Where we left off?

When I started out this year I had lofty plans. I was going to shoot a camera a week. You can probably guess how that turned out! Due to, well, 2020, I got a bit sidelined. But I have been shooting during all of this chaos around me. So in the next few posts I will pick up where I left off, and then we’ll see where it goes from there.

The first camera I shot this year was my trusty old Reality So Subtle 6x6. I shot that roll on my walks to work and around the house. The shots I took on my walks are the ones I liked the most, so I will share them here. They are mundane, but I love the weird perspective the wide angle provides in this camera. It brings life to the mundane.

Hello!

I remembered that I have a blog! I will start posting photography stuff here again. Here is a photo I took in the early days of quarantine, on a socially distant outing with friends.
I used a Reality So Subtle and Ektar 100.

Nopo

My relationship with the Nopo has been complicated. I became interested in this camera when it was on Kickstarter several years ago. It is 35mm pinhole, which I’m not fond of usually, but this particular camera intrigued me with its shutter and the fact that you could rewind the film back into the original canister. The first roll I shot through it was ruined because of user error. I was working the shutter the wrong way. The second roll through this camera was meh. It was on the second roll when I broke the winding knob. I decided to gift it to my friend Todd who designs and makes pinhole cameras. I thought maybe he would be interested in the shutter system since it is unique. I ended up getting it back on Pinholeday last year with a new knob! Todd fixed it for me! I ended up just buying film on that trip so I could try it out again. The film has been in the camera for months now and I haven’t shot a single frame. Until now. I believe I have Fuji Superia in the camera.

Olympus Stylus

When we went to California I also brought my Olympus Stylus. I loaded it with some slide film because, why not? I thought slide film would be perfect for the sunny California coast. This is the first time I’ve used Ektachrome and I’m looking forward to seeing how it comes out. I did not cross process.

I am still not sure about the Stylus. On the one hand I love how compact and easy to use it is. It is the best camera for vacation photos. It fits into any pocket and it is ready to shoot so quickly. However, I have felt very '“meh” about my results so far with it. I took it to Boston with me last year and didn’t love any of the shots that came out of that roll. I think this is partly because I don’t really love 35mm and don’t shoot it very much. I basically only shoot it when I’m on vacation. Hopefully this camera will love the slide film.

Woodbläk

The Wookbläk is truly a magnificent camera. It is made from a single block of wood by Kurt Mottweiler. It’s beautiful to look at and to use. Everything about it is just easy. To load the film you simply pull the back off of the camera which is being attached by very strong magnets. The winding knobs very smoothly usher the film through the camera. Kurt outfitted my camera with a strap so It’s convenient to carry around with me when I’m out for a walk. It’s a little bit bigger than my Reality So Subtle so I don’t take it traveling with me as much as that one. However, my husband and I took a quick weekend vacation in California, and I decided to pack it because I wanted to see how well it would travel.

I loaded it with Lomogrqaphy Color Negative 100, which is a very inexpensive film and does a fine job but can be prone to fat rolls. This is the film I used most recently in my R.S.S. and I notice when I use this film in that particular camera the film gets stuck at the end of the roll and I have a fat roll. luckily, in the Woodbläk, there was no fat roll when I took this film out of the camera.

I shot this roll of film at Hearst Castle, and the towns of Cambria and Harmony on the Central California coast. I also shot a few frames at Mission San Miguel. I will share the results in a later post.

The Woodbläk at Hearst Castle.

Argus Seventy-Five

The next camera I decided to feed film to was one of two Argus Seventy-Five cameras that I own. My husband wants to make one of them into a pinhole camera, but first I would like to shoot a roll through them to see which one is better. This particular one was given to me by my brother in-law. It uses 620 film, which I bought at Blue Moon Camera And Machine. You can easily re-roll 120 film onto a 620 spool but I didn’t have enough 620 spools laying around.

The camera itself is fun to use. It’s viewfinder is very bright. There isn’t anything fancy about the camera, just point and shoot basically. I shot this roll of Illford Delta 400 around town on my walks to and from work. I finally shot the last photo in on the roll this past weekend. Unfortunately I won’t have time to develop the film for awhile because we are planning to move over the next month, and my life is going to be all about the move. I have packed all of my cameras and film to save me the temptation of veering from what I need to do.

Week 1ish

Hi there! So, I have started this project, though It has taken me longer than a week to shoot this roll of film. I think, to be kind to myself, the time period in which I use the camera will be a little fuzzier than a week. Because, you know, life and stuff gets in the way.

