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Shooting on Film – Southbank via TLR

I have been inspired by my friend and exceptionally talented photographer Brian Auer, and a growing number of other photographers, to try shooting film. Retro cameras are back in style, and I’ve been keen for a while to experiment with them. I asked Dad if I could borrow his Twin Lens Reflex cameras, which I photographed in another post. I thought that experiencing photography as it used to be – nothing auto, no preview, hand-held exposure meter – might help me learn more about photography.

Unfortunately, it took me a while to get around to shooting, and even longer to get the photos developed, but below you can see my first roll of medium format photography, taken on a short, solo photo walk along Melbourne’s South Bank. Eleven out of twelve photos worked out, not too bad for a first effort.

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The Atrium, inside Crown Casino. Significant dust contamination on this negative and several others. I’m not sure what the source was.

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Also inside the Crown Casino atrium, at exactly the same location as the last shot, but this time looking directly up. I really liked the circular lens flare that serendipitously appeared.

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A large (approx 8-10m) metal sculpture, in front of Eureka tower, currently the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere.

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A deliberately slow shutter exposure of a carousel. This was under exposed, but scanning the film at 16bit (greyscale) gave me the latitude to recover the photo in Lightroom.

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This is one of my favourites from the shoot. The geometric structures caught my eye, and I was impressed with the dynamic range in the 16bit greyscale scan.

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A “busker” blows giant soap bubbles with detergent, rope and dowels, and sells the devices. One little boy was fascinated for many minutes.

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I had to squeeze my way to the front row to get the angle I wanted for this shot, but I think it worked. I like how the audience watches on, and the volunteer’s head is cut off. Naomi thinks it would have been better with the face in shot. What do you think?

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The arch of the iconic South Bank footbridge acts as a dynamic element to draw the eye into the composition.

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I liked the symmetry of this starkly geometric, architectural photo of part of the South Bank mall.

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Old and new stand side-by-side. Eureka tower in the background.

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Looking down the covered walkway in front of the famous Flinders Street Station. By this time I was really enjoying myself and was disappointed when I realised that this was the last photo on the roll.

Your Favourite Photos 2008 – Results

A few weeks back after I posted my Top 10 photos from 2008, I invited readers to link to the favourite photo of theirs which they made last year. There has been a fantastic response, with twenty-one people sharing their best shot.

I’ve collected all the photos here for you to enjoy. There is such fantastic talent on display here, and some truly remarkable images. Scroll through the images below, and make sure you click on the image to be taken through to the photographer’s web site or image gallery. The images are shown in the order they were submitted, and the description which accompanies them were provided by the photographers.

Jessyel Ty Gonzalez

Jessyel Ty Gonzalez
I think this was my favorite photo this year that I took. Had a great night and the whole thing was just an experience.

wheeliebin

wheeliebin
My favourite simply because of the surreal fog!

Martin

Martin
"Grazing" is probably one of my favourites from 2008.

<strong>Crystal</strong><br />One of my favorite photos is one that I took early on when I just got my 50mm F/1.8 lens last year. I can’t wait for summer to get here again.

Crystal
One of my favorite photos is one that I took early on when I just got my 50mm F/1.8 lens last year. I can’t wait for summer to get here again.

<strong>Vijesh</strong><br /> This is a hard, but still I need to pick one. This would be my favorite. I had never seen her so beautiful like that before, an its the memorable vacation I had with the people that mattered most to me. Shot at Karwar, India.

Vijesh
This is a hard, but still I need to pick one. This would be my favorite. I had never seen her so beautiful like that before, an its the memorable vacation I had with the people that mattered most to me. Shot at Karwar, India.

<strong>Fee Easton</strong><br />I have 2 favourites but i will go with this one as being my fav

Fee Easton
I have 2 favourites but i will go with this one as being my fav

<strong>Jessica</strong><br />It’s hard for me to pick, but this is what I chose on my blog. I like the mood and contrast of old world and modern. It was one of those moments when I just happened to have my camera, was out with a friend doing something else, and just saw something that made me start snapping away. I love it when that happens! Starting my photoblog about Rome a few months ago has really been a fantastic experience for me and I’m looking forward to continuing to use it to expose my adopted city to others and explore it even more myself.

