It's driving me nuts!

I received an e-mail from a VERY talented photographer acquaintance today. He is not good. He is VERY good.

We kind of chatted about how digital imaging is almost impossible to keep up with (dangling prepositions and all). It's like we are in this futuristic time warp where Andy Warhol's 15 minutes of fame has finally crept up on us all...well, more like pounced on us.

Richard Avedon died when he should have. The great photographers are having difficulty keeping up. A photograph should evoke an emotion aside from the "playing around" with images. It should be WOW beacuse it's real and not WOW because of what the photographer manipulated to get the image.

Back in the day (1972) I bought my first REALLY good Beseler 23CII enlarger for $195 bucks. It was a huge investment for me. But I produced some outstanding work on that thing (if I do say so).

Heck, I can do that on my computer now. The programs unfortunately, that I use cost me more than that enlarger! Then we have to put up with Canon and Nikon, for example, coming out with new cameras every 6 months. When is this going to stop?

Canon announced that their sales were off by over 21% this last year. Hello!

We can't keep doing this. There has to be a limit. I bought a G 10 "street camera" a few months back and Canon brought out their G 11 a month ago. This is so wrong.

When is the insanity going to end?

It's no wonder we are going back to film. The camera makers are shooting themselves in their corporate feet. I may just get rid of all my digital gear and go back to the good old days of film.

This is crazy!

P.S. Thanks, Fred

Putting the FUN in Photography again

Digital photography promised to be THE boon to us photographers when it first reared it's beautiful head. Now, I'm not so sure. The upgrades in software alone will drive you nuts. While Diana is using CS4 (when will CS5 be announced?) I am still on CS2. Why?

I like my life uncomplicated. There is only so much I can or even want to do to a photograph. That really applies to pinholes. After all, I am looking for a simple way to express my feelings to an audience. Diana on the other hand, loves the manipulation afforded by all the goo gaws of CS4.

So, for those of you who would like to just have fun, please look into pinholes...they are cheap, use film, and what you imagine is almost always what you get.

I want to introduce you to another good friend in the pinhole world, Brian Krummel. He has just published his new book (which I highly recommend) regarding pinholes. If you need a great book about pinholes, his is beautiful!

You can also read an interview Brian did with me here.

Go out. Have fun with a pinhole. No you don't get instant gratification, but that's sort of nice, huh?

Online ShutterBug

Ok, gang. The hard copy of my cover story in ShutterBug is now online. Just click here if you didn't see it on the stands.
Now, we're off today to add some more images to the site and test out Kodak Ektar.
I have to tell you, I am a bit bummed out about losing Superia.
Anyway, I want to thank everyone for their support of my work. There are way too many to list, but thanks and you all know who you are.
Incidentally, there are still some hardcover coffee table limited edition books left. These are signed and numbered.
Just give me a jingle and we'll get one off to you.

Fuji Superia

Well gang. It appears that my favorite film for pinholes, Fuji Superia, will no longer be imported into the U.S. Damn! I love that film.

So right now I am trying out Kodak Ektar ISO 100 as an alternative. I liked Superia for it's excellent grain characteristics, sharpness, low reciprocity failure, etc. It was a short lived love affair.

I will be receiving my first batch of Kodak this week and hope to have some images up shortly. One thing about pinhole photography is that one has to wait for the lab to return the film, then scan, etc. It certainly isn't fast.

We did some interesting stuff this past weekend, but won't see those for a few days yet as we are tied up with some other things that will take some time away this upcoming week.

Until then, cross your fingers on the Ektar.

The Weekend ...well, ends.

I've been contemplating, mulling, thinking, you know that thing one does with his gray matter between the ears. It became clear to me that once a week, I should get to wax poetic about whatever I feel like, be it politics (oops, scratch that one), cameras, philosophy, writing or just plain whatever I feel like.

So, from this Sunday on, I'm going to do just that. In what may appear as random Kerouacian train of thought, I'm just going to practice in writing what I do best...whacky ramble. Hopefully, some of it will amuse and sometimes even make one think about stuff. (Stuff, incidentally was made famous by the late great George Carlin.)

One thing that capped my month off was a.) the cover on ShutterBug. (I'll have the comp' issues in Tuesday and, unlike every other magazine I've been published in, I plan on keeping these somewhere safe) and b.) the check was nice, too. I really want to thank George Schaub, editor of ShutterBug, for giving me that cover. It came at an opportune time for my ego.

I want to thank Diana for all of her hard work making appointments, keeping the books, being my "bud" and keeping the websites straight.

Of course, my number two and three fans, Justice and Lucas. Two great kids they are! I get sunburned a lot from their erroneous thinking that the sun rises on Dad.

Finally and certainly not least, all my friends who would call themselves "clients" who have supported me over the past years. You guys are awesome! You've been there, too when my head got a tad large and I love you all.

We actually got out of the house today and drove up to Alpine. It's a cutesy little town east of San Diego up in the dry air about 2,000 feet. We took our cameras. I took it all as usual feeling a bit like the proverbial mule.

We had lunch at a Bistro...Bistro translates to expensive. Just as Ristorante also translates to expensive. This was a ristorante/bistro. Even a 'burger was 12 bucks. So I opted for a salad and Diana, as usual, observed "It's all so expensive." Ya gotta love this girl. This is the lady who reads a menu from right to left. No it's not a Dutch thing, it's price to food index. She shops for everything that way.

