The Reader

Its funny. Sadie enjoys reading. Whenever we're in the car she is always reading the signs and advertisements we pass by. This photo shows how Sadie is typically stationed in the passenger seat, attentive to every written detail that crosses her line of sight.

The funny part is, when we're at home she doesn't bother with reading. I'll put a book or a magazine down in front of her and she pays scant attention.

I shot this image with my Vivitar PN2011 with flipped lens. The film was Walgreen's 200 ASA, which is actually Fuji.

Swords

Fort Tejon, California. August 6, 2011.

I've passed Ft. Tejon a thousand times. So have you if you've ever travelled to or from Los Angeles by car on I-5 through "the Grapevine" pass. On this day, with an unusual amount of time on our hands as we made our way north, my wife and I decided to stop at Ft. Tejon for a look.

Turns out to be a delightful stopover if you have an hour or two--or just a few minutes. The original barracks still stands, and within it are displayed some of the typical accoutrements of your average US Army dragoon circa 1854-64. There is also a blacksmith workshop and a carpenter's workshop, and a number of docents to help explain the goings on at the fort when it was garrisoned. (Upon learning of my nationality, one of the docents declared himself to be a descendent of John Balliol.)

I took this photo inside the barracks with my Canon F1, filled with Kodak Technical Pan ASA 25 film (expired). I processed the film in Rodinal (R09 One-Shot) 1:100 for 60 minutes.

East of Eden

This is the marquee of The Bay Theater in Seal Beach, California. It's an old venue and once a week they feature a classic film. Whatever film it is they're showing they roll the actual film, on a reel, through an old projector.

During quiet moments you can hear the old projector whirring softly behind you as you enjoy the cinema as it was originally intended.

I took this image with my Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash camera with the flipped lens. I believe I held the shutter open for about 6 seconds.

Blimp Hangar

This is one of two blimp hangars located in Tustin, California at what was once the Marine Corp Air Station. They were built in 1942 to house blimps that would be used to patrol the coast.
Although the hangars look all concrete they are constructed of wood and are said to be the world's largest "clear span" wood buildings.
In the base's later years big, double-rotor helicopters occupied the hangars. I used to work nearby and it was a wonderful site to observe the big Sikorsky's or whatever they were lumber up and down and dominate the Tustin sky.

I took this photo with a Canon SBIV and 50mm Summar lens. The film was Kodak Tri-x 400.

Terminal Decay

One of my favorite places to shoot photos is Terminal Island. It's a man-made island that now serves as a vital part of the Port of Los Angeles. Part of the island is in Los Angeles, but part of it is in Long Beach. In fact, with bridges at either end (and one in the middle) Terminal Island is like a stepping stone between LA (to the north) and Long Beach (to the south).

I took this photo after work one evening with my Olympus XA. It was in July, about 6:30pm. I used Walgreen's brand (actually re-branded Fuji) 800 ASA film.

Snow in the Forecast

The Nutcracker last year. The girls are gathering handfuls of "snow" which they will soon cast hither and thither in graceful abandon as they and their fellow Snow Court dancers bound like white gazelles across the stage.

This shot I took with my Canon T50 and Canon FD28mm lens. In the camera I was using Fuji Neopan 1600 ASA film.

Sunny Zombieland

I don't actually know what Zombies do to you if they catch you, but I doubt its pleasant so I wasn't waiting around to find out.

I was amazed to find such creatures at Huntington Beach Central Park last weekend. I am glad I had with me my Vivitar PN2011 with flipped lens and some Fuji Superia 400 film (expired) inside it, because it provided me with the proof of what I saw. Curiously, nothing has been reported about the HB Zombies in the main stream media!

Self Portrait, Newport Beach

I thought,..."You look magnificent! I better get a picture of you!"

It was overcast and windy in Newport Beach that day and I was wandering along with a beautiful Contax IIIa that belongs to my friend Jim. (Jim has a wonderful collection of film cameras--which he collects yet does not shoot--and, well aware of my interest, and being the most generous of fellows, has taken it upon himself to acquaint me with each and every one.)

On this day I was shooting Fuji Pro 400 film. I do not recall the exposure settings but such is the pristine condition of Jim's old Contax that the old selenium meter in it still functions perfectly. The meter reading dictated the exposure for this shot.

Black Sun in the Window

This is The Ocean Center Building in downtown Long Beach, California. It was built in 1927 or maybe it was '29. I snapped this shot from my car window whilst stopped at a traffic light about 8am one morning. I had little flexibility with the composition, but I liked how the sun that morning reflected so brilliantly off the building, so I decided to snap a shot anyway.

