Taishan New Year 2003

Toisan. 2-3-03

Taishan New Year 2003

Taishan. 1-31-03

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.

Lan Pu

Guangzhou. 2-4-03

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.

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.

Birds on a Wire

Heyuan 2/5/03

Heyuan

Heyuan. 2-5-03

Pool Table

Heyuan. 2-5-03

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.