This was a really important time in my life, so there is some sentimental attachment to these negatives. I’ve taken some liberties with the Church from Scenic South Dakota. The Prarie Fire was one of my first shots with the press camera. It was of a fire that was literally across the street from the Mission where I lived. I calculated despite guessing at the exposure, only partially developing the negative (always measure twice kids) , it still is a pretty amazing shot in my opinion.

For anyone interested you an read about the Pictorialists and the “Straight Photograpgy” schools at the link. Long story short, it was gigantic photo-nerd, slapfight in the early 20th century that pitted one group of legendary photographers (Stieglitz, Man Ray) against another (Paul Strand, Ansel Adams). The thinking and philosophies behind each of schools of thought is still much in evidence today, and is especially relevant given what you can do with an image in Photoshop. 

Original image with some color adjustment

More moodines to come

Normally I’m a “straight photography” guy.  A guy with his camera and all the limitations it brings, his vision and minimal retouching/repair. I’ve always felt that a lot of photoshop is cheating - especially when you start adding things that aren’t there. But all things in moderation right?

Tonight I’m posting some “constructed” images, heavily enhanced to evoke a mood or a sense of time or place. These images began as fairly run of the mill snapshots on the beach, shot with the Rolleflex on Fujichrome 100 (color positives). Dropping some infrared filters to make the blacks pop and layering in some blurs and vigneting to give it a vintage feel.

Results vary.

Since the roll was C41 (print film, and therefore WAY easier to get developed) , I just dropped it off at the local camera store and was surprised to find a few gems here and there (not bad for a roll with 12 images). I scanned them in, and did some minimal retouch and cropping (mainly for dust). Funny - even when I have color negatives, I convert to B&W. It just sort of feels that’s the way a picture is supposed to be. 

This is the first of the bunch. More to come. Kinda goes without saying, but all the images are copyright 2011 by (me) Trip O’Dell. 

This is a shot from last September, at a Renisance Fair near Freemont California. It was a great family outing. Maeve’s princess obsession was in full swing, so we bought a little outfit for her audience with the ‘Queen’.  It was a very big day for her. There was this little garden off the path, and it just seemed to perfectly complement the vibe she was giving off. I almost expected at giant, white rabbit with a pocket watch to go barreling by.  Photoshop enhancements : Black and white layer filter (lighter), a couple of brightness/contrast layers with selective masking on highlights and very minor blemish removal with an unsharp mask filter to make the edges pop.

I thought it was interesting since some elements on the image seemed to have reversed naturally - All I did to this was play with the levels in Photoshop to make the tones pop a bit are removed some of the more offensive lint with the healing brush. 

I left some most of the chemical residue marks as they add an interesting dimensionality to the image. Not really suitible for framing, but a fun exercise non the less.

So - all this fancy film-snob stuff aside, there are practical matters to consider when abandoning digital for analog photography - especially when you get into larger negative formats such as 4x5. 

Instant film is great - there’s something magical (almost Christmas-morning-like)  about tearing those sheets apart and seeing what showed up on the paper. There are even some very cool techniques that I’ll be exploring in later posts - but DAMN, that fujifilm ain’t cheap!

Sadly, very little about 4x5 is cheap (except time -anticipate spending tons of it making mistakes!). A 4x5 image is around 15 times larger than a 35 mm image - so equipment is larger and more expensive. 4x5 requires more chemistry, bigger enlargers, more space, different lenses, larger tanks for negatives …

<insert record scratch sound effect here>  

Back up there Clarence! There is a method for developing your 4x5 film that doesn’t require:

• Sitting in the dark and developing each sheet of film in a tray like the sad, lonely man you are.
• Buying a huge, expensive, leaky and difficult to load tank for 4x5 negatives  (which has liquid measurements in gallons rather than ounces) 
• Finding and buying a very expensive JOBO rotary drum system with a 4x5 pro tank (good luck with that Rockefeller).

I found a method that lets you use those tried and true (if a little crusty) Patterson tanks we all remember from high school. Its known as the “Taco” method - mainly because when prepared, your negative will sit inside a semi-ridgid plastic sleve that looks like the world’s second-least appealing homage to mexican cuisine.

Naturally, I was excited to learn about the Taco Method for several reasons:

• “The Taco Method” just sounds awsome, and potentially, a little naughty
• Not spending $75 to $750 on a system to develop my negatives will save my wife a long and costly legal defense against manslaughter charges
• I get to bust out my pocket knife (fine! scrapbooking paper trimmer.) and exercise my inner McGuyver fabricating a set of 4x5 “tacos”.

Things you might need for this little exercise in creative distruction.

