Wrapping Up

2025…another year….they seem to roam along like a coyote crossing a road. Upon first observation or knowledge, while neat, they soon slink back into some anonymous mode and out of sight.. They seem to skulk into the shadows and life moves on. Somewhat like a new year….sure, 2024 is gone and now 2025…..So upon first thought, you say….wow, what a fast year it was last year. And then you think that we are already well into January and it came and went without much notice. The year moves and much like the coyote, days past are just that, days past.

Where does that make my photography….well….it also moves along like a coyote caught in the headlights of my car. While I don’t try to make new year resolutions as ‘time itself’ is just a configuration that humans place upon our culture to live by, ….to plant crops by…to sleep at dark and wake in the morning etc…. the number itself to me is meaningless or the date. But it is a new year and looking back I found I am doing about the same thing this year as last (filing taxes too) regarding my photography. Last year and this year I used January as a time to sum up my prior year projects and push them into the home front and for me, that is in the fashion of a new zine.

Not just one Zine but three….all around 44, 48 & 52 pages. That is about as close as I will get to a new year’s resolution and it isn’t even that as I wrap up a few photo-projects and get my work out there.

The image below shows my recent initial order to MIXAM; my publishing company. These are certainly not large orders as I usually order a small batch and hand them out to people and if I get positive vibes, I can order more. Also, each one this year has a purpose.

For instance….the first zine is entitled 4 Evenings. These sepia photographs used a combination of film (Olympus Pen F and OM1) and Digital (Olympus OM D) where I captured an artists colony in Tucson AZ. I just wanted some odd shots which represent this warehouse/art colony. My intent is to return and with a second round (perhaps this year) capture stories of a few individual artists.

The second Zine is my Urban Lyfe Series 3. Shot in Philadelphia and all on film, I pulled from 70+ rolls shot in 2024 and all of it shot on film. These images reflect the third year in a row where I have taken my best urban shots and placed them into a zine. No doubt, there will be a Series 4 as I have a condo in center city within the heart of Philly, so I wander a lot while there. I am going to change my shot composition/emphasis just slightly this year.

The third Zine represents my ‘salt printing process’…..all of the photographs are from my work in the studio perfecting my salt printing technique. Dating back to the 1839 upon first introduction (185 years ago) I have gone a bit radical in my approach, but that is par for the course with me. I want to be different, not the same. All images have a slight sepia tonality and all were printing using various water colour papers plus a mixture of chemicals that I managed to dilute differently than others might, as well as placement in the sizing process of the paper. My studio has a UV light box, which makes this salt printing process have less variables.

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That brings my 2024 to a close and now for 2025. What might be on the horizon?

First….my overall emphasis regarding shooting composition is going to change. More to come as there is no reason to give away ‘the store’….

Second, I am going to attempt to capture individual artists at the Steinfeld Artist Warehouse in Tucson, AZ. Again, I will match what I do in my upcoming Philly zine in terms of creating a new shooting composition/ emphasis. This is a tag-on to my first zine of 2024 “Four Evenings’ as I described above. I love the idea of these very creative artists and to represent them in an equally unique and creative way.

Third….I would like to build up my knowledge of the 1930’s and the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and teach a course on this topic. As evident by below (By the way, is that a color photo? I shot color? What….no way man…I shoot black and white) , I am just starting and certainly have books to read and photographers to research individually. I have other books ‘on order’ so my reading this year is pretty photo-based. Sorry Tom Clancy. But I have a natural love for history and photographs. What better way to meet my love, than to combine the two and the decade of the 1930’s in America represents a time during the Great Depression where images shot by a cadre of photographers can’t be put aside and forgotten. These are simply too valuable.

Stepping Back into ‘My’ Time

I find myself stepping back…. looking for ways to take my personal life and shift backwards into a time less tech dependent…… . But hey, here I am on the computer, blogging….so I haven’t quite achieved nirvana, quite yet.

Although this process from getting to A to Z is a bit easier to do since I retired from a long career in education. Yikes, no more zoom meetings to attend, or relentless software updates ….nor emails to read and a ‘to-do’ list full of work related substances. It is gone man, and a huge portion of that was tech crap. With life in general, I feel humans have overstepped boundaries marking a clear delineation between what is technology and what is human. And the scary thing is that I perceive of this ‘now’…which is AI and Social Media in still its infancy.

