Friday, December 28, 2012

Snow - 6D - 40

Friday 9:15am. 12/28/12
The first real snow and the first real shot with the 6D and 40mm bargain lens.

The snow from this morning is of the heavy, clumpy, wet variety which is good for snowballs and making snow forts but not so good for your arms and back when you're shoveling the driveway and sidewalk. Not such a simple word, snow has many more meanings for those who live through a winter rather than say for dwellers from warmer climes, who tend to freak out at seeing a few flakes.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Zoo Lights

Saturday 8pm. 12/22/12

Saturday, December 15, 2012

19 W. Madison

Friday about 8:30. 12/14/12
Reminder to self. Don't shoot jpeg at night. It's like post-processing on a tightrope. Go RAW!

Thursday, December 13, 2012

October 1998.
The first Twomey wedding, Mag in her parent's home in Ireland.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Cheap lens - expensive camera

Tuesday. 12/11/12

Canon 40mm f/2.8 for 149 bucks. I was without a body to try it out on so I stuck it on a 1DS III that we had in the office. At one time that camera was 7000 bucks. An unlikely match, so I made it even worse by shooting through a dirty second floor window. At least the late afternoon sun was warming.

This lens is a keeper. Compact and lightweight, it even has a manual focusing ring that works! Plus a solid metal lens mount. Just one shot at 5.6 to test out the center and I put it back into the box.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Faux Pinhole Leaf

 
Tuesday around 7:08am. 12/11/12

At the end of autumn, my wife is highly suspicious of trees that stand to the west of our house, particularly the yard has been cleaned and the winds from the west bring new visitors to our property. This big fellow is about eight inches long and I have no idea where his original whereabouts might have been.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Another Twomey Wedding

1999 or 2000.
One of the nice things about being a repeat photographer for a family is that I tend to remember the people. The gentleman seated on the far left I remember from shooting a wedding in Ireland in 1998. My assistant and I had sat on the flight with many people who were also attending the same wedding. We followed him in our rental car and having gone around too many roundabout on the other side of the road, I had turned as green as the grass in Ireland. I seem to remember my assistant opening the door as I fell out directed only by gravity.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Monday, December 3, 2012

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Scorched Earth Yellowstone National Park 2007

Yellowstone National Park. 2007

When you are carrying a camera, generally you would like to have the lightest, most compact camera available to you. When it comes to taking the picture, generally you wish that you had something bigger.
On this trip, I was missing my charger and had only one battery, with each day finding the power diminishing. The main camera was my favored Xpan and even that machine required a stop in Moab to stock up on extra battery power.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Comiskey Park


Wednesday. 11/21/12

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Homecoming


Saturday. 10/27/12

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Old Faithful / Loh Wah Kiu

Old Faithful sometime in the summer of 2007.

Last week I met a retired Chinese man who had recently immigrated to the US. He had been to Yellowstone National Park earlier this year and was not overly impressed with it. I've only been to Yellowstone once and was amazed at what I saw (and was surprised by what he said). It got me to wondering about the Loh Wah Kiu who worked for decades in the US toiling in a restaurant or laundry who never had an opportunity to see any of our National Parks. Instead they worked long hours, raised children and sent them to college, very much like Old Faithful.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Ever feel like the opposing team is all around you?

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Toisan. 2-2-03


The Siu Village. 2-2-03

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Monday, October 1, 2012

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Friday, September 28, 2012

Toisan. 1/31/03

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Sunday, September 23, 2012


Toisan 1-31-03

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Toisan. 2-2-03

Friday, September 21, 2012

Taishan 2003 New Year

Toisan 2-2-03

The firecrackers never really stopped during the night. That's when they lit the large one's, resonating in a deep boom rather than a sharp crack, making it pretty much impossible to sleep through the night even with my head sandwiched between two dense pillows. I suspect it was one fellow walking through the fields on the outskirts of the village, merrily heaving these 3-4 inch bombs throughout the night.

And then when the roosters started their thing before dawn, there was no choice but to start the day.

Taishan 2003

Toisan. 2-2-03

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Taishan 2003

Toisan 2-1-03

The house that my grandfather built, that my mother grew up in, not returning until 40 years later. I wish I knew more about it.

Another forgotten negative from 2003. I don't even recall ever putting this shot into the enlarger though I did use the next strip of negatives for the 2004 grant. I think I'll be able to do something with this after I balance out the image.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Taishan 2003

Toisan. 1-31-03

My mother's village is a maze of narrow walkways between brick buildings. I would hear people saying that they remember me from 15 years previous and who I was related to. The man in the dark attire looked like he was carrying something in his right hand. It was only when I zoomed in on the monitor that I found that he was not carrying anything. It was just a chicken walking behind him.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Monday, September 17, 2012

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Taishan New Year


Toisan. 1-31-03

Toisan is closer to the phonetic pronunciation of our village dialect. Some say Hoisan but it depends on where you're from. After years of listening to proper Mandarin and Cantonese pronunciation it's comforting to hear the Toisan/Hoisan dialect. I grew up hearing it and it's a part of me that I'd like to keep.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Lan Pu

Guangzhou. 2-4-03

Friday, September 14, 2012

Lan Pu


Guangzhou. 2-4-03

Lan Pu / Orchid Garden again. IR again. I believe IR is all that i shot on this visit to Lan Pu with Konica IR 750 in the Xpan. Though I used this film in both 35mm and 120 formats over a ten year period I never really grew comfortable or familiar with it as results were not consistent but it was fun.

Perhaps photography is more interesting that way with the uncertainty that lies waiting if you're willing to accept it.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Lan Pu


Guangzhou 2-5-03

Lan Pu, called Orchid Garden in English, is one of my favorite places in Guangzhou. I've never been here without a camera, but the film has always been black and white. I haven't yet been to Lan Pu with a digital camera.

Here is another shot from 1992 linked to an earlier post on Lan Pu.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Heyuan

Heyuan. 2-5-03

Pool Table

Heyuan. 2-5-03


Monday, September 10, 2012

Room

Heyuan. 2/5/03

This room had a beautiful view and I knew that I had to shoot it but the XPan didn't see it the way I did. So I took just two shots and moved on. Perhaps I needed to have a seat. This place had some history to it that I'll never know about.

The scan is showing much more than I could pull out of the darkroom processed silver print. In 2004 when i was trying to print this negative I just wasn't able to pull out the highlight area and my printing ability at that time was probably the best it ever was.Now I just juggle it back and forth between Photoshop and Lightroom, move some sliders around and there it is.

Today I received a piece of anti-newton glass from betterscanning.com that has a better effect on sharpening negatives than any software can ever as there is no substitute for a flat negative.The only caveat is that it introduces two more surfaces to the scanning equation meaning more dust potential. Definitely recommended for scanning and I'm going to email thanks to betterscanning.