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.

And You Don't See Me? Right?

Being a street photographer I am always amazed by how the vast majority of people have no idea of their surroundings. They are clueless… Are they Zombies? Are they Avatars from the future? ….Either way, they just lack any awareness of their physical presence and those around. These' ‘space cadets’ just walk around or stand or sit or look off in some direction and are pretty much there for a street photographers picking. Totally oblivious to that which surrounds them. For instance…take this couple below….:

There they are….about a foot away. Just staring. I am next to them and I have no idea of their names, where they are from….do they speak English? Are they Vegetarians? ….do they read books? Are they lovers? Do they prefer chocolate ice cream over vanilla? No idea….. But there they are, big as day.

Dah…take my shot…capture me. I am not posing in any way so a candid shot will turn out just fine….just fine. And yes, I did. I took their shot. In fact this is one of 4 shots I grabbed from them but I prefer this one as they are both looking ‘out’…..I like the closeness of it all. Just ‘Us”…hanging out…..far from good buddies.

Then on the other hand……

Zine Platforms

I have been into ZINES for years…..and have not really struggled but surely had my eyes open to new ways to approach a ZINE in terms of pre-production. Pre-production is what many are not even aware of regarding a ZINE.

Yes, pre-production does involve taking images and the process, be it film or digital…. One can’t do photo zine without photos. But let’s say you have your theme or project and your images are in your files, or negatives are ready to scan. How about transferring that to a physical Zine?

This is where some pre-production once more occurs. Two parts to this process. First is the laying out of your photos as in some sort of contact sheet. In the old days of film, we would always create a contact sheet of our roll of film. Looking at this contact sheet we could determine what was good enough to be printed. Printing in the old days and viewing was a long (time wise) and a relatively expensive process with chemicals and paper etc, so very few negatives on any given roll was actually printed. Now, whether digital or film (I scan my negatives), I come up with some sort of digital file. In order to actually view my images on some broad spectrum, I need to create a contact sheet with all of my images that I ‘want’ or ‘perhaps want’ to use in an upcoming zine.

Below….is my most recent contact sheet I am using (not done with this zine pre-preduction phase). As you can see, this contact sheet has icons of multiple images. This allows me to quickly view my potential images to use. If I don’t do this, I can have a hundred ‘best’ photos from any given project all strewn within various folders and files on my computer. In essence, I wouldn’t know where to begin as I moved forward. Hence, this contact sheet.

Also take note that within or next to each image I have various aspects written in….Sometimes I use this data in my zine and other times not. But data such as F stop, ISO, shutter and focal length. As I put together my photo zine, I do so by connecting images that flow. This ‘flow’ might be subject matter, sequencing of when images taken, groupings or solo shots….whether the image is mostly black, or white or in between. All of this makes a difference in putting together the right visual appeal of a zine.

It isn’t about just tossing images in…. It isn’t about placing in sequential order of when I took the image. It is just….what makes sense to create that all important visual appeal. Now in this project, I have hundreds of photos, so after scanning (if film) or downloading….I had to open up each image to select what I thought matched my criteria. My criteria was spoken to in the previous blog, so return to my blogs and read that one.

Once I have my contact sheet printed out, and I might add data next to each image….I then have to decide….what is my first photo? Make sure you start off on the right foot. Capture your audience with the first few photos. But don’t just load up the front half of your zine with the good photos and then run dry as you get to the end. Carefully and craftily you have to spread your “WOW” photos throughout. Thus, this is where the contact sheet comes into play.

Now….okay….I am ready to go, right? Well….not quite. Have you decided on what software to use to put together your zine? You need something as you can’t just send your images to the publisher (online or local) without them knowing the direction you are taking. Thus, software allows you to piece together your photos, one by one….. place in text or any little drawn on images, or arrows or whatever…..Remember you are creating a book /zine…. so take the time in this creation process and make it stand out.

There are several software programs out there….. For instance for years I used PAGES which is free on my IMAC. While I got used to this software, it had its limitations and it was frustrating to move back and forth between pages, grouping and regrouping images and text….having things disappear on me etc…

So…I went looking on line….. I won’t provide you with a listing of software but will tell you I settled on Affinity Publisher. It was a one time $69 US dollar fee and not a monthly fee. I hate monthly fees. So for $69 I get my registration number which I can transfer to multiple computers so my IMAC is Arizona has it installed as does my IMAC in Philadelphia, as does my laptop. COOL! ….

