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Posted by GZ in Magazines, Photographs, Published on August 1, 2011
I’m a Citizen of Photography
Posted by GZ in Photographs, Photography, Published, Sites on July 31, 2011
I try to pay attention to the flood of news from and regarding photographers, Web sites and various contests and promotions that I receive through a dozen channels – e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc. – but most of it barely registers. A Twitter item caught my eye a few weeks ago, alerting me to the impending launch of a new site called “Citizen of Photography“. I checked it out and was immediately taken by the concept. In essence, their plan is to take digital submissions from anyone, using any camera, and winnow down the best to a curated few. That selection is then offered for sale as a limited edition of ten prints, at a reasonable price.
I signed up, and on July 1, I received a message letting me know I was on board and the site was open for submissions. Through most of July, I followed my usual pattern of procrastination and let the weekly informational messages pile up in my inbox. Late in the month, more was revealed; for the first two months, early contributors will have some exclusivity, with only 5 images posted per week, and after the first month, a reception and showing is to be held at London’s West Bank Gallery, featuring the first rounds of prints.
The final message came in as I was vacationing at the Grand Canyon, so I set a reminder to look into contributing when I returned home. I had a few images in mind to send along, so I followed their advice and set myself up for Dropbox transfer. Once I got into it, I decided on a dozen – a mix of color/B&W and styles – to contribute. What could it hurt? I had no idea how they’d execute their vision, but it seemed like a low-risk opportunity to gain a little exposure and maybe sell something.
I hadn’t expected to hear anything (especially not right away), but a couple of days after submitting I got a note asking if I could provide a higher-resolution version of “King without a Crown”. It’s a murky self-developed frame from a toy film camera (the blackbird, fly) – soft, fuzzy, and sprocket-holed. They’d selected it as “one of our top images” anyway, but it could not have been printed very large at its uploaded size. I thought, “Well, maybe there’s something to this.” I dug through my poorly-organized negatives, hoping that I’d been good about sleeving it. Luckily, I had, and I pushed up a scan at twice the original resolution. I got a nearly-immediate acceptance note and waited for the August 1 launch date.
It’s a little early (even for the UK-based site), but the live site is up. As promised, the photo is one of an eclectic bunch of 5:
I like the presentation, and that they appreciated the quirkiness of it:
When a photograph puts a smile on your face it’s very difficult to ignore. The Citizen of Photography team got so much pleasure in discussing the merits of this shot we simply couldn’t ignore it for inclusion on the site. Taken using a Superheadz Blackbird Fly on Hollywood Boulevard, Gary has brought a touch of humour to CoP towers with this effort. Printed on Fuji Crystal Archive gloss to create a rich, punchy finish.
It’s not one that I’d figured for a pick, but it does tend to draw notice. It was a lucky shot with a dodgy camera. We’ll see what it can do.
The Streets
Posted by GZ in Events, Meetup, Photography, Shows on June 29, 2011
I hadn’t been out shooting with other people in a while. I generally prefer to be on my own, but sometimes a group setting draws out different things and gets me into new situations. The Los Angles Flickr group hasn’t been floating events that fit my interest and/or schedule, so I decided to give Meetup a shot.
I’d gone on an outing earlier in the year with the L.A. Street Photography group, but since it was a trip to Edwards Air Force Base and the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, it didn’t really count as “street photography”. This time, the destination was downtown Los Angeles, to include the Mission district/Skid Row and the garment and jewelry districts, with a black-and-white theme. A half-dozen guys showed up, toting a mix of film and digital rigs. I toted the AE-1, Mat-24G and Sprocket Rocket. The Yashica drew many comments from passers-by.
We managed to hike from 3rd and Hill through Pershing Square, the aforementioned districts and Skid Row. I didn’t feel comfortable making images in the latter – the scene was pretty hostile – but got a few in the other areas. We ended up in Little Tokyo as the air was cooling, and took a break near the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. They’re hosting “Art in the Streets“, a massive exhibition of street art from many generations and from all over the world.
