Archive for category Life
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!
Family Things (and Newton Rings)
Posted by GZ in Life, Photography, Processing on April 7, 2010
Húsvéti nincs színe
Had a nice, relaxing Easter with the family. Saw in-laws and my sisters, ate a really good meal, colored eggs (well, I didn’t – I never do) and finished a roll of 220.
For once, I came up with a nearly-flawless strip of negatives. Since I started using the Mamiya, every roll has suffered some sort of ruinous problem – scratches or streaks that rendered many frames unusable, and required a lot of healing brush work on the rest. Research and friendly interviews pointed to either bad news happening in the film magazine or drying issues after development.
This time, I made certain that I used a different insert, and I decided to forgo squeegeeing prior to drying, just in case that had some effect. To give the strip a good long hang-space, I suspended it whole from a boom mic stand positioned in the bathtub (very rock & roll, I know).
The combination worked, so I’m sticking with it. Of course, things are never that easy. When it came to scanning, most frames were afflicted with Newton Rings and had to be redone.
I’ll get the hang of it eventually.
Hot and Cold
Posted by GZ in Life, Photography on April 5, 2010
Contrast Drops
I’ve been alternating between pushing too hard and then crashing and slacking. I need to even things out and make a plan if any of the big projects are going to get done:
- Spinning up a non-profit photography collective
- Starting a bi-monthly magazine
- Putting together a Blurb book proof (codes will expire!)
Don’t know if I have the stuff for all of them.
Potential Energy
Posted by GZ in Life, Photography on March 14, 2010
The Crunch Comes Next
I know it’ll sound odd to the rest of the country, but it’s leaf-pile time (delayed by a few weeks due to precipitation). Looks like fun, doesn’t it?
Spring is here, finally. The clocks have moved forward and we had a full weekend without rain. Everything that’s seemed pent-up is starting to un-jam. Energy remains high, and I’m making progress on a couple of big projects.
The Mighty Mamiya has returned from rehab, and got back to work this weekend, too. I really need a strap/sling for that thing; I carried it around the Huntington for three hours, passing it back and forth from hand to hand, and my biceps feel like I’ve been doing curls. I don’t have an independent meter yet, so I was also lugging the 5D around my neck as a stand-in. Medium-format’s not only broadening my aesthetic horizons, it’s getting me into better shape.
-
You are currently browsing the archives for the Life category.
flickr
Translator