• A large plastic ice cream bucket (ours came filled with carrot sticks… I mean, who buys ICE CREAM by the gallon…. ahem) or other semi-ridgid plastic container with lots of surface area. Its better if it has different finishes on the plastic on each side - say matte and glossy. 
• A pocket knife, Xacto Knife, survival tool, scissors … (or scrabooking paper cutter)
• A sharpie
• Ruler
• Cutting surface
• Around 30 minutes.

Step by step guide for plastic 4x5 taco shells:

• Remove any handle, lids or stickers from the bucket you’re about to cut up.

Cut down one side of the bucket

Trim arond the top and bottom of the bucket. In my case, I wanted to remove the bevel/lip of the bucket at the top and bottom so I was left with only a single, slightly curved sheet of plastic.

You can discard the scraps now, we’ll be focusing on the single sheet of pastic.

One of the challenges was taking a rounded bucket and cutting out (relatively) square tacos. The trimmer helped in this, and the plastic was thin and soft enough that I was able to use the paper trimmer without much difficulty.

Note  - not all 35mm tanks work for this. The one pictured is taller than average, has a screw-on lid with an exterior thread so the lit sits higher than typical tanks. Tanks with longer necks that sit farther into the tank will not likely work with tacos because they aren’t tall enough to provide 4” on internal clearance.

From this point, its important to consider HOW to actually use the taco shells in the development process. The 4x5 negatives will only fit in the tank if you cut the tacos to roughly the same size and dimension as the film sheets. The film will be bent (NOT FOLDED) emulsion side out so the emulsion has maximum exposure to the developing chemistry in the tank. The emulsion is the must sensitive area on the film, and any contact with it, especially when wet, will result in damage to the final negative. The shiny film surface is comparably tougher. That will be the side of the film that is actually in contact with the inside surface of the taco. I plan on using the glossy side of the plastic in the bucket for the inside surface of the taco as it is less likely to scratch, and the rougher matte finish on the outside will make the tacos easier to handle when they are wet. Once the film has been inserted into the taco, use a fabric-covered hair-tie around the outside of the shell to keep the film in place. Nothing (other than chemistry) should ever come in contact with the film. The shiny side of the film touches the shiny side of the taco, which is then gently folded and held into place with the hair tie. Once the taco is prepped, you scan slide it into the tank around the center post of the tank. Normally that center post is a no-brainer as it keeps film reels in place, but it also serves as a light-tight conduit for chemistry in and out of the tank. If you forget the cener post when you close the tank and turn on the lights, your film will be ruined.

With the post in place, you should be able to fit at least 4 taco/sheets into a tank per batch. If you want to get more aggressive with how you fold the tacos, you may be able to fit more, but I wouldn’t press my luck. With 4 sheets of film, You’re fine using the same amount of chemistry as you would for 2 rolls of 35mm.

Can’t wait to try these out! 

Its been years since I’ve attemped some long-exposures and despite a pretty heavy drizzle (and with the help of a hefty bag/camera hood on the ‘ol Crown Graphic) I made some night-time test shots with the Fuji 100 speed instant color film that’s calling to me from the fridge.

Some shots were better than others, and honestly it took a few attempts to get all the steps down to make a decent image (open the dark side on the back, focus, calculate exposure, set the aperture and shutter speed (bulb of course) - but I finally got it down. The image below is one of the better ones. 

I had to do a little color adjustmet and filtering (for dust), but I’m pretty happy with the result - its got a little Wayne Jiang/Edward Hopper thing going no?

Store front - Montclair New Jersey - August 6, 2011 F.22 @ 65 seconds.

I got into design mainly through a personal interest in and passion for photography.  

Over the years I aquired more gadgets and toys - espcially cameras - very nice cameras at that. But digital has made me lazy, and worse - uninspired to make great images. The act of making a photograph had become so mechanical, so brainless and consequence-free, all the challenge and fun had gone out of it for me. 

So I sold my pricey, semi-pro DSLR and I’ve been getting back into vintage film cameras, formats, processes and approaches to image making in an effort to inspire my work elsewhere. Tonight, I’m posting the first image in that effort. A 4x5 black and white poloroid print from my (new to me) Crown Graphic press camera. 

For such a simple image, a tremendous amount of effort went into its creation - researching and teaching myself about peel-apart film and backs for Graphlex cameras, researching the right back - sourcing the film, and finally calculating the exposure (no meters cheaters!). 

For what the shot is ( a snap of my wife sitting on the couch in our apartment) I’m extremely proud of the result. and enthralled with the possibilities. For now - its off to bed after a great nights! work.

Katie - 8-3-2011

(f 4.7 at 1/50sec) Fujifim on FP-3000B45 - scanned