Wordpress blog and what I have been doing

Since my last blog post ages ago, I bought two Bronicas, an elegant, classic totally mechanical 6x6 square shooter, the Bronica S2a with 75mm f/2.8 lens and a Bronica ETR SI 6x4.5. I could not pass them up, these gorgeous medium format cameras can be had so cheaply these days as folks embrace digital photography en masse. I am looking to add another Bronica S2a if a good one comes along. I absolutely love the look and feel of the 6x6, it gives me such pleasure to shoot with it, not mentioning everyone stops to ask me what kind of camera that is:) No biggie that it is not metered, that is where my vintage Weston IV and a Sekonic zoom meter come in handy.

The last time I wrote, my Wordpress blog was still work in progress. I wanted to let everyone know that is coming along well and below is a snapshot of the blog, love to hear your comments. My Wordpress blog

I have also added a few precious books to my collection:

An Aperture hardcover book on Lola Alvarez Bravo by Elizabeth Ferrer. Lola Alvarez was the first woman photographer in Mexico. When asked how she managed to photograph painful subjects, she replied that she approached them "por el camino de la luz" - through the path of light. Well said indeed.

Vision of a Vanishing Race by Florence Curtis Graybill and Victor Boesen on the pioneering works of Edward Sheriff Curtis who recorded the faces and lifestyles of Native Americans with an unwavering passion and dedication. This book contains 175 pictures of Curtis's greatest works, selected by his daughter Florence Graybill Curtis.

The Hasselblad Manual, second edition, by Ernst Wildi. No doubt the definitive guide to the cult Hasselblad camera. I do not own a Hassy, but this 302 page hardcover book is more than a getting to know your camera manual. It is full of excellent technical information on cameras, lenses, lighting and more, that I found out after I started reading. It is a wonderful book to own and read. This book is ten times more precious than other photography knowledge books I own.

A book that I have ordered and will be arriving soon: Tina Modotti, Photographer and Revolutionary, by Margaret Hooks. Tina Modotti was an Italian actress who lived in Los Angeles who later became a model for Edward Weston and his assistant. She learned her craft from Weston and perfected it. Lola Alvarez and her then photographer husband Manuel Alvarez later acquired Tina Modotti's view camera when Tina Modotti fled Mexico. (and I shall keep you in suspense here)

A memorable outing to Niles Canyon

It is that time of the year and work has me buried with no time left for photography. As such, I have only been able to run two rolls of 120 films through my new "used" RB67 Pro SD I bought in Feb. This past weekend I finally had the negs scanned by a "pro" lab so I could use them for my blog entry. I have to say I am not entirely happy with the resulting scan, the overall color seems off with a light blue hue to it. Since I won't be able to do any darkroom printing myself for a few more weeks, I will have to contend with using these scanned images for now. The negs do look 200% better on my lightbox.

Below are a few images from the second roll. It was a Neopan 400. What happeded to roll #1? Ah, that is an embarassing story, I messed it up. (and it was a Velvia! uugh!!) How? you ask. Simply, I loaded the film the wrong way, with the paperback facing the camera body. Not until I was removing the exposed film from the cassette did I realise I had made such a blunder! (silly me. It is easy to do though. The way the cassette comes apart for loading can be confusing first time around. Long story short, I learned my lesson and I will never do it again)


"stone statuette of a child playing at the park, entrance to Sunol city park, RB67 Pro SD, 95mm f/3.5, low res digital scan"
Did not have to work that day, sunday March 28th for a change, and I was looking for a new place to visit for photography. A good friend had told me about Niles Canyon a charming town of quaint saloon style storefront....It sounded rather promising and off I went, heading northeast early morning on 680N. Gorgeous oak studded hills and crisp fresh morning breeze greeted me as I drove on Niles Canyon road along Alameda Creek. Unfortunately there was no way I could pull over for photography as the 7 mile long winding country road was also rather narrow. Population of about 900, (I was told), Niles Canyon has one main street of beautifully restored saloon style shops (remember old westerns?), a beautiful church named "the Little Brown Church of Sunol" built in 1885, a small post office, a city park and a historic Sunol train depot (circa 1884). Nestled in the charming hideaway are many private homes, pied-à-terre for some perhaps and homes for others that I would be imagine are so inviting to come home or escape to on weekends.


