All posts filed under: Journal

Flagstaff: New city, new film – Ektachrome and Provia

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Similar to the story when I went to NYC, I went to Arizona in mid-late 2018 for Brittany’s birthday and we planned to go the Grand Canyon and Flagstaff for two days of hiking – two places I’ve never visited and was very excited to see. To make it even better, the quaking aspens outside of Flagstaff happened to be changing color.  It happens only for about a week a year and there was no way for us to have planned for that when we booked the trip.  As you can imagine, we felt quite lucky and wanted to take full advantage. I decided to do the best, most well-thought out thing I could do.  I was going to shoot through two stocks I’ve never used before and have little to no idea how they would behave.  I may well never go back to these places again and it is extraordinarily unlikely I’ll be there again at the time of year to experience those same or even similar experiences.  Obviously, if you want to make …

NYC: New city, new film – Kodak Tri-X

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As you may have read in the review I did on Kodak Tri-X, my first introduction to it was on a trip to NYC.  As it happens, I have been to NYC a couple times before this visit but I had never taken a film camera; all but one trip I had taken my Sony a7 with me.  Generally, when I’m trying something new – like a new film – I try to keep the experimental conditions to a minimum.  At best, I would have my same camera, in the same or similar enviroment, taking photos similar subjects.  How else am I supposed to know if I really like the new film? If you’re me or like me, you don’t tend to shoot as much normally as you would if you were out and about – particularly if you’re on a trip.  As such, I don’t always get those chances to get out and go through a roll or two as an experiement before I go on a trip.  Instead, in some instances, I pick up …

Hocking Hills: Pushing Portra 400 1 Stop to 800

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To see Kodak Portra 400 pushed to 800 exposure tested and compared with Portra 400 at box speed and Portra 800 at box speed, follow this link. To get to a review of Portra 400, follow this link. This is an article about an experience of mine pushing Kodak Portra 400 one afternoon when I was going through Hocking Hills in Ohio. On my way home in Columbus, OH from Charleston, SC, I have to pass through one of Ohio’s prettiest areas – Hocking County. As it happens, I was also going to be driving through at dusk and on a day following several snowy days. Who could pass that up? Not I says the cat. Then it hits you… It’s not just going to be dusk but you’ll be in gorge where it’ll get darker earlier and you realize you didn’t bring your tripod on the trip… No matter. You’ve got Portra 400 loaded in one of your spare film backs of your medium format camera and you go for it. Once you get …