So I have decided to return to a time in which my comfort zone resides in… I was just talking with my nephew and we were chatting about circa 1970-90’s…. an era in when I feel humanity was at a pretty top end of things in terms of creature comfort and knowledge yet little technology as we know of it today. But during that relatively brief era, a combination of technology and the social media which accompanied, has brought an era of increasing dismay and surely skepticism.

So my quest has been a return to a time now unknown to many and forgotten by an equal number. …that of a more analog world. For instance in my situation, there was a time I was over-reliant upon You Tube and it became addictive. And in our camera world, where the technology and ease of camera plus lens made it relatively easy to be void of both fun and creativity to arrive at capturing shots. I speak of extreme ISO’s or AF or more or less just ‘press and snap’ to take images in the camera world and to call yourself a photographer.

Don’t misunderstand me as I arrived at this conclusion based upon my thoughts, or my problem and I couldn’t care less about your stance. Go ahead and embed a chip in your brain or invest $20,000 in Leica cameras + lens. Shoot proudly with that red dot. Or take your newest Fuji 100 (whatever alphabet we are on now to designate model) and shoot it too. Use memory cards or no, better yet, Wi-fi your images to your phone or upload to the cloud. Again, not for me. Likewise, share my images with the world and be in constant anticipation of someone ‘liking’ your image with a thumbs up. It becomes all about social media and not the photography. Or if you elect, become a prisoner to social media and constantly worry about a You Tube Channel or Instagram or whatever senseless social media platform comes into existence, for they will always be there, friendless changing.

For…. I will continue to chip away at that hype and inhuman existence and strive for ‘none of the above’. I purposely elect to shoot with analog cameras and I take control by developing my own film. I even use caffenol where I can, as evident by what is in my refrigerator now cooling down and in the image I provided below. I even choose to enlarge my 35mm film negatives and create alternative printing from them. Some may label it as imperfect or lacking mainstream, but hey, so what? I might even hesitate to take the ancient medium of colored pencils and begin to shade in color into my BW images. Shame on me.

All of that forces me to pull back. I view the world of 1970’s—1980’s and say, okay…where can I bring today back into yesterday….It is possible but not always doable. For instance in with my camera hobby, I am not 100% analog for I obviously haven’t achieved pure analog (IE: this blog / Squarespace or DP Review). While I scan my film negatives I enlarge them from 35mm to 6” x 9” or there about and I do it using Pixelmator which is an old Apple app. I like to physically view my images and hold them in my hands so by enlarging this allows me to use alternative printing to showcase my art. If I decide to create a zine, I send them off to Mixam for printing.

So no, not 100% analog but a few baby steps toward. The end result of my imperfect masterpieces created using alternative processes fits my need for now. I have become more comfortable in my own analog skin and less reliant on digital. Perhaps I will find a need for a complete dark room set-up but no need to rush. My current studio works. But this analog process is one that slows me down and allows me to reflect. I am more at peace, less stressed, less reliant upon digital and less need to be perfect, in my imperfect world regarding results. I have taken a step back in my time. Below is a shot of my caffenol percolating in the refrigerator so I can develop a few rolls I took the other week.

The Swing of Salt Printing

I am here in my Tucson studio and have been working on salt printing. A few things come to mind.

First…I tried printing a landscape photograph of the Badlands in South Dakota which I took this past summer …a 35mm film captured with the Olympus OM-2sp. I happen to enjoy the photo. But I also have been showing it around and others are not overly crazy about it. So it has me wondering if I should even pursue more landscape photography using the salt printing process. I envisioned having a small zine of landscapes done in that manner. Will ponder on. Below is the photo.

The second thing that has come to me has been in answering a question I have had regarding why some images come out more sepia than others. I already knew that the longer a photo ‘rests’ after the final rinse, and with the addition of putting a coating on after it has dried, it turns darker in that final process. But I think it also has to do with when I prepare the paper with sodium or silver nitrate, if I force dry the paper by using a hair dryer or smaller space heater, than it comes out sepia it appears. If I just let the paper dry naturally, the sepia isn’t as strong. The image below has a sepia tinge to it, as I took a shot of this with my iPhone, so that is another thing entirely as in person, it is more black. Go figure. Also, the image below was not under the UV lights as long as I would normally as I wanted the person to come thru a bit more and not be as dark. So that too causes sepia. Too little time under UV lights. Lots to learn….each image has to be taken individually and understood.

