Category Archives: a25

“TEXTURES”

by Steven Lederman

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.

US Consulate at the Chateau

by Paul Shay

The Stars and Stripes and the US Seal are subtle signs of the US Consulate close to Quebec City’s Chateau Frontenac: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_Frontenac

The Consulate is witness to two centuries of friendship between the US and Canada following the war of 1812. I am playing in the early morning light with a mirror to juxtapose adjacent objects in new ways.

Original slide shot October 10th, 2011 with a tripod-mounted Sputnik using Provia 100P exposed at 1/25th at f22.

Champlain at the Chateau

by Paul Shay

A large statue of Samuel de Champlain stands beside the Chateau Frontenac, in honour of his founding of Quebec City over 400 years ago:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_de_Champlain

In this early morning light I am playing with a mirror creating a picture within a picture, juxtaposing adjacent objects in new ways.

 

Original slide shot October 10th, 2011 with a tripod-mounted Sputnik using Provia 100P exposed at 1/25th at f22.

Old Quebec City and the Citadelle

by Paul Shay

A historic building of old Quebec City is juxtaposed in the mirror onto the green fields surrounding the Citadelle, the city’s fortifications:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citadelle_of_Quebec

In this series I have played with a mirror to juxtapose adjacent objects in new ways.

Original slide shot October 9th, 2011 with a tripod-mounted Sputnik using Provia 100P exposed at 1/25th at f20.

Green oval on Burning Bush

by Paul Shay

The green leaves in the oval mirror are in striking contrast to the red of the Burning Bush. It is ironic that the shrub is called a Burning Bush as it sits in front of Quebec City’s Armoury that burned in July 2008: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City_Armoury

In this series I have played with a mirror to juxtapose adjacent objects in new ways. I am bothered by the softness of the image in the mirror, probably caused by the wind moving the mirror, but my wife likes it the most of the four and asked me to include it anyway.

Original slide shot October 9th, 2011 with a tripod-mounted Sputnik using Provia 100P exposed at 1/25th at f20.

Black and White Blue

by John Thurston

This is my first effort with DR5 processing and I’m extremely pleased with the results. I’ve been very happy with the sharpness I get with Provia 100, and reasonably happy with the sharpness with Provia 400x, but with Ilford HP5 at 400 I can see the grains of sand on the rocks. It is expensive to process, but I hope to shoot some more HP5 next year.

The cave below the Crack of Doom, persisted for at least three months. I first visited it in August. This image was made in October. The ceiling was higher and the space more open, but the cave was still there. This is almost the same vantage point as Streamside Snapshot. The rise in the very center of this image is off on the right side (and touching the ceiling) in Streamside.

Tripod mounted TL120-1, Ilford HP5 at ISO 400, DR5 processing

 

 

Streamside Snapshot

by John Thurston

Back in August, I had found an awesome cave at the edge of the ice. I had been under the ice for about 30 minutes trying for some images of the stream running at the bottom of the cave. The light level was low and I was having to guess at 1.5 or 2 second exposures while the melting roof falling all around me. These two ladies climbed and slid down to where I was and asked if they could take a few pictures without disturbing me.

“Sure thing!”, I said. They weren’t going to interrupt my process, and I really wanted some pictures of them against the blue.

While they took each others’ pictures, I tried to advance to advance the film, open the aperture enough to get the shutter-speed down to a more realistic number, compose a new image, and focus for the shallow depth of field. I think I got off three exposures before they were done and ready to climb out and head home. This is the only one which is close to useable, and it’s still too dark. I really need to carry a small flash and learn how to use it 🙁

This is in the same cave in which I made Crack of Doom. I’m turned 180 degrees and thirty feet farther in.

Tripod mounted TL120-1, Provia 400X, un-recorded aperture and shutter.

 

Crack of Doom

by John Thurston

Some glaciers are relatively stable. The Mendenhall is not one of these. At this fissure, the race is on between the melt action from the outside edge and thinning ceiling caused by the increasing depth of the crack. When I found this ceiling crack, I knew I had to try to get an image of it before it disappeared.

It’s shot on Provia 400X with about a half-second exposure. Because of the height of the ceiling and the orientation of the crack, I was unable to get everything in focus with the TL120-1. Yep, the foreground is soft, but I feel it isn’t too distracting. A greater distraction is the stream of water very near the camera. Again, there was nothing I could do about it, so I made the image as best I could.

This is one image I whole-heartedly suggest experiencing inverted. Flip that slide over and see what’cha’ think.

This is also an image which I have found impossible to color-match between the slide and the computer screen. The colors just don’t exist in the sRGB space to present the colors on the film.

August, 2011 – Tripod mounted TL120-1, Provia 400X