May 29
[Taken 2 July 2005 | Boots | Philadelphia, PA]
Happy Memorial Day.
I saw this display in Philiadelphia last year... a traveling memorial to, and reminder of, all of the members of the armed forces who have died in Iraq. There were parades and events in and around Dayton, but I didn't really see any of them. I only managed to catch the tail end of a ceremony for veterens in a small park near the library in Centerville... there is a memorial there for veterens of WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.
(In special memory of Gramps.)
May 28
[Taken 28 May 2006 | Blue and White | Dayton, OH]
Wow. It is Memorial Day weekend. The"official" gateway to summer, and the sudden raging heat and humidity here have really helped to drive the point home.
I am very glad of the long weekend, even though I am voluntarily spending a portion of it doing work. Besides starting a new (and very large) project at work, I have also been preparing to teach my very first class ever... a seminar on CSS2 at a company conference next week. Working on my lesson plans, my slides, demonstrations, templates, etc, etc has been keeping me fairly busy and stressed out. Not only will I be teaching my co-workers, some of whom I will be meeting face-to-face for the very first time, but my superviser and boss will also be one of my "students". No, I am not nervous at all.
Plus my dance class has been getting ready for a large-ish public performance, and the extra practices for that have also been taking up a wee bit of time.
Suffice to say that lately I have been getting home from work and dance practice feeling rather tired and not much inclined to look at a computer for the rest of the evening.
A long weekend was just what I needed.
Saturday John and I went to Crown Tournament (SCA event) and fought in the fencing portion of the tournament. (I have the bruises on my arms to prove it.) He took first place overall, and I took second. Not a bad showing at all.
I biked around the neighborhood and to the arboretum a couple of times and taken a lot (as usual) of photos of their beautiful flowerbeds. I also indulgied in my favoirite brand of medical/forensic pseudo-fictional drama literature, washed down with a frosty vodka-cranberry martini while lounding on the back deck.
A good weekend.
May 14
[Taken 9 May 2006 | Test shots (polaroid) | My backyard, Dayton, OH]
The above are the first three shots taken with the Calumet field camera. The first shot is, obviously, a couple of pots of plants on the patio. We needed to focus on something after all... and the point was to get a very narrow depth of field, so that really only the plants would be completely in focus. I think it worked out pretty well. The second is looking through my neighbors lawn and to the lawn of the neighbor accross the street. Very wide depth of field - everthing is in focus. Taking those photos took over 4 hours. The third is an example of how amazingly close-up this camera can focus. This is part of the brickwork on the side of our house, the lens was about 4 inches from the bricks, the bellows were completely extended, and I think that we could have gotten even closer.
Something learned - bellows at the full extension will get you amazingly close closeups (no macros!) and with not much extension in the bellows you can amazing depth of field and sharp images of objects that are far away. At least, based on my limited experience, I think this is how it generally works. I am still pretty new at this.
Well, okay... we didn't take only three photos. We took five. However, two of the times we botched loading the polaroid back and didn't actually take any picture at all. Oops. These are the three that turned out. (You don't even want to know how much each shot "cost". 4x4 polaroid file, even black and white 4x5 polaroid film is not cheap.)
If you are really curious, and want to know how to shoot with a large format field camera, here is how you do it.
1. Pick your shot, set up the camera, tripod, etc, etc...
2. Open the lens all of the way
3. Focus
4. Tilt, swing, etc, etc...
5. Focus again
6. Compute the exposure. (This is the complicated part, and actual math is
involved)
The method that John and I use involves the ration of the lens diameter (my
lens is 180mm or 7in) to the measurement of the extension of the bellows (in
inches) and relating this to common f-stop numbers in order to account for
the fact that the film is not located at a fixed distance from the lens. (This
is called the "bellows factor")
6a. Here is a list of common F-numbers. Note that
they are shown in 1/3 stops. Those with asterisks indicate "whole"
stops:
3.5
4 *
4.5
5
5.6 *
6.3
7.1
8 *
9
10
11 *
13
14
16 *
18
20
22 *
25
28
32 *
6b. When you are ready to make the exposure, measure
the view camera's extension from the ground glass to the lens board in inches.
