Shooting on Film

Lately I've been having a torrid love affair with late 1970's Japanese technology. Specifically stereos and cameras. Thanks to eBay, Craigslist, and their cousins, I have discovered that it is now possible to own many of the most expensive and desirable systems of stereo's "Golden Age" and many of the cameras I remember from TV advertising are still available and are now ridiculously cheap.

Sure new advances have left these objects behind in terms of features, but they were built to a standard that has ensured their continued usefulness to those who appreciate them. At the risk of sounding like a cranky old dickhead I've got to say that they truly don't make 'em like they used to. The stereos will still blow the windows out and the cameras (and more importantly the lenses) still do exactly what they did when they were new.

Quality.



Ironically, it was an internet site devoted to making prints of digital photographs that started me along a path that led me back to film. Snapfish (this is not an endorsement) will develop your film, post your photos online, and send you the prints and negatives for 5 bucks a roll. Learning this got me thinking "Hey..the average schmuck can still use film cameras and get their pics online without wasting half their life scanning them!" I also thought "Hey, I'M an average schmuck!"

This intrigued me...especially since digital cameras have basically killed my wife and my careers as snapshot photographers.

Once upon a time we took lots and lots of pictures. Back in the late 80's I worked at a one hour photo lab and enjoyed all of the free photo processing I wanted. My wife, who is actually a talented photographer, took tons of pics with a point and shoot that happened to be a great camera.

Then we both grew up, I got a real job, the camera broke, and we went digital.

At first, it seemed like the greatest thing in the world. See your pics instantly and save money by not printing the shitty ones.

Then we learned what shutter lag was. Shutter lag is the difference between a smile and a grimace. The difference between everyone looking at the camera and everyone breaking the pose and going to sit down at the dinner table. Shutter lag is the mother of missed photographic opportunity.

We also learned that once you buy paper and ink for your photo printer, you've spent a ton of money to produce shitty prints that stick together, look weird, and are less than half as good than the ones we got at the drugstore or the good old Fotomat. Remember the one in the Orange Plaza parking lot? Maybe it was the Caldor parking lot. Whatever.


I realize printers and cameras are much better now than they were when we first went digital, but it took finally going with a Digital SLR to eliminate shutter lag and I refuse to buy another printer when professionally printed pics cost like 9 or 10 cents each.

So...I decided that while the wife was finally taking pictures again and enjoying her new DSLR I'd drag Dad's old Pentax K1000 out of the attic and see what I could do with it.


This thing was the family camera when I was growing up. Fully manual and probably totally intimidating to anyone who'd never seen or used one. I had gained the most rudimentary understanding of its workings when I was a kid so I felt pretty confident that I could make pictures with it.



After my initial amazement upon finding that the battery in it still worked I loaded it with film and took it to my sister's house.


I shot two rolls of my niece and then embarked on a nostalgia trip that's still gong on.

Ahhh memories. Waiting for the film to be developed, wondering if any good shots came out, wondering if the camera even worked.



It did, and when the pics were available I was struck by one thing. They looked OLD.

Why wouldn't they?

Same old camera, same old film, same old level of expertise behind the lens....all the elements of a photo created in 1980 were there.

It was cool.

I like the way film pictures look.

In an age when most cameras make it almost impossible for just about anyone to take a picture that is technically lacking I think the imperfections in these pictures have a definite charm.

I've been inspired to not only attempt to master the technical aspects of proper exposure and operation of older cameras, but to study the quantifiable aspects of what makes a good photograph good.

Maybe I'll even post some pictures here.

I realize that last time I told you to stay tuned I failed to deliver and I totally owe you at least one more restaurant review so here it is:


Applebee's fucking sucks. Don't ever go there.


C-ya.

Back To The Earth: End of Season Report

So, while I was away from here, blissfully not blogging or bending my brain into any funny shapes I spent the better part of late 2008 and most of 2009 planning, designing, and executing a project that resulted in my wife and I having our very own vegetable garden. (As evidenced by the pics below)

I grew up in a family of avid gardeners and as a child I spent many a long hour processing the bounty that came from a rectangular garden dad had planted near our swimming pool. Family memories of our garden and times spent there have pretty much devolved into discussions of the slave labor my sister and I engaged in while running a green bean "Frencher". Probably invented by Tourquemada, this little thing would cut big fat beans that we waited too long to pick into tasty slivers of garden goodness for as long as the big brother cranked the handle and the little sister fed beans into the chute. I don't remember exactly how long these bean slicing sessions lasted, but my best estimate is around 12 to 13 hours each.