Jessica
It’s hard for me to pick, but this is what I chose on my blog. I like the mood and contrast of old world and modern. It was one of those moments when I just happened to have my camera, was out with a friend doing something else, and just saw something that made me start snapping away. I love it when that happens! Starting my photoblog about Rome a few months ago has really been a fantastic experience for me and I’m looking forward to continuing to use it to expose my adopted city to others and explore it even more myself.

<strong>Ariston Collander</strong><br />My favorite was of model Laura Shodire from ModelMayhem. This photo IS safe for work. Capturing her hair and face as she threw her head back, along with the lighting and general warmth of the image made it look fantastic.

Ariston Collander
My favorite was of model Laura Shodire from ModelMayhem. This photo IS safe for work. Capturing her hair and face as she threw her head back, along with the lighting and general warmth of the image made it look fantastic.

<strong>Tony</strong><br />2008 was not a great year for my photos it seems :) But here is one of my favorites.

Tony
2008 was not a great year for my photos it seems :) But here is one of my favorites.

<strong>Jason</strong><br />This photo was taken at the Terracotta Army historic site in Xi’an China. It was overcrowded and people were snapping photos on all sides of a statue in a glass display case. I saw this boy looking up at the statue with a wonder-filled expression and pulled the trigger just in time to capture this image.

Jason
This photo was taken at the Terracotta Army historic site in Xi’an China. It was overcrowded and people were snapping photos on all sides of a statue in a glass display case. I saw this boy looking up at the statue with a wonder-filled expression and pulled the trigger just in time to capture this image.

<strong>Leif</strong><br />My photo was taken at the Werribee Zoo, of a female rhino whilst on the special close-up tour on the back of a ute.

Leif
My photo was taken at the Werribee Zoo, of a female rhino whilst on the special close-up tour on the back of a ute.

<strong>Sinisa</strong><br />No dilemma. While driving tired late in the evening on Iceland, practically stumbled upon glacial lagoon under full moon. Surreal.

Sinisa
No dilemma. While driving tired late in the evening on Iceland, practically stumbled upon glacial lagoon under full moon. Surreal.

<strong>Brian Auer</strong><br />My favorite is this photo of my Wife and Daughter. It was shot on a 1956 TLR on b/w film and printed in my darkroom.

Brian Auer
My favorite is this photo of my Wife and Daughter. It was shot on a 1956 TLR on b/w film and printed in my darkroom.

<strong>Lisa Newton</strong><br />I just got my new camera, a Nikon D40, so I’ve been taking a lot of pictures, just to get used to it. In fact, I just started a blog where I can talk, get to know people, and post my pictures. I’m so excited. On the first day I had it, I went to the beach, my favorite place to be, and took this shot.

Lisa Newton
I just got my new camera, a Nikon D40, so I’ve been taking a lot of pictures, just to get used to it. In fact, I just started a blog where I can talk, get to know people, and post my pictures. I’m so excited. On the first day I had it, I went to the beach, my favorite place to be, and took this shot.

<strong>Cody Redmon</strong><br />This image is my favorite of the year because it captures everything I like about my geography in a rather dramatic minimalist image. Thanks for including your readers! :-)

Cody Redmon
This image is my favorite of the year because it captures everything I like about my geography in a rather dramatic minimalist image. Thanks for including your readers! :-)

<strong>Martin Waters</strong><br />A fifty foot spider attacking a city proved memorable and out of all the shots I took in 2008 this remains my favourite, simply because it captures the whole “war of the worlds” feel the organisers were aiming for.

Martin Waters
A fifty foot spider attacking a city proved memorable and out of all the shots I took in 2008 this remains my favourite, simply because it captures the whole “war of the worlds” feel the organisers were aiming for.

<strong>Neal Eiserman</strong><br /> I have a lot of favourites from last year, but I think I’ll go with this one as my overall fav. I like it because it captures a wonderful moment from a wonderful day. I also like the composition, the lighting and the depth of field.

