Photography Archive

Battle of Princeton Reenactment on Independence Day

– July 9, 2011Posted in: History, Photography

On Independence Day, I spent the morning and afternoon at Battlefield State Park in Princeton, New Jersey. The Princeton Battlefield Preservation Society presented a partial reenactment of the Battle of Princeton, a turning point for General Washington’s troops and Patriots during the Revolutionary War. The day was filled with a variety of demonstrations rather than an outright reenactment.

I decided to bring my Mamiya RZ67 Professional II camera to the event. While most spectators had digital cameras, my older medium format film camera seemed more appropriate. This camera — or any camera — is just as anachronistic as a digital camera, but it was fun to focus on a more manual process in this environment.

This manual process made the day fraught with frustrations for me. I would require a tripod to get the best shots, but carrying my tripod in addition to the camera from one spot to another was a pain. With so many spectators, I wouldn’t be able to get a good shot of the demonstrations without setting up in front of people who were there with their families to enjoy the day’s festivities. As a result, I ended up facing the backs of the subjects.

After giving up on the tripod, I tried holding the camera steady, which proved to be difficult with the cannon demonstration. The best timing would be right as the cannon fired, but each time, the noise startled me. I jumped, and had a difficult time holding the camera steady for the right moment. A small digital camera would have come in handy.

The film was developed by Taylor Photo in Princeton, New Jersey, and scanned at home with an Epson Perfection V700. Continue reading to see a few of the photographs, or see more by visiting this set on Flickr.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Mamiya, Princeton

High Technology for Low Fidelity

Harlan Landes

– June 5, 2011Posted in: Featured, Photography, Technology

I avoided cameraphones for a while. I’d rather have a device that worked exceptionally well as a phone without a lens than a mediocre phone that takes mediocre, low-resolution digital photographs. Eventually, I relented and purchased the original Motorola DROID. The phone comes with a mediocre camera, bust most of that mediocrity can be hidden using applications that process the photograph. There is a subset of applications that attempt to mimic the classic toy-camera look.

Plastic “toy” cameras, like the Holga and Diana, incorporate unpredictability into the art of photography. In general, photographers seek to control everything about their images, particularly lighting and composition. Much of this is left to chance when using toy cameras. Their imprecise construction allowed light to leak onto the film, adding streaks of color or light at locations. Focusing is imprecise, and vignetting is a virtue to be appreciated, not avoided.

Modern apps like those available for the Android operating system and the iPhone allow precise customization over these random imperfections, but that takes the fun out this particular type of art. Even when choosing a “random” setting in these applications, you are left with the knowledge that the image is a lie. The phone, despite not being the best digital camera available, is capable of better photographs. Real plastic Holgas and Dianas produce these images as a result of the only type of image processing they are capable of — the photograph you take is their best work. They are low-fidelity, not just “slumming it.”

The problem today is that despite the fact that these toy cameras can be found for just about $20, it’s still less expensive in the long run to fake the look with your phone, a decide you might have anyway. The costs of buying and developing film add up quickly. The cameras once designed as an affordable option for kids is now out of reach for many photographers. One can’t forget that with digital photography, photographers have the luxury of instant review and retake.

With the added complication of processing film, I’ve only been slowly working with my Holga so far. Amy shot the first roll (black and white) with the Diana today; it will be a few days before I see the resulting negatives. Here is a selection from the Holga. More are available in the Toy Camera set on Flickr. I should point out that the pattern of white dots seems to be a result of the developing process. I’ll speak to the lab about this when I go to pick up the next rolls of film they’re currently developing. Keep reading for some of my recent photographs using the Holga.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sourland Mountain, Somerset County

Harlan Landes

– May 9, 2011Posted in: Featured, Nature, Photography

On Sunday, I spent the afternoon walking around Sourland Mountain Preserve in Somerset County, New Jersey. This was my first time at the location, and the entrance is not far from where I live. I’m not sure how many miles I walked while at the preserve, but I spent some time walking up and down part of the mountain, mostly in a clearing. I also spent some time walking trails amongst the trees. A pond nearby was populated with three families of geese, and two of these families included a number of goslings.

Most people think New Jersey is flat. Much of New Jersey is, but the state does have its share of hills and mountains, and Sourland Mountain is a great example. As I climbed higher, I could see the houses of Hillsborough in the distance.

