Rockin' for the Lord

Over the past several months, I've been regularly shooting Kodak Tmax P3200, about 3 rolls every week, and exposing it everywhere from the native EI 800, all the way to a two stop push @ EI 3200. The environment where I've been using this film is very contrasty. I've concluded that an EI 3200 produces too much contrast and grain for what I'm trying to achieve. At EI 1600, the grain/contrast isn't too much of an issue, and I can live with it if I need the speed. But the native EI 800 is really where this film shines.


Last night I photographed a group of Christian rockers called, "Saved by Grace".
The pictures below were taken with a Leica MP, 50/f1.4 Summilux (pre-asph), and Kodak Tmax P3200 film, exposed @ EI 800.

Back in the saddle again

Last Monday my wife and I took Zoomer for a walk through the woods. He doesn't seem to be missing that leg too much these days.

The Big Bad Bass

Heavenly Pipes

This is Scott, a local bagpiper who will be featured in the "Sounds at the Grounds" photo exhibit this summer in Milwaukee, WI.
Scott played "Highland Cathedral" for the processional at our wedding last year, backed up by a full orchestra. He is truly a gifted muscian. Man, that was awesome!

Get down and grainy

I was pretty busy shooting this weekend, with musical acts both Friday and Saturday evenings at the local coffee house. Here's a couple from Friday night's event. As usual, shot with the Leica MP rangefinder, Leica 50/1.4 Summilux pre-asph, and Kodak Tmax P3200. Normally, I've been using an EI of 800 with this film, which is actually it's true speed. But once in awhile I like to induce a bit more grain, so I chose to push it one stop to 1600 this time. But in reality, the wet prints always look smoother than what the screen shows.

Older than me

Yesterday I decided my 1955 Leica IIIf RD needed a workout. That's the camera featured in the previous post sitting alongside the Kodachrome. So with it's 1946 Summitar 50/f2.0 lens and a roll of Kodak Tri-X, I shot a few pictures of our greyhound, Zoomer. That 63 year-old lens can still make that sweet light sing. And it makes the ol' boy look pretty good too.

57 Year-old Kodachrome!

Several weeks ago, I posted some pictures of a roll of 53 year-old Kodak Tri-X black & white film that I had aquired. I doubt I'll ever try to shoot that film, as the reason I picked it up was for an interesting still-life prop. Today I received some Kodachrome that's even more ancient than the Tri-X. This Kodachrome is dated to expire in 1954, meaning it was probably manufactured in 1952. It's 57 years-old! Kodak manufactured this specific type of Kodachrome from 1936 until 1962.

Back when I first starting photographing as a freshman in high school, 35mm Kodak film came in silver, unpainted aluminum, screw-top canisters. I had always wished I kept some of those old canisters. But the ones from this 57 year-old film are even cooler! The red and orange paint that Kodak gave these canisters were the traditional Kodak logo colors. They'll make a nice addition to my collection of retro still-life props.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodachrome

My wife has good eyes

Today while driving down a road near my workplace, my wife pointed out an unusual pile of contorted something or other. We couldn't make it out until

getting closer and discovered it was a fallen

tree. The strange covering was caused by a recent ice storm, which had covered the branches in a layer of ice over one inch thick. Early last night, a light snow had covered the tops of the ice-encrusted branches, resulting in an interesting arrangement of lines and contrast.

I ended up shooting an entire roll of Tri-X on this assemblage.