Neal Eiserman
I have a lot of favourites from last year, but I think I’ll go with this one as my overall fav. I like it because it captures a wonderful moment from a wonderful day. I also like the composition, the lighting and the depth of field.

<strong>Arpad</strong><br />I would choose the photo posted first: this picture is special because it was done for my first architectural project. I was amazed and excited at the ease and peace the dog had even though I was setting up my equipment and lights. It helped me to feel more at ease and confident.

Arpad
I would choose the photo posted first: this picture is special because it was done for my first architectural project. I was amazed and excited at the ease and peace the dog had even though I was setting up my equipment and lights. It helped me to feel more at ease and confident.

<strong>Chris Prout</strong><br />Here’s one of my favorite photos of 2008. It was taken at the Detroit Red Bull Air Race.

Chris Sprout
Here’s one of my favorite photos of 2008. It was taken at the Detroit Red Bull Air Race.

<strong>Antoine Khater</strong><br />Really hard to pick up only one Neil I hope you understand :)

Antoine Khater
Really hard to pick up only one Neil I hope you understand :)

<strong>Anthea</strong><br />My favourite photo would have to be the one that makes me happy just by looking at it. It is of my favourite flower - a tulip.

Anthea
My favourite photo would have to be the one that makes me happy just by looking at it. It is of my favourite flower - a tulip.

Which is your favourite photo? What do you like about these photos? Do you have a favourite photo taken last year? If so, please leave a link to it in the comments below.

I look forward to doing this again next year!

Melbourne Photowalk a Success!

Our first photo walk was a great success! Including myself, we had fourteen people participate in the walk. A diverse group, including our choice of camera gear, with Nikon just beating Canon, and strong representation for Pentax, and even a compact, and a Soviet-era film camera!

The weather was spectactular, Melbournians were out in the city in huge numbers, and the route we followed took us through a wide variety of locations. Everyone was friendly, and after the typical first-time-meeting awkwardness, we were very soon chatting happily and comparing camera gear and swapping tips.

The roughly three kilometer walk was completed in approximately three hours, and most of the group explored Fitzroy gardens, enjoying the beauty and photographic opportunities they offered for about another hour.

I would like to thank everyone for attending, you are a lovely bunch of people, and it was wonderful to meet you all. Everyone was keen to make this a regular thing, so I look forward to organising another walk, probably in approximately one month. I hope we will see more of you there!

Below are a selection of my favourite photos from the walk. Below the photos you will find a link to the rest of my photos, as well as a link to the discussion thread on the forum where other photo walkers are already sharing some absolutely wonderful photos!

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You can see the rest of my photowalk gallery here.

Visit the forum to see post-walk discussion and photos from other members of the photowalk.

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Twin Lens Toys – Cameras on Loan

I’ve got a new, well old but new to me, toy to play with!

With the dominance of digital photography today, there’s a growing number of photographers going back to film, for various reasons. Whether it’s for the cool retro aspect, the artistic possibilities afforded by film, the features of film that digital has yet to replicate or the desire to return to basics without the help of auto-everything, film is making a comeback.

I’ve been inspired by some of my buddies such as Brian, the_wolf_brigade, and others, I asked my dad if I could borrow his old twin lens reflex camera. With great excitement, I picked up dad’s two cameras (a Yashica-Mat and a Rolleicord) the other day, and with a hint of pride, dad walked me through the features and controls.

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One of the things that excites me about trying this camera is that it takes medium format film. I’m used to shooting on a cropped sensor, approximately 24mm diagonal. These medium format cameras shoot on frames 64mm diagonal. That’s a huge image area, and on a fine grain film, the detail captured will be incredible.

All I need to do now is get some film, and start shooting! I can’t wait :) Look for the results of my experiments in the future, once I’ve shot, developed, printed and scanned the photos.

The setup

Today I thought I’d try a slightly different way of doing the photos. I saw a fantastic video on product lighting at ProPhotoLife, and remembered I had a small sheet of perspex lying around, so I decided to give it a go. I like this technique! It has some real potential. Here’s the setup shot:

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