I like Affinity for several reasons. First the $69 is cheap. Second….this is more user friendly in terms of setting up pages and moving pages around. Third, it has a ‘master page’ or pages, where I can create my own template to use for the entire project instead of inventing the wheel each page. Fourth, I can turn and twist images and text so it isn’t plain and dry and just straight on. I am creating something I want people to view, so I want to be ‘funky’ where funk is needed. Fifth….lots of room to grow. Tons of options, tons of things I have no idea exist in this software but room to grow. For instance, I can have backgrounds that are not one solid color but have gradients where colors meet, or blend or fade etc… That all offers a chance to enhance my final product.

So Affinity Publisher….. And, one of my goals is to get others on board with ZINES and teach this. So now I have a teachable software that is available for both PC’s and MACs and is relatively cheap,

Stay tuned…. my Melbourne Series is being worked on as we speak…..

Key Notes

When I do these blogs….many times I do these for ‘myself’ as opposed for others. I use these blogs as one approach to note taking. What am I doing right or wrong or why isn’t something working etc.

For instance….I was working on a recent book/zone project where I was going thru some of my past images and attempting to make a narrative from them…a visual form of an essay. But it wasn’t working. I was telling Deb just this morning that ‘it isn’t working’….and then I proceeded to create a list of 5-6 things as to why it wasn’t working. Then I mulled around with it once more thinking I could make the project work and no, it didn’t. Then I mulled a bit more and finally it occurred to me why it wasn’t working. And yes, it goes back to the way I shoot, the look I want…what and how I shot yesterday compared to today etc….

This is what I came up with. In order for my images to work and my overall workflow to be successful I need to make sure I hit upon ‘my basics’…or the thing that motivates me. Not what I hear from You Tube or know from other great photographer, but from me. What do I require.

First….when I go out shooting….I go out with a purpose now. No longer just shooting but a purpose in mind. So that really curtails the number of shots I take (film usually but digital is okay). I have a purpose and I seek to find that within my images. That is essential as I enjoy putting together zines and books that represent the central theme.

Second….I want the following in my images. I want movement. But, what is movement? I had to define that. Movement to me can be actual movement as in someone walking or running. But movement can also be action within what that person is seen as doing or represented as doing. So…take a look at these two images below.

Is this movement in the traditional sense? No…but what action is being presented here is movement. It shows this lady who is reflecting upon an image and caught within two separate images, not quite mirror of each other since I stepped back and shot in a refocus. But, the movement or action here is represented in her ‘reflecting’ and wondering to herself about this painting. Movement. Now take a look at the second image below.

This one is shot from behind the person as they walk down a narrow alley. Traditionally this might be thought of as movement but not in my eyes. The act of moving is caught by having his head turn back to me and look at me. That is movement. He is responding…acting….reflecting on ‘what I am doing’ as I take a shot of his movement. That is movement

In goes on and on….as to what qualifies but it has to have my definition of movement. A question that comes up after the fact about the image just taken.

Third…I want visual impact. If I take a nano-second to look at an image…does it create an impact within the viewer that stirs them? Does it make them go Wow?…If not….I don’t have a good picture. This impact can be done in several ways but many times, if not all it is accomplished by the shadows, light….and most of all geometry of the two as they play against each other. Okay, take a look below. What do you see initially? Do you like it?

Look at this one time and do so quickly. Like it or not? I think you will. Then look at it more thoroughly. Look at the shadows below…the harsh light above as it masks whatever he is pointing to (movement) on the table as the other guy looks on wondering (movement). Look at the angle of the table….the pole above the shoulders of the waiter etc… All off center. Angles….angles…. together with shadows and light. A great visual image from the start.

So….that is what I finally came down to today. What works…what doesn’t and why and why isn’t my current project not working? Because it lacks all three components to a degree. Theme, movement and impact.

To Take "Note"

I always say you have to use the best tool for the job….. I find that to be true with just about any project… IE, when I lay bricks for a pathway, I use a rubber mallet (hammer) while if I pound a nail, I use a steel hammer. When I paint a clay pot, I use an array of brush sizes. AND….and please take note as this goes against my photographic grain; when I take photo’s….I even use digital (egads I say!!), over film, if the project dictates it.

So my last project…..which will soon be a book…..entitled Ghost Riders….. demands that I capture individuals at night as they move ‘in and out’ of our mortal world. So far I have captured several thousand images using digital but very few are good enough to use in my image gallery/book. Now, there is no way I can capture the same using film. Why? Read on….. embrace change I need to tell myself, where change is needed.

