Photography Matters

With Fujifilm adding Neopan ACROS 100 in both 35mm and 120 formats to their list of film to discontinue this year, I’m starting a search to find a film I will love as much as I do, ACROS. Maybe I won’t find it, but I will try, and I’ll share my results with you as I check out different types of film.

This week I started by shooting with Ilford Delta 100 and Kodak Tmax 100. I’ll include some of the shots from each of these films down below. Hope you enjoy the shots and the episode.

https://photographymatterspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Photography-Matters-Ep-17-The-Search-to-Replace-ACROS-Part-I.m4a

Camera/Lens: Leica M3, Summicron 50mm

Camera/Lens: Leica M6 (Leitz), Summicron 50mm

The post Photography Matters Ep 17 – The Search to Replace ACROS – Part I appeared first on Photography Matters.

In this episode I share a personal story about my recent data storage adventures hoping you can learn from my mistakes; updates on the Olympus OM-1 and talk briefly about the medium format camera, the Mamiya RB67.

https://photographymatterspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Photography-Matters-Ep-16-Data-Storage-Dont-Lose-Your-Photos.m4a

Supertech Computers

Link to the latest video I uploaded on the OM-1: https://youtu.be/SbRorPb3rRY

The post Photography Matters Ep 16 – Data Storage – Don’t Lose Your Photos appeared first on Photography Matters.

There are so many good podcasts available these days. I subscribe to a pretty fair amount. I do love hearing other photographers talking about their craft, their creative process; and I do enjoy podcasts about film, gear and all that. But the shows that I’m inspired by the most are the ones that really don’t focus on the gear, but photography itself. In this episode I share 3 of my favorite podcasts that really just center around good coversations about photography and the creative process.

https://photographymatterspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Photography-Matters-Ep-15-Podcasts-and-Other-Such-Things.m4a

The Candid Frame w/Ibarionex Perello

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Photographers look at photos differently than how normal people (people less obsessed with photography) look at photos. We see the content, the subject, but we’re also very conscious of the elements of the photograph; the exposure, lighting, contrast, etc… All that is great, but I think it often can take our attention away from seeing if it really is a strong photo or not.

https://photographymatterspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Photography-Matters-Ep-14-Being-Distracted-by-the-Elements-of-Photography.m4a

The post Photography Matters Ep 14 – Being Distracted by the Elements of Photography appeared first on Photography Matters.

I pretty much eat, sleep and breath photography. I love anything photography related. I especially love movies in which photography plays an important part of the story. Not just documentary films, but Hollywood movies, actors, directors, stories, that kind of thing. In case you’re like me and also would enjoy these kinds of films, I wanted to share a list of five movies in which photography does play an important part of the story.

https://photographymatterspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Photography-Matters-Ep-13-My-Five-Favorite-Photography-Movies.m4a

Blow Up (1966)

Director Michelangelo Antonioni. Main character roughly based on David Bailey. A fashion photographer believes he may have witnessed a crime and becomes obsessed with figuring it out. Plenty of cliche 1960s style, photo shoots, models, photography. It’s even got a club scene where the Yardbirds were playing. Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrJ9U75OZOw

The Bang Bang Club (2010)

The story of photojournalists, Kevin Carter, Ken Oosterbroek, João Silva and Greg Marinovich; their interactions within the townships of South Africa during the Apartheid period, particularly between 1990 and 1994, from when Nelson Mandela was released from prison to the 1994 elections. . Please note: It does contain some pretty graphically violent scenes, so might not be for everyone.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFQnoMDFDAY

Life (2015)

Story of photographer, Dennis Stock and his relationship with, and iconic photos of actor, James Dean.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ctOgZ5K5to

Monogamy (2010)

Photographer, bored with shooting weddings and engagement shoots offers a service, Gum Shoe Photography. The client pays him and lets him know where and when they’ll be on a certain day. Then the photographer hides nearby, follows and photographs the person without them seeing him. Then he meets with them later and shows them the images. Kind of a “Day in the Life” kind of photo documentary service.  But then he gets a female client that he becomes a little infatuated with….

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyis-lDa9T8

We’ll Take Manhattan (2012)

The Story of David Bailey and how he and supermodel, Jean Shrimpton really had a big part of how fashion photography changed.

Amazon: Saw a copy of the DVD (UK format only) for only $199.00!

The post Photography Matters Ep 13 – My Five Favorite Photography Movies appeared first on Photography Matters.

