52 Project

So, it was a failure in 2010, but this year will be different :D

I'm going to try another "picture a week" project for 2011 where I attempt to capture at least one portrait shot every week for the full year. I'm not going to be too strict on myself as long as I can take one photo that I'm proud of each week.

I shall be posting these up as soon as I've finished developing/editing and I hope that I'll be able to keep it up.

Apologies for the lack of writing, I was finishing a film and it didn't work out.....should've read the instructions properly ;)

Anyway, that's all I have to say, I'll leave you with a picture to end/start the year, nothing special but I hope something simple and nice.

After Eclipse - 7D + 50mm f/1.8

New Website

So, I signed up for a new domain and hosting yesterday. Just waiting for the domain to propogate and then my site should be up and running at www.jthomas.com.au

Once that is all running I'll be able to order some business cards and hopefully things will go on from there :D

Just the one picture this time, a teaser if you will. I'm taking some photos for a friend and just got this one from a practice session last week. Hope you like it.

Claire - 7D + 50mm 1.4 - Shoot-through umbrella (camera left)

Got some more gear coming and my 85mm lens came yesterday so hopefully I'll have some more shots up shortly. Work party this evening which I think I'll just take my RF to, then we can see how this Tri-X goes.

New Camera

Woo, my new camera finally arrived and I managed to get a battery for it today. It's a proper camera this time, Mamiya M645 and it's a beast! Waiting for some replacement light seals but I've got a roll in it and I've been playing around with some portraiture. Got a friend wanting some headshots so I'm going to try for some high quality shots then.

The Beast

Apart from that, my rolls of Tri-X arrived and I plan to do some more street/candid/stalker photography soon. Should be out in town tomorrow night so I might get some shots there. The clean viewfinder on my Yashica is sooo much nicer to use, much more of a joy.

I've just got a couple of other pics to put up today, quite old but I figured they should be displayed somewhere and I haven't actually managed to produce any final images so far this week.

Sunsets - 30D + 50mm 1.8 (ISO 800)

Both from the recent Powderfinger tour. I saw them in Sydney and had an opportunity to try out concert photography for the first time. Needless to say, it's quite challenging. The lighting is constantly changing, getting a good view is almost impossible and it's not exactly calm and still. Still, I think I managed to pull something off, just.

Rock - 30D + 50mm 1.8 (ISO 800)

Just a black and white, trying for the old fashioned rock concert photos. I was actually trying to get a picture of Bernard on the floor but he's a bit obscured by the foldbacks, would have made it so much better if they weren't there.

Anyway, I do hope to have some shots from my new camera for next time, gotta finish this roll and then develop/scan it. Hopefully I'll have worked out a decent scanning method soon.

Overprocessed

So, I "bought" some new software to play around with and I've just been messing round with some of my past photos seeing as I'm too lazy to get out and shoot atm. I should get round to it next week though.

Sculpture - 7D + 50mm 1.4 @ f/8

I found it really difficult to get some usable photos from this years Sculptures by the Sea in Bondi. Not much different from any other year really as it was just due to my timing. I went midday on a hot and sunny day, not the best light at all. Anyway, this is woefully overprocessed in some software. It's supposed to look like some type of film, I'm gonna say Portra but I'm not so sure.

Q - 7D + 50mm 1.4 @ f/8

This is another one that was from that day. Ran it through a B&W converter and it came out looking very fake. It was a bit of a dull picture before so I just left it. Had to back off the strength a little but it's still looking a little strong, meh.

Hiding - 7D + 50mm 1.4 @ f/1.4 (ISO 128000)

Finally, one from camping. Tried out my camera's high ISO settings around the campfire and was very impressed. I didn't dare go over 800 on my old camera but this is sooo much better. Anyway, not too much processing on this one actually, bit of NR and a desat (fire makes everything very orange). I probably should have cropped out the leg but I really liked this framing and CBF with photoshop. Maybe later...

Anyway, that's it for the weekend. Hoping to do some shooting with my lights next week and I'm deciding whether or not to drop $1k+ on a new lens, decisions decisions.

Film Friends

So, for my very first proper post, I thought I'd show some of my recent film experiments. I'm completely new to film and developing so forgive the dodginess. Annoyingly, my biggest problem is digitizing the images. While I love the colour and experience when shooting on such a format, displaying it on the internet really shows it's limitations.

Dan - f/1.4 Ilford FP4+

My first keeper :D Probably my first outing with my recently acquired rangefinder, the marvelous Yashica Electro 35. Also the first roll I ever developed so I'm pretty happy.

Bec - f/1.4 Ilford FP4 (expired)

Next is a nice shot from a very long expired roll of film I found in a box of old darkroom stuff. I'd say it's been sitting in an attic with temperatures from 15-55 Celsius for around about 25 years. Not the best quality but quite fun.

Liz - f/1.4 Fujicolor Pro 160S

And finally, a colour shot. Got some cheap rolls off ebay an quite liked how this turned out. This was actually "scanned" using a ghetto lightbox and my DSLR with some extension tubes. Turned out alright and a much higher res file than my crappy scanner.

Anyway, those were my first few shots. The rangefinder makes portrait shots much more fun, and with the current OCAU competition for candids, I've been taking a fair few just to play around. It's been great fun. Just waiting to get some more B&W film and try out my rangefinder now that I've cleaned the glass :D

Well, til next time.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to my photoblog, phlog or photographic log.

I'm dabbling in many different areas of photography; studio portraits, landscape, street and events. I'm branching out into new and more exciting areas everyday and have recently started exploring film with my first rangefinder.

I've created this blog to inspire me so that I can document my experiments and hopefully successes while hopefully imparting a bit of information/biased opinions in the process.

I hope you enjoy what I have to present.