First….sheer numbers alone imply that film is undoable. Let’s say conservatively that I took 1500 photo’s (way too low of a number) and divide that by 36 roll count of film and that equals around 42 rolls of film, plus the developing cost etc…plus the scanning time etc….

Second…the genre, the type….. what am I trying to capture? Since using digital allows me some use of ‘live screen’ if I elect…..that helps me frame and compose the scene based upon the light. If I didn’t do that, it would be pure ‘hit and miss’ and the numbers I quoted above (1500 conservatively) would be much greater. I simply can’t shoot ‘live’ with film. So, would I end up with any shots…any? Not sure.

Third….the mood I am trying to convey in my project Ghost Riders, demands a very moody, high contrast image when much of the background is just darkness…. a few lights….. much of the foreground or subject is blurred in detail, although…..I still want a bit of ‘life’ to poke thru the image. Digital allows me to do that while film is less contrasty, and while I can obtain blur, it isn’t the same as required in my images for this project.

Fourth…Aim……. Part of this project forces me to get close….more up close than sometimes many ‘subjects want’. Now, I have done street photo’s for many years and have no problem getting close and just snapping away and moving on. So most likely I wouldn’t be bothered with film and this same approach. But digital has made the project a bit easier in terms of time available to shoot.

Yikes….. when I re-read this blog I am aghast…. I am eeking out a swallow….my hand is shaking as I type…. my head somewhat faint….slow down…breathe now Jim. Digital? Really? Come now…..don’t drink the Kool-aid for I am in the ‘land’ of Kool aid drinkers and I usually run from the thought. But I have to admit, that yes….I find it appropriate to shoot digital ‘at times’ …after all, they shoot horses, don’t they? I drank the Kool-aid.

Lomography

According to Wikipedia….Lomography is…” a photographic style which involves taking spontaneous photographs with minimal attention to technical details…….and images often exploit the unpredictable, non-standard optical traits of cameras (such as light leaks and irregular lens alignment), and non-standard film processing techniques for aesthetic effect”

Well….. That looks a bit like my style. The other day I was out taking some photos with some 17 year old expired film I purchased thru Ebay from Cheche. I had no idea of how it was going to turn out but on a recent shoot in Nogales (one side is on the US, the other is Mexico), and during the celebration of Little Amal , I came down with the intent of pure experimentation. Whatever came of it, came of it…..

So, armed with that, I put my OM2SP in the bag along with a 55mm and 85mm lens. When I arrived I put on the 85mm and never looked back. I shot with Fomapan 400 (17 year old expired), knowing that since it was BW film, I had a pretty good chance of how it might look.

I shot a few rolls of film….then returned to my studio where I developed. I figured that since I attempted to overexpose a bit during the shooting process, I might also alow a bit more time in the development tank as I did stock with a full 9 minutes of swirling in the chemicals. In hindsight, I might have done 8:30. Now, with the two rolls I shot, I placed only one in the tank as this was an ‘experiment’ after all. In the taking of the images and….in the processing. So with one more roll to expose, I will probably go to 8:30 minutes.

If you look at some of the photos under my latest batch, you can see they turned out well. A few scratches and perhaps just a tad underexposed I would say (thus why I will process the last roll differently), the images are okay.

The point is….they are okay. I like them….I like the dark shadows,…the blackness….the thickness of lines and contrastiness of images. I like the scratches, the lines…..the development etc. The look….I like the look. That is my style. Others will look at it and rip them a part technically…. So be it. I don’t care. These are my images and I like the way they are. I hate perfection. The world is far from perfect and so are our eyes. So why should an image be perfect? Why should we take images into photoshop and digitally craft to seemingly perfection? Why do we distort colors and warp our true visual hue? Why do photographers in utter banality warp images with sharpness and shift away from natural degradation? I don’t know…. But it isn’t me. I am or must be a Lomographic designer….

The M8

The day I was out shooting in Tucson….a buddy and I got there around 5pm and we were having a beer around 8. So, …what……give or take 3 hours of street work? I was with one of my film cameras and 35mm lens. I was also experimenting with my Voigtlander VC11 light meter which attaches to the hot shot of my Leica film camera.

