recent posts

about

  • Harman Phoenix, my entry to experimental film stock

    non edited straight from the scanner

    For the first year or two of my film Journey I used basic 200/400 Iso color film and the same for my Black and Whites. I just wanted to get something I liked with some Kodak gold and then try and get comfortable shooting people in public.

    That’s what I am still shooting, and mostly failing, to do but I heard about this film called Harman Phoenix through many, many, oh so many youtubers and webpages that I decided to take a dive into the waters and escape the old that Kodak had on me.

    I was ok with the results but editing them proved to be difficult so I left them untouched.

    A cityscape at dusk, featuring tall buildings reflecting warm light, with a darkened street and trees in the foreground.

    I think they came out ok, I love the grain (why else would I shoot film?) but the contrast is at an 11 and my amateur decisions adding to that contrast leave some images looking kind of muddy. I mean look at that building scene? Kind of a mess but in a good way.

    Fast forward to early this summer I went to a photography Expo and learned from Harman that they had a sequel coming up to resolve these issues. I was intrigued and when I saw it at a shop I decided to take the leap!

    The results?

    These are some untouched images and they are a little flatter than the original Phoenix with a twinge of green to them. Some of that is the film and some of it is the cloudy day I shot them in. Still I think they look better and less muddy which is nice.

    I edited up a few others and

    I mean, I am speaking for myself here but these look great and the grain goes for days on these!

    I think I am going to try another roll, wait for a nice bright sunny day and see what results I can get but I think Harman knocked it out of the park with Phoenix 2 an improvement in every way.

  • My Experience with the Olympus OM10 and 100MM Lens

    OM10 w/50mm on and 100MM to left
    My Olympus OM 10 w/50mm lens on, 100MM on its left

    Sometimes when people hear you like to take pictures they pawn off their old cameras on you. I don’t know if it is to clear out the closet or they like you and want to foster your hobbies but either way I am extremely appreciative when it happens.

    Sometime last summer I was given a beautiful Olympus OM10 with a 50MM lens on it. The lens is super sharp but sometimes you want to get up close and personal so I hit the old Ebay machine a few weeks back and picked up an absurdly small and powerful 100MM lens for it.

    This was a new focal length for me in general and I wasn’t sure what to expect so I did what I had to do and I put a fresh roll of Kodak Pro Image 100 and I hit the streets…lets see what I got!

    So a few things I noticed is that:

    1. I love this camera. Its really easy to use, its a great size for shooting on the street.
    2. I love pro image 100 colors and grain. It really feels like I am in the past looking at these.
    3. I have more to learn when it comes to the camera and this lens. I’m very inconsistent with what’s in focus and while I don’t expect perfection and I still love these I think some adjustments can go a long way.

    Ill do more story based stuff and less testing soon. Just getting started here and I hope you enjoy!

  • Olympus IS-3

    cyclist in NYC with a backdrop of the trade center

    A few weeks back a person in my office noticed that I liked taking pictures and with amazing generosity gave me an Olympus IS-3. A behemoth of a 35mm film camera that would only be more conspicuous shooting out on the street if it was neon green and made a fart sound each time I hit the shutter.

    I mean look at that beast!

    That being said, for its size it feels great in the hand and the long barrel 35-180 zoom lens is especially easy to hold to keep steady in hand held mode. The camera also has a great and very snappy auto focus on it which helps learning amateurs like myself to get shots in focus with ease even in burst mode. I had no idea a 35mm could do burst mode!

    I still have more to explore on this camera as it has various modes to choose from but since it is an older film camera I wanted to make sure it actually worked so I took a roll of Ilford HP5 and gave it a test run. See below for some of the shots I got.

    I hope you enjoy!