19 out of 44

Or if you like percentages, 43% Actually, it's not as bad as that. I'm trying to be a tough marker. In another sense, I got 37 out of 45, or 82%. Confused? No fear, all will be explained.

The big film camera will get 8 photos on a roll. There is no sneaking in an extra. The small film camera will, on a roll of 36, sometimes get 37 photos. 

Those following along with the story till now know I dropped off a roll of each at the lab, and now you've probably gathered that I got them back. Everybody caught up now?

I'm pretty pleased with the results. There aren't enough photos on a coherent topic to create a blog on the other channel, where I typically talk about film, and try to produce an actual essay. The long exposures were ok for an initial exploration of an idea. They didn't turn out quite like I had expected, but they were interesting (to me, at least) and I'll be exploring further. 

I'm getting better at focus. None are wildly out of focus, and the two that look soft, I think are actually underexposed. They're sort of a soft grey all over, and I remember the setting being fairly dark.

There are a couple pairs, where I did different exposures of the same scene, and would typically only pick one to edit. And of course, there are some photos where I look at them now and wonder what I was thinking then. It might be a case of the camera not seeing what I was seeing, but more likely is that I didn't think about it enough. At least none of the big camera photos are like that.

So you get this blog today, with a bit of this and that. Some fairly recent photos.

1. Linda, strolling a beach.

2. As the wind blows, so the tree is shaped.

3. Artsy. Not sure where the purple came from, but there it was.

4. Surfers working it on Sombrio Beach. 

5. Abstract ice.

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (BC)

Peony

Tombstone

Celina, ignoring me and the camera.

Film (new)

I like the shapes of snow as it melts. Not actually a panorama, just cropped.

Film (old)

Sebastian and Nefertitti.

In colour and black and white

No, I'm not talking about the famous 1977 Cheap Trick album that was one of my favourites. Still is, actually. I'm listening to it as I write. 

I'm thinking about photos that work better in black and white, rather than colour. I recently blogged two photos of waves crashing over rocks. They were in colour, just barely, and Sean suggested they might look better in black and white. I hadn't thought of that at the time and after a few minutes of processing, I had black and white versions of them. 

What do you think?

And.

There was a bit of additional processing for the B&W version, and I'm still not 100% convinced I got it right. I could probably make the water whiter. There is specialty image editing software specifically for B&W, and I'm considering getting it, and seeing what difference that makes.

The two most recent rolls of film, which are currently at the lab, are B&W. I'm pretty sure I know what the 120 film photos will look like, but being long exposure, you never know till you see them. The 35mm has been in the camera a while, and I no longer remember what started the roll. That's part of the charm of film. Part of the trick to editing is to have some time between making the photo, and seeing it. I'm having fun reviewing old photos to decide what to add to VERO for my daily update, but sometimes I look at a photo and wonder why I edited that, or thought it was good at the time.

I'm also reading a book about B&W photography, and after seeing one of the examples in the book, I was inspired to go out and capture something I'd seen the other day. In colour they are yellow and white and kind of gross looking actually. Converting to B&W, and tweaking the sliders a bit more than would be seemly for colour, you get this. Artistic? Or still gross?

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (BC)

Peony

Tombstone

Film (new) In fact, I'm out of new film photos at the moment, though I've got a roll of both 35mm and 120 at the lab right now. So to hold you over, you get another old film photo. This one is a rare occurrence, to see all of Linda's brother's and sisters together with their mom. From L to R, ignoring the small children, Kelly, Angie, Dave, Mary, Linda, Audrey, Gerald, and Kim. The time frame is 1992 or 93, as near as we can tell. Sad to say, but three of those people have passed away.

Film (old) Sebastian.

Recent books

The three recent books out of the library are:

Venice from the Skies by Riccardo Roiter Rigoni and Debora Gusson.

Walk with me New York by Susan Kaufman.

Tones of Grace by Dave Brosha.

I loved Venice. I'd go back in a heartbeat if it wasn't for all the other tourists crowding it. There's more to see than where we got to, so I snatched it up as soon as I saw it. Then I was disappointed. It's helicopter photos, with a bit of history. Here I was and this is what I saw. Most of the book is the other islands near Venice, not the city itself. They didn't include a map. 

The New York book was better. It made me want to walk the city, so I suppose the book is a success from that point of view. There were some lovely (and extremely expensive) homes, and a surprising amount of greenery in what I had conceived of as a boring city space. Linda liked it for the garden photos, and what people have done with limited space.

Often reading about New York it seems like it's a big village where everyone knows each other. More accurately it's s conglomeration of villages, somewhat overlapping each other. The book included several small scale maps, so at least one could look at an ordinary street map and figure out where that neighbourhood is. It's probably better to read the book, or rather, the many photo books of New York, than to visit. I'm not likely to ever see the city in person. 

When we were in London, we were constantly amused to recognize scenes because a movie or TV show was filmed there. I'd imagine that the same is true of New York.  In fact I just checked, there are pages of location tours in New York.

Calgary has been used as a set location for various films and TV shows. I remember watching the first season of Fargo, when there's a winter scene of someone driving along with a city downtown in the background. The Bow building is prominent, and it took me right out of the show, since I instantly started thinking about where that camera had been situated, and what they had to screen out or screen in using digital wizardry to get the look that appears on screen.

The Brosha book is wonderful! If you're a photographer put a hold on it at the library, at the least. It's at The Camera Store for $50. I'm not sure I'll buy it, but it would be a good gift for a photographer, especially one that likes black and white.

I see great black and white photographs, and yearn to be able to create good photos that work without colour. (And with colour too, for that matter.) There's far more to it than using black and white film, or telling Lightroom to convert to black and white. He references Sebastiao Salgado, a well known photographer in black and white, and as it happens, I've read his book Genesis. You can get that one out of the library as well. 

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (BC)

Peony

Tombstone

Film (new)

Film (old)

With the red 1995 Caravan in the background, that dates the photo late 1990's. We had it till 2004 or so. I'm trying to clear the ice blocking a storm drain.

The patterns in rocks and driftwood

As regular readers will know, I discovered the photographic possibilities of driftwood during a bike ride on the Napier New Zealand beach. At first it started as an exercise to see if I could discover composition in driftwood, and it soon became much more. I have a great many photos of driftwood. Keep in mind that neither me or Linda touched these rocks or wood. This is how I found them, and if someone else left the rocks in an interesting pattern, that's my good fortune.

Today you'll see a selection of photos where driftwood and rocks are together in what I think is an interesting way. You might think differently, and that's fine. It probably isn't driftwood against a background of rocks, but rather something more intimate. All these are from various beaches between Sooke and Port Renfrew on west Vancouver Island. These specific photos have not been blogged, but there may be other similar photos you've seen.

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3. I was quite taken with the texture and shapes of this chunk, and wandered around it for a while.

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13. Do you see the creature reaching in to get a drink?

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38. My favourite of the bunch, both for those lovely swirls, and wondering who Kelsey is, and if they know about this rock.

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (BC)

This still sort of fits the theme, though it's a shell, not a rock.

Peony

Film (new)

The Green Fools Theatre class taking their bows. I remember this being taken in what is low light for this camera, trying hard to hold it steady at a fairly slow shutter speed.

Film (old)

Some random waterfall on some random trip.

And in a surprise serendipity visit, the star of the blog, Curtis! I really thought I'd blogged all my photos of him, but I guess it shows my tagging skills have gaps. I don't think I'm going to hear any complaints.