I used my Polaroid 210 Land Camera and Fuji FP100c film.

I didn't at first know what the black spot was. At first I'm thinking there was a defect in the film. Later I learned that its a photographic phenomenon that sometimes occurs in shots taken into bright sunlight. Of course, for this shot the sun was behind me, so I'm quite delighted--lucky I think--that I got the Black Sun reflected off the window.

Town Hall Meeting

The company's CEO had come for a visit and we were all invited to hear him speak. I stood well back, lurking in the shade of the cherry blossom trees by way of relief from the sun, and got this image using my Vivitar PN2011 with flipped lens. The film was Fuji Superia 400 (expired).

More about the camera here: http://filmphotographyproject.com/content/reviews/2011/07/vivitar-pn2011-35mm-camera

The Park Bench Cafe

Huntington Beach, California.

I like how the Park Bench Cafe is illuminated at night so I decided to try to capture it one night. I had no tripod with me to steady the camera so I used the back of a bench--a park bench, of all things!--for a tripod. The composition of the shot was dictated somewhat by the restrictions inherent in the use of a park bench tripod.

I used my Olympus XA for this shot. I had Legacy Pro 400 film in it. I processed the film at home in Rodinal diluted 1:25.

Hayden Flour Mill

This is in Tempe Arizona, and it stands near the foot of Hayden Butte, which is is next to Sun Devil Stadium and is great for a hike.

The Mill is over 135 years old and is no longer a functioning mill. I understand it is being re-developed for housing or something.

I took this shot a couple of years ago with my FED 5 and Kodak Portra 160VC film. I forgot about it and the film languished in the camera until this past weekend when I realized the camera still had film in it.

He Also Serves...

...who only stands and waits.

Lunchtime soccer game at American Honda Motor Company in Torrance, California. We play 3 days a week usually, and we're going on 12 or 13 years now I think. Some of the players are very skilled; others are learners at various levels. They're a great bunch!

I am their grand daddy, yet still sufficiently active to catch one or two from time to time and provide a good thump with the shoulder by way of "hello"!

When I'm not out there among 'em trying to kick 'em I often bring a camera and take a photo or two.

For this shot I used my Olympus XA and Legacy Pro 400 film. I processed the film at home in Rodinal diluted 1:25.

Butterflys in the Wings

Side stage at a performance this past June at Cal State University in Long Beach, California. I had my Olympus XA with me and it was loaded with Legacy Pro 400 film. The XA is a rangefinder camera but I find it hard to focus, even in decent light. For this image I think I just estimated the focus and stopped the aperture down a little to help.

Somebody may have nudged me, or else I just wasn't steady enough when I squeezed the trigger. I still like the picture, though.

What Price Loyalty?

As his master dined within, this little fellow just stood there, tethered to a tree. Why tethered, I wondered? He never budged. He was standing there like that when I passed him ten minutes before, and he was standing there like that when I came back ten minutes later. Maybe he was there to keep the tree from wandering off.

The only camera I had on me at the time was my Vivitar PN2011, a cheap plastic 35mm point & shoot that needs light,...lots of light,...a commodity not in abundance at that moment in time. The image suffers for the combination of low light, tiny lens, fixed aperture and shutter speed, but I was quite happy the camera captured the scene as well as it did.

Memories brand 200 ASA film. Available light. Hand-held.

Waiting, Stage Right

Backstage at a ballet performance at the theater at Cal State University in Long Beach, California.

I used my Olympus XA equipped with Fuji Neopan 400 film. Handheld in available light.

I developed the roll in Rodinal diluted at 1:50.

Park Regulations

Took this shot one night at Huntington Central Park in Huntington Beach, California. Used the Olympus XA in available light. I think it had Legacy Pro 400 film in it.

I balanced the camera on the back of a park bench so I could hold it steady enough to avoid blur during the long exposure.

At the time I never saw the airplane that caused the line of light emanating diagonally up from behind the sign. The sign was illuminated by a street lamp.

I developed this at home using Rodinal in a 1:25 dilution.

Flower Child

Meg and I took Sadie out for a walk one day a while back. I took my Canon f1 and I gave Meg my Holga 120N to shoot with, This is an accidental double-exposure shot of me taking a shot of Meg.

The film was Kodak Portra 160VC (expired).

Lesson? Always wind the Holga on after exposing a frame.

The View From 14F

Somewhere 30,000 feet about the US Southwest.