Salt Printing Again

I am preparing for my winter ‘studio’ months….a time where I find I concentrate more on printing, experimentation, zine creation etc…. The summers and shoulder seasons are for ‘filming’….. So my trek back to my Tucson studio allows me to retool and rethink and of course to experiment.

To my Salt Printing process….. My studio has been transformed into a salt printing studio. It is not total ‘blackout’ so I can’t have an enlarger unless I deaden the light, but I did create my own UV light box which I have taken copious notes on, as well as the process…..if you read my page entitled Salt Printing.

This year I am experimenting with different forms of paper and I think overall paper size as well. I participated in a photography festival selling my zines and books in Philadelphia a few months ago and while there I talked to a young lady from Ithaca, New York (Christine Elfman) who was showing off some of her salt prints. I want to shift some of my future zines into that direction as I have pondered over it the past year or two but haven’t made the shift to actually do so. But her influence has me headed now.

So….paper….paper…which paper? I have used various papers from the ‘cheapo” from Walmart to Arches, to Fabriano, to Strathmore etc… Both Hot and Cold as well as homemade watercolor paper from Mexico. To each, well….to their own.

This year I am branching out the experimentation process hoping to really find one that just ‘hits me’ …although I am almost convinced the process of salt printing is so convoluted with multiple variables that it is pretty difficult for me to say that ‘it is the paper’ man….. No, it is all the other things!

But this year….two new papers. First one up is Hahnemuhle Hot Press, 100% cotton and acid free. I have a feeling it is going to come close to Arches but hey, that is okay….I love Arches and would use it daily but it does get expensive, especially when experimenting. But a professional paper and frankly, I am not saving any $’s over Arches!!!!

As stated…it is hot press so I am know I will get some texture. Perfect…. I want that and feel the textured nature of hot press sets it apart from just a regular photograph, let alone the salt printing ‘look and process’.

The second paper I am trying is printing paper and not water color paper. This will be Lenox cotton printing paper. The texture won’t be as fine since it is printing paper so that has me thinking just a bit. But if I look to soften up some of my prints and perhaps shift from a 6x9” size to a more square 5”x5” size, this paper should be just fine. It is worth a try as without experimentation; well….is there any real growth?

As a backup…and as long as I am in the spending/purchasing mode, I will most likely order some Revere 320 gsm platinum paper which again, is a high quality paper but not hot press, so more a smoother texture as in the Lenox. I believe my first try will be with the hot press Hahnemuhle.

Will see….more to purchase though as I need some more Pictorico and I see it is not in stock in all places I have checked. This means purchasing more in ‘bulk’ and working at cutting to fit. It does come out cheaper that way but I worry with this product; will it curl up on me? Not sure. Many rolled bulk tends to curl.

Either way…I just continue to experiment and grow. I envision that next year I will have my first ‘salt printing’ zine to show / sell. That is my goal. While I prefer to work within a thematic approach, I have a feeling that this first salt zine will not evolve around any one theme, rather….a printing approach.

So…what are your goals? What are you looking forward to do? We all need that, right?

My Style

Well, I went out the other day and experimented with the Rollei as I needed to run it thru the ropes. Beautiful camera I might add. The most tactile analog I own, if that can be had.

Anyhow…..look at the following shots and you can see how these meet my style….. Not for everyone I know as my style is a bit ‘rough and ready’. I purposely have camera settings to match what I feel is my style and I also have a processing method that meets it as well. These were done on the Rocky Steps in Philadelphia as many people traverse the steps ‘up and down’ and usually when they are at the top of the steps they raise their hands in style and jump up and done as if they ‘save the world’….. Anyhow…below. Give me a comment if you find them interesting or boring or nice or okay or whatever. To each their own.

Rollei S or Mint Rollei

It isn’t often that I change my gear and purchase something new (or used)….as my usual squeezes are the Olympus OM’s (+ Zuiko lens) or perhaps my Pen F Half-frame…I might toss in the Lomo LC at times…Between all of those I have all my needs covered within low light lens, discreet lens, small size, zone focus ability/ manual focus.

As any film photographer most likely is aware of, I too have been following the camera industry and have taken note of two new film cameras. One is now out… the Pentax 17 while the other camera is due sometime in September of 2024.. the Rollei 35. Now to qualify myself here; I like to use these written ‘blogs’ as an opportunity to reflect within my craft and my needs…what works and why etc. Well today, I am reflecting on an upcoming ‘somewhat desire’ to look more closely at the Rollie brand, be it the new MINT Rollie or an older model. Where does it fit and would I use it.

