Photos and Thoughts

Fireworks in Sydney

Miles — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:05:41 +0000

The title says it all!

I left the shiny stuff to the professionals, instead i took five minutes of time during work to take a few quick snaps from near the Opera House. I shot on old 200iso film and tried a combination of f11 to f22 1 second exposures, some f22 shots on bulb and a great big smearing pan from the house to the bridge. To those that don’t speak that language but are still interested i let in as little light as i could but for longer, thus giving us the long streaks of light effect you get as the fireworks shoot upwards. It was all handheld and so very shaky, i’d love to try with a tripod sometime but i like how these turned out- much better than i thought they would at the time!

Wilco Mixtape

Miles — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:18:28 +0000

I was recently asked to prep a Wilco mixtape for a friend enjoying their latest album, here’s what i came up with, any more suggestions other Wilco fans?

1 – At Least That’s What You said – A Ghost Is Born
2 – I Am Trying To Break Your Heart – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
3 – Impossible Germany – Sky Blue Sky
4 – I’m Always In Love – Summer Teeth
5 – Wilco (The Song) – Wilco (The Album)
6 – Bull Black Nova – Wilco (The Album)
7 – Radio Cure – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
8 – I Shall Be Released (live Bob Dylan cover) – web release w/Fleet Foxes
9 – How To Fight Lonelyness – Summer Teeth
10 – Handshake Drugs – A Ghost Is Born
11 – Poor Places – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
12 – Hate It Here – Sky Blue Sky
13 – Jollybanker (Woody Guthrie cover) – web release
14 – Misunderstood (live) – Kicking Television

Love of Diagrams, The Laurels, Circle Pit

Miles — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:04:18 +0000

1-12-11 – FBi Social
A very good night of music put on by Radiant at FBi Social. These are the three i caught most of and each was better than the last (sorry circle Pit). Circle Pit started it off for me with a nice stripped back set. Between each song they seemed to stop for more than i thought was normal… then i saw that they were actually explaining how to play the next song to what must have been a ring-in drummer. Rather than being frustrating it actually made the set more fun for me, maybe i’m just weird. Even though they probably were not at their best the set was enough for me to now be keen to catch them again at full strength in the near future (hopefully near!). After the start-stop set from Cricel Pitt, The Laruels just blew me away but it wasn’t too much of a surprise. They’re just always a force of nature on the stage and no recording that i have listened to has ever really managed to captured this.
When Love of Diagrams first started playing i was a little underwhelemed, i don’t know why but it just deflated me- but by the second song it was a complete turn around! I loved their set and cute banter, it’s great to see a true live band discuss what song to play next as the show goes on.

There are more pics on the Facebook gallery.

“I don’t want gay marriage… i want marriage”

Miles — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:11:57 +0000

3-12-11

Ten thousand people turned up in a park to support the cause earlier this month, it was great to see so much support gather and march across Sydney.

The Touch

Miles — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:33:07 +0000

02-12-11
Donny Benet was a champ at FBi Social the other week. He laid down a great set that i think was meant more for the ladies than the very sausage-festy front row that Friday night…

If you haven’t experienced The Touch make sure to catch Donny next time…

Starlight

Miles — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:16:44 +0000

Thought i’d share my captures of star trails and assorted night sky related delights, i’ll explain how it all worked below.

These were all captured on low speed film, 100 or 200 iso, though you should be able to duplicate them in digital format, in fact it would probably be easier than what i went through. All you really need to do is use a wideish lens (50mm or lower), point it at the sky, set your aperture relatively high (above 11) if you’re going to be shooting for a long time and let the camera do the rest. On most cameras you will need a shutter release cable or remote to take long shots without shaking the camera. This video may be helpful if you’re keen to try it out yourself.

You’ll find that shorter exposures will give you less distortion and grain but shorter streaks, so you will have to experiment and see what you’re comfortable with. As an example: the three above photos were shorter exposures and needed very little editing, just a quick squeezing of the levels to give them a bit of extra contrast. However, the top photo was shot over almost a whole night and needed a whole colour overlay to take away some grain. Below is an exposure that went for several hours at least, i’ve included samples of it before and after editing:

As a friend pointed out a lot of the noise probably comes from the digital scan of the negative. In order to negate it i gave the photo more contrast by adjusting the levels and then ran it through a grain filter. If you’re using a recently built digital camera it will probably degrain your photos as it shoots, so you may not have the same issues i have.

I’d encourage everyone to give it a go! I’m sure i’ll keep fine tuning night sky shots whenever i get the chance.

The Advantages of Early Mornings

Miles — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 11:22:50 +0000

Sunrises! All of these shots were taken just before the sun peeked above up over the landscape. The first two are taken on a Nikon FM with a 28mm lens. The top one is done at a later stage of sunrise with some Kodak 100iso Ektar, just as the sun pops out. While the second one is taken a bit earlier, with some Kodak 400. I exposed it correctly for just above the horizon, so i would get a good spread of colours all the way through the sky.

Second from the bottom we have some Kodak 100iso slide film in a Yashica D. I have to admit that this may actually be sunset, i honestly can’t remember. When the sun sets in the country you can see a ring of pink all around the sky, a great pink halo sitting on top of the earth. Clouds make all the difference to a rising or setting sun, ust a few can turn a regular sunrise into a spectacle few could ever look upon without awe. No adjustments to the image in post, it simply did not need anything.

