Kick It!

My Father’s Day presents were twofold, and both cooler than anything I could’ve asked for.

First off, my wife and children saw to it that I merged into the information superhighway’s fast lane by getting rid of my old phone and getting me this behemoth.

To make matters even better, my wife took the kids away for the afternoon (to my mother in law’s house where a killer dinner was prepared, but that’s a different story), allowing me to catch up with an old buddy who kindly let me shoot some portraits of her.

We had a place to shoot and had some nonstandard portraiture lined up, but when I got to her house, she had this amazing couch. We moved it outside and began. We got a lot of really good shots, but this is one of my favorites.

Play Ball.

At a loss for what to exactly say about these shots. I think I shot two rolls and this was the first time I’d had someone come along with the express purpose of being my assistant.

Even in the Cold.

Got the film back from the sooper cold day that the Hasselblad gave up. I was kinda thinking that none of it would come out. A lot of what came out was wonky, and there were several frames that just didn’t expose.

Despite that, there were some definite keepers and happy accidents. Oh, and it turns out that the camera loves Sarah.

nb: The new body came today. Now I have two and the question is, “Do I need two?” I think we all know the answer to that one, my friends. Oh, and by the way, Happy Thanksgiving.

One Sometimes Forgets.

How incredibly comforting film can be.
After looking at Alicia J. Rose‘s images for a while, I dug out a roll of 400 ISO film I had and loaded up the camera. I had originally intended to shoot at the Richmond Highland Games and Celtic Festival but my plans were stymied by my daughter who had no desire to go.
A willing colleague of mine stepped in and allowed me to use the roll during lunch one afternoon earlier this week. I didn’t have anything special in mind, but I really liked the feel of this and wanted to see if I could replicate it.
Eventually, this shot should be redone with a bigger influence of cycling in the background, but for the moment it and the icon shot that accompany it are pleasant to me.
I really love film and the instant gratification of digital is sometimes so inviting that I forget how the film feels. It’s nice to get back to my first love.

On the Couch.

She kinda looks like that’s where you’d sleep ’cause clearly you’ve crossed her.

But really, what Amber was doing was looking a little angry for Jim. If the owner of that couch had returned to her house to see we’d put it outside, there’s a distinct possibility that we’d have gotten that look, too. But like I said, this one’s fabricated. Jim was making real photographs (with his film camera) and I was loitering in the wings, snapping with my then new Pentax. I didn’t know at the time that I could shoot RAW to have more information to work with in post so this only exists as a high res jpeg.

I was looking through some of the old images in my Flickr stream and found this image, so I found the original jpeg on my hard drive and had another crack at it. I cropped it to a square and changed the levels a bit. I like it better this way; it’s warmer.

Anyway, it’s a good Friday piece. Have a good weekend. Hopefully I’ll have some new stuff to share on Monday.