Black Cat

A number of months ago I went to the NYC Comic Con and took pictures of all those I found to have exceptional outfits.

One such person was this woman in a Black Cat outfit:

 

After developing the picture I looked at it again and again and I believe I may have taken a picture of Anne Hathaway in disguise.

For reference:

The nose is the same and the smile is dead on to other pictures I have seen of her.  Pretty cool if it is Anne Hathaway, but I just keep in mind that I took the picture because I thought she looked great.

Olympus OM-1

Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 (single coated)

Kodak Tri-X

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Freedom and Lies

This is a fish.  On the sidewalk.  In NYC.

I imagine it is tried to reach the gutter to achieve liberation, but sadly passed before accomplishing the mission.

Out of context this is very, very unusual, but I intentionally framed the image so that none of the garbage from a tipped over garbage bag outside of the restaurant showed up. 

I manipulated the facts to tell a different story.

Photography is a lie!

Olympus OM-1
Zuiko 35mm f/2.8
Lomo X-Pro film (in E6)

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Parallel Docking

So you think parallel parking is difficult...



Olympus OM-1
Zuiko 35mm f/2.8
Fuji Superia 400

On St. Thomas
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Stolen Shot

I am not sure what type of photography this image would fall into. Street? Landscape? Travel? Street landscape?

I made my way out onto the rocks in order to obtain a good composition for another one of my photos and a couple of folks saw me out on the rocks, so the guy started making his way out too and gave the camera to his lady to take a picture of him with the ocean scenery as a backdrop. A precious vacation memory, I am sure.

I was still on the rocks and liked the idea of getting a picture of him posing for his own photo, but without having the other photographer in the picture. Was this an impromptu forced image?

Whatever it is, I think it is just fun.

Also, the horizon is not slanted; I just caught the curvature of the earth.

Olympus OM-1
Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 (single-coated )
Fuji Superia 400

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St. Maarten

 

St. Maarten was the first destination of the cruise and I got to walking around the streets beyond the shopping district.  I got pretty close in this picture and the featured dog did not stir one bit, so I am not completely convinced of the validity of the bold sign.

I did not like the feel of the island too much, but I believe they have the best deals based on the liquor prices alone.

St. Thomas

I went on a cruise mid-November to the Caribbean and had the most relaxing time of my life. The unfortunate thing is that we were only docked for 4-9 hours at a time, so I could not really explore the destinations, but I did the best I could with the time allotted.

Here are a couple of shots:



View from a bay in St. Thomas.

Niagara Falls (part 3)

This is my final entry about Niagara Falls, I hope you have enjoyed the images from the previous two.



I thought what this guy was doing was pretty dangerous; standing on the perilous ledge of the falls , but hey, I have to thank him because I like the shot. He also sports a none-too-flattering wedgie.

Taken with the Olympus OM-1 and 35mm f/2.8 single coated Zuiko lens on Kodak Tri-X film, souped in TMax chemistry.



Prepare for the impact; a first hand look at the power of the falls from the Maid of the Mist.



Wham! This picture was taken before the last picture, but I think this sequence tells a better story :)

Both shots with a crappy point and shoot.

One of the five cameras I had specifically brought for the Maid of the Mist shots crapped out on me at the hotel, so I had to get a crummy disposable camera, which did an okay job.



Taken at a park in Queenston Heights while my friend and I were on our way to check out a town called Niagara on the Lake, which was supposed to be an 18th century town, but it felt more like Scarsdale (in Westchester County in NY) with all of its overpriced boutiques and restaurants and pay parking. The monument featured at this park (Brock's Monument - seen in the distance) is quite ridiculous. It is so high up that if the artist did a fantastic job, no one would appreciate it. If the artist did a poor job, no one would realize it. Funny in a perverse sense, really.

I was going for a silly picture here. Instead of posing my subject on the steps and looking at me for an environmental portrait, I had him bend over for no apparent purpose. I am sure it sounded pretty creepy when "bend over more - I like that..." came out of my mouth.

Taken with the Olympus OM-1 and 35mm f/2.8 single coated Zuiko lens on Kodak Tri-X film, souped in TMax chemistry.

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Camera News and New Work

The repairs on my Olympus OM-1 are going to be a bit pricey, but I am going to bear their burden. I already have money invested into the camera from the purchase alone and I could not guarantee that another one would be in much better condition. The meter and prism needs replacing, the battery chamber needs conversion, and a CLA (clean lubricate adjust) is needed because shutter speeds are off. Argh. Well, I think it would be worth it since the camera and lenses are small and indiscreet while maintaining an altogether different look than Nikon has provided me thus far.

