A photo set dedicated to the 4th anniversary of the most momentous day of my life. December 23rd, 2007. The day my son, Miles was born.
Above-left : Me prepped for entrance into the operating room where he was born. Above-right : This is the standard spot for fathers to wait while the mother is prepped for surgery. That little bench is where I sat, sleep deprived, sweating under my arms, and nervous to the point of dizziness. Waiting on Miles. This photo means a lot to me, although seemingly “simple”.
Above : Miles’ first breath. Starting now, I documented every day for the first year of his life with one roll of film each day. You should see the stack of negatives…literally hundreds of rolls…and hundreds of hours invested. Every milestone documented, starting with this breath.
Above-left : The entrance to the operating room where Miles was born, the station to the right is where his doctor prepped for surgery. I watched that door for the slightest movement…waiting to be called in and witness my son. Above-right : Miles has arrived. This is the crucial first few seconds where signs of life are verified, toes and fingers are counted, and Miles learned to breathe oxygen.
Above : 6lb, 12oz. My mom (Miles’ grandma) can be seen through the glass.
Happy birthday, son. Love - Dad
All photos shot with a Nikon F80 and 50mm f1.8 lens. Kodak Tri-X film rated at 1600ASA and developed in Kodak XTOL (1:1) for 13m 15s.
Happy Birthday to me, my new Diana MINI. Holy crap is this thing cool.
So, I had my 30th birthday recently. December 14th to be exact. Sort of a depressing time honestly. Everyone says life doesn’t really begin until your 30’s…I’ll take their word for it.
The silver lining however was this gift. A new Diana Mini!
And, oh man is this thing cool!
Shoots half frame or square. I am a HUGE fan of the half-frame format. Since I shoot 99.9% vertical images, the half-frame format works out quite nicely…oh and you get 72 exposures on a standard 35mm roll of film (if you select the square format, with a little switch on the back of the camera, you get 36 exposures).
I have yet to process my first roll, but I can say it’s VERY well built. Much better than I would expect from any plastic “toy” camera.
I’ll post up a more in-depth review once I have some images (taken by the camera) to show.
Until then, I recommend you buy one anyway.
Look how tiny it is next to a “real” Diana (I say “real” because the Diana next to it is the full-size model, and it’s a REAL Diana…meaning an original, not one of the reproductions sold now). At 6’4” tall, I look like a total goof taking photos with this camera, I can fit it in the palm of my hand…it’s tiny.
If you want to check out some photos from the full-size Diana, CLICK HERE. (and feel free to “like” my business page on Facebook while you’re at it!) Notice the excessive light leaks…true trademark of a “real” vintage Diana (and, yes, I even taped it up haha).
This photo was shot with a Nikon F100, 50mm f/1.4 lens, on Tri-X (rated at 1600 and processed in Rodinal).
Alabama Blues Man - Adolphus Bell “The One Man Band” - Southern Blues Portrait
This is Adolphus pictured on the front steps of his home in Birmingham, AL. I took these shots, one frame after the other, as he we were talking on his front porch in 2009. This was a few months before he was diagnosed with cancer, he’s now back home recovering after a long fight.
Adolphus is a legendary Alabama blues man. I highly recommend you check out his music, you’ll love it.
Actually…here is a video that was shot by an amazing film maker friend of mine Tom Ciaburri on this same trip to visit Adolphus. He shot it on location at a pawn shop near Adolphus’ home…great stuff.
Classic B&W - Miles learning how to fly a kite on Oak Island beach (North Carolina)
I am a portrait and wedding photographer in Greensboro, NC. One of the benefits of living in the middle of the state is that, during the summer, making beach trips is quick and easy. These photos were not taken in the summer, they were actually taken right around February…it was a bit chilly, but it’s never too cold to enjoy the beautiful North Carolina beaches.
I call this a “Classic B&W” portrait because it has a look that is nearly timeless. Sure, there are a couple elements that “date” the photograph (namely Miles’ jacket). However if you imagine for just a moment, this photo could have been taken in 2011 (which it was) or 1911.
This “timeless” sort of look is often what I’m after when shooting B&W.
In the left pane, you can see Miles smiling with excitement as he’s handed the line for the first time. And then, in the right pane…success!
Shot with a Nikon F5, 50mm f1.4 lens. Using Fuji Neopan 400 B&W film, rated at 800ASA and developed in Diafine.
”You are a living mockery of your own ideals. If not, you have set your ideals too low.” -Charles Ludlam
I met Andy about a year ago. At the time he was a roommate of my girlfriend’s sister, Stephanie.
When we met he was introduced to me as “Bad Andy”. From Stephanie’s perspective, I can see where the name “Bad Andy” came from…but personally I though someone who kept a bug collection in a tiny jar and ordered a human tooth from eBay sounded pretty cool.
He also happens to be a sewing genius.
Andy has been sewing most of his life, it’s something he learned from his grandmother at a very early age. However it wasn’t until his years at Greensboro College that he really refined his craft and got into costume design and making.