I looked in my pinhole camera bag (see how I sneaked that in?) and lo and behold, I only had two rolls of Superia left. For me, that's about enough for an hour of shooting. To quote Herman Munster "Darn. Darn. Darn." You see what digital does to your brain? YOu forget that you can only use film once. It doesn't reuse well.

The clouds that were at home on the ocean had disappeared. The wind was non-existent. Not boding well for pinholes. But, we put about 110 miles on the Jetta just roaming around the San Diego mountains getting lost and enjoying the incredible sunset.

And then! We drove home. We got back about 8 p.m. and both just crashed.

Now does it get any better than that? The best things in life really are free. Well, about $3.09 a gallon, but I didn;t count that. We drove. We talked. We planned.

In fact, we are planning a shoot in Pima Indian country, Coolidge, Arizona, after Christmas (we have a little gadfly to swat first) and then we are spending a few days on the reservation (Thanks, Cathy O) photographing these wonderful native Americans. We hope to get a book together and publish that in 2010.

So, tomorrow, I am back in the office, looking through another form of lens and looking forward to seeing some old friends (who are better, I hope) and seeing new unmet friends who we can encourage to get better.

All in all...it's a pretty good life. (I do miss Italy, though). Gadfly be damned.

Feed Your Head

With all due deference to Grace SLick and the Airplane, pinholes do indeed "...feed your head."

Some will say that the true fun of pinholes comes from making your own camera. My hat is off to some of the artists I have seen and/or known. I mean some of these folks make cameras from skulls and some have made underwater cameras! Yikes. You had better have a lotta air in those tanks.

But, for me, the fun is what's in your head coming out on film. For example, since you are shooting with a moderately wide angle pinhole (these usually range around 24 mm) expression of vision is altered. My cover shot on this month's ShutterBug of the fountain in Oceanside is a perfect example of distorted view and slow shutter speed.

Not only was the fountain water blurred, but the clouds were semi "frosted," as well. I guess that's what they mean by "frosting on the cake." When your film comes back from the processor, you will be quietly amazed. And once you begin to see it in your head at first (what Ansel called previsualization) your images will begin to take on an entirely new, well, point of view.

That is when your pins begin to take a life of their own. It's almost as though you give them life.

My first pinhole was a Holga (see previous blog entry). But, when I saw Zernike Au's teak and brass pinholes, I was hooked. It is still my favorite pinhole. The deluxe version has brass knobs, a bubble level and a shutter release with cable socket. These all come in a, what appears to be, rice paper/cardboard gift box. When you get it in the mail, you almost don't want to use it. But, the lure is too much. You will put it to use!

Load it up and go looking for images.

There are a lot of people out there making "commercial" versions of pinholes and some of them are horrible expensive "custom" cameras that mostly just don't work well. (Write me if you want an opinion.) I bought one such piece that, on the outside was downright gorgeous. But, the $250 box turned out to be a nightmarish camera to use...so much so that I sent it back. No, Virginia, the camera maker never refunded my money...so beware.

Anyway, I put a picture of the Zero up on the top of the page and this is also the picture that appears on the cover and in the body of the article for November 2009 Shutterbug.


Have fun.

Getting started in pinhole photography

A lot of people have asked how they get started shooting "pins." It really couldn't be easier. All you need is a light tight box, a pinhole and some film. OK. I am oversimplifying a tad, but it's pretty close.

First, you need to decide what type of film you are going to use. (Yes, you can buy or make a pinhole for a digital camera, but it just isn't the same.) I personally prefer larger formats such as 120 or 4x5. With 120 you can choose 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7, 6x9, 6x12 and 6x18. You can also choose transparency or negative film(s) and/or black and white. This gives you quite a range of options.

I personally prefer 6x6 or, more commonly, 2 1/4" x 2 1/4". I just happen to like square format. I also prefer Fuji Superia color negative film for many reasons not the least of which is the fact that it is a very forgiving film. It has a huge amount of latitude which gives you a lot of room for exposure error.

Second, after scanning the negatives, I can choose to create color, black and white, or sepia toned prints depending upon the subject matter.

As for a camera, you can make your own and there are a lot of sites with instructions on building pinhole cameras or, if you are DYI challenged like me, you can buy one. The Holgas (pictured at the top) are a great starting point costing about $35.00 from Amazon (click on the link to the left to have a look). (You will find out really quickly that they need to be taped up because they are not as light tight as I would like.)

Or you can opt for my favorite 6x6 which is the Zero 2000 (which comes as a standard or deluze version) from Zernike Au in Hong Kong. These are beautiful little teak and brass cameras that will satisfy even the most discerning photographer. They sell for $98 and $168. PLUS, if you decide you're not the pinhole type (whatever that type is) they are beautiful pieces for display (perish the thought.) I use mine!

Now, understand that shooting pinhole can be a tad disappointing in the beginning since you rarely have a viewfinder. In other words, you are pretty much guessing. Most of the 6x6 cameras on the market have an angle of view about equivalent to a 24mm wideangle lens so you learn after your first roll, to get in close...closer than you think...then move closer.

Wow! No focusing required. Yep. Everything is in focus from millimeters to infinity.

Then you unload your masterpieces and take them to a processor. Remember those folks? They actually develop film! Once you have your prints back, you have to scan the negatives and make some other decisions. That's where the fun just starts.

And that is where we will leave off and pick up next time.