I had just obtained a number of old Kodak Series V filters, so I decided to do some experimenting. I took my Rolleidoscop loaded with Fuji NPH400 to Kensington Market in Toronto and spent the day using the various filters. This was shot with a pair of Y1 filters. I had the NPH400 cross-processed in E6 chemistry by Toronto Image Works (who sadly just discontinued their E6 processing for good).
My friend Rick was shooting a bridge near Cherry Street in Toronto and invited me down. Apparently a road crew was about to refurbish the bridge, so we thought we better capture the peeling paint while we had a chance. Shot with TL-120 modified with Sam Smith’s 55mm conversion Mamiya lenses on Fuji film.
Approximately once a year dr5 offers “Dev2” service, which is basically sepia processing. The only Fuji film that can be processed in dr5 is Neopan 400, and at that only in Dev2. When dr5 announced the limited availability of Dev2 last year, I grabbed the only roll of Neopan 400 I had, and drove out to the airport. Behind a strip mall row, beside a dilapidated parts factory, resided a trio of desecrated automobile shells. This was part of that day’s one roll shoot. Shot with a TL-120 modified with Sam Smith’s 55mm conversion, on the aforementioned film using a handheld meter.
I’ll bet you this homage to the hog was shot in Shakespeare, Ontario.
Handheld, TL-120, metered through the camera, using expired Fuji RVP100.
This is my brother-in-law, Gordon, and yes ladies, he’s single! This is another shot from last year’s beer run. Gordon plays an international online tank game, so we stopped on our way to the beer store in Vermont to shoot an avatar image for him. I captured a few shots with a Fuji W3, and then I bracketed some exposures with the Stereo Samulette.
I have another version of this shot that I like slightly better, as the background is sharper and there’s an American flag present, but the setting sun washed out some of Gordon’s features and his pose was more rigid, so you get to see this one instead.
I realize there’s a scratch or some sort of anomaly on the left film chip.
This was handheld, shot on HP5 processed by dr5 – I think the f-stop was 16, 1/100th of a second handheld, and the distance and hyperfocal estimation was guesswork (there’s no through-the-lens focusing on this camera).
My brother-in-law Gordon is a bière connoisseur. He makes regular pilgrimages to Vermont to frequent a specialty store there that stocks micro-brews from around the globe.
Last year I decided I’d accompany him on one of his beer runs to Vermont via the quaint Quebec countryside so that I’d have an opportunity to shoot with my folding medium format camera. If I did all the driving, I’d have control over where we stopped for a photo op. I am pleased with how the camera performed. I enjoy the vintage feel of this shot, marred only by the snout of the more modern vehicle peering out from the rear of the truck bed.
This scene reminds me of the subject matter that my late friend Earl Bennett was attracted to when he painted. He studied with Thomas Hart Benton in the 1930s and for the most part painted works that dealt with small town, mid-Western life.
This image was shot on HP5, processed by dr5. I wish I could say the shutter speed was 5 and the f-stop was 5, but no such luck. The f-stop was 32, handheld at 1/100th.
The camera was created by Sam Smith, fusing together two 1950s-era AGFA Isolette II folders. It has AGFA’s intermediate-level f4.5 Apotar lenses on S-Prontor shutters. When folded shut, it fits into a jacket pocket. It’s resplendent in faux ostrich skin. I wanted to name it “The AGFA Stereo Smith-O-lette”, but Sam liked the sound of “Sam-O-lette” better. For some reason, when I say “Sam-O-lette” I think of Frank Zappa’s “Camarillo Brillo” and the lyrics; “She had a snake for a pet, and an amulet…”, so since Sam told me to name this camera “whatever sounds good”, I’ve named it “The Samulette”.
I shot this during a family trip to Manhattan a few years ago. I guess I was in a reflective mood (hahaha). This was captured with a 3D World TL-120 on expired Fuji RVP 100F, handheld, metered through the camera.
Many acronyms have been created for the letters in “Ford”. Most of them are unflattering. I’m a big Ford fan, so I’ve created a positive acronym for F.O.R.D. – “Forgotten Old Relic Discovered”. This old Ford is resting peacefully by the side of the road in Crawfordville, Florida. I bought some infrared filters for my TL-120 and shot a few rolls of Kodak Aerochrome on that trip. This is one of the results. This particular strain of Aerochrome can be (and was) processed in E6 chemistry. The film is rated at 400, and I took exposure readings through the TL-120’s meter. The metering lens also had an infrared filter on it. I much prefer to photograph old wrecks and decaying cars over restored vintage vehicles (even though I do appreciate restored vintage vehicles). It’s been said many times, but if only these old rust-buckets could talk!
I had my TL-120 down at Toronto’s waterfront and I was attracted by the myriad of shapes, textures and colours (or colors, if you happen to reside in The States) that were migrating towards the shoreline. I kept a tight composition with the intent of creating a sort of in-camera collage. I wanted to fill the frame with as many of the various and sundry debris as I could, illustrating the contrast between man-made and natural debris, without necessarily establishing an indication of their location. This was shot on Velvia 100 using the TL-120’s built-in meter.
We used to live in an old Victorian house in downtown Toronto. Access to the garages was via an alley, and that’s where I found the door in this photograph. The door served as an entrance to someone’s garden, and I was drawn to the textures of the weathered wood, tarnished metal, and peeling layers of paint. This might’ve been one of the first shots I took with my TL-120, or it might’ve been shot with my Sputnik – I’m not too sure. What I do know is that around this time my local lab stopped processing AGFA Scala, and I wanted to determine where I should send my Scala rolls in the future. I shot a few rolls and sent a couple to dr5, and a couple to Mainphoto. This is one of the shots from a Mainphoto roll. Washed out, not a lot of contrast. I think it has a vintage aged look to match the textures on the door. It would have been a very different shot had dr5 processed it. Not necessarily better, but different.
I used to travel to Upstate New York quite frequently. My friend Erich Hadfield has over 250,000 78 rpm records piled up in two barns about 20 minutes apart there. After I purchased my TL-120 I started taking it on my record buying trips instead of my Realist. This photograph is one of a series of shots of an old abandoned boarded-up school house. On the side of it is a large pentagram-type star. I was drawn to this school house because of all of the history, memories and stories it contains. I tried to imagine what this place was like when it was operative and thriving. I like the depth between the viewer and the school house, but I’m not crazy about the soft foreground grass. I’m considering re-mounting this one in a cardboard landscape mount (if I can get my hands on one) and masking out as much of the soft-focus grass as I can. I shot this on Ilford Pan F Plus, and it was processed by dr5. I shot the roll at whatever ASA his site suggests for this film.