Ascension.

More with the film camera. I need to get out more and do that.
It occurred to me when one of my images made it here.

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.

For Your Viewing Pleasure.

This is Todd Raviotta of Natural Science Productions. He’s worn a bunch of different hats in Richmond over the last ten years. He’s been a filmmaker. He’s been a director. He’s been teaching at the Governor’s School and VCU. He’s been the mentor to a number of aspiring filmmakers who call Richmond home. And that’s the thing. When you wear so many hats, it’s easy to forget what you want to do, what you love.

This summer, Todd’s assembled a crew to work on a new film. He’s directing again. This weekend at Gallery5, he and his crew are holding auditions for their newest project, Every Guy Ever. It promises to be a good time, as all of his other films have been to date.

If you’ve got a heart that wants to act, come out to the auditions on Sunday. If not, you’ll just have to wait.

Lost and Found.

I was looking through my old computer for a file (which I didn’t find) and I came across this scan of a neg from a commitment ceremony I shot a few years back. I don’t have the negs any more so this is all I have of it. I hope they’re doing well.

It made me smile.

It’s Like Doublemint Gum.

Periodically the urge to try something different hits me. You know, not always the same digital stuff (although even that’s getting more interesting these days too, thanks to Joe and the little Photoshop tricks he’s been teaching me).

Anyway, it means dusting off the old Olympus Pen EF that a friend gave me some time back. She’d found it in the trash while she was living in Japan and it served her well for a long time. The reason it’s such a neat little box is that it shoots half frame images on 35mm film. This makes it perfect for making diptychs in-camera.

Here are a few I did last week on a cheap test roll. I’m planning on shooting something more like fashion on slower film to see what I get. I have high hopes.

When There Was Film.

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.

To Grand Central and Beyond.

Another from the archives. This was on film (yeah, remember film?) on a trip to New York a couple of years back. The shutter was open for like half a second or something while I held my breath, trying not to jiggle the camera. It might be fun to go back to try again at some stuff like this.

We Come In Peace.

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.

Say Cheese.

I was looking back through old stuff on flickr and “found” this in my photostream.

I uploaded it just over two years ago, but I distinctly recall shooting it when my wife was pregnant with my daughter. I made the mistake of going to NYC with a big heavy film camera instead of either a smaller film camera or a digital camera and still I managed to score this one. I wonder if it wouldn’t have looked better shot through a Holga…

We Now Rejoin Bullitt, Already in Progress…

That’s actually a line from this movie, but it’s fitting here.
‘Cause this post is about a different movie.

My buddy Jai Jamison is working on a new film with some of his classmates and buddies from American University where they’re in the graduate film program. They were doing some of their principal photography here in Richmond near the Lee Monument and asked me to swing by to shoot a few frames so they’d have some behind the scenes images.

I came down for a bit and hung out. It’s interesting to see the similarities between still and motion photography. They think about light so much more than the causal observer of a motion picture might think. Moreover, it was kinda cool to stand around during a movie shoot. Folks slow their cars down, they walk by a little slower. They’re curious. They wonder if someone famous is around all that fancy looking equipment.

Anyway, these are a couple of what I got. I can’t wait to see the finished product.