has memory card/battery holders, USE THEM. They are so helpful. ive got all mine full of AAs, some assorted AAAs, and the BLM-1 for my E-500. the nice red tags let me know which batteries are dead. I'm going to miss this bag. maybe.
oh yeah, if you're traveling, I'm of the opinion that a dedicated camera backpack trumps EVERYTHING. especially if it can carry a laptop. I looked into getting a messenger bag, but the lack of space (I need [read: like] lots of it) turned me off. so I'm getting a backpack, ditching my Tamrac Pro8 and my North Face Recon. shoulder bag + backpack = no bueno on the shoulders. I need something that can carry 2 bodies with lenses, an extra lens for each body, 2 speedlights, wireless triggers, a laptop, hard drive, and assorted knick nacks. A 'weather proof' backpack beats my thin north face bag and my [fairly substantial] tamrac bag any day of the week. consolidation FTW. you might like the ease of a shoulder bag to get at your stuff, but i normally have a camera slung around my neck anyways. besides, I'm talking about travel here, not going on day jaunts around the city. I'd probably prefer a messenger for that, but for travel, id rather carry a small bag with my clothes along with the backpack. it just seems more convenient to me.
I've been processing a lot of B&W lately, don't really know why. color C-41 films are lookin nicer in monochrome to me or something. I have a fetish for good tonality. not claiming this is a shining example or anything, but I like it. Happy may day kids, I'm off to an econ midterm. fuck this professor.
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