Up to Something: Part I

A friend recently scolded me for 'making' her follow my blog, but then my not having posted anything since she did. True. I've been bad. but busy. sooooooo...

What have I been doing?

Let's start where I left off by looking at those polaroids I promised in my last post. It was exciting to finally push the capture button on my vintage SX-70 (see previous post) and have something actually pop out the front. The film I got from The Impossible Project, "TZ-Artistic, Paul Giambarba Edition" for Polaroid Type SX-70. I must say, I'm a little disappointed in the quality. Though occasionally the overexposed, unsaturated aesthetic works -- it made getting a good shot difficult. Here's the best I've got so far:

 for comparison's sake, here's a photoshop enhanced version (though i didn't remove the linear artifact that runs through the middle. these lines showed up on several prints, though not all):

I happened to take this camera with me to Ireland, as well as my shiny new Sony NEX-5 (love love love - it has interchangeable lenses, fits in my purse, lightweight & is almost as good as a pro dslr) - how's that for diametric opposites? While riding the train to Dublin, I got antsy waiting for some sheep to show up on the endless farm lands that whooshed past us & decided to experiment a bit. The following were shot holding my NEX-5 in my right hand, pointing it through the viewfinder on my polaroid which I held in my left hand, pressed up to the train's window glass.... I love the painterly quality that these images have in person (don't know if it is obvious in these lower resolution images here) - but I'm excited about this series and am looking forward to taking my time getting good (BIG) prints of them eventually:

cheers,

me

ps- be back w/ more of what I've been doing soon... (next up: Ireland & a short story)

DIY Digital Camera Diffuser

I recently volunteered to take photos for an event and would've preferred to use my nice film camera with a pro flash, but film would've been cost prohibitive, so I decided to take my little digital camera. My Fujifilm FinePix S700 has been a handy digital camera for family photos and whatnot; but is a basic consumer level camera with a harsh built-in flash -- which I try not to ever use. The event was at night, indoors in an art gallery with loads of artificial lighting - there were large windows in the front, but one can never count on sunlight in Seattle - so I knew I'd have to use the flash. ack. So after some quick internet research, and only an hour until the event (!), I came up with this solution...

If your camera has a small enough flash, a simple solution is a white/translucent film canister. For larger flashes, I've seen people use rubbing alcohol bottles.

Simply hold the canister up to your flash, trace the shape with a fine point sharpie onto the canister, use an exacto knife to cut out a hole snug enough to just slide over your flash; this plastic was thin and easy to cut.

This amount of diffusion may be fine for some situations, but I found that there was still too much contrast & glare, so I tried adding a sheet or two of plain printer paper inside the canister -- just enough to cover the inside surface, but not over the cut hole.

Then I tested the camera without the diffuser, with it & with one and two pieces of paper inside:

I did have some ambient natural light, but very little since it's a cloudy day (go figure), and no artificial light. I think I'd be fine using just one piece of paper, and it'll probably depend on whatever the lighting conditions are -- but I think it's a nice little trick for basic shooting needs. Plus the pop-off lid makes it really easy to change how much paper is in the canister ;)

Unfortunately for the event I shot (Seattle's Etsy Craft Party), I hadn't yet discovered the paper trick, and shot with just the canister - so I ended up with more glare & harsh shadows than I wanted, but it turned out okay, especially with some photoshop tweaking... here's a shot from the night featuring artwork by Zoe Williams:

see the rest of the photos here


Happy Shooting!!

the secret lives of mannequins

For years I’ve wanted to do a series on mannequins, and this is just the beginning. “Tag, You’re It” is the newest addition to my shop and I can’t wait to add more. I’m fascinated by these inanimate imitations of us, not only that it’s easy to imagine them having a life of their own – but also how they are used by different cultures.
This was shot in Israel, probably in Tel Aviv – though I don’t recall. Most of the Israeli mannequins I photographed seemed more intent on getting a laugh than in garnering admiration for material goods. Here’s another Israeli favorite of mine:

I continued this unintended series during our 2 year stint in London as well. Just wait till you see what the British do with their mannequins!