A Personal Challenge.

This is what having a digital camera does to me.

Awhile back, I challenged myself to shoot a roll of black and white film in a day. I failed. It took the better part of two weeks. To be fair, the day I picked was a school day and I had a lot of other responsibilities, but it kinda hurt to realize what I used to be able to do in 15 minutes I couldn’t get done in 8 hours. I used the Hasselblad, which creates 12 6cm by 6cm images on a single roll.

You’re doing the math right. I took the better part of two weeks to shoot 12 pictures with a camera I used to use all the time. It made me feel like I was losing my touch. There’s something about using medium format film that makes the photographic process slow down: Click the meter, check the light, think about where the image wants to be, recheck the light, focus the camera, set the aperture and shutter speed, frame it up, push the button, advance the film… It gets to be a mantra, but it’s a slow, measured way to make images. Moreover, there’s the singular joy of waiting for the film to come back. I knew a guy who described it as “Christmas morning, every time.”

Anyway, that small trip down memory lane is only to set the stage for this image and the few others coming down the pike.

On A Mission.

I “met” Thadd through ModelMayhem. He’s one of the small group of people on the site who’s not just interested in shooting glossy glam photos all the time. He’s up for a different kind of challenge.

We talked a bit via email and conspired to meet to shoot together. I invited Richard and a buddy of mine, Nia, to come along and the four of us checked into a motel on the southside of Richmond for a few hours. We shot for a little over 4 hours and came away with a lot of cool stuff.

We grabbed lunch at a pizza joint nearby and parted ways by the early afternoon. We’re totally gonna cook up something else to work on together and do it again. We all had a blast.

I’m learning some post process from Richard — little things about cleaning up edges in images and working with skin tones. A recent one is putting these bars on the tops and bottoms of images to make a more cinematic feel. I’m thrilled for the tutelage and pleased with my results so far. Look for a few more images from this series as the week goes by.

Behind Closed Doors.

You ever get the feeling someone was coming for you? You know, like waiting in your closet?

Yeah. Neither do I.

Keys to the Kingdom.

As promised, the door in color. All told I think I got 5 from this endeavor (shot something like 60) and they were the ones I knew I wanted before I even started.

Had another personal project set for yesterday, but haven’t processed negs yet. I’m flyin’ kinda high on all this.

Door Number 3.

Unfun: (1) Shoving that door into my car although I got it in and had enough room left over for me, the model and some extra equipment. (2) Convincing the door to stay up and not fall on the model

Conclusion: I need an assistant for stuff like this; I just don’t know where I’d put him (or her, I suppose).

Anyway, the fruit of those labors:

There’s color to come.