Measure from the center of the lens board to the center of the ground glass
so as to not introduce errors from extreme swings and/or tilts.
6c. Usa a light meter (either an external light meter)
to check the intensity of the available light
6d. Select an appropriate shutter speed and corresponding
f-stop according to the light meter reading.
6e. Compare the bellows extension to the focal length
of the lens and relate these two numbers to the above list of f-stops. Their
difference will indicate the number of stops you must increase the exposure.
For example: a 210mm (or 8in) lens with 11in of bellows requires a one stop
exposure increase (the difference between f8 and f11). A 240mm (or 9.4in)
lens with 14in of bellows requires a one and one- third stop increase (difference
between f9 and f14). A 90mm (or 3.5in) lens with 4.5in of bellows requires
a two-thirds stop exposure increase. And so on and so forth.
6f. It may be necessary (in extreme conditions) to
re-select the starting shutter speed and corresponding f-stop, and re-calculate
6g. Focus again
7. Stop down the lens
8. Check the corners. You must see a circle of light at the lens, if you don't
then you need to either stop down some more or use less extreme movements.
9. Close the shutter. (Important! You don't want to expose the film before
you are ready!)
10. Set the shutter speed
11. Cock the shutter
12. Insert the film. This will either be a film negative in the negative holder
or polaroid film in the polaroid back. Proper use of the polaroid back invokves
a whole other checklist in addition to this one. Using a polaroid
back is also a bit tricky, as John and I found out.
13. Step back and wait a few moments for any vibrations to settle out. Use
a shutter trigger.
14. Click the trigger. Viola! Wasn't that easy?
15... Deal appropriatly with the film, depending on whether it is a film negative
or polaroid film
I have to say, that after all of that 15+-step (more, if you are using a polaroid back) build-up, actually clicking the shutter and taking the shot can feel a bit anti-climactic.
And... ever since that once beautiful afternoon with the field camera, it has been raining steadily, and I haven't been able to take it out since!
May 9
[Taken 9 May 2006 | My Birthday Present | My backyard, Dayton, OH]
Best. Birthday. Present. Ever.
This is a Calumet 4x5 (large format) field camera.
It has seven negative holders and a polaroid back. Because it is a little (just a little) hefty, I had to go and get a sturdier tripod for it, as my lightweight aluminum tripod was simply not up to the task. John and I found a really excellent deal on a used tripod at a local camera store. We said the magic words "Calumet" and "field camera" to one of the clerks, and he brought out a ultra high end tripod that he had bought at a flea market or estate sale and refurbished a bit, and was willing to sell it to us for a ridiculously low price.
It also has bubble levels. Three of them. (The Calumet also has two bubble levels.)
We spent the afternoon in the backyard with it, learning how to use it - how to focus, calculate exposures, and proper use of the polaroid back.
May 6
[Taken 26 April 2006 | The colors of CHI | Palais des Congres, Montreal]
Happy Cinco de Mayo. John is downstairs making burrittos and guacamole right now..
Anyway, I am finally home. I was at CHI2006 in Montreal for a week, then home for just long enough to do laundry and re-pack, and then off to Chicago for a week's worth of meetings related to the 'official' kick-off of a new work project.
Damn, it feels good to be home. And to know that I (probably) don't have any more travels planned until early June when I go to Amsterdam. DOn't get me wrong, I love traveling, and I think it is great that I get to travel a good bit for work. The travel just makes me appreciate being home more.
CHI was awesome (as you can probably tell from the shots above... the rest of the set is here on my flickr site). Any time you get 2300+ computer geeks of various kinds together in one place for a week, wackiness will ensue. Be sure of it. I saw an heard a lot of cool stuff, I learned a lot, and I had an indescribably great time.
(And I am still processing photos... I shot 4G worth on the Canon 300D and a roll and a half of 120 film with the Holga and the Lubitel.)
The meetings in Chicago were... meetings in Chicago. They were set at slightly odd times because the group we were teleconferencing with are 19 hours ahead of US Central Time. So I had this constant feeling that I was talking to the future, as Wednesday afternoon (for me) was Thursday morning (for them). A little odd.
Anyway. Glad to be back in town.