Sunny day and slide film…

I have not been inspired to get out and take many pictures recently, partly because of the weather I think. Last weekend we had some sun for a change though and I also found a roll of Provia slide film that my friend Filip gave me a while ago (Filip is a new Dad as of Friday btw!).

I dont usually shoot much slide film because processing is kind of expensive but I enjoyed it and it has reminded me that I bought 10 rolls of velvia for 50p each a while back so maybe I will take some of them when I go to America later this month. At the the same time I do think that slide film is not so different to digital in some ways so maybe I am wasting my money?

Anyway here are a few from the roll I shot….

More from the seaside…

More pics from Liz and I’s walk along Gullane beach, these ones come from my old Rolleiflex Automat. Its an ugly beat up old thing but continues to make nice pictures.

The seaside, the seaside!

Liz and I went for a bracing (in other words bloody freezing) walk on Gullane beach last week. Despite the temperature we saw both man and beast paddling in the water.

These were taken with a new panoramic camera I bought from Ebay – it is a Praktica CM1000 which is a slight step up from previous panoramic cameras in that it has a flash (which I havent been able to get to work yet) and also motorised winding. It also detects the film speed although I am not sure why because I think it only has two shutter speed / aperture combinations! Also you can switch between panoramic and normal modes which basically removes the mask. Anyway from what I can tell the lens is not as wide as the other panoramic cameras I have used so it gives a slightly different look. Also the lens seems a bit sharper to me…

Here are the pics as a slide show…

[Edit]: for the proper camera geeks such as myself here is the lowdown on this camera. Turns out it has 1/125 sec. ,1/60 sec. and 1/6 sec shutter speeds.

Maid of the mist (or Preparing for the Feared Banana Cream Pie Wars)

Here are some pictures from a film I shot with my toy panoramic camera on Liz and I’s recent trip to Niagara falls. I think these look best as a slideshow (there are also some extra pictures here)

The center of Niagara is tacky beyond belief – the automated voices that blare out incitements to come and see a wax work of the world tallest man etc. were a first for me. The falls themselves though did not disappoint though and the Maid of the Mist boat trip really is fun.

I shot 2 rolls of film on the short boat ride – this one and what thought was a roll of tri-x pushed to 1600 with a deep red filter on it. Unfortunately I had actually loaded that camera with portra so the results are terrible – 2 stops under exposed and red coloured! Oh well at least I am pleased with the toy camera pics.

Actually one of these pics got a comment that really tickled me, hence the title of this post

New York Digital

As I have mentioned before I am trying to use my digital camera more for financial reasons. One thing I enjoyed while using it in New York is being able to play with slightly more unusual exposures (for example trying to go for deep black shadows). Shadows are a novelty for me – the light in Scotland is often not strong enough to cast strong shadows because it is overcast so much of the time.

Anyway I still love film but maybe I can find room in my heart for my neglected digital SLR again

New York in Widescreen Technicolor

I stuck some nice Portra film in my panoramic camera for a change (previous to this I have only used either black and white or very cheap expired colour film). I really like the results – the colours have a kind of vintage feel to them that I like very much.

These look pretty good as a slideshow in my opinion. The slideshow actually contains quite a few more of these….

Indian Summer

Finally a sunny day in Edinburgh…

New Scientist think I am artistic

Yesterday I spotted that a photo of mine was getting an unusual number of views and upon investigating I realised that a New Scientist article is linking to one of my photographs. Its an article about the future of photography – stuff like improved image stabilisation and reducing glare…

Arran

Here are some pictures from Liz and I’s trip to Arran this August. I liked some of the pictures I got from the trip but overall I was kind of disappointed in myself … lots of the pictures were just not as good as I wanted them to be. Also that the trip over on the ferry presented some amazing opportunities for photographs – out on deck there were a wealth of characters, there were a pack of jet skiers chasing the boat, there where some particularly bold seabirds chasing the ship and swooping down taking stuff from peoples hands. I took a whole roll of film and expected great things … but then discovered my camera had chewed up the film

Also I am kicking myself about this picture (a repeat from my last post I know):

… this was the last in a roll of film and while I was changing it a girl on a horse galloped past leaving the family staring after it … it could have made a really great picture. Oh well maybe digital does have some merit…

Anyway here are some pictures…

Diversity Delivers Exhibition

Yesterday I had an exhibition of a few of my pictures (along with 2 other photographers). It was part of the Launch of Diversity Delivers which is an initiative by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Apointments in Scotland ( http://www.publicappointments.org/ ) aimed at enhancing equal opportunities in Scotland’s ministerial public appointments process. The venue was the Scottish Storytelling Centre on the high street which I think is a rather cool building.

I chose ‘people’ pictures where possible, mostly my attempts at street photography. I thought it went pretty well and was impressed by the other 2 photographers work.

Here are the pictures I had on show …. ( and here as a slideshow )