I took my Nikon FE out today with an off-brand 28mm f/2.8 lens today and I am quite dismayed. Something seems to be off - either the lens or the camera. Focusing to infinity did not seem to align properly so I am wondering what about the problem. I need to investigate further, but I would hate to put more money into another camera.

All that being said, I am excited about getting the OM-1 back. If you do not know, it is a completely manual camera (only having a battery for the meter). The ergonomics are excellent by having the shutter speed and aperture adjustable easily adjustable with one hand. The viewfinder is larger than any other camera I have ever used. The OM-10 (its little brother) comes close.

Why not just use the OM-10? Well, there are a few issues that I would need to sink money into and it is not as well built as the OM-1. The meter on my sample is off and it eats the batteries within a matter of days, so I constantly need to take them out after use because the shutter will not fire otherwise. The OM-10 was built as a consumer camera that gave you aperture priority, and if you wanted to control the shutter speed you would need to purchase an accessory (which I have) that is in an unusual shot, and not too conductive to use in manual mode.

I have a Zuiko single coated 35mm f/2.8 lens coming in the mail and I am looking forward to using that focal length - so far I have used 20mm, 28mm, 40mm, 50mm, and 55mm primes, so this will be new and different :)

I am getting the single-coated version (though mixed reviews abound) because black and white photographs come out less contrasty and color photographs come out a little more subtle. Due to the lessened contrast, single-coated lenses appear to be a little less sharp than multi-coated lenses - but I do not find myself losing sleep over that kind of thing, and in fact I am a fan of a slightly melty look.

Well, I think I have meandered enough, so let me show some photos from my Voigtlander Perkeo I with the single-coated Color-Skopar 75mm f/3.5 lens!


This is my black and white photography classmate that was kind enough to help me finish my roll of film. I love how the blur came out! Humorously enough the teacher showed us that night some work from a portraitist who always blurred his subjects.



I saw this girl standing on a rock and looking at the tree, so I got my camera ready to take an indiscreet shot, but as I was setting up she got off the rock and started leaving. I said "Excuse me, would you mind if you get back on the rock and look at the tree so that I can take a picture?" a silence, "Are you a photographer?" "Yes." "Okay." "Is that a little weird?", "A little, but I can see why you would want the picture." Now I have this image, which I am quite happy with, but to me it is not as honest as the clandestine shot I was aiming for.



A Washington Square Park pianist.


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Moods

I am feeling "bleh" today. I am sure there is a better word in the English lexicon, but it eludes me due to a) my ignorance; or b) my mental fatigue. Most likely choice a.

Friday evening, on my ride home from work a cough formed, but still only in intervals not to aggravate me, or other riders on the subway (I believe), and thought little of it. Grand plans of doing absolutely nothing filled my head, and I had no other desire but to indulge such fantasies. Problem was that my little cough developed into a throat scathing hack that persists to this very moment.

At some point last night I thought it to be a good idea to take a little nap around 8:30pm that ended up being 3 hours long. Oh, I woke up after my alarm informed me of the 30minute interval I had set, but I turned it off and went back to sleep. My rationale? Not the usual self declaration that is often followed through rarely, "I am just going to sleep a little bit longer. Promise. Then I will be up and productive." It was more like, "This sleep is different from the sleep I am going to have later and it will not interfere."

I felt worse: completely awake, but exhausted and achy. My best friend suggested that I use my condition to take a self portrait for my assignment.

Let me now give some additional backmatter: I started my black and white photography class and felt quite humiliated on a few different fronts. 1) The instructor asked us to use our cameras in the class and the OM-10 was being extremely finicky. The meter was not working initially then the instructor took a look at it and it started to function. 2) I thought I had film in the camera and thought I had made 15 shots. Apparently I forgot to load the camera and did not notice the tell-tale signs of an empty camera.

I want to use this camera for the class because I love how the Zuiko 50mm lens renders images. Just look at this praising post. Frankly, I am tired of how the Nikon 50mm looks.

The instructor gave us a couple of assignments 1) Bring in a print of a picture that you really like. Largish. 2) Shoot half a roll of film on self-portraits and the other half on very deliberate shots focusing on composition.

I ended up not doing my self portraits during my sickness.

*edit* I notice now that I did not publish this post - so here is an old entry.

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