I brought my Canon 1D Mark III with me. On hand was a Canon 70-200mm f/4L and the original 2x extender I borrowed from a friend. In addition to this combination, I shot with the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 and briefly with the Canon 50mm f/1.4. The preserve is a great location, and I’d like to come back for portraiture.

The full gallery is on Flickr, and I’ve included a few more photographs after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Lighting and Photography Class

Harlan Landes

– April 8, 2011Posted in: Featured, Photography

A week before this past Tuesday, I attended the penultimate session of my latest photography class. The class concentrated on lighting, and it was perfect timing for me. Lighting was the missing piece in my skill set — well, besides the need to improve my artistic eye. We invited a model to the class in order to practice our lighting technique for portraits. While my classmates spent a lot of time snapping photos with 35mm cameras, my process was much slower because I was using the Mamiya RZ67 for the most part.

I started the session with the Polaroid back to test the exposure before switching to the 120 medium format film. I also got a few shots in using the Canon 1D Mark III. (It’s wonderful that I was able to find all of this equipment used. The only piece of equipment I purchased new was the Sigma 24-70mm lens I mentioned earlier.) Out of everything, the Polaroid “test shots” turned out the best, despite losing one exposure when I removed the back before replacing the dark slide. With the Polaroid back on, I also tried shooting with the f-stop halfway between f/22 and f/32, and that didn’t work so well. It resulted in the shutter not opening much at all, which you can see in the most underexposed shot in the group.

It’s interesting how, despite using the same settings, the Kodak Ektar film responded completely differently to the light on the seamless backdrop.

The next class starts in May, but I think I’ll be taking a break from classes until at least the fall. I need to spend more time shooting.

Here is the full set on Flickr, and if you continue reading this article, you’ll see a gallery of just the Polaroids and one 6×7.

Read the rest of this entry »

Catherine Short de Arce at The Grand

Harlan Landes

– March 27, 2011Posted in: Featured, Music, Photography

Last Tuesday, I ventured back into my college state of Delaware for the first time in many years. After broadcasting a request for models among my friends on Facebook several months ago, one of the gracious responses was from Catherine Short de Arce, a friend of mine from the University of Delaware. Cathy was a vocal music major when we attended, and she followed this passion and is now a successful opera singer. At the bottom of this post, I’ve included one of her recordings.

We scheduled the photo shoot in Wilmington’s Grand Opera House, a great venue for dramatic images featuring an opera singer. The Sarah Bernhardt room, where we set up and shot almost all of the photographs, was a perfect location. Cathy came fully prepared with a team to help with her hair and make-up, as well as a representative from the department store Boscov’s to help with the various outfits provided by the store.

This was my first attempt bringing my portable equipment on location. I traveled with a Canon 1D Mark III, with an XTi for emergency back-up, and two Bowens Gemini monolights with umbrellas. For lenses, I brought a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro, and Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 IF EX DG HSM AF, but used the 24-70mm almost exclusively. I also had a variety of accessories to help with the shoot, like PocketWizards for triggering the strobes and a white/silver reflector.

I learned quite a bit from the seven hours I spent at the Grand Opera House. Here are a few of my take-aways.

The details are important. Some problems, like a fire alarm on the wall, can’t always be cropped out of the frame. I need to keep my eyes open. Even a piece of tape to hold fabric on a couch can ruin a shot.
I need to watch angles and proportions when using wider angles. On camera, it could look like an interesting perspective, but once I can really look at the image, I might be distracted by feet or hands in the corner of the frame.
It’s important for the model to feel at ease. I probably could have done more to help Cathy feel comfortable and relax.

Post-processing is an important part of modern photography. Film purists often don’t like PhotoShop because they believe the skill of a photographer is in getting the best picture in camera. It’s always good to strive for getting the best capture, but even the best film photographers worked creatively with chemicals and dodged and burned the exposure when printing. In PhotoShop, I take the time to reduce the appearance of shiny skin, make sure there is the level of contrast I expect, and make sure the colors most accurately reflect the colors as seen by human eyes — all things even the best digital sensor doesn’t do well.

Update! I have finished finalizing the photographs from this shoot. You can see a select set of photographs in my portfolio, and here’s a slideshow. Following the slideshow are a few photographs from the shoot prior to processing.

Read the rest of this entry »