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P-Sharan Pinhole: My second roll of film

As with most cameras, I'm getting better as I practice more. These photos are from my second roll of film through the P-Sharan SQ-35, and I like the results.

             

My first roll (ISO 400) was really overexposed, so I used slower film (ISO 160) this time. I also had problems getting it scanned at CVS, so I took it to Ritz Camera in Frederick, where they were able to scan it manually. More expensive, but they did a great job, and it saved me a lot of time and frustration by not scanning it myself.

All I had to do at home was crop the black edges off the frames and make some slight adjustments to the levels. (I use Photoshop Elements because I'm too cheap to buy Photoshop, but these are very basic functions that you could do with any free software like iPhoto, Picasa, GIMP, whatever.)

So, if you buy this fabulous little pinhole camera kit at Dancing Bear Toys, I'd highly recommend taking your film to a place that can scan manually!

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Instant Deliciousness: Food photography with my Polaroid SX-70

Whenever I don't know what to photograph, I head outdoors to find some interesting flowers or foliage. This time of year, plants aren't very photogenic, so I've been looking for other subjects. It just so happens that food looks extra delicious when captured on polaroid film!

         

The wraps, silverware, and chocolate mousse cake were all photographed at Quynn's Attic in downtown Frederick, Maryland. The Fractured Prune donuts and (homemade) gluten-free chocolate chip pancakes were both photographed at home. (I do eat mostly healthy food, I swear. It's just that the other stuff is so much more polaroid-worthy.)

My photo tip of the day: Position your food (or any other subject) next to a window to take advantage of available natural light. It makes everything look better.

What do you photograph when you don't know what else to shoot? Please tell me what inspires you!

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Analog Awesomeness: Another answer to the "why shoot film?" question

Why shoot film? Because all the cool kids are doing it.

Maybe it's because film photography is viewed as a somewhat unusual extracurricular activity, but connecting with other analog aficionados always warms my heart. Is it just me, or are the people who shoot (and appreciate) film photography often above average when it comes to awesomeness?

After finishing up my matting & framing workshop at the Delaplaine, I took a short photowalk around downtown Frederick. No walk up Market Street is complete without a stop at Dancing Bear Toys, so I went in for a few minutes and chatted with Marlene. She and Tom have been very enthusiastic about adding pinhole camera kits to their amazing array of products, and for some unknown reason, don't roll their eyes at me when I suggest that they consider stocking some toy cameras! In fact, Marlene is not-so-secretly pining for a Golden Half of her own. (You really can't blame her. It's an irresistibly cute camera.)

The thought of adding another fabulous friend to the growing list of Fredericktonians dabbling in film photography put a very large smile on my face. I left Dancing Bear and continued my photowalk with a spring in my step. I had just taken the last polaroid in my pack of film when I ran into a young couple walking along Carroll Creek. She was shooting photos with a Nikon FM10, but was admiring my SX-70. The photographer and her boyfriend, without any prompting from me, said they loved that film photos were "tangible" and "real." I can't tell you how excited I am to run into people younger than I am who feel a connection with this kind of creative image-making.

Why is it wonderful to have analog buddies, both online and in real life? Well, for one thing, the more the merrier! Sharing the joy with others just magnifies the fun. But the other reason is more practical ... Power in numbers. Companies that manufacture and process film are less likely to give up on products that their customers adore.

So, today's lesson: Be thankful for film friends, because they are often the loveliest kinds of friends.

Disclosures: I'm a member of the Delaplaine's board of directors & Dancing Bear Toys provided a product for review.

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My first roll of film in the P-Sharan Pinhole Camera

I took my new pinhole camera (from Dancing Bear Toys) out for a spin, loaded up with some Fujifilm Superia Xtra 400 film. Getting the film into the camera, shooting, and winding were all pretty easy. I went through the whole roll (plus some polaroids and digital photos) as we walked around downtown, then dropped my film at CVS for processing.

An hour later, I went to pick up my negatives and CD ... And hit my first stumbling block. Since the photos are square and the frames are unevenly spaced, CVS wasn't able to scan the photos properly. (They were getting chopped up strangely.)

So ... I thought maybe my own scanner, an Epson V500, would do a better job. I usually avoid scanning negatives myself because I get too frustrated by the dust. I didn't have much dust-related aggravation this time, luckily, but I had to be careful to line up the film in the holder so my scanning software wouldn't have the same problems as the machine at CVS.

