Luminous Landscapes added to the resources

I have just added a link to a web site that has lots of helpful information for photographers. I visit the site regularly yet had not posted it to the blog. I have been following a camera, quite the opposite of my pursuit of film photography, the Sony NEX 7. I am intrigued by the sensor which is an incredible 24 megapixels. One of my big interests in film is that I would like to print large images on a our large format plotter at Oculus without the images pixilating. This tiny, very high tech camera appears to produce image files with incredible resolution. Looks like Sony is going to be giving Nikon and Cannon a run for their money by amping up their offerings rather substantially.

Film Image of Mendota Community Hospital Lobby

This is the best scan so far from the latest round of film images I have from the Sinar "F" using E100G. This shot was taken with my Fujinon 90mm at F22 and a 5 second exposure. The film image looks great. Very sharp, colors and exposure are good. Scanning the image to digital has been the challenge. I have been trying to figure out all of the subtleties of the Epson V750 Pro. I think I now have the focus issue resolved. The result of much searching on the Internet and experimentation uses wet mounting the film to the underside of the Epson wet mount attachment which I have elevated with two pennies on each corner.This is resulting in a much sharper image. The experiments will continue.

More Images from the Temples of Death

http://bellefontainecemetery.org/

Walk Like an Egyptian

The Sphinx of Mr. Tate!

This is a large cemetery located in the North of St. Louis. For anyone who knows St. Louis, the northern part of the city has suffered the most decay over the years. The crypts and graves in this cemetery truly reflect the wealth and power that was once St. Louis. The St. Louis which was once the largest city in the United States, the center of commerce and the center of culture. It is truly and incredible place which I hope to return to and photograph many more times.

Uban Imgages from St. Louis Riverfront

Crunden Martin Entry

Power Lines

Checkered Past

Barge Crane and Abandoned Power Plant

Hinge and Graffitti

Barge Crane

My last post contained images from the 5 alarm Crunden Martin Manufacturing building fire. Over the weekend I went to look at the damage. The light was again fantastic and I spent about an hour revisiting some areas that I have photographed before. The images contain some industrial equipment along the Mississippi River and the St. Louis flood wall.

Blazing Inferno

Today's post is a bit of serendipity. When the shot just presents itself just outside your window. We saw the smoke, at first a big puff of black smoke followed by some white smoke. We think that must have been the building sprinklers kicking on in response to the first fire.  Then there was some more white smoke, then more white and black smoke. It would die down then get bigger. It when on this way for what seemed to be about a half hour. No sounds of fire trucks. The response seemed slow.  Then someone in our office remarked "this is boring, I want to see some flames". It was a joke as we all thought it would soon be over as it seemed to be getting put out. Well about ten minutes later things changed and there were flames jumping 60 feet in the air. Another old warehouse building bites the dust. I have photographed in this area of the city before and was planning on taking the large format back to this section to get some shots of the arch framed by these old buildings. Must have been quite the show for people passing through St. Louis on interstate 64 on on the Amtrak train that went right past this location at about the time the flames were really starting to shoot up.

Temples of Death- An Outdoor Museum of Architecture

Tonights post are the first of a series of photos from the famous Bellfontaine Cemetary in St. Louis.

Kauai Hawaii

Musings on Digital vs. Film in the Cellphone Camera Age

Tonight's post does not have photos attached. It is musings about the journey that I have recently been on to re-learn and use a 4x5 view camera and real film. I have found that the personal engagement with the device and the medium are quite different then using the digital camera. In today's world of digital cameras being pervasive using a large, slow moving tripod mounted device is much different. Recently a pastor friend of mine talked about officiating at a wedding where the photographer had a hard time doing his job because members of the audience kept getting in the way with their cell phone cameras. The paid photographer seemed at a distinct disadvantage. He was obligated to capture very specific shots. Even more problematic was that as he was trying to get those shots people with cell phones apparently kept getting up from their seats and getting in the way. I wondered when does the photographic process take precedent over the actual event? Will the bride and groom be happy with their friends being in their photos randomly? That is certainly not something that would have occurred ten years ago. Then the photographer was the recorder of the event sure there was the occasional guest with a small camera but certainly not everyone recording movies of the event and emailing or Twittering them all around in real time. Now that has changed be it at a wedding or an Occupy Wall Street protest. As I start using the large format camera I am so aware that it is so much more visible, so much more obvious and present. Even obvious than my bulky digital SLR's which can often dominate a situation and make people act differently. Using the 4x5 comes with a commitment of time and attitude that simply are part of the process and inevitably shape the images you get. If the cell phone camera is all about spontaneity the large format camera is the complete opposite. With it you must plan and calculate what you are going to shoot, how you are going to shoot, how many exposures you have and most of the time plan the shots well in advance. It is the opposite of the whip it out cell camera. Even the rather cumbersome digital SLR allows you to shoot color, or black and white at will and with a large memory card you can click away capturing hundreds of images. But with the 4x5 view camera you must plan which film, what subject and what lens well in advance. You must decide how to use the limited number of sheets of film you have editing in the field which images are worthy of investment. It is a whole different thought process but in the end I think you must ask the question. Will it mean more? Will the viewer see this in the finished product? Will they form a deeper commitment to the human connection you are trying to make?

Some Digital Shots from the Archives- Yellowstone

Here are just some of many shots of Yellowstone from 2008. Enjoy!

Project Photos 4x5 E100G film

Today's post is really my first attempt at working through the entire large format 4x5 camera workflow. I recently shot these images of a project we designed. They were my first attempt at using the 4x5 Sinar and Kodak E100G film. I then had the film developed and then used our new Epson E750 Pro Scanner to convert them to digital. While this process has been a little time consuming I am finding that the results are acceptable. The workflow is much slower and more skill intensive then a pure digital process but the images should also be able to be enlarged more then I can get with my older Nikon D200s. Assuming that digital camera's will continue to improve in quality and lower in price it will be hard for anyone to justify the skill, time and cost of continuing to do film/analog photography regardless of its sensuous tactile properties.

More Images from the Archives

For today's post I am showing some images that have been edited in Photo Shop Elements. I typically do not edit my images much more then a little increase in sharpness or light/contrast. One of these images has had some work done to it as practice. Can you tell which one?

Couds and Sky

Cycling Architecture and Autumn

Today's post is from some shots over the weekend. It was a rather gray day. The kind of day which makes you work for your captures with slow shutter speeds and little shadows.