I have already determined that the Pentax 17 would not fit my shooting needs. I don’t mind the half-frame aspect, as I do shoot my Pen F Half-frame, but I am pretty much anti the non-manual aspect of this new Pentax. Don’t get me wrong….it is a nice camera and appears to have been thought out by Pentax/Ricoh, but, it doesn’t fit my shooting styles. So a pretty easy ‘off it goes’…it is for film newbies or the retro crowd that wants to shoot film but has no idea how.

But the Rollie? Okay….take a look at an older Rollie 35S below:

Now, how does it fit my style? First, it is all manual. I want that challenge. Second, it is a 40mm lens with a F2.8 shutter. …again, fits my style. While I usually shoot 50mm with my Olympus OM’s….a 40 is doable. Third, it is very small and very discreet. Small so that no one can see me capture ‘life on the streets’ and discreet in that it has an almost silent, but still a very tactile shutter release button. Fourth, or is that fifth? ….it has Zone Focus. I prefer the Zone Focus system as it allows for more creativity in how I shoot and what the final image looks like. Sixth….it has a light meter and relatively easy to use and the batteries used are the same ones as my OM1, so Wein offers the batteries for sale. But how long will the light meter last, being an older camera? Finally, it is a classic. While a bit of a ‘brick’ …it is a small brick and weighs little. The ergonomics is not super but being so small, it really makes no difference. Heck, just look at my Lomo-LC.

Okay….now to the MINT ROLLIE AF. See below….

Since the camera hasn’t been released yet (another month), I have to use an image of a prototype, which is most likely what it will look like. Again, the same general size as the original Rollie but with different features. But how do these features match up to my shooting style?

First…size and weight, so that is a plus and I believe is actually less weight than the original Rollei. Second, this is a 35mm lens as opposed to the 40mm of the older Rollie. Not that much of a difference but something to take into account. It probably is not a deal breaker as I shoot 32mm with my Lomo. Third, it has an updated battery so easy to find. Fourth, it has a light meter that I know will work for years to come and is serviceable. Fifth, instead of manual focus or zone focus, it comes with AF. Now, that is my potential deal killer. I like manual. I like zone focus. I don’t like AF but can it be manipulated and gotten around? I am not sure. Sixth, while small, the discreetness of shutter is not evident. In fact, it is a prolonged electronic shutter sound and surely louder than the original Rollei. So now, I have two possible negatives with the lack of zone focus and the bit more of a shutter sound, which hurts street discreetness. Also, the price is $850 USD. Quite a chunk although not a ‘chunk’ as in Leica $$$$$ chunk. And relatively speaking when compared to the price of new cameras in the day of the old Rollei’s, it is quite the bargain for a new camera. But still a price.

What is my decision? Well….I don’t have one yet…. I will save up for the camera in either case. Will the price of the original Rollei’s go ‘down’ as the new MINT version takes over? Perhaps. Will I learn something about the MINT Rollei that I wasn't aware of before and that has to do with Zone Focus? Perhaps….But i have written MINT and I have no reply. I have contacted other You Tubers’ who have had early access to the Rollei, and have no reply. So, a bit open in regards.

Will I get one or do I even need one to begin with? Old or new. No…. I have a fairly extensive Olympus OM + Zuiko lens collection and i have a Lomo 32mm that I use for film discreetness, as well as my Pen F Half frame that I use from time to time. Being at most, a F2.8 lens, I will not be able to use the Rollei under low light conditions like I use my OM’s. The discreetness in the electronic shutter sound on the MINT Rollei equals the ‘lack of discreetness’ of my Pen F Half Frame but in no way matches the Lomo quiet shutter nor the shutter sound of the older Rollei. So is the Rollei (old or new) just an expense? … Most likely. That in itself might be the deciding factor although…..I always enjoy learning and trying new cameras. While I don’t have GAS, I do enjoy the hobby of learning about different optics around.

