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-...