Now,…loved it…loved it, loved it, loved it. A small learning curve cropped up I overcame. The camera is pure mechanical….nothing to help me as all manual. So the Light Meter was placed in the hot shoe but since the camera isn’t at all mechanical, it doesn’t read the settings on the meter like other cameras might. So, a few mishaps where I just shot without transferring those settings to my lens/camera, but ….it worked all in all. It takes one step more, so not fast. It almost pays to just use the sunny 16 and estimate, …time wise that is.

But as the sun faded, as it does fairly early in our western area…my camera soon found itself unusable. Simply no light. So I ended up walking around watching Robert have fun with his digital.

Yet like all things, …one needs to look at the silver lining which was this experience got me thinking. I need a (EGADS) digital camera for certain situations but, and this is a huge but….it has to fit my ‘analog craving’ lifestyle. Is there such a beast out there? So my homework was ahead of me and I did just that. I read up, questioned, was on forums etc… all on that analog / digital quest. And I ended up with my perfect style…my analog digital style. I found a camera that was an analog wanting to be digital, instead of a digital wanting to be analog.

A Leica M8, and while not a Monochrom, with the CCD sensor, it surely produced excellent BW images.. COSTLY….remember that. Don’t try this at home unless you are aware of the cost.

The M8. I only shoots in BW …period so color rendition beyond is useless to me. That meets my style. It is 15 years old…..with a crappy LCD you can’t read, …yet, I don’t want to even have a LCD so a crappy one is next best thing. Some other NO’s…

NO live screen….. NO exposure meter beyond center weighted (very limiting). NO automatic focus….all manual baby. NO wi-fi, NO video…NO SD card over 32 MB. NO usable ISO beyond 800. My style is showing. NO EVF but only an optical which is what I shoot with on my manual film cameras. NO ratta-tat-tat as continuous shooting is nil. NO quiet shutter sound. Can I get any more analog…any more like my Leica M6 or MA or Olympus OM1 or OM2? Just happens to have as an ‘output’ some digital files instead of negatives but wow, pretty dam analog.

The games begin…..

Egads

I was with a friend today….to whom we just met in physical form as he came up from DC. to Philadelphia. Up until now, we have zoomed…texted, and shared images.

But a realization became apparent; that was he is a ‘digital’ nomad while I am a ‘film nomad’…. Not a lot of either of us blends to the others likeness when it comes to the end product. It is like I prefer an old dusty spy novel from the 1940’s and he prefers the latest from Lee Child or the like.

I eat up on random noise….I enjoy a scratch or two on my film….stray dust particles are a welcome site….water marks from developing is an imperfection element of perfection. Even stray light from an accidentally opened film canisters are a thing of beauty. … To me, sharpness is a bourgeois concept …blur is character. I enjoy shooting ‘into the sun’…. or purposely exposing wrong.…. or speed set too low to create a blur…. expired film…. The list of what can be done continues, not to mention the fuzziness of wide contrasty subjects and a general feel of messiness inherent in film.

My friend…. ‘none of that’….. No, none. He enjoys nose hairs on his images to be perfectly sharp. In fact, ‘sharpness’ is central to his thinking as focus peaking is key. Auto-mode is necessary. Using ‘live view’ and adjusting some toggle switch to set exposure and end product. Or, taking 5x the number of images I take and still end up with one good shot. Now I know he has knowledge, so don’t get me wrong. He has an excellent understanding of photography and I know that includes camera basics as he goes back in photography time, as long as I do.

But somewhere near Albuquerque we each took another turn and haven’t looked back. We both grew up in a film world….both embraced the Digital age as it hit upon us like a surfing wave. But yes, somewhere, sometime…our paths as photographers separated. He kept going down the Digital Nomad path and now has and believes in having the best camera and lens one can get. As he says, you only live once. And yes, I agree. I took the path back to the ‘film nomadic’ approach…..While on occasion I do ‘look back’ to that time we both were in Albuquerque (metaphorically speaking), yet each time I go out to shoot, I grab the film camera. Like him, I want the best….and have deemed my Olympus OM series from the late 70’s to mid 80’s as best; coupled with my vast array of Zuiko lens. And to boot, I do have a Leica MA plus lens if I prefer that route. All film though.

Now, we both go out and find approaches to viewing a scene or subject….we both look for light and wait for the scene to appear. Nothing really different. Just that the nomadic approaches we each have become married to, has been dictated to us almost via osmosis. Digital and Film… equally as different as painting with Acrylic or Oil or Water Color. That is recognized in the painting world, and now, we need to recognize that same difference in photography.