Andy is now a costume maker for Triad Stage (incredible local theatre). He loves what he does and told me that working in theatre is something he HAS to do. It’s not a career “choice”, it’s something every bone in his body is dedicated to. It’s always inspiring to meet someone so dedicated to their craft and their passion.
During our shoot he was refitting the costumes (some 200 pieces!) for “A Christmas Carol” which opens today. If you are local, come check out the show. It’s running from today (Nov. 25th) until Christmas Eve.
“Carrie” themed photo for Greensboro Roller Derby girls’ horror movie calendar.
Back in the ”Texas Chainsaw Massacre” themed shoot post I talked about the calendar the Greensboro Roller Derby ladies are doing for some fundraising.
Well, here is the “Carrie” themed shoot I volunteered to do for them. I really like the way this one came out - especially considering the simplicity of the shoot!
We made fake blood out of corn syrup, food dye, and chocolate syrup. It smelled really sweet, but made a huge mess. Worth it though I think (although I wasn’t the one getting this crap poured on my head…).
I used a Vivitar 283 flash on a stand above the camera to the right. I can’t remember if I got the flash for $5 or free…either way, a bargain. It’s a perfect cheapo flash that is dead reliable, good on battery life, and is powerful enough for most any situation.
Bare flash made for a nice high-contrast scene, strong directional light.
Shot with a Mamiya 645 and 80mm f1.9 lens on Kodak Tri-X (rated at 400ASA). Developed in Rodial (1:50 dilution) for 13min. (I think).
Rodinal is great for big chunks of grain and high contrast (low dilution and a little more agitation than suggested by the bottle’s instructions).
“Texas Chainsaw Massacre” themed photo for the Greensboro Roller Derby girls’ horror movie calendar.
This year the Greensboro Roller Derby ladies have put together a horror-movie-themed calendar. Each month’s photo is aimed to represent an iconic horror film. They got together a bunch of local photographers (myself included) who donated their time to shoot each month.
The months I did were for “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Carrie”.
For this photo, themed after “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, I got together with Carnegie Brawl (aka MaryAnn) and my little sister (the body attached to the skates laying in the doorway).
We shot it in this pretty creepy old shack behind a friends house. Razor blades, empty beer cans, CREEPY stained couch inside…real classy joint.
Shot with a Mamiya 645 and 80mm/1.9 lens on Kodak Tri-X film.
Film was exposed at 800ASA and developed in Rodinal (1:50 dilution) for 20min.
Was going through some photos from a recent wedding I shot this year, it was mostly shot digitally but I also shot some film with this one - more for fun really, and only a couple rolls.
As I was sorting through all the digital images and negative scans I came across this photo of the bride’s dress. Granted it’s nothing all that spectacular, but I noticed that I had nearly the same images on film and as a digital image.
Perfect chance for a good ol’ fashioned side-by-side comparison.
Gear:
Digital = Nikon D7000, Nikon 35mm f/2 lens
Film = Nikon F5, Nikon 50mm f/1.4 lens (Fuji Neopan B&W 400 speed film, rated at 800)
Keep this in mind:
- The digital version (left) was shot in RAW, and adjusted to “get the most” out of it in terms of exposure in Adobe Lightroom 3 (meaning pulling detail from the dark area inside, below the dress - and trying to recover detail from the blown-out outdoors portion through the window)
- The film version (right) is a 1200dpi quick and dirty scan from my cheapo Epson V500 scanner (I say cheapo, but I love it!). There is literally nothing done to this scanned negative beyond the automatic adjustments made by the scanning software…so, essentially, if I had tried as hard with this image as I did the digital version I could pull a LOT more detail out of the shadows and highlights. Also, the film version is a 400 speed film rated at 800, this in itself tends to up the contrast quite a bit and narrow the range of exposure latitude.
So, what do you notice?
Like I said, the digital version is “optimized” whereas the film version is a quick and dirty scan from a negative.
Things to notice:
- Compare the highlights (mainly outside the window)
- Compare the tonality of the dress itself
- Compare shadow detail (yeah, not much to go on here but you kinda get the idea)
Photo of the day for April 1st, 2011 - Snow in the south.
I shot this while waiting for a train on Christmas day, 2010. It’s really rare we have white Christmases down here in the south - but this year was an exception. I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful Christmas day.
The snow, the train ride, the friends and family. Perfect.
Shot on Tri-X 400, rated at 800ISO - developed in Diafine
If you are interested in a shoot with your band, children, family, significant other , or whoever else, send me an email and we’ll chat!
Photo of the day for March 18th, 2011 - Katharine Whalen and the Fascinators
Katharine (founding member of the Squirrel Nut Zippers) and her band needed some promo shots for their new album…so that’s what they got!
This is one of my favorites from the session (I’ll post some more up on another day), we spent a while walking downtown while I shot a couple rolls and had a great time.
After the shoot we all went to dinner and I met up with them later to hear them play. LOVE their music.