This week-ish, I used my Reality So Subtle pinhole camera and Lomography 100 color negative film. I shot some really mundane pinhole photos on my walks to work, and while doing housework. I finished the roll yesterday.

I’ve been having a little bit of an issue with film getting stuck in this camera at the end of a roll. I’m going to have to figure out what the issue is.

The RSS is one of my favorite pinhole cameras, and my favorite for traveling. It’s very compact and and fits into a pocket easily. I also love how discreet it is. I don’t have results yet, but will post them when I do.

A project for the new year

The other day I was looking through my “camera closet” and remembered I bought a really beautiful vintage camera a few years ago at a really cool thrift shop in the Willow Glen neighborhood in San Jose. It’s a Kodak 616 and it is a truly beautiful work of art from the 1920s, and in pristine condition. I decided right then and there I need to use these cameras that are collecting dust in my closet.

I have decided to do a “camera a week” project in which I shoot one camera each week from my collection and then cycle through them. By the end of the year I will have decided if it stays or goes. And I will blog my experience, just to hold myself to this. (and to hopefully kickstart the blogging mojo back to life).

Enchanted Forest with P30

Sometime last June my husband and I watched the latest episode of the show Ghost Adventures (please don't judge me - it's one of my favorite guilty pleasures). It just so happened that the crew was visiting a site an hour south of us, The Enchanted Forest. So we decided to go visit the next day. And I brought cameras. Of course I brought my pinhole camera. But today I wanted to share the photos I took with my Olympus OM1 and Ferrania P30.

I love this film for the subject matter. The place is every bit as creepy as Ghost Adventures made it look on television, and I wanted to capture that on film.

Koi

I've been shooting quite a lot this Summer, and I have results to post! Here are a pair of photos from the Portland Japanese Garden in June on a pinhole meetup with some SCOPES friends.

Postcard Swap

hello there! It’s been awhile, I know! But I thought I’d take this opportunity to say hello to visitors coming here after having listened to me on The Postcardist Podcast.  Welcome! As I mentioned on the show, I’d love for you to sign up for my monthly postcard swap! If you are interested you may sign up here. Thanks for stopping by!

a selection of my own photography in postcard sized prints 

December 31

December 31st gets two photos because it's special! It's the last photo in my One Pinhole A Day series. 

I really enjoyed this project and I loved going back and looking at the photos after the fact for this blog. I had a hard time keeping up with it because daylight is so scarce in the winter when I did this and I didn't have a lot of time for long exposures. I may do this again this summer. 

One Pinhole A Day
Camera: Zero 45
Film: Illford FP4
Exposure time: 41 seconds
Developed in Diafine

December 31

One Pinhole a Day
Camera: Zero 45
Film: Illford FP4
Exposure time: 6 minutes 42 seconds
Date: December 31

December 30

One Pinhole A Day
Camera: Ondu 6x6 MK2
Film: Portra 160
Exposure time: 17 seconds
Developed by Blue Moon Camera And Machine
Date: Dec 30, 2016

December 29

One Pinhole A Day
Camera: Ondu 6x6 MK2
Film: Portra 160
Exposure time: 1 minute 33 seconds
Developed by Blue Moon Camera And Machine
Date: Dec 29, 2016

December 28

One Pinhole A Day
Camera: Ondu 6x6 MK2
Film: Portra 160
Exposure time: 1 second
Developed by Blue Moon Camera And Machine
Date: Dec 28, 2016

December 27

One Pinhole A Day
Camera: Ondu 6x6 MK2
Film: Portra 160
Exposure time: 21 minutes 56 seconds
Developed by Blue Moon Camera And Machine
Date: Dec 27, 2016

December 26 #2

Here is my second contender for December 26. I think this is the original photo I took this day. The other one was an imposter. 

One Pinhole A Day
Camera: Zero 45
Film Illford FP4
Exposure time: 7 seconds
Developed in Diafine

December 26

OK, so I have reached a weird point of confusion as I go through this project. In my notes I have two photos labeled December 25. This one, and the one I will post tomorrow. I have a feeling this particular photo is from December 20, the day I thought I forgot to take a photo.

One Pinhole A Day
Camera: Ondu 6x6 MK2
Film: Portra 160
Exposure time: 7.0 seconds
Developed by Blue Moon Camera And Machine
Date: Dec 26, 2016

December 25

One Pinhole A Day
Camera: Zero 45 (25mm)
Film: Illford FP4
Exposure time: 10 seconds
Developed in Diafine