On 04 May 2010, at 5:54 PM, Paul Cox wrote:
> The b&w images I've seen you post to the list have been inspiring
> Dawid. If
> you are willing to share, I'd love to see more.
Thank you Paul! I have not been very active lately, and have been on a
bit
of a medium format binge lately, but this past week-end I did print a
couple
of 35mm (OM) negatives in the darkroom. All of them could be considered
"snapshots":
"Contemplating black coffee"
http://tinyurl.com/335lyon
(OM-1, 24/2.0 at f/4.0, FP4, 5x7in hand print)
There's a bit of a story behind this one. In a not-so-good time of our
life, my wife (newly wed at the time, 3 months or so) get some coffee in
a quaint café which is a converted old gas station. We were broke, her
mother
was dying from cancer, our car broke so we were driving with my
"restoration
project" (1963 Mercedes-Benz Fintail, visible in the background) which
was not
really suitable for driving at all in its state. We were still a bit
shaken
from being attacked in our home in our sleep. In short, not a heavenly
time. I suspect she was contemplating all these things when I took this
environmental portrait. The OM-1 is amazing for this sort of work, after
guessing exposure, I set shutter speed, aperture, and guess focus, by
"feel"
while the camera was hidden on my lap, and then in an instant took the
image.
Since this photo is on my work desk (I'm trying to swap them out every
month
or so) I figure she'd be OK discussing this one with you guys here
publicly.
This shot illustrates everything that I love about Ilford FP4 and the
24/2.0 (my copy
is quite low contrast at wide apertures). Of course, I am not a master
printer yet,
but the negative contains even more tonal separation in the five-stops-
overexposed
background than what I captured on paper.
On the same topic, here's another "snapshot portrait" around the same
period,
this time outside next to the small lake (Emmarentia lake) in winter.
http://tinyurl.com/36sx7y3
(OM-1, 90/2.0 Macro at f/2.0, Ilford HP5 @ ISO400, 5x7in hand print)
"Dreaming about tomorrow"
http://tinyurl.com/334lmz9
(OM-1, 135/3.5 at f/5.6, expired Pan F @ ISO32, 8x10in hand print)
A street scene snapshot. As all this construction work is going in this
dead little back-street, I imagine the worker pulling the wheelbarrow
is dreaming of where he will be tomorrow, a better tomorrow. So too,
as I was walking down here, I was thinking of the better tomorrow,
when perhaps
this area would be resurrected by actions such as this construction
work.
I have had the pleasure of only shooting about 100 frames of Pan F in
my life,
but I think I absolutely adore its qualities, and wish I could get
more around
here (it seems rare).
Speaking of adoring things, I also adore the 135/3.5 lens, it blows my
mind that
such a budget lens could be built so well, so small, so smooth. What a
jewel! I
suspect I feel about this lens the way Ken does about his 100/2.8.
"Amidst the chaos"
http://tinyurl.com/39pdnlz
(OM-1, 90/2.0 Macro at f/2.0, Ilford HP5 at ISO800, 8x10in hand print)
This is a bit of a funny one, not sure I entirely like it. Oh well,
make of
it what you will. To me, it sometimes looks like a giant evil hand is
preparing to pluck
the flower, which stands alone as a bit of calmness in the chaos.
Well, that' it for my B&W work this week, all the best.
Dawid
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