Truly horrible.


Still...many years have passed since then and last Fall I suddenly found myself willing to embark on a journey to grow my own food just like my family has for generations. When I say generations, I mean at least two. Farther back than that and I have no idea where the hell they my ancestors got their food. Maybe they farmed goats or shot up their own grub in the woods....it's all very sketchy. Plus, the economy shitting the bed like a kid with measles left me feeling like I needed to do something to take control of my own destiny. Growing food seemed like a good way to start.


It took me weeks of research and decision making before I settled on the raised bed/make your own dirt method espoused by Mel Bartholomew in his book Square Foot Gardening. Realizing that the soil around our house is basically useless for growing anything but ugly weeds and to improve it in any substantial way would take years, I opted to fill my beds with store bought ingredients guaranteed by Mel to make my gardening life easy and productive.

I assembled the beds, filled them with my soil ingredients, and then since I did this in late February I waited.

Waited for the ground to thaw enough for fence posts and waited until I could transplant the seedlings I had started indoors to my new super awesome mini farm.


Things started happening in April, when I planted seeds, seedlings, hopes, dreams, there was probably some cat shit in there too since these things were like huge litter boxes and the fence didn't go up until the middle of the month.

I was pretty darned proud of myself when I saw those plants that I cared for and nurtured rise from the ground like so many green little children. It was like I WAS THEIR DAD! Only this dad was going to kill and eat them and enjoy the shit out of it.

Then the rabbits came and ate just about everything before I could.

All I could think to myself was "Beatrix Potter, you lying bitch...the real hero was Mr. McGregor!"

A pellet gun and Coast Guard rifle training took care of Peter Rabbit and three of his brothers. My children were avenged.


Garden 2009 was happening again and things grew pretty well until the chipmunks showed up.

I don't know why they always show these little shits with cheeks full of nuts or whatever, because as far as I can tell all they do is eat lettuce, eat cabbage, and scatter newly planted seeds all over the place.

In fact, they are the reason I am writing this now instead of right after picking the last of the Brussels sprouts in November.

I despise them.

They didn't eat everything though and we enjoyed zucchini until the vine borers killed them, tomatoes until the blight killed them, and cucumbers until God knows what killed them.

We got enough cabbage to make about 10 or 15 pounds of sauerkraut and the peppers have done very nicely.


All in all I do not feel like I failed, but we did not get anywhere near the amount of food I expected to get when the garden first started growing in my head nearly a year ago.

I truly had visions of legions of mason jars filled with all kinds of garden delights stacked on my basement shelves and couldn't wait to crack open a jar of homemade pickles.

I guess we'll have to settle for 5 or 6 jars of sauerkraut.


The bottom line here is that pests were the main problem I faced. I think I had managed to glean many gardening basics as a kid and my parents were very helpful throughout the summer. It was also nice to have a rainy year where our travel (read that as neglect) did not result in an under watered garden dying a slow ugly death. Mel's dirt mix also proved to be a stellar substitute for plain old dirt and since you never till it it will save me a ton of work next spring.


I realize that for the same amount of money (and much less effort) I could have shopped the farmers' market all summer long and probably brought home more and better vegetables, but next year this bitch is going to really start paying for itself.

Once I solve the chipmunk problem and slightly modify what I plant, I think we'll be French cutting mounds of green beans by next July.

Another Picture

Looks like the answer to how the camera will do in more challenging light situations is "Not quite as well"

Chrissy snapped this pic on the Salesian property at around 6:45pm tonight.

I love the pic, but there isn't the tack sharpness the close ups in bright light posessed. Maybe a little post processing will help.

Messing around with the wife's new camera

Ok, I almost forgot this place existed.

Looks like the restaurant thing never panned out. The fact is, I have not eaten anyplace inspiring enough to compel me to sing its praises or beat the crap out of it here in quite a while.

Anyhoo, I bought the wife a new DSLR for our 10th anniversary (a Pentax K2000 for those who care) and took it out in the garden for a couple of minutes on Sunday to test it out.

I'm pretty happy with it so far and am interested to see what it can do when the lighting is a bit more challenging.