Wrapping up the weekend trip during the last leg on a hike at the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, there were a couple of 8×10 free plates left and we decided to do something fun. With a very short shutter cable, we attempted to do a selfie in 8×10!!!
Here is the setup.
Here is the result! Taken with Kodak 2D 8×10 camera + Fujinon 2400mm f9 lens + Kodak Ektascan B/RA x-ray film.
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 Kirk Lau 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.
The last of the challenge, I feature a very special camera. The 1955 Graflex Speed Graphic camera mounted with Kodak 178mm Aero Ektar f2.5 lens. Being large format, the focusing screen is again upside down and reversed left to right. At f2.5, the screen is super bright and you can see the bokeh clearly. Today I am holding my first camera, the Kodak Instamatic X15 which is in 126 format. This is the exact same camera that Dustin Hoffman used in Rain man!
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 Pouya Ashtiani 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 Hasselbladski. A company called ARAX used to take Kiev 88 and modify them to Pentacon Six mounts. The selection of Pentacon Six Zeiss lens are vast and quite cheap. Seen through here is a Zeiss Jena 120mm f2.8 lens. The viewfinder is super bright and the split screen makes focusing a breeze. Today I am holding a medium format stereo camera called Sputnik.
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 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 Erik Mathy 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 1970s Canon QL17 GIII camera. It was the most sold rangefinder with over 1.2 million copies over twenty years. Int this day and age, we will be lucky if a camera last more than 20 months! The viewfinder is super clean and the yellow rangefinder patch is bright and easy to focus. The aperture priority marker on the right is also bright and clear. In the photo, I am holding another legendary rangefinder, the Revue 400SE. Both of these cameras feature super fast and sharp lens.
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 Miles Chu 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 1960s Halina A1 TLR. It is the only TLR that is produced in Hong Kong that I know of. The viewfinder is dark and without split screen, this makes it tough to focus. In the photo, I am holding a Seagull 4A-103 TLR from 1981.
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.
During a recent visit of Henry and Wendy in SF, I invited them to have their portraits done in large format. Setup of the day was my 91-year-old Kodak 2D 8×10 camera with Fujinon A 240mm f9 lens and Kodak Ektascan x-ray film. The strobes, I used two light sources, one direct light above the camera and a reflective light from the left of the subject. The dark background is a big piece of black cloth that is about 2.5 feet behind the subject.
Here is a collage of photo of me in action, courtesy of Henry and Wendy.
The film is developed with Kodak D76 1+1 for 10-12 minutes at 19C with rollers and scanned with Epson Perfection V700. Scanning this time I was faced with a lot of Newton ring issues. I have an AN glass but that only prevented newton rings from one side of the light. I have to scan the negatives with emulsion down on the scanner glass, then I put the AN glass on top of the negative. This way I was able to get rid of most of the newton rings. I guess I probably need another piece of AN glass and hopefully this issue will go away.
The first photo is that of Henry. It was shot at f11, 1/30 sec and turned out quite nicely.
Wendy here featured in the second photo, also shot at f11, 1/30sec. I have asked her to look into the left (her right) reflective light.
The final shot is of them together, shot at f16 1/4 sec. I had cranked up the strobes to be the highest level. The init negative is dark and about a click off. I need to double up on the flash to get more light next time. I have focused on Wendy’s eyes and even at f16, the depth of field is so narrow that Henry’s eyes were very slightly off focus. I need to add more light sources and try at f22 or even f32 next time for group portraits.
Overall another fun shoot that yield some fantastic portraits.
Basil the westie is a happy and friendly dog and always bring joy to me whenever I see him. After a recent dinner gathering with his owner Natasha Hsieh, we decided to head back to our home studio and take some portraits. Basil was a superb model and here are some highlights of that shoot.
I was trying to teach Basil how to operate the Kodak 2D and he got the hang of it quite quickly. Photo below entitled: “His master’s visage”.