"A man chatting with the crew of locomotive 2472 before the train set out on its 5 mile excursion. RB67 ProSD, 95mm f/3.5, Fuji Neopan 400, low res digital scan, Lightroom Beta Sepia filter"
As you can see, I got lucky :) The Sunday morning I was there happened to be the weekend of the first of three Golden Gate Railroad Museum excursions of 2010. Organized in partnership with the Pacific Locomotive Association, the Golden Gate Railroad Museum train ride takes families aboard vintage Southern Pacific locomotive No. 2472 through the beautiful canyon hills. Many families came to join the fun and kids got their history lesson. There were photographers from as far as Santa Cruz and it was a real treat for all.

"Crew of locomotive 2472, (a scene one could only find in the movies today perhaps?). RB67 ProSD, 95mm f/3.5 Fuji Neopan 400, low res digital scan, Lightroom Beta Aged Photo filter"

"Southern Pacific locomotive 2472, Canon 10D, Tamron 17-35"

Finally for all you steam engine enthusiasts, here is a link to Golden Gate Railroad Museum, one of the organizers of the March 27-28, 2010 excursions. Be sure to mark your calendar for the next family event.

Searching for photo op...yea, it is one of those days

Fall color is almost gone after two long weeks of downpour in the Pacific Northwest, autumn leaves are now scattered about the lawn. The weather has really played havoc this year and I wonder if that foretells what winter will bring. Fresh in mind was the huge flood that shut down the low lying section of I-5 in Washington state which caused me to delay my drive south to San Francisco for the project.

Nevertheless, I tried to stay positive, I am like a fish out of the water whenever I am not out doing photography....I said to myself there is always photo ops no matter what the weather holds. Looking at the photos below, perhaps all is not lost :)

"Autumn Song"
Canoes, ever so elegant. Perched on the water by the pier, you find them gently rocking away, creating perfect ripples with their every breath. Casting a soft shadow at sunset and again when the day breaks....It is a priceless solitude, wouldn't it be nice to take her out for a paddle........

"solitude"
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First run off the "printing press" - the Beseler 23C II Condenser Enlarger that is

Getting hooked on photography is a bit like getting bitten by the golf bug. First, you spent way too much money to get your hobby started. Then you get on this train and at every stop you talk yourself into buying an extra photography gear or two, some you need, some you don't but you want them because you might need them....It is happening all over again....I used to spend eight hours on the green on weekends when I was doing my corporate gig, now, I am spending that same many hours shooting, processing and printing in my makeshift darkroom creating my photography/art :).


"f/5.6, 6 seconds, Grade 2 paper. Plus X 125 film, Canoscan 8400T scan"
This is going to sound a little crazy. I already own an Omega B66 b&w enlarger which I bought for $40 off CL 2 years back and have printed very successfully from it (after tweaking it and adding ND filter to increase printing time). Unfortunately, I am in the Bay Area for a couple of months without it and desperately wanted to print (my creative pursuit). I checked out what is left in the rental darkroom scene from San Jose to San Francisco, and decided that they are too expensive since they go by the hour or a combination of one time membership fee plus a reduced hourly fee. I much prefer the comfort of printing at home in peace. So, you guess it, I bought another enlarger off CL again. This time it is the Beseler 23C II (the earlier version with the blue condenser enlarger head). Paid $120 for it. Besides the enlarger, there were a nice timer, a safe light, 4 negative carriers including 4.5x6 and 6x6 beg carriers, extra 38mm and 80mm enlarging lens, an almost new Saunders 4 blade 11x14 easel, 10+ stainless steel developing reels and tanks, and "several hundreds" of dollars of old fiber papers from 8x10 all the way to 16x20, still in their boxes and sealed. If 1/10th of the papers were any good, I would have recovered more than what I paid for, and the Beseler 23C II would be a bonus!! There was also a box of Zone VI Studios Grade 2 papers in the pile, I understand they were the standard until Multigrade papers came along.


"f/5.6, #3 filter, Ilford Multigrade warm tone paper, 8 seconds, SPX 200, Canoscan 8400T scan"
So I proceeded to set up my makeshift darkroom. There were two windows and a door that needed to be light tight. I taped the windows with black plastic sheeting from Home Depot and created a temporary workbench for the trays by putting a 2x4 plywood panel also from Home Depot over two plastic cabinets. Bought a fresh developer and stop bath from Kaufman's camera, and they "donated" a piece of perspex for my contact print (it worked). Printing was done after sundown (now you see why I wish the sun would set sooner so I get a few extra hours of printing at night). After some experimenting, I was able to settle into the printing routine.
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A few notes:
I used RC paper for contact print, at 3-5 sec increments, depending on the tone/contrast
After looking at the contact print, I decided to test print an image I shot at the recent Cinco de Mayo parade in San Jose on Zone VI Studio Grade 2. There was more contrast on the contact print than I wanted so I thought printing on Grade 2 paper would be a good compromise (I am still waiting for my filter pack to arrive). See the first image above of the young boy dressed in cowboy attire getting ready for the parade...the old Zone VI Grade 2 fiber paper probably gave the print its warm and aged look.....still experimenting....

