No. 1

Kiev 60 Arsat 80mm f2.8 Fujifilm Reala Arista C-41 Kit

When left alone, nature slowly reclaims all.

Scanned with an Epson V500 Photo using Epson's OEM software.

The Overgrown Path

                                   

Kiev 60 Arsat 45mm f3.5 Fujifilm Reala 100 Arista C41 Kit

This is the opposite view from my post The Barred Path, in hindsight the two taken as a single work invoke a sense of having no clear options. One can remain outside the gates, or turn and walk into an uncertain future.

The two present together

                                      

Scanned with an Epson V500 Photo using Epson's OEM software.

The Barred Path...

Kiev 60 Arsat 150mm f2.8 Fujifilm Reala 100 Arista C41

I have an artistic fascination with old doors that I cannot fully explain. I can say the ones that call to me do so at some sort of emotional level.  Maybe it is just a childish curiosity of what may lie beyond, or maybe it is the frustration of not knowing. I do feel they are symbolic barriers to the past, observers of comings and goings that will never tell their secrets.

Scanned with an Epson V500 Photo, using Epson OEM software.

Love....

Kiev 60 Arsat 45mm f4.5 Fujifim Reala 100 Arista C-41 Kit

The "Love" statue near Riverfront Park in Lynchburg, Virginia. Not much to say on this one other than I like the way the Arsat 45mm accentuates the converging lines of the sculpture from this angle.

Scanned using an Epson V500 Photo Scanner using Epson's OEM software. 

The James Through the Trees

Kiev 60 Arsat 80mm f2.8 Fujifilm Reala 100 Arista C-41 Kit

A peek at the James River passing through Lynchburg, Virginia through the dense foliage on its banks. I returned to my Kiev 60's to shoot my last two rolls of Fujifilm Reala and despite their quirks, I still love them as field shooters.

Scanned using an Epson V500 Photo using Epson's OEM software.

Desert Boulders

Fujifilm GA645Zi Fujifilm Reala 100 Arista C-41 Processing Kit

Another image from the roll of Fujifilm Reala that sat in my GA645Zi for nearly two years. I am sure my fellow analog photographers feel there are two sins in the sentence previous,

1. I left a perfectly good roll of film in a camera for nearly two years
2. I did not use my Fujifilm GA645Zi for nearly two years.

Either one is bad enough on its own, but combine the two and I really need to do some penance to the Analog Gods.

Anyway, it is a nice image of the boulders in the Sonoran Desert outside of Phoenix Arizona.

Scanned with an Epson V500 Photo using Epson's OEM software.

Sonoran Desert no. 1

Fujifim GA645Zi Fujifilm Reala 100 Arista C41 Processing Kit

Not bad for a roll of film that sat in the camera for nearly two years. This image was taken in the Sonoran Desert outside of Phoenix in September of 2015, but due to my hiatus from analog photography, is sat lonely and undeveloped until now. The roll held up well. I wish I could say the same for the other roll from this trip, which got two unprotected x-ray baths during the trip. I am sure they will be the subject of a future post.

Scanned with an Epson V500 Photo using Epson's OEM software.  

Majestic....

Fujifilm GA645Zi Fujifilm Reala 100 Arista C-41 Processing Kit - So many tones and textures. I have always loved Fujifilm's Reala and the is one of my few remaining rolls. The GA645Zi makes shooting medium format a guilty pleasure.

Scanned using an Epson V500 Photo using Epson's OEM software.

Hey Bulldog exposure no. 10

Kiev 60 Arsat Mir 45mm f3.5 20mm extension tube Fujifilm Reala 100 Arista C41 - This stern looking fellow was a gift from my Mother when I was 10 or so, and it has been a favorite shelf siiter of mine ever since. I believe it was a flea market or auction find, and made the perfect treasure for a young boy.

Shot using single studio strobe shooting through a white umbrella. The Mir 45mm's mild barrel distortion accentuates his regal face nicely. Scanning the series was difficult, the red caused a dominant color shift to cyan in Espon's OEM Scanner software, leaving me unable to get an acceptable color balance. HP's Scan Pro software for my Scanjet G4050 faired better especially on the brighter shots of this series. Out of the 12 exposures for the roll 6 were scanned using the G4050 and 6 using an Epson V500 and Vuescan 9.0.96. This image was scanned using the V500.

