Shooter's Block

Heat me lazy. Life gets in the way. I work too much. The Dog ate my Neopan and the Cat drank my Rodinal. All valid excuses for the fact my shooting mind looks like the image above. Ok, so the dog and cat think is not true, but the others are dead on. In the end, they are just excuses. I just need to clear my mind and move forward. The Virginia heat has chased me out of my attic studio for the summer, but the sun is shining, my flashes work and the flowers are blooming, so that is still just an excuse...

I think shooter's, as with writer's block, is just a problem with motivation. Ideas come, but are dismissed with little thought. Squelched for being unoriginal, too simplistic or any other number of lame excuses artists and creative types come up with for not doing the work the love. We blame muses, society, the man, anything to cover our lack of motivation. Any excuse not to take the simple, unoriginal idea and turn it into something simple but original, or fail trying.... Failure, the greatest excuse of all. The main reason not to try at all....

Bullshit.

Above image - Agfa Ansco B2 Shur-Shot Regular FujFilm Neopan Acros 100 Caffenol-C-M - What happens when you forget to advance the film on a box camera.

From the Archive - The New American Theatre 1988

Yashica 12 Yashinon 80mm f3.5 Kodak Tri-X Professional HC-110 Dil. B - A place of many great nights and fond memories, the New American Theatre is Phoebus VA., has had a long and varied history. It started life as a Vaudeville Theatre, The American Theatre,  in 1908 and declined over the years to the imfamous Lee Adult Theatre, and X-Rated right of passage for the young man of Hampton and Phoebus VA, in the 70's and early 80's. The picture above shows the the revived New American Theatre of the late 80's. A Movie Theatre/Restaurant, that hosted live bands on weekend nights. I was a frequent guest of the New America Theatre as both a customer and a musician. The building has now been restored resemble its original 1908 incarnation and has reverted back to the original American Theatre name.

From the Archive - Fist with Ring 1987ish

Nikon FE2 Uknown Lens Kodak Tri-X 400 Developer Unknown - Another from the archive, shot on vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I believe the intent was to use this image for a Band Flyer, as that is the lead singer of the band behind the fist. I am not sure if the image ever made it to a flyer, but now the world can see it here... Anyone interested can check out the band here.

From the Archive - Sunset on The Chesapeake 1985

Nikon FE2 Nikkor 35-105 F3.5-45 Kodak Ektachrome 100 - One of my all time favorite shots. Captured during a sailing trip from Hampton VA. to Annapolis MD. in the summer of 1985. The Sun was just beginning to set and the sweet light was in full effect. The FE2 used for this shot met its end during the trip, the victim of a leaking compartment. I still have its salt water damaged hulk to this day.

Backyard Archeology exposures no. 2 and 5

Nikon FE2 Micro-Nikkor 55mm f2.8 Orwo UN54 ISO 100 Arista 76 1:1 - I was digging out an old cooler some previous owner buried in my backyard, and run across this. What I thought was just an old cooler appears to have been the sacred tomb of some small creature. Since the occupy being had long since departed these crumbling bones, I decided not to pass up the interesting subject. Shooting Orwo UN54 ISO 100 again, this time developed in Arista 76 diluted 1:1. This developer film/developer combination has very nice grain and sharpness with nice tonal range.

Cactus Flower and Honey Bee exposure no. 3

Kiev 60 Arsat 80mm f2.8 Hoya +4 Close-Up Lens FujiFilm Pro 400H Arista C-41 - A productive weekend, the Cactus Flowers were still blooming Saturday and the bees love them. Using the Arsat 80mm with a +4 close-up lens had me a little closer to the stingers than I would have liked, but it was worth it. Trying to pick the flower the bees would land on was a little tricky. The bees always seemed to avoid the one I was hovering over with the bulky Kiev. Finally I had to move in after the landed, find the focus and pull the trigger. I got more that I missed, so all and all, a productive day.

Demon Pods exposure no. 2

Kiev 60 Arsat 80mm f2.8 Hoya +4 Close-Up Lens FujiFilm Pro 400H Arista C-41 - I am pretty sure I have seen the plant in several Japanese Anime Cartoons. It is the minion of some demon overlord and uses its sticky spines to capture our unsuspecting heroes and incapsulate them for the return journey to its evil leader, or maybe not.... Amazing color on the stems and pods of this plant and each little spine has a tiny drop of liquid (I suspect poison) on its tip.

Ripe on the Vine exposure no. 4

Kiev 60 Arsat 80mm f2.8 Hoya +4 Close-Up Lens FujiFilm Pro 400H Arista C-41 - I have always been addicted to Close-Up or Macro Photography. There is so much beauty in the small details. Structures and patterns you would never see, unless you took the time to look closely enough. The sliver of time a photograph captures, gives us all the time in the world to find those details.

A Lurker in the Shadows exposure no. 9

Kiev 60 Arsat 80mm f2.8 FujiFilm Pro 400H Arista C-41 - Ever have the feeling you were being watched? I was shooting some interesting plants and when I reached down to pick up my light meter, I noticed this shady character peering at me from the shadows. I managed to quickly guess the exposure, focus and get this shot off, before he pulled his head to far in to get a good shot of his eye. We have seen more of these little guys roaming the yard this year, than in the past. I hope that bodes well for the cleanliness of our environment.

After Pestering this one with the camera for 3 more frames, we both went our separate ways. I suspect he was trying to pluck off some of the low hanging fruit from a nearby blackberry vine.

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.

Amazing Wet Plate Photographs by Ian Ruhter

These project is just amazing. The images are absolutely gorgeous. Just had to share.
More here Ian Ruhter.

Not So Instant Karma FujiFilm FP-100c Negative Reclaimation

Calumet Cambo View Camera Schneinder-Kreuznach Symmar 210mm f5.6 FujiFilm FP-100C Instant Pack Film - My first attempt at  FujiFilm FP-100c Negative Reclamation, obviously flawed but still an interesting process. Who knew there was a negative under all that slime. There are a number of sites detailing the process, but this is one of the best FujiFilm FP-100c Negative Reclamation. Just a hint, test your tape to make sure it will stand up to the bleach used to remove the backing material. Regular electrical tape does not cut it, the bleach released the adhesive pretty quickly, resulting in my less than perfect result. I have also seen Clorox Bleach "gel" recommended for better control of where the bleach goes. More experimentation with this process to come.