Snaps
Posted by GZ in Events, Featured Articles, Life, Photography on August 24, 2010
Went out the other night for a work happy-hour, which we don’t do often enough. Things have been a bit crazy on the job, and we all needed the chance to decompress and have a drink on the company’s dime. We met at the landmark Cat & Fiddle on Sunset. I used to go all of the time when I had friends living near the place, but I hadn’t been in years. They have a great outdoor patio space, and I like the English pub feel. The service is notoriously slow and somewhat aloof, but the food’s decent enough to wait for when you have interesting company.
I decided to shoot a little with the AE-1, and since I knew the light was going to be subdued, I went with the Ilford HP5+ 400 stock. I think I got a good batch of shots overall, and the results were roundly appreciated. I say again and again that I need to shoot more people – I do enjoy it, but my shyness/propriety gets in the way. It’s easier with this bunch. They’re good humans, and it shows.
It’s funny how folks are surprised that this whole “film thing” still works.
Running Behind
Front Stretch
I’ll catch up someday.
Green Commuting (in Black and White)
Posted by GZ in Life, Photographs, Published on June 8, 2010
My photo at www.beagreencommuter.com
Be A Green Commuter!, the official UCLA Transportation commuter blog, chose a photo to illustrate a post today. Not huge, but nice to be noticed.
I wish public transportation in and around LA were a better option for more people. I commuted by rail from home to North Hollywood for a number of months, but it ended up being so impractical and expensive (more so than driving) that it didn’t make sense. A transit strike put a halt to my experiment and I never went back.
May Los Angeles keep moving in the right direction, and long live public transit!
New on the Shelves
Posted by GZ in Featured Articles, Published, Vendor on June 1, 2010
One of the things on my “to do” list has been getting a book together and published through Blurb. I’m not expecting to make any sort of waves with it, but I wanted to see what was possible. I’d done a few little things through Shutterfly, and while the quality was OK, the result wasn’t impressive.
Through attendance at a Blurb event a few months back, I had a coupon code good for at least a decent-sized volume. Before you can attempt to sell anything there, you have to order at least one copy for yourself (a “proof”, ostensibly). Because I was born to procrastinate, and because the coupon was set to expire on May 31, I spent a chunk of Memorial Day organizing photos in Blurb’s BookSmart software. Since I didn’t leave myself enough time to get serious about it, I used their pre-set page templates. While they’re pretty nice, the end-product ended up looking more “stock” than I like. If I do this again, I’ll put the work in to make it my own.
The Blurb software is easy to use, so the process went smoothly. It took a while because of my perfectionism, but I got a book uploaded under the deadline. I’ll continue to pick it apart and second-guess, and I’ll probably work up a second edition, but for now, here it is – 44 pages of black-and-white Los Angeles.
Browse and enjoy.
Same View, Different Window
Posted by GZ in Photography, Processing, Vendor on May 26, 2010
Adam at 10 (on film)
Got my first roll of color 120 — Kodak Portra 160NC — through the Mamiya and processed. Since I’m not at the point where I’m developing my own color film (and I don’t know that I want to, due to the complexity), I took it in to A&I near my office in Hollywood. This is the first time I’ve used a “pro” photo lab, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I got friendly service, on-time delivery, nice packaging and presentation, and slightly cheaper than nearby alternatives (but still quite a lot more costly than 35mm at Costco). Color negative film is a wonderful thing, but black and white will continue to dominate my analog output.
I’m always apprehensive trying a new thing or taking a next step with this stuff, but it turned out nicely. My metering with a second camera was close enough, and I’m getting more familiar with the gear. I’ll eventually acquire a dedicated meter, but for now I’m OK and won’t be so intimidated by the arrangement.
This is another shot from the session mentioned in a previous post. Compare and contrast, film and digital — I think this one has a slightly warmer tone. I might get a big print made.
LAist Likes It Again
Posted by GZ in Photographs, Published on May 18, 2010
LAist post on "Urban Carnivores in Your Backyard"
The LAist news-and-culture blog chose one of my older photos of a city-fied coyote in LA’s Griffith Park to illustrate a post announcing a presentation on “Urban Carnivores in Your Backyard” today.
flickr
Translator