The daisy shot (above) on the other hand was printed on regular Multigrade Fiber Paper with a #3 filter. When I looked at the contact print, it had nice shadows and highlights (the #3 filter was the only filter that came with the enlarger). I like the result, particularly the grain, which was very visible when enlarging to 11x14. I might add this was shot with Ilford Harman Infrared SPX200 (with orange filter). It was the first time I used Ilford SPX 200 and I love it. It has a nice soft tonal range and the highlights are a touch ghost white while the shadows are soft black, nice tonal range overall. Looking at how my scenics and still life turned out, I will definitely be shooting a lot more of the Ilford Infrared SPX 200 film.

Holgas - the cult following

I wanted to shoot medium format film and have been agonizing over whether to get a used medium format camera or a fixed lens Fuji last few weeks. Having heard and read much about Holgas, it has piqued my interests especially after seeing the works of Holga enthusiasts. It was tempting me as a very inexpensive way to work with medium format film. Researching further, I learned that Holga has a rather interesting beginning and has its roots in rural China. For more details on Holga, go to Holga and Camerapedia.Org

With Holga, it is just a "mechanical box with a crude shutter", the film and you the photographer. There is no blaming the camera for having a bad shot, although you might be able to blame the lack of electronics :) for missing a shot (pardon me for describing it that way, but simple is good and less is beautiful has great meaning here). The light leak prevalent in the Holgas is what makes each image unique.



Holga in baby blue if that is your fancy - available at Bhphotovideo

So, I am now a proud owner of a "Made in China" trendy and hip "Holga 120N". Got it at BelAir Camera in Los Angeles when I was down there last week and a certain "David" who works at the processing lab who shoots exclusively Holga showed me his incredibly wonderful Holga images. I asked if he sells his photos, his reply: "like to do a show someday". He helped me pick out the Holga 120N to start. You see, there are many different models and colors (pink! good God, I want to be inconspicious), with hotshoe, with built in flash, the classic (120S), all available for 120 and 35mm film format. In addition, there is Holga pinhole camera. Yours to choose from well under $45!!!

Holga 120CFN Medium Format Fixed Focus Camera


You might be interested in checking out this Reuters blog entry on Holga by Jim Young(and a little story of Crawford, Texas) Remembering the days of black and white film

To buy Holgas, try:
Amazon Holga 120

or Freestylephoto

As for my own Holga photos, I loaded a roll of TriX-320 into the Holga 120F I bought last week and have yet to make it back to Livermore to shoot the old train station and the old house on Highway 84w. I am in the thick of the tax season - and all I can see are thousand of line items of income, expenses and deductions for 10 hours a day (did I mention pages and pages of stock trades clients did in 2008 - oh well, that is the subject for another entry on my other Blog)

Having said all that, I look forward to doing some b&w film development soon at a community darkroom in San Jose as soon as I have my weekends back again.... and I will post the Holga photos to share then.

Highway 84W

Just a word on Topaz before the entry proper. I re-installed Topaz Adjust plug in I had uninstalled due to Topaz software bug, I am still getting the occasional "can't complete due to program error" (it is annoying as I have to re-do my processing all over again). It does not look like it is a bug that will go away....I resigned to that fact and left the plug in on CS2 for now.

Was up in Livermore California last weekend, took Highway 84 from 680N and it was a beautiful magical ride at 7:30am in the morning (I had to pick a daylight saving day and it was really 6:30am that morning since I had moved the clock forward an hour....that explained my sleepy eyes). There were a handful of cattle ranches along 84E to Livermore, still shrouded in the overnight mist as the early morning sun was breaking through. I said to myself if only I had been there before daybreak and waited for the first light to come through the old house.


Livermore is officially now on my "A few more visits" list :) I often visit a place for the first time to scout for photo opps and make notes of locations in my little notepad I carry with me.



I like the old town charm, oh did I mention the many vineyards in Livermore. Ah, that was the bonus. Or was it the reason why I went there in the first place :)

Footnote: I am going back there soon and this time armed with my old style Canon A1 with rolls of Black and White and Velvia slide films .... It makes me happy just thinking of the prospects.