Each time I use the Graflex Speed Graphic with the Kodak Aero Ektar lens, I am always so amazed on what I get. After a professional photo sitting Sunday afternoon, I threw in a pack of Fuji FP3000b and took some portraits. For lighting I used an Aputure Amaran AL-528S LED hitting directly at the subject from the front. All polaroids scanned with Doxie Flip scanner. Here are results of that session.
A glamour shot of Monica.
Natasha showing us how to smoke a stogie.
I was nominated by Joyce Peng to do a 7-day self-portrait challenge: 7 days, 7 self-portraits, and 7 nominations to keep this going with other artists/photographers. I invite Edmond Lok-Yin Wong to take the time to extend the fun.
I put a small twist to this challenge as well. I will be composing self-portraits through the viewfinders of different cameras.
Today, I am viewing through my 2014 Canon 5D Mark III camera with 70-200 f2.8 II lens. In the photo, I am holding a 1970s Mamiya Universal + 50mm f6.3 lens with external viewfinder. Being universal, I can put in a Polaroid or 6×7/6×9 medium format backs.
Photo taken with Sony RX100II.
I was nominated by Joyce Peng to do a 7-day self-portrait challenge: 7 days, 7 self-portraits, and 7 nominations to keep this going with other artists/photographers. I invite Frederic Chiu to take the time to extend the fun.
I put a small twist to this challenge as well. I will be composing self-portraits through the viewfinders of different cameras.
Today, I am viewing through my 1968 Polaroid Land 250 camera. The model 250 has a Zeiss-ikon viewfinder made from West Germany. As seen in the photo, the rangefinder is bright and quite easy to focus. The camera that I am holding is a 1972 Polaroid Land 450 camera. It’s basically identical to that of the model 250 except for a timer at the back and the flash adapter.
Photo taken with Sony RX100II.
A nice afternoon playing around with polaroid cameras over beers with Erik Mathy from Eric’s Darkroom (https://www.facebook.com/groups/846681715412740/)
Thanks for Erik’s amazing shot of me with my Land 450. Shot with Mamiya Universal + 50mm f6.3 lens + FP100c + Yongnuo YN568 flash, scanned with Epson Perfection v700.
Here is a shot of Eric with Sony RX100ii + Yongnuo YN568 flash.
Since the disappearance of Fuji FP3000b, I was almost too sad to open another pack. This weekend in Napa, I took the Polaroid Land 250 out again and took a bunch of photos. It’s like riding a bicycle and the photos turned out to be amazing as usual.
Here is a shot of Rebecca and Melissa on their visit to Napa this past weekend.
Rebecca and Melissa visit to Napa
To offset the BW challenge, i am posting a color photo. This is a test shot I did of the stilt houses in Tai O, Hong Kong. Photo shot with Graflex Speed Graphic + Fujinon W 65mm f5.6 lens + Fuji FP100c scanned with Doxie Flip.
Day 3 of 5 of black and white photo challenge. Each day I am trying to post a photo that is taken from a different camera and a different medium. Today I picked a BW polaroid that I shot at the Sake Bar Ginn in Hong Kong a while back. Ayuchi was working late as usual that night while I took the photo. Photo taken with Mamiya Universal + 50mm f6.3 lens on Fuji FP3000b scanned with Doxie Flip. When it comes to Polaroids, it wasn’t too hard to name my next challenger, Charlie Xia. He has been the biggest ambassador for my Polaroids and we need more people like him to keep this alive! So Charlie, I nominate you to the BW photo challenge, in which to post one BW photo per day for 5 days and also nominate someone each day because it’s fun.
Shot Matthew and Jessica’s wedding old school in FP3000b. I was equipped with two Polaroid Land 250 cameras a couple of packs of the discontinued FP3000b. The images turned out nice and again reminded me of images seen from my parents wedding.
I haven’t done pinhole in the longest time and WPPD was a great excuse for me to start again. I was in Shanghai and faced with less than ideal weather conditions, drizzling on and off all day, windy and cold. Nevertheless, I managed to get a few shots in. It was quite a challenge to do long exposure in Shanghai because everyone is wondering what you are doing and in times stood right in front of my camera, ruined many shots.
I tried to do this as scientifically as possible. I will measure my film to hole distance and divide by 0.6 to get my f ratio (I usually stuck with f128) then I will use that in my meter. I didn’t want to use my expensive Acros for the job and used my el cheapo Shanghai film instead. The reciprocity is super crappy with that film. A shot that is meter to be one minute will take eight minutes to complete! The lighting was also bad as it was dark and gloomy most of the day and most conditions were metered to be 1 to even 30 minutes! I ended up taking a lot more Polaroids as it was rated at 3000 iso. The reciprocity is also quite bad with these Polaroids and a 30 second exposure will span into a 2.5 minutes shot.
With all the rain and chaos, I ended up at home and made a few shots of the beautiful tiger lillies in a more controlled environment. The following is a photographic diary of today’s shoot.
Getting my equipment ready for WPPD (http://www.pinholeday.org/)
Speed graphic with pin hole board + FP3000b + Shanghai film. Special thanks to Kirk Lau for his assistance with the making of the pinhole! It’s extremely precise at 0.6mm!
