The Mark and Marc trip to Photostock 2013...and beyond.

Bill Schwab has been hosting an annual gathering of film photographers in Northern Michigan near Harbor Springs for the past 7 years or so.  The gathering, Photostock ( a photographic Woodstock of sorts), originally took place in the woods at Bill's site SE of Cross Village. It became necessary to move most of the events to the Birchwood Inn N of Harbor Springs as the event became more multifaceted and the crowds grew. This year, part of the event was a christening of Bill's newly-built workshop building that was launched with funding from Kickstarter.  About 70 people showed up throughout the 3-day affair and like any annual event, it becomes a time to renew acquaintances and make new friends.
Getting ready to make the trip, I assembled my photographic gear...a few cameras (not shown are the additional lenses, tripods, etc., that also went).

My good friend Marc Akemann and I drove up to attend Photostock 2013 last Thursday, and along the way did what photographers do -- eat and shoot photos.  We drove up M-52 to Owosso aand then went W until we hit US-127 and took that to I-75 and then to Mackinaw City where we stayed for the thee nights of Photostock, as we did not make our plans early enough to get a room at the Birchwood Inn.   However, it all worked out pretty well, and we had a great time seeing everyone and talking about photography.  It's always a very good-natured crowd, and I always come away with having learned something new, and new contacts.

Marc and I did some night shooting, too, as we were able to get some images of the Mackinac Bridge at night in the fog.  Morning fog was pretty good, too, but the coffee quickly took care of that :). Oh, and the fog over the water was nice, as well.

Mighty Mac at Night

Mighty Mac in fog.
I shot extensively with my N90s abd N2000 cameras, my Rolleiflex, the Debonair, and my Olympus Pen E-PL1 (which accounts for most of the digital images here).  I have 19 rolls of film to process, so these digi shots will have to suffice for now.  Having said that, the CCTV lens on my Olympus Pen really gave me a look that I like, especially at Fayette State Park.  I am posting a few shots of our Photostock trip here, but it's easier to go to the set on Flickr for all of them.

 Checking out Jamie Young's amazing prints from his panoramic cameras.  They really are quite spectacular. Jamie gave an engrossing presentation on the history of panoramic photography Friday night at the Birchwood Inn.

Marc (L) and Mark (R) at Wilderness State Park.  I was amazed to find that my cheap smartphone had a self-timer for the camera.  We spent a lot of time in Emmet County, and then went across the bridge to the UP for the second part of our trip.  I think that we put over 1,000 miles on the vehicle for this trip.

One highlight was seeing my daughter and her partner Stephanie in Marquette.  A visit there isn't complete without a few photographs from Presque Isle, and I know Marc really enjoyed being there at sunset.  I could shoot there every week and come away with something different each time.

The Black Rocks at Presque Isle are especially worthy of a few hours (days?) of a photographer's time.  Maybe that would be a good destination for a photo workshop in the future.










Snail Shell Harbor and the iron foundry at Fayette State Park.


Just a few of the fine photographers at Photostock.

Testing the Kodak Hawkeye Traffic Surveillance Color Film

While I was at the FPP Findlay Walking Workshop in mid-April, there was some talk about some film on ebay.  It turns out that a seller had lots of 100 ft rolls of Kodak Hawkeye Traffic Surveillance Film - a 400 ISO C-41 color emulsion.  There was a "buy it now" for less than $30, so I bit.  I am amazed at the oddball films that show up on ebay, and have to wonder how many "custom" films were sold for specialized uses.

The film arrived quickly, and I finally spooled some up into cassettes.  I have only done bulk b&w film before this (and that's been a LOT of bulk rolls), so it was no problem with this film.  I put a roll into my Nikon F2S, and shot a bunch of things close to home and in the garden.  Note to the readers -- NEVER take an untested film out to shoot something you can't do over again.  I learned that the hard way many years ago.

Anyhow, there is some literature on this film, and some folks on Flickr claim they have pushed it to ISO 1600 with good, if not grainy results.  I myself wonder if it isn't just a variant of  Portra 400.  As promised, here are some images straight from the scans from Huron Camera without any adjustment on my part.

I think that the color rendition is good, and look forward to shooting more of it.  I have a C-41 kit that I have yet to try, so perhaps this will be a good opportunity to see what develops :). The film seems a bit grainy, but that may be due to the scans on the Fuji lab equipment.  I'll try scanning on my Minolta scanner and see if there is any difference.  In any case, it is an inexpensive roll of bulk film that will be put to use.

Traveling Light with the Nikon 1 J1

A week ago, I was in Chicago on work business.  A group of us from the university visited the Field Museum and the Oriental Institute to assess a software package they are using.   Anyhow, we took the train Chicago and stayed the night at the Allegro Hotel on Randolph Street.  We had great weather, and I was on the move most of the time with my co-workers.  I knew I would have only a bit of time for any photography, so  I took my Nikon 1 J1 with the 10mm 2.8 lens (=28mm in 35mm format). This proved to be an excellent choice.  I mostly shot in b&w, and the camera did an excellent job with the tonality.  Weighing very little, it was great to carry around, and the 10mm lens allowed me to crop images to square format.    Here are few shots from the trip.


