Film and Alt-Process Photography

[mattlowery]

@tyleretters

i miss the dark room days at college,

20 chars of this. The darkroom was such an introverted paradise.

[tyleretters]

my wife and i have very few life goals but a home darkroom is one of two. the other is moving to japan.

one of my favorite memories of darkroom was actually in processing the film. the darkroom was on the 12th floor or something in the loop. it had an incredible view of grant park and the lake. so just sitting there letting the film process and watching the traffic and lights at night… the exhilaration of wondering if your roll would turn out. there is no high like seeing your negatives for the first time and knowing in an instant you got the shots based on values alone. (and there is no more a soul crushing despair than an entirely blank roll)

[timp]

First time exploring this location (Napenape Beach, Canterbury NZ)
and shot about three rolls of film - can’t wait to see XPAN shots!

Fujifilm 35mm Natura Black 24mm/F1.9 lens with Fujifilm Natura1600

[omettlp]

Shot with Pentax Spotmatic F, macro tubes + bellows, and (I think) 55mm lens

Walter Marchetti’s Natura Morta

[timp]

Shot with Canon 1V SLR and EF100-400L lens using TriX400…

[ideaofnorth]

I drove a 71 P1800E when I lived in Oakland. I’ve never owned a car I liked more.

[timp]

Imagine shooting negatives that are as long as an 88 key piano!

This is a 1:1 print from the negative of a photo shot in the 1920s by R P Moore, using a Kodak Cirkut camera, which revolves by clockwork as it exposes the massive negative.

Thanks to National Library of NZ you can view R P Moore panoramas here:

[Album] Panoramas of New Zealand

Amazing to think gigapixel tech existed in 1920 that surpasses current digital cameras in resolution

[Hovercraft]

Beautiful photo! There was a studio in dc that had a sale, because they were closing a warehouse. It turned out the studio used to shoot Cirkut photos, and they also had a big collection they accumulated over the years. I bought maybe a dozen panoramic photos from the sale. Most were of various groups–they used a Cirkut so you could make out individual faces in a large group. They were still shooting them in the late 70’s, and I have Cirkuts of the Metropolitan police department and the Good Humor drivers and local employees. Also an incredible photo of the crew lined up in front of a world war I ship. There’s still a few photographers shooting with Cirkuts, but I don’t think you can get any freshly manufactured roll film that size any more.

[timp]

wow fantastic!
Imagine lugging those huge cameras all over the country. Some of R P Moore’s shots I easily identify the general location, but he had great skill at placing his camera in incredible vantage points… I’m planning a trip to Fjordland for early 2021 and will see if I can find the same location he took the photo above… Hate to think how many XPAN photos it would take to cover the throw of a rotating Cirkut! He took one panorama in the main street of Wellington - I took my xpan and stood in the same spot, and it would have taken 4 or 5 xpan panoramas stitched sideways to match his… I guess it would be a little easier with a swing lens camera like the Widelux or Horizon cameras…

[antiphon]

I always wanted to try shooting with a Cirkut! The closest I get is a Kodak Panoram No. 4 from around 1900. It’s a swing-lens design and shoots 4" x 12" negatives, three shots per roll. (This is the same camera Josef Sudek used to shoot his famous series of panoramic shots of Prague.) I’ve only managed to shoot one roll with it since I don’t really have the dark space to cut down old aerial film to the right size (4" x 40") and spool it.

This is the only proper shot I managed with it. At the moment I can’t find a bigger scan. The sharpness is not evident at this resolution, but the negative is amazing.

[Hovercraft]

I came close to buying a Cirkut and a Panoram a few times, but worried I wouldn’t be able to get the film, and I don’t like to own any camera I can’t shoot. I have some Vietnam war-era aerial film, but I imagine it’s not in the greatest condition. At some point, I’d like to make a split dark slide for an 11x14 Kodak 2D field camera I restored so I can shoot 5.5 X 14" panos. You can still get 11x14 HP5–and it’s only $300 for 25 sheets–haha.

edit: quick phone shot of the 1962 Miss America Pageant Cirkut photo

[timp]

Beautiful… I’ll never forget holidaying in Bali and visiting the fire ceremony/dance and a couple arrived with a Field camera… The light from the fire was amazing but I so wanted to see a print from what they shot… Before I got my XPAN I was super keen on a 500 series Hasselblad but was worried with a few lenses it was too big to travel and always have with me… Large format is another whole realm in that debate! Respect for the physical aspects of such work

Josef Koudelka with two Fuji G617 makes the XPAN around his neck look like a little point & shoot camera! Its a fascinating doco:

Koudelka: Shooting Holy Land • Magnum Photos

[timp]

Industrial strength shadows!
Fujifilm TX2/XPAN2 with Kodak Tmax100

I think it might have been Kit Clayton who talked about mixing music and thinking of effected/altered sounds as being like shadows… the delayed, offset, altered version that shadows the foreground…

Kit Clayton "Nek Sanalet"(1999).Track 02:"Purpakana"

Hard to believe that was released in 1999 - my vinyl is well worn!

(off on another road trip tomorrow… will stop hogging this thread!(

[antiphon]

Backyard minimalism.

[varispeeder]

I got a Fujifilm Instax SQ-6 about a year ago to explore photography for the first time, and I really fell in love with it. I mainly use it for memories, but here’s a couple more artistic shots I’m proud of.

my tourmate Christian, in surprise Buffalo snow

double exposure of a church in Austin

construction in downtown Austin

bizarre surprise in an Airbnb (I forget where, Texas or Louisiana maybe?)

the instant feedback has been tremendously helpful in the learning process, and it takes great shots, but the camera jams frequently and at $1/shot the mistakes are more painful. I’m going to treat myself to an upgrade soon, whether that be 35mm or DSLR, but this thread is super inspiring and has me leaning film!!

[varispeeder]

well, after the beauty in this thread planted the seed, I did a ton of research and settled on a Canon AE-1 Program. and then lo and behold, there was one of them cheap on local CL, refurbed by a wedding photographer with a vintage camera side hustle. hope to have something to share soon!

[tyleretters]

anyone have any photographs of sunsets we could use for the 4th Lines Community Stream NYE edition ? the theme is “sunset 2020” and it’d be cool to showcase photo/video work between sets! (cc/ @anxietymachine @infinitedigits @license)

[license]

I’ll try to be on the lookout the next few days. Forecast looking cloudy though.

Kind of too bad I wasn’t at-the-ready the big day of the Saturn-Jupiter conjunction because there was an incredible sunset down the road.

[infinitedigits]

@tyleretters great idea. here’s some of my sunset pics. would be great to get more!

deception pass, washington:

mcdowell mountain, arizona:

hawaii:

[tyleretters]

these are twenty chars of gorgeous