The entrance to the show was framed by a Levi’s-sponsored film-making exhibit, and guarded by a bunch of energetic and chatty USC film school students. We wandered in to look around. The Yashica again spurred conversation, and after some talk about the state of film photography and the evils of 3-D cinema (one lad mistook the TLR for some sort of 3-D apparatus), I was waved into the larger space sans admission fee. I’ve quietly admired street art and graffiti for years, and the variety and quality on display really was mind-blowing. Equally impressive was the historical background information on the artists and pieces. It made for a great ending to the day.
In Squares
Posted by GZ in Photographs, Photography on June 13, 2011
I’m enjoying the aesthetic of medium-format 6×6 — especially in black and white — more and more. I need some practice to gain the skill to employ it to its best effect, but I can see possibilities.
I took the little Lubitel out to Eaton Canyon Park in the foothills of Altadena over the weekend. The sky was gray and the light was harsh, so I didn’t expect much, but I got a few landscapey keepers.
ColorMat
Posted by GZ in Gear, Photographs on June 12, 2011
Took the Yashica down to Newport on a Sunday afternoon to do something other than the basic test shots. I blew through a roll of Arista.EDU 100 (the results came out pretty nicely), and I had some Fujicolor Pro 160C to try out as well.
I really hate the wait, but the Fuji development (via Walmart) is probably my best option for color processing.
Scarred, but Shooting
Posted by GZ in Gear, Photography on May 19, 2011
Wow – four camera posts in a month and a half. This will really be the last one for a while. Maybe it’s not so bad because this gear has been in my possession for a long time.
More than a year and a half ago, when I mentioned that I wanted to start processing film, my father-in-law offered up a box of stuff he’d been storing in the garage – tank, reels, thermometer, even an enlarger – so I could try it out without a big cash outlay. At the bottom of the stash was a TLR, a Yashica Mat-124G. He’d gotten it in-trade or something and never used it, so had no idea whether it worked. It was pretty banged-up, but there was no obvious critical damage. We tried dry-firing it, but the shutter was unresponsive and the button was sticky and stubborn.
At the time, the only film camera I had was the AE-1, and I had been thinking about how to get into medium-format. Since he wasn’t going to be using it anytime soon, he suggested I take it and try to work out the problems. I could try to get it working, and give it back it it was of no use to me.
I cracked it open at home after a struggle (the body latch was also a challenge). There was no film in it, and the innards were tidy. I couldn’t figure out the shutter issue, though. I quickly became distracted with the developing side of things, and the Mat sat. I considered repairs, even getting an estimate when I took the Mamiya in for its work-over. The cost was fairly high, compared to the probable worth of the camera, so I held. The Mamiya gave me my medium-format fix, and I sort of had a taste of TLR-style shooting with the little blackbird, fly. I returned to the Yashica from time to time, but made no progress.
My recent adventures with Russian cameras got me fired up about film things again, and after playing around with the Lubitel, I wanted to work with a “real” TLR. Don’t get me wrong, the Lubi is a fun camera, but it’s based on simpler designs like the Voigtländer Brillants of the 1930s and lacks a lot of the advancements and polish of the newer gear – it’s not much more advanced than the plastic blackbird. To be fair, the Mat-124G is a Japanese knock-off of the much more expensive German Rollieflex, but it’s a good one.
I dug the Mat out and opened it up. I’d forgotten about the stuck latch, so I applied a little oil under the knob and after a few minutes of working it through its cycle, it was good-as-new. As for the shutter, I had a feeling I was missing something. I located a PDF of the manual (thanks to OrphanCameras.com – an Internet miracle) and quickly determined that I had misunderstood the way the shutter mechanism was designed, and how the shutter trigger was “charged” before a shot. Of course, it only behaves properly with film in the camera. With that knowledge, and a little more oil, I was ready for a test.
I loaded up some Arista.EDU Ultra 100 and spun off 12 frames at the local civic center park (gave the back yard a rest). I don’t have a replacement for the mercury battery in the Mat’s meter, so I used the Sekonic. I’m not a big fan of the film (re-branded Czech Fomapan), but it’s cheap. The results aren’t bad. Contrast is decent, and the focusing is much easier and more accurate than on the Lubitel. There’s a mid-frame fogginess in some of the shots, but I can’t find an obvious cause – might have been glare on the overcast day.
I’m looking forward to applying this rig to more serious subjects soon.
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