Missed. Variations

Kiev 60 Arsat 80mm f2.8 FujiFilm Reala 100 Arista C-41 Kit - I approached the shot from my last post Missed. exposure no. 10, in a number of different ways, both Black and White Film and Color film. Though I chose a black and white as my favorite of the series, the color roll yielded some interesting results....

Exposure no. 3 - No filter tungsten front lighting and daylight back lighting...

Exposure no. 4 - An Ambico Tobacco Gradiant filter, tungsten front lighting and daylight back lighting...

Exposure no. 9 - An Ambico Sepia Filter, tungsten front lighting and daylight back lighting...

 Exposure no. 12 - Lens Arsat 150mm f2.0 with a 20mm extension tube, tungsten front lighting and daylight back lighting...

                                                 

Kodak Brownie Jumbo Family Restaurant exposure no. 9

Kodak Brownie Hawkeye FujiFilm Reala Arista C-41 - Who needs instagram, a vintage Kodak Brownie Hawkeye and a vintage sign is all really you need. That and several hours for processing, drying and scanning film, but this is the real McCoy. Dark Corners, motion blur and iffy focus all honestly earned. OK, so maybe I am a little crazy, but sometimes the process is as important as the result.

This sign and restaurant are right on Rt. 460 East just before you leave Lynchburg Va.. A monument to another time in the not so distant past. The perfect subject for a Kodak Brownie.

 See the full roll in this Flickr Set.

Cactus Flowers exposure no. 3

Kiev 60 Arsat 80mm f2.8 +4 Hoya Close-Up Lens FujiFilm Reala ISO 100 Arista C-41 - Testing my new Kiev 60 body and my wife's flowering cactus seemed like a suitable subject. The camera is working fine, even if the operator did overexpose half the roll, forgetting to set the shutter speed. The joys of manual analog cameras. The overexposure actually worked well for this shot, adding the the vibrant color and saturation. The Reala coped well a +2 stop overexposure, but struggled and +3 and +4 stops, blocking up badly.

From the Archive - Musical Still Life exposure no. 7

Mamiya RB67 Sekkor 90mm f2.8 FujiFilm Reala ISO 100 C-41 - One from 1993, a little fun with what was around at the time. Two Bowen 9000 Monolites shooting through white umbrellas. Another example of my ongoing love affair with FujiFilm Reala. Low contrast, tight grain and great tone reproduction.

Bromo Seltzer in Cobalt Blue exposure no. 4

Kiev 60 Arsat 80mm f2.8 Hoya +4 Close Up Lens FujiFilm Reala 100 Arista C-41 - Somewhere in life I developed an attraction to cobalt blue glass that borders on a fetish. Some of the older cobalt is such an amazingly deep shade of blue, it seems to calm the soul. I am sure the Bromo Seltzer from the Emerson  Drug Co. of Baltimore MD. this bottle once contained, was the sure cure for whatever ailed you, but the gorgeous vessel couldn't hurt.

Early Spring exposure no. 8

Kiev 60 Arsat 80mm f2.8 FujiFilm Reala Arista C-41 -  More with Reala. Sometimes you plan excursions to new or exotic places to find inspiration, sometimes it just grows in your yard. My home was built in 1928 and the half acre lot has been landscaped and re-landscaped over the years, and sometimes unexpected foliage pops up. I look at it as the previous residents making their presence known. Thank You for subjects.

Early Spring exposure no. 12

Kiev 60 Arsat 80mm f2.8 Hoya +4 Close-Up Lens FujiFilm Reala Arista C-41 - Spring is here, so time to break out the color film. I have always been a big fan of FujiFilm's Reala. It is ideal for portrait work, and great for outdoor work like the shot above. Colors pop without being over saturated and the grain is minimal even when scanning the negatives. Scanning seems to pick up more grain than conventional printing and most grain reducing software seems to compromise sharpness. Reala gets around this problem beautifully.