I had a window seat returning from San Antonio but I kept the shade down most of the time in the air since my neighbor was dozing and I didn't want to wake him. At one point, however, I thought I'd peek out and see what the landscape below was like. I was stunned by what I saw. Wonderful clouds above and below and all illuminated by a setting sun.

To hell with the neighbor's beauty sleep! Up went the window shade and then I engaged in a frantic struggle to wrest my camera from my backpack under the seat in front of me before the scene passed by.

I had with me my Kiev 4a equipped with color film (Memories brand 200 ASA). I got two or three shots off, estimating the exposure (since the Kiev has no meter).

Apartment Block

In Costa Mesa, California there stands a pair of matching high rise luxury apartment buildings. They're called the Essex Skyline I believe. They caught my eye one afternoon.

With me that day I had a Mamiya C330 twin lens reflex loaded with Kodak Tri-X film, and also my Kiev 4a, loaded with expired Fuji Sensia 100 ASA color slide film.

I took numerous shots of the buildings with both cameras before being asked to leave by a security official. (I guess I was trespassing.)

I took the above shot with the Kiev. I was shooting into the sun.

Since the Fuji film was expired I didn't really want to pay for E6 processing, so I developed the film myself in black & white chemicals. I used Rodinal and diluted it 1:100 so I could do a 60 minute "stand" development.

I think the grain and the tone give the image a 1950's Eastern Block look. (Like something you might have seen in East Berlin when the Wall was still up.)

Smokestacks

I saw these smokestacks on Terminal Island California one night last week on the way home from work. I thought, "I gotta get a picture!" I used my Kiev 4a, which is a Soviet-era clone of the famous Contax cameras from Germany. (The Soviets took over the Contax factory in Dresden at the end of WWII and dragged the tooling to the Arsenal factory in Kiev. Then they started pumping out the knock-offs. They did so for decades.)

Clone though it may be, the Kiev 4a is a fine camera in its own right, and mine came with a sharp Jupiter 8 lens.

In the camera I had expired Fuji Sensia 100, which is color slide film. I cross-processed the film in black & white chemicals. Rodinal to be exact. I used a "stand" development of 60 minutes in a 1:100 dilution of Rodinal.

Kayla & Katy

That's Kayla in the foreground with the wonderful eyes. This picture was taken in the parking lot of our hotel in Lake Arrowhead, California. Annie and I were just packing up to leave for home when we came across Katy, who had taken Kayla out for a walk and had settled down on the grass near our car to enjoy a ciggy and what appeared to be a cocktail. It was 11 am in Lake Arrowhead. (But 5 pm somewhere in the world no doubt.)

We got to talking and introduced ourselves and I snapped a few shots with my Canon F1. The lens was my 50mm Canon FD. I used Legacy Pro 400 ASA film. I developed the film in Rodinal 1:25.

Stolen Kiss

Cheesecake Factory, Huntington Beach, California, August 20, 2011.

As I steadied my Olympus XA and told them to hold still to avoid blur when I snapped the picture, he surprised her and the camera both with a quick peck upon her cheek. Of course he did so just at the moment I snapped the shutter. I think it worked out pretty good though.

I used Walgreen's 200 ASA film, in available light (very dim) and a tumbler served as my tripod as I aimed the lens at a guessed-at framing.

Upon Reflection

Among the complex of buildings nearby the South Coast Repertory Theater in Costa Mesa I discovered the reflection you see here. The distortion in the glass immediately brought to mind a photo of the Chrysler Building in New York City that Chris Dodkin posted on the Real Photographers Forum a few weeks ago.

I took the image above using the wonderful Mamiya C330 twin lens reflex that my friend Robert McAlmon owns. The camera was equipped with an 80mm f2.8 Mamiya-Sekor lens, and the picture was taken using Kodak Tri-X 400.

I developed the film in Rodinal using a 1:25 dilution and a 7 minute processing time.

Chris Dodkin's image of the Chrysler Building can be found here:
http://www.realphotographersforum.com/threads/1938-Chrysler-Reflection-(Windows-Theme)

Real Photographers Forum is here: http://www.realphotographersforum.com/content/

Robert McAlmon's photostream on Flickr can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/66940071@N07/

Long Beach on the Horizon

I took this shot from Sunset Beach looking north toward the skyline of the city of Long Beach, California.

I used my circa 1938 Voigtlander Bessa and Tri-X 400 film. Since I don't own a light meter I guessed at the exposure. (Can't remember now what settings I used.)