As photographers, it’s easy to get in a rut, get into a comfort zone and stay there for long periods of time. This can cause you to stop growing as a photographer, then you become less stimulated, excited about what you’re doing. Then you’re not inspired, not motivated and you get bored with your photography.

We have to force ourselves to mix things up; break out of our comfort zone; continue to grow and be stimulated. In this episode I talk about this and share a couple personal examples of how I change things up from time to time.

https://photographymatterspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Photography-Matters-Ep-12-Variety-Essential-to-Photography.m4a

Shot with my Mamiya C330, 80mm f2.8

Shot with my Mamiya RB67, 127mm f3.8

Shot with my Leica M6, Summicron 35mm, f2

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A lot of people are enjoying shooting film again, some for the first time. Film is becoming more and more popular with each year that passes. Film sales keep going up.

But one thing that does seem to hinder people from wanting to get into that medium is the cost of having your film developed. In this episode I want to share my thoughts and go over the process I use to develop my own black and white film at home. It’s so much easier than most people think. I actually enjoy the process and it can really help you keep the costs down. Enjoy the show!

https://photographymatterspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Photography-Matters-Ep-11-An-Overview-of-Developing-Your-Own-Black-and-White-Film-at-Home.m4a

This is the process I use to develop Fujifilm Neopan 100 ACROS B&W film, both at box speed (which I hardly ever use) and for when the film is pushed to 400 (which I pretty much always do).

The process described below pretty much follows what Matt does, except I’ve adjusted the times for ACROS film as suggested by the Massive Dev Chart: http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php

I recommend picking up the Massive Dev app for your mobile device. This times each step of the process for you and lets you know when to change to the next step.

You can get that app in iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/massive-dev-chart-timer/id402405770?mt=8

or Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.digitaltruth.mdc&hl=en

Disclaimer

Please note that I am in no way an expert on developing film. I’ve only been doing it for a little less than three years. This is just my method I use based on Matt Day’s info and the Massive Dev Chart, so use at your own risk (there really isn’t any), but this is what I do to produce the ACROS film shots you see in my Instagram feed.

(again, check out Matt’s video if you’re not already familiar with this method)

This method requires that you have a dark/changing bag or completely a dark light-sealed room to load your film on to a Paterson developing tank. You’ll need to open your 35mm film canister with a bottle opener and load the film onto a spool that goes into the Paterson tank. You have to do all this without being able to see what you’re doing, so you have to be able to do it by feel.

PreWash

Develop

Stop Bath

Fixer

Final Wash

Soap Rinse

Hang Negatives to Dry

I usually let the film dry for a couple hours. This may very based on where you live and how humid it is there. Sometimes if I develop the film late at night I’ll let them hang overnight. This usually works fine, but it does give more opportunity for dust to gather on the film so you may have to do more dust removal in post.

For a visual demonstration of this method I recommend you watch Matt Day’s tutorial video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8I41UExVJWI

Anyway, that’s the basic process. Have fun!

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Remember back in the day… when Kodak made commercials to sell their film they would refer to the “Kodak Moments” of your like; those moments you would definitely want photographs of to remember these occassions. They usually weren’t referring to that fine art shot you got, or that amazing photo shoot. They were generally referring to more personal moments, usually with family, babies, kids events, your daughter’s wedding, etc… I know we’re all taking photos to try and reflect our artistic side, or our skills as fantastic photographers, but are you remembering to take photos of those personal, Kodak Moments?

https://photographymatterspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Photography-Matters-Ep-10-Those-Kodak-Moments.m4a

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Often I’ll just grab my camera, head downtown, or down the Strip, maybe the Art District and hope to see something amazing happen in front of my lens. Capture that decisive moment. Sometimes that happens, sometimes it doesn’t and I come back not quite so satisfied with my photography that day. One way to get more satisfaction and exercise your creativity more is through Personal Projects.

https://photographymatterspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Photography-Matters-Ep-9-Personal-Projects-for-Moving-Forward.m4a

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One of my favorite quotes,

Man, sometimes it takes you a long time to sound like yourself.”

– Miles Davis

Although Miles was obviously speaking about development as a musician, this is just one of the many parallels I see between musicians and photographers. As a photographer you go through a lot before you finally start shooting with your own voice, your own style. In this episode I want to give you an exercise to hopefully help you be more consciously aware of the things that are important to you in your photography, so that you’re able to focus more and create the kind of art that’s important to you.

https://photographymatterspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Photography-Matters-Ep-8-My-Favorite-Miles-Davis-Quote.m4a

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