Update August 18th…. I purchased a Rollei 35S from KEH in the states. My reasoning came down to the loud shutter and film advance of the newer Mint Rollei (not good for discreetness) as well as the lack of zone focus/ manual focus (my photography style needs this). In addition, I feel that since there is such a distinction between the old and new versions, that the price of the old Rollei will not go down, but perhaps up, as people become more aware of this camera and decide to opt for a ‘good copy’ of the older Rollei 35S. While I purchased one with a working light meter, since I shoot much of the time using the Sunny 16 rule, ….it is just a plus that it works.

There are Times....

I know there are people who find dealing with negatives…whether that is process of developing film or scanning the negatives, as a pain in the butt. But no, not I ….I actually enjoy the ‘process’ and find it meditative. I am alone in the process and just mellow out during. But one thing I have found that I don’t currently have is a manner to view my negatives prior to scanning. I simply lack the ease I need.

There are times when I want to see the negative, quickly….once processed. Sure, I can hold them up to the window and figure it out. Or I hold them up to the computer monitor. But both options are not ideal and they don’t provide me with an opportunity to view upclose/enlarged.

So….I got online. I could have ordered in something ‘new’ from B&H or Amazon or Walmart….but I didn’t like the product. All of them are combination gadgets made for both slide and negatives and I am okay with that. But they also come with APP’s that allows one to view on ‘da phone’ , but no, not for me, I deliberately choose an analog process to stay away from that APP crap. No, I am not doing that crap. Another complaint I see is that when using one of these gadgets and the negative is fed thru the slot, the negative doesn’t just slide thru easily in all cases. If there is any curl to the negative (which often times there can be) and doesn’t lay flat, it won’t feed properly. Also, sometimes, especially with cheaper film, the negative has a slight tear or has a sprocket torn etc; it won’t feed in either.

Moving on from that, I began to Ebay this issue and was looking for a product from my days, my now-classified ‘vintage days’ Amazing, my life now extends into the vintage times. ….So what was done in those old days…the vintage times? That is what I want. People figured film out ‘back then’ as film was at it’s peak and the products sold back then for film photography, actually worked. Perusing Ebay II came up with several options but the one I selected has a feed for 35mm negatives or slides. The product also comes with a magnifier so I can 3x the negative to closely see what is on it. Sounds perfect….see below.

Appears brand new, but vintage. Made from metal…..has a magnifier and has no need to scan or app’s or whatever, that make them unworkable. All for $25. …. There are times, and there you go.

A Tale of Two

It has been stated, said….written in stone or perhaps not; that there is a difference between film and digital images. In fact, a friend of mine who goes out with me will always say, that since I eventually will scan my negatives, that I have digital images. Well, technically I cannot argue since I have scanned the images, but the output is just different. My film, is way different than his digital…..period. Written in Stone.

Case in point. Two images are coming up, one film, the other digital. Now, both were done in Black and White and both were relatively difficult images to capture. These were taken at night with no flash, and the images show a reflection in the window from the opposite side of the street of a few large heads (Linda McCartney, John Dillinger etc) . The image also has, as a reflection, cars moving in the street in front of those large head reflections, as seen below. Now, inside the store/bar…the images will show various things. Take note of the back posters on the wall to the left and any people who might be around those posters, either in the background or foreground. For that differs slightly between these images.

The above image is film ….400 Fomapan taken with a 50mm 1.4 Zuiko lens on an OM1 SLR. Notice the cars and the large heads which are the reflections. Notice the poster “Short Film Night’ …. and the couple seated by the poster. Now compare this to the image below which is the digital.

That was taken with a digital 35mm lens on a Fuji F100 series. You can see roughly the same in the background but the foreground has more people. The lady on the left was not present when the film image was taken but the lady ‘centered’ and talking to the other lady who has her back towards us was present on the film as well.

You can clearly see obvious difference. The Digital is sharper….no grain, the Depth of Field is more intense. The film image has more shadows, deep blacks, more grain and less polished. The people up front, while there….are not visible on the film image.

Why is that? Well….I imagine that it is due to ISO more than much else. The film ISO was set at 400 and I needed to have my camera wide-open at 1.4 while the shutter was near 1/60th…while I know that my friend had his ISO ‘up to’ 6400’ for the evening on his F100 digital. I am not sure what the Iso setting was for this particular image, but I know it was close to 6400. Now with the ISO, he could afford to shift his other settings to accommodate more a field of view. He was using ‘live’ so not sure he really new the settings when he took the image.

Is one image better? Well, that depends on your thinking and what you prefer. For me, the film has character. The digital just looks sharp and not real, not authentic. Film all the way for me baby.