From the train.


Rush Hour


Raking Light


Rush Hour


stairs


On the phone


Light Fountain

The Nikon 1 system has changed my thinking about smaller sensors.  The cameras are light, nimble, and capable of quality photography.

The Holga Lens for Olympus and other Micro-4/3 cameras.

Over the many years I have been a photographer, some of my most memorable shots have been with the original Holga 120N.  It's not hard to see why -- for such an inexpensive camera one can have a lot of fun shooting and figuring out what the camera can do.  It is still a bargain compared to the Lomo Diana F+, and the results are still as unique as ever.  However, many folks have left film cameras and want to recreate the Holga "look" on a digital camera.  China has responded by producing Holga lenses for Nikon, Canon, and Pentax mount cameras.  I have used the 60mm Holga lens in my Nikon D90 and in my Nikon film SLRs, and wasn't too enamored with it as the viewfinder image was very dim.  The aperture was listed as f/8, but I think it was even smaller than that, negating some of the very characteristics that make the plastic lenses so fun to use.  I am always on the lookout for fun lenses to use with my Olympus Pen E-PL1, and I saw that Holga was selling a version of the lens for the Micro 4/3 mount.  The 25mm focal length was a perfect "normal" lens aspect for the M4/3 mount, too.  So, I ordered a lens from Holga Direct and it arrived about a week later.  For less than $20, too, direct from Hong Kong.  Yes, the lens is ALL plastic, but that's the "Holga way."  

That is the lens on my E-PL1, and yes that is the Olympus VF-3 viewfinder on top of the camera (perhaps the best $100 I have spent to make a camera more useful).  The Holga lens has the typical pictograms on the lens barrel for closeup, portrait, group, and infinity.  The rear of the lens has a central aperture surrounded by a ring of smaller holes.  I believe this gives the lens a better "Holga quality" by softening the image on a digital sensor.    The lens comes with front and rear lens caps (throw them away).  Use a M4/3 rear cap for the lens to keep out dust and grime when not on the camera.   In use, the lens barrel rotates smoothly to "focus."  This is where the optional eye-level EVF comes in handy, as it is really much easier to find the focus than on the rear LCD.  However, using the magnify button allows one to also gauge the focus pretty well.  The Holga lens vignettes nicely, and the images definitely have that "Holga look"...on digital.  Using the Art Filter settings AND the Holga lens on the Olympus also gives me even MORE creative possibilities.  The close-up setting is about 2 feet away from the subject, which is a nice touch with this lens.  The Holga M4/3 lens is a definite must-have if you like a little blur with your images.
Here are a few samples.  The lens does best in contrasty situations - i.e., full sun.  Set your ISO to 400, and you will be good in full sun to partly cloudy conditionS.  I use the 1:1 setting for square format Holga-like results, and have been quite happy with it.

 My final verdict -- this is the best Holga lens for non-Holga cameras that I have used.  The ability to choose a square aspect ratio with the Pen really makes the most of this lens, and while the results are digital, the experience is much like using a Holga.  Ditch those Instagram fakeries, and use a real lens to get the Holga experience.

World Wide Pinhole Photography Day

WWPPD has become quite a big thing. Each year, hundreds (thousands?) of photographers shoot pinhole cameras on the last Sunday of April. Each person uploads a single image to the WWPPD web site, and it is a blast to see what other folks have been shooting.  This year, I had plans to spend a good chunk of the day doing pinhole shots.  However, the weather turned out to be overcast and drizzly all day.  Not the best weather for doing any kind of shooting, unless you are under an umbrella.  However, I was determined to shoot something besides an indoor still-life.  I loaded up my Polaroid pinhole camera -- it uses pack film, and is a former Tektronix oscilliscope camera.  I think I made it about 8 years ago, and removed the front part of the camera and replaced it with a new front and a pinhole.  Simple.  I am on the third pinhole iteration, and the current size is about right.   The film I used this time around is the Fuji 3000B - the 3000 ISO black and white film.  For a day like today, it was at the edge of the usable range, being that my exposures were between 2 and 3 seconds.  I could not have used it in full sun.  Certainly a good choice for indoor pinholery, though.

I managed to do some test shots outside the house to gauge my exposure, and then headed over to Parker Mill, hoping for some images of the flowing water at Fleming Creek.  Between the time I did the test shots and got on the road, it had started raining as a fine mist.  I soldiered on, hoping for the best.  Fleming Creek was actually flowing quite well, and the small island I often shoot from was surrouned by the creek.  I was able to hop over the overflow, and set up on the island.  The ground beneath the trees had been scoured by the high water of the previous week, and looked pretty interesting.  I was able to finish off the pack of film, but with the rain, my prints got wet, and though I had them in a box, some emulsion still got scraped while being jostled on the way back to the car.  So, if you shoot in the rain with pack film, carry a dry box to keep the prints in.    Here are a few shots from the day.