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The Photography Thread


MrChupacabra

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You've got the good thrift store karma going on!

 

I rarely pay more than $20 for a camera. I got a Rolleiflex Automat for $40 in Vegas, which was a really good deal. I need to use it more. I have so many cameras I don't have time to use. Drives me crazy.

 

I'd also be going crazy on a road trip where I couldn't take pictures!

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I haven't either. I guess people who know enough about cameras to own a TLR know not to just give them away. :)

 

I got a 46mm-52mm step up ring so now I can put close up lens filters on my Holga and do macro shots. Been wanting this for a long time. Here's a test shot I took yesterday at a black book session in North Hollywood:

 

5822823877_3b135bd34c.jpg

 

They were putting together a huge sticker combo, pretty cool.

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"We have also seen an increase in the number of people using medium format film, also called 120 film, in the very popular Holga or Diana cameras," Hurwitz says. "These cameras are inexpensive, plastic bodies with plastic lenses that produce a sightly out of focus image. They are very popular with young artists and photographers who are looking for a more artistic image."

 

As a counterpoint, I suggest checking this out http://www.burnmagazine.org/epf-2011-finalists/2011/06/michael-christopher-brown-the-lybian-republic/ , which was made with an iphone. you don't need any sort of camera to make 'art', not to be corny, but its inside you more than anything else. here is a comment from that essay that sums up my thoughts perfectly:

 

"I think this is the perfect example where we can love our Leicas, Canons, Nikons, Panasonics and on and on, but if we don’t have the necessary eye and hunger to tell a good story all gear is worthless. It doesn’t matter if I write this comment with a some ordinary promotional Biro or lovely beautiful Mont Blanc, my words are more or less ordinary and far from earth shattering. Michael Christopher Brown tells a very, very good story full of power with just an iPhone"

 

--------------------------

 

Just because you're using a camera that makes 'more artistic' images doesn't make you more artistic, if anything, i'd say its the opposite. Holgas don't demonstrate adeptness, they hide flaws. Now, there are obvious advantages to using medium-format film (i'd love to be able to blow an image up to massive sizes), but if that article is right, it seems as though people aren't using it for their own reasons, they're using it so that they can be tapped into some sort of tradition....

 

edit: PS, I'm going to this on friday, sooo psyched. http://tedxboston.org/adventure/screenwriting-insights-from-aaron-stockard

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I know what you're saying. It's your eye not your gear. What's that saying? F8, and be there?

 

I don't care what "hipsters" are using. I like to use Holgas because of the look they produce. Take this picture right here:

 

4829033775_4b3357afa0.jpg

 

Nothing spectacular, I know. But if you were to see this sign in person--it looks nothing like it does in this photo. The Holga--and black and white film--transform it.

 

Most of the fun for me with all my quirky film cameras is matching the quirk to the subject matter. They can be difficult to use--inaccurate viewfinders, guessing at what's going to be in focus--they actually take some skill.

 

Those iphone pictures are great--but they would have been better with a different camera, IMO.

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@ Menino

 

I kind of feel the same way, a lot of talentless people will use film to somehow mask the lack of skill.

Like a poorly composed shot with no thought put into taking it is magically a good shot now because of grain or something.

 

My friend Chris stooped so low as to run light-room filters over his (good IMO) shots to reduce their quality and the hipsters ate it up.

It's laughable when people get a camera and a month later with no training take themselves super seriously because they use film.

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Its like graffiti.. You want to know if someone has any real skill, give them three cans(one too many), silver, black and some lame pastel for that super dope bling cloud/forcefield effect. If you can't kill shit with the basics all the fancy beside-the-point gimmicks ain't gonna help you. To top it off all the shit looks the same for the most part. They ain't even got enough character to put into what they're doing.

 

Remember when Mercer used to kill shit proper with just a point and shoot?

 

I think yall get my point.

 

/endrant

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I'm an avid film user and I absolutely hate, hate the Lomo brand/toy cameras. One thing I got from

The article is that the general consensus thinks that people gravitate to film because of that shitty

aesthetic that these specific cameras give. There is a shitty aesthetic present because these so called

"photographers" don't even have any part in the printing process of film & by using obsolete cameras

that will give off light leaks, etc. What most people don't understand that there are still film cameras out

there and film users that still surpass a good amount of the quality in the digital market.

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A lot of photographers feel that way and I understand where you're coming from. I like it all, though, just like I like all kinds of graff--toy stuff, gang stuff, big pieces, I like it all.

 

But you shouldn't lump all toy camera users together. I develop my own film and I'm able to print it, too (B&W) but rarely have time to set up my darkroom stuff.

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I've always loved film photography, although I've never been good at it. I'm really starting to hate the whole hipster scene though, seeing as how I'm one of the younger cats around here, I'm surrounded by them. They'd see me lugging around my DSLR and comment on how film is so much better and how I should step my photography game up. Then looking at their photos at a later date, they aren't even all that great. I have mad respect for those who are mastering or have mastered the film game but I hate how some of these kids think that using a film camera makes them good at photography.