The bottom one is taken on an old Canon P with a moldy 50mm lens, probably on some expired 100iso Kodak film. It has been scanned in at home and that’s what gives it the scratchy, dusty look. Once again no adjustments in post, perfect to me though many may disagree.

Out of the Box: Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera

Miles — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 01:10:36 +0000

This is perhaps my most awesome misguided impulse buy. On a high from finally having a regular paycheck I succumbed to ebay and bought a custom leather case for the camera even before I had acquired one. First produced in the early 1970s the Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera is first a freakin’ genius work of engineering, second the ultimate hipster accessory and third a camera. That’s right, the camera part is third down the list. Lets break this down: Genius Engineering
This camera begins it’s life as a flat block, it has a good weight to it and feels pretty solid. In fact if you tug at different parts of your camera block it doesn’t move too much… it can initially be difficult to figure out how to take a picture… But if you grab it from just the right place you’ll see a little magic happen… It’s masterful engineering, you just pull up and it opens. The force of your pulling is distributed perfectly along its pivot points, I’m never worried I’ll break it when I open it up. It’s also an SLR, which means what you look at through the viewfinder is exactly what you are taking a picture of. The inside of this thing must be even more amazing to look at than the outside. The ultimate hipster fashion accessory
It’s just cool. There’s no other way to put it, if i need to explain why it’s cool then you don’t need one. I actually feel self-conscious carting it around in public, especially in the case! It’s not that i’m looking to make a fashion statement, i’m just carrying around a very impractical polaroid camera in a leather case. A Camera
It’s a good camera but i think it’s a better marvel of engineering and fashion statement. As a Polaroid camera you get what you expect: low resolution arty photos. If that’s what you want this will spit that out for you. However, you must remember that each photo will cost you around $4 and it’s also difficult to use this camera with the only film being produced for it these days. The film is too light sensitive and you really need to attach a piece of bendy plastic to the front of the camera to shield images as they come out. If you don’t the photos will blow out, they’ll be devoid of colour and contrast. Even with this shield you need to fiddle around to expose it correctly, the film is more light sensitive than the camera expects so you need to dial the exposure over to dark- but sometimes it will make things too dark! They also will fade unless you do some chemical tricks on them. It’s a bit of a trial at times but still very cool and fun to use. However, most people just use instagram or similar on their mobile phones for similar results. I’d happily encourage people to get one but you just need to be aware of the pros and cons of this little marvel. Below are some photos and further down you can see how the case I found for it works. Read more below for pics of the case The Case
I got this beautiful case even before i had acquired a camera, i just couldn’t pass up on a case that folded with the camera! It’s beautifully made, great craftsmanship which looks like it will last longer than the camera already has.

Fading Weekend

Miles — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 22:46:42 +0000

One afternoon i thought this faded script fit my Sunday afternoon thoughts. Is your Sunday slipping away from you?

I cam upon this building one afternoon after work, it’s the local papers office in Orange, NSW. The titles of the weekly and Saturday edition were still on the side of the wall but i guess at some point they stopped their Sunday edition and this is all that’s left of its legacy… I shot this on a Nikon FM using a 28mm lens on Fuji 1600 film. Very, very slight levels adjustment in post. The hidden nature of the script is what made this photo for me so i didn’t want to bring it out too much.

Out of the Box: Canon P

Miles — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 01:30:34 +0000

It was only when my sister pointed it out that I realised how far gone I was. What started as a curiosity has turned into a mini-obsession and it threatens to go much, much further every day.

Since I started shooting photos on film I’ve accrued a few cameras. Once you have more than two cameras picking which one to take with you becomes more and more complex, which was why my sister found me staring down into my box of equipment. You have a BOX of cameras… Her pointing out the obvious made me realise what I had become. It seems like something I would have noticed before. Did I really need that third Canonet 19 from Ebay? Wasn’t the very act of purchasing a 35 litre storage box for my cameras hint enough for me? No, I needed the simple statement of someone outside of my world to bring it home. Did it change anything? No, I think I’ve bought at least 4 lenses and 60 rolls of film since that day.

Now i’m taking them out to show you, today one of my favourites is coming out of the box: The Canon P. Though flawed it has created some of my most loved photos of the past year.

This is a very early Canon model, first released in 1959. It resembles a Leica and uses the same screw mount for its lenses. The one I have comes to me from my grandfather with a 50m lens. It’s a totally manual camera which means I’m often guessing what settings to use or needing a light meter.

It kind of works most of the time. Unfortunately it has some mould and grease on the inside of the lens and it does sometimes misfire on the longer shutter settings. The rangefinder is also strangely out of alignment. With a rangefinder you are not looking through the lense like an SLR, you look through a window near the lense and focus by moving a ghostly second image around the viefinder. When the ghost and the real overlap then that is what will be in focus. This camera has its ghost image shifted down just a bit and often refuses to even move into vertical alignment… you kind of have to have faith in the diagonal nature of what you are looking at.

I have to admit, I’ve got more than one roll of film full of absolute crap but I do like the ghostly nature of the images, they’re cool in an arty hipster sort of way. With the right subject matter it works perfectly but for most things it’s not the ideal camera. I’d say it specializes in capturing eerie and spooky images.

Some of my results are below, i’ve also made a gallery with much bigger images (and more of them) at my webpage: Atomic Bread.com