This is ancient. And it’s a scan from a print, not the neg.
It was cold and Katie understood how silly she looked and was therefore doing her level best not to giggle for this exposure. Right after this instant, she doubled over with laughter.
Go figure.
This is an old film shot. It’s cross-processed Fuji 64T film, shot in natural light.
I’ve long since lost the raygun, but the image was of a student of mine who, if memory serves, is a senior in high school somewhere.
I always loved this.
I’m pretty sure I never blogged this image, but it’s easily my favorite image of all the film shots I’ve made. If not the fave, definitely in the top 5. I use it as an icon on numerous places, notably here.
The story behind it is kinda fun. He was 6 (I think) at the time. He’s gotta be more like 12 now. Anyway, I was testing cross process and deciding how I liked it. His mom had come in to the Darkroom (remind me to tell you more about Martha’s Darkroom sometime) to pick up some prints she’d ordered and I asked them both if I could take his picture. It wouldn’t be the last time I got the chance, but it would definitely be the best.
Anyway, they agreed and we wandered down to the corner of 2nd Street and Main, in downtown Richmond and very quickly snapped off a roll (12 images).
He wasn’t at all mad. In fact, we had to work to construct the look on his face. Got him to cover his ears, open his mouth really wide and squinch up his eyes…
Still, I love this shot.
There’s something about a junkyard that makes things more interesting.
This is my buddy Diane again. She’s been keeping a blog of her own for a bit now. Mosey over and have a look.
I’m diggin’ back through the archives until I get some new stuff to put up and I thought these might be a nice pair.
The first is from a wedding I shot (pro bono for a friend, as the assistant). The bride’s mother had made her gown and it was amazing. Really, the photo doesn’t do it justice. It shimmered in ways that I could never capture on film. I did the best I could, but cross processed film is persnickety. Her tattoo was amazing in the middle of this dress.
The second was this girl, although I never shot this as a part of the series she asked for. It’s the serenity prayer, which is kind of a cool thing to have with you at all times.
And this is as much as I can muster to remember the warm days past.
I almost called this post “Location. Location. Location.” ’cause I lucked into this beautiful space in which to shoot.
The ladies of the Junior League of Richmond were kind enough to let me use the Mayo-Carter House. It was built in 1895 and is done in a style called French Renaissance Revival. This house was designed by New York architects Carrere & Hastings, the same architects who designed the Hotel Jefferson, just one block east.
The house is beautiful. It has super high ceilings and is furnished on the ground floor with stuff that feels like the scenery from a high fashion catalog. As I understand it, this is just a reflection on the important outreach work the Junior League does.
Anyway, we were there for about two and a half hours and snapped a few digital images and a few film ones, to include a roll of black and white and a roll of cross process. I think I had greater success with the film than with the digital. These two are film.
This is Patricia Lyons.
She is an amazing photographer here in Richmond.
Her website: www.patricialyonsphotography.com and her blog: www.patricialyonsphotography.blogspot.com
When I first shot these, I was told (by the model) that the images were terrible. I listened and never did anything with the negs. Upon reflection some three years later, I find that I really like several of them and that I’d almost be interested in trying to do a little series of local photographers.
I can tell you from firsthand experience that she usually has a camera in her grip (at least when she’s working – I’ve also seen her schlepping her kids) but this time, for the purposes of the shot, I gave her my copy of Rodney Smith’s The Hat Book. ‘Member him?
It was snowing at my folks’ river house when we saw them.
All I had with me was my Holga, loaded with cross-process film. It took me forever to get a decent print out of these negs and when I did, I got it framed for my folks. Now that I’ve scanned them, I like them even more.
If you can see dust in the images, it’s because there was a lot there. It took forever to clean out in Photoshop. I kinda wished at the time that I’d brought a different camera (and different film) because I felt that I wasn’t gonna get much detail with the low-fi camera. Now that I’ve scanned them, I find that I’m pleased.
My buddy Joe over at Brainchild Collective asked to have a look at some of the prints I’d made myself back when I could print color and I dug an (extensive) envelope out of my office to drop it off. There’s bunches of stuff in there.
We were chatting online the other night and he mentioned that this was one of his favorites from the group. I’d completely forgotten about it until he said something. Of course, it’s from the fair, and interestingly, it’s shot with a Holga (actually a Woca with a flash, but for the sake of argument…). I’ve long since ditched the body of this camera for one without a flash because once I saw what this looked like, I decided I didn’t wanna MacGyver a flash diffuser for it.
Anyway, here’s an old shot to make up for the quiet week. I’m still grading papers for the end of term. Many students were keen to hold on to stuff until the very last minute, much to my chagrin.
Thank goodness a short vacation’s on deck.
photographic ramblings of thomas scott 