 

/endrant

 

and to keep the thread moving,

tumblr_lmqrugHEhd1qbvpa3o1_500.jpg

 

tumblr_lmqrozDOQE1qbvpa3o1_500.jpg

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sounds like i need to start hitting up thrift stores looking for cameras more often. i guess i hesitate buying cameras from thrift stores and flea markets in case they don't work. anyway i'm working 2 jobs these days, so i haven't had much time to shoot. i finished a roll of 120 yesterday, got home and opened the camera and the film hadn't rewound and i ruined a roll. super bummed, but learned my lesson to always unload in a dark room just in case. anyway i did get this shot yesterday when i was kicking it with some dudes doing a production...

 

5827207267_9fa7fc4e02_b.jpg

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THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS[/url]

 

:rolleyes:

 

Smash 17 year old hipster and take her camera.

 

I kind of feel the same way, a lot of talentless people will use film to somehow mask the lack of skill.

Like a poorly composed shot with no thought put into taking it is magically a good shot now because of grain or something.

 

This. It's even in that article, somehow light leaks and accidental double exposures mean you can have a gallery show or be featured on a bunch of different hip blogs.

"But with film, you never really know what's going to happen. It's a surprise every time you develop and print your film. Sometimes there can be weird color granulations, random light splotches or double exposures."

I don't know why people think that's good, they're blatantly saying they don't know how to use a camera and it's all just luck as to how they come out.

 

I have one digital camera now and it's definitely not because I think my photos are better if I shoot film. I just prefer the process, it's more personal for me. Shooting, developing, printing. Storing your negatives, ordering them all. I shot film before I was shooting digital, for documenting bombing, etc..

Unlike these art school products who got their parents to get them a DSLR and then threw it away to buy a $20 35mm point and shoot for the 'vintage' look. Just so they can put their photos on their Facebook photography page.

 

Its like graffiti.. You want to know if someone has any real skill, give them three cans(one too many), silver, black and some lame pastel for that super dope bling cloud/forcefield effect. If you can't kill shit with the basics all the fancy beside-the-point gimmicks ain't gonna help you.

 

And this. I always tell people I know "It's the driver not the car". So many people think that getting a brand new 5D MKII means you can now take amazing photos. A few people I know have done this and it just leaves me shaking my head, because their photos don't get any better. They're still shooting 600 photos a night and using 4 of them which are horribly composed.

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"But with film, you never really know what's going to happen. It's a surprise every time you develop and print your film. Sometimes there can be weird color granulations, random light splotches or double exposures."

I don't know why people think that's good, they're blatantly saying they don't know how to use a camera and it's all just luck as to how they come out.

 

That's one of the main reasons I like using toy cameras and expired film. Surprises.

I like that toy cameras are more of an experiment. Doesn't mean I don't know how to use a camera.

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I hear you, and to be honest I actually prefer the look of a lot of film shots, especially photographers who post in this thread.

I really fucking miss seeing Spacemans shots even though he'd drop his shit off at the drug store or something mad cheap for development.

 

It's all about telling a story, eye for composition, capturing something as delicate as light, putting yourself in the right place at the right time, and don't forget luck.

Those six things are so important to me that by the time it gets down to what equipment was used I don't have any more fucks left to give about that shit.

 

 

 

 

A couple recent shots.

 

 

donuts.jpg

 

 

pickpocket.jpg

 

I got a phone call "yo, come shoot me painting a mural", I was like cool, we haggled over what I'd charge for a minute and dude fills me in.

Basically it's a bar in Brooklyn, has to be painted after 2:00 AM on Cinco De Mayo, and it's on the roll down gates.

He wants me to shoot a time lapse and a couple stills of this mural, he paints murals professionally and needs a good portfolio.

I'm like cool, show up, everyone leaves the bar including the owners and it's just me an him, no permit or anything.

To top it all off I didn't bring my ID which is an easy arrest for them in NYC if they catch you slipping.

 

Anyway, it takes dude forever to paint that shit, cops keep driving by and don't even notice us.

The whole time I'm like this will be one more fuck up on my record over a dumb photography gig.

Next thin I know these two cops pull up next to where I had my tripod and are staring at me.

 

I smiled and said "what's up" all friendly, they asked "do you guys have permission to be doing this?"

I'm like "yea, see, he's painting the bars name on the roll downs, not graffiti" they got all cool then and were like kids.

They got out the car and were asking all kinds of questions and saying stuff like "wow, thats amazing"

hahahahaha, so glad they didn't check my ID.

 

Finally homeboy here talked them into posing for a couple photo's.

 

 

Also, no edit on them, all white balance and natural light, I shot everything jpg

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I don't think anyone in here has directed any comments towards you qsysue, and I didn't either. You're defending yourself when you don't need to. You know how to use a camera, develop film, compose images - whereas these kids have no idea and they use their parents money to buy cameras and take double exposures of their vans and their cat.

When I said "people" I was referring to those kinds of people. And the kid in the article wasn't just talking about toy cameras, but all analogue cameras.

 

Those shots are nice Mercer, I always love your night stuff. So on point with the lighting.

Spaceman is definitely my favorite film shooter on here. Especially his really minimal snow shots, fucking kills it.

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