It turns out that I overexposed the images by leaving the shutter open a little too long! I suspect I'll get better at judging exposure times after I take more photos with this camera. After cropping (and in some cases, rotating) the images in Photoshop, I did some simple level adjustments and they looked much better:

For reference, here's what the images looked like when I scanned them, before cropping and adjustments:

I only scanned about half the roll, and hope to upload more photos tomorrow, so keep an eye out for additional photos in this set on Flickr. Even though the process was a little more tedious than I had hoped, I'm still looking forward to my next roll! I might try taking it to a different location for processing, just to see how their scanning equipment works.

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One plant, four polaroids

       

Every year, my boss gives everyone in the office an Amaryllis bulb for Christmas, and it's always fun to watch them all bloom a couple months later. This year, mine is a white flower with pink veins. It just started blooming last week, so I decided to shoot it at different times of the day. All of these images were taken with my Polaroid SX-70 camera, loaded with expired 600 film (from PolaPremium) and ND pack filter (from MyPolaStore).

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The power of black & white: Working miracles on crappy cell phone photos!

One of my Flickr friends thought this photo would look good in black & white. I never do anything with my blackberry photos ... I usually consider them to be sort of disposable, and only good for immediately posting something on Twitter when more high-quality options aren't convenient. But I actually really like how this one turned out after I converted it to grayscale, adjusted levels, and cropped it. Thanks for the suggestion, Mick!

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For the love of film

via tokyocamerastyle.com

Maybe it's the crazy weather we've had lately. When I say "crazy weather," I mean four feet of snow outside my door, trapping me inside the house for days on end. But I'm all caught up on sleep (and surprisingly, work) and creative thoughts are bouncing around my brain like stir-crazy kids that can't wait to get outside to build forts and make snow angels.

I've been thinking a lot lately about shooting film, mostly because I answer tons of questions from friends who are curious about it. Or at least curious about why a somewhat sane person like myself would do it. It's inspired me to start a new series of posts tagged "Shooting Film." Finally -- A place to digitize all of my random, late-night Moleskine musings on the fabulousness of analog photography! And a place to link to some of my favorite photographers, most of whom are shooting film.

There are many answers to the "Why shoot film?" question, and I hope to publish some of them here. For now, here are a couple of my favorite responses:

(1) It's fun. Evidence: One of my favorite groups on Flickr.
(2) Film cameras are hot. Evidence: Tokyo Camera Style, a blog that always makes me drool a little bit.

So what's your reason for shooting film? Let me know, and I'll do my best to weave it into a future post.

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Happy Valentine's Day!

via flickr.com/jesshibb - Spectra Polaroid taken in NYC, December 2009

I actually think Valentine's Day is sort of lame, but I enjoy having an excuse to tell people I appreciate them. So thanks for reading this silly little blog! xoxo!

Speaking of appreciation, thank you to April for mentioning me in her fabulous list of local bloggers.

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P-Sharan Pinhole Project

A couple weeks ago, I picked up one of the new pinhole camera kits at Dancing Bear Toys - The world's best battery free toy store. Which just happens to be located in downtown Frederick! I've been really excited about it, but haven't had time to assemble it until this weekend. When there's 30 inches of snow outside the door, the idea of staying inside and assembling a pinhole camera is very attractive.

First, I assembled all my materials. The instructions don't mention this, however, I think it's necessary to be fully caffeinated before beginning this project.

This is what it looked like after assembling pinhole level & shutter lever (step 1) and back cover (step 2).

Warning: Beware of mischievous cats who like to play with small camera parts.

After completing step 3, I was really making progress. "Constructing the film folder" had 20 sub-steps ... Yikes.

Finished! It took me 2 hours and 20 minutes, but I took some email and stretching breaks. I do not recommend setting this up on your coffee table and kneeling for 2 hours straight. Not that I was silly enough to do something like that.

My only dilemma: All the stickers are so awesome! Which one should I use to cover my camera???

Also not included in the instructions, but highly recommended: When you finish assembling the camera, reward yourself with a whoopie pie.

Assembling this was a little tedious, but the directions were very clear and the pieces are well-constructed. I think it's best to view this as a puzzle or a project, and it's pretty enjoyable if you set aside the appropriate amount of time. If you're in a hurry to use the camera, the assembly process will be frustrating and you're likely to make a mistake.

Next step: Testing a roll of 35mm film! Stay tuned for results.

Disclosure: Dancing Bear Toys provided a sample product for this review. I'm planning additional blog posts and hope to coordinate a pinhole workshop in the near future. Let me know if you're interested in participating!

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Lumberjack is back

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