My Blog - where I ruminate about other aspects of photography.


Mothers' Day photographs

May 12, 2010
 


Sunday was Mother's Day and I got to take some formal, set up, portraits at the local Baptist Church.
I brought in lights and a backdrop and shot the pics with a Nikon D70 as people wanted instant feedback. I prefer to shoot portraits in black and white with a medium format camera, using real film but as the images will only be enlarged to 8" x 12" digital was just fine.
 I think the pics work well in colour.









 

Portraits at Ceilidh's birthday

April 14, 2010

 On Saturday 10 April I got hired to photograph Ceilidh Vigoriti's 30th birthday. The celebrations took place at Pomodoro Ristorante in Morningside, Johannesburg.
 We set up a "photo booth" with studio lights where guests were photographed when they arrived, many choosing to ham it up with supplied props. Throughout the rest of the evening I shot digital pics of the proceedings which were printed out on the spot and given to the guests. It was a great idea and worked wonderfully.
 In addition I...
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Rain and this wedding photographer

April 1, 2010
I am beginning to think I have super-powers and should be called "the Rain-maker" -- but don't tell prospective brides who want to hire me!
 The last couple of weddings I've done have all had one thing in common -- rain and rapidly-changing, poor light.
 Danielle and Wimpie's wedding was not different. When we arrived at the venue, the Thatchery in Muldersdrift, it was overcast and threatening to rain but every few minutes a gap in the clouds would appear and bright sunlight streamed through.
 T...
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Perfection is sometimes over rated.

March 9, 2010

A little while ago I was asked to photograph the golden wedding anniversary celebrations of the parents of two of my best friends.
 Werner and Klara Hollenstein (the couple) are Swiss/German and I wanted to use a camera that would be appropriate for the occasion. Something German and around 50 years old.
 I had a couple of options -- a Zeiss Contaflex, a Voigtlander Prominent, a Rolleiflex -- but I opted for a 50 year-old Kodak Retina Reflex. The Retinas were made by Nagel & Co in Germany and ...

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Kitchen-table photo chemistry

February 8, 2010
 
 I've been scouring the Internet in search of easy-to-make "kitchen-table" developers. Why, when there are good commercial developers available?
 Firstly because it is fun and secondly because I am committed to film and do not want to have to rely on the whims of companies whose only consideration is whether a product makes a profit or not.
 Elsewhere I wrote about Caffenol and Caffenol C but, with current the price of pure coffee, I wanted something cheaper. My search led me to a recipe publi...
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A cute little tyke!

January 21, 2010

I had a great time photographing two year-old, Josh Cachia. The little guy never stops moving which explains why his face is slightly blurred unlike that of his long-suffering dog.
 The weather was overcast and damp, which meant I had to shoot wide open with the rangefinder camera I was using at 1/15 of a second.
 But I think the slight blur captures the little tyke's energy and says something about him. Sometimes an out of focus picture can be more effective than one that is blindingly sharp.
 ...
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Tough to photograph

January 18, 2010
Recently my Dad turned 84 and over the past few years it's become something a tradition for me to photograph him on his birthday.
 I shot these pics on Ilford's superb XP2 Super film with a little Ricoh rangefinder camera that sold for very little back in the 70s but which never ceases to amaze me with the quality of the images it delivers.
 These are not "pretty" pictures of my Dad. In fact, in some ways they're quite sad as they show how he has deteriorated physically over the past few years ...
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