I don't know what caused the light aberration on the left of the image. I suppose its a flare from the sun which was lowering in the cloudy sky to my front and perhaps a ray peeked through a gap in the clouds and infiltrated my aperture. The other images on the roll were not similarly marred. I kinda like it, though.

The Bessa is a delight to use, although it's completely manual. This is part of it's charm to me. It creates large 6x9cm negatives, 8 per roll of 120 film.

You have to estimate (or measure) distances to your subject since it has no rangefinder. This isn't a problem taking landscapes or anything distant such as above because you'd just set the focus to infinity and fire. But with portraits and other closer-up shots you'd want to be more careful, and perhaps use a measuring tape for precision (You may want to carry a light meter, too.)

Was A Library Once,...

This is a detail of the building now called the "Veterans Park Community Center" in Redondo Beach, California. It was built in 1930 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Today it is permanently leased to some outfit that rents it for meetings and weddings and such, but when I was a lad it served as the Redondo Beach Public Library. What a wonderful library it was, richly adorned inside with golden-brown hardwoods.

It was here I got to know Tarzan, Quatermain, Hornblower and Bond,...James Bond.

Fond memories!

I shot this image with my Voigtlander Bessa. The Bessa uses 120 format roll film and gives you 8 negatives that are 6 x 9 cm in size.(About the size of a playing card--maybe a bit smaller.) Judging by the serial numbers on the camera's shutter and lens, I believe my Bessa was built circa 1938.

For this image I used expired Kodak BW400CN film. This is a black & white film designed to be processed in color chemicals (C41 process). I "cross-processed" the film in Rodinal (actually R09 One Shot), diluted 1:100, and left it to stand for one hour.

As you can see, the image has imperfections along the edges. Based on some posts I read in the Rodinal group on Flickr, it appears my agitation technique during processing may have been too vigorous. Nevertheless, I quite like the picture.

If you'd like to see another shot of the building, go here:

http://www.realphotographersforum.com/threads/2053-Taken-with-my-Voigtlander-Bessa-I.

The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

The draped images of LA Opera luminaries Placido Domingo and James Conlon notwithstanding, my girls and I visited the Dorothy Chandler on April 8 of this year to see the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

I took two film cameras with me that night, both of which were small enough to fit discretely in a pocket: My Vivitar PN2011 with flipped lens, and my Olympus XA. (However, I am not so boorish as to attempt to surreptitiously shoot during a performance. I confined my photographic activities to before and after the concert, outside the venue and in the lobby area within.)

The image above was taken with the Vivitar. The film was Kodak Gold 400 ASA.

By the way, the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater is wonderful!

Quinlan Castle on The Day of The Twisters

Birmingham, Alabama April 27, 2011. Camera: Vivitar PN2011 with flipped lens. Film: "Memories" brand (actually Fuji) 200ASA.

Quinlan Castle (built in 1927) is in downtown Birmingham and I happened to be on a business trip near the city that week. My business completed by noon on the 27th, I ate lunch and then drove into Birmingham to take some photos. I shot this photo around 4 pm that day. Soon after, the tornado sirens sounded all throughout the city.

Now, I live in earthquake country (Southern California), where twisters are rare. So when the sirens sounded in Birmingham, I wasn't quite sure what to do. The one or two people I spotted on the streets didn't seem hurried, and the occasional motor car I spotted still seemed to be proceeding along at a speed close to the posted limit, so I resolved that I had no need to panic. I therefore made my way in a leisurely fashion back to my hotel, some 10 miles outside of town.

Immediately upon my return to the hotel all guests were ordered onto the basement, where we spent the next hour and a half until the National Weather Service announced that the storm had passed us.

Had I known, when on my photo excursion, what destruction that storm was about to reap perhaps panic would have seemed the best option.

Request

A fan suggests a song at The Walking Phoenixes concert in Lake Arrowhead, California on August 27, 2011. Canon F1, Canon 50mm FD lens, Legacy Pro 400 film. Available light. Developed in Rodinal (1:100).

By the way, The Walking Phoenixes are an excellent Johnny Cash tribute band. I had wondered what the name meant. It took a while for the coin to drop. (Think: Johnny Cash biopic.)

Good To Know!

Recently shot some color film in one of my 1950's box cameras, the Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash. This was the first time I had shot color film in it. I used Ektar 100ASA 120 format film. I was delighted by the colors. This shot was taken at about 7:30 am, and the light was beautiful that day.

Find out more about the camera in my article for the Film Photography Project here--

filmphotographyproject.com/content/reviews/2011/08/kodak-...