Art

Had some time to kill at in London last weekend. Went to the Tate modern. Saw some cool stuff. Especially some David Shrigley drawings which made me laugh out loud. Art that makes you laugh is good.

Was disappointed that Ai Weiwei's sunflower seeds had been packed up. I think he's still being held by the Chinese government, as part of their crackdown on any dissenting voices. Did get this picture of people trying to look over the barrier at the packed up exhibition. Bit blurry because it's through glass.

I like the contrast between how sad the empty space looks, and how happy the people lifting the girl to look look. Probably should have found some synonyms for look there.

DIY tilt shift

Inspired by this awesomeness http://cow.mooh.org/projects/tiltshift/ I made my own. Shots below.

I love the lofi look to these - remind me of the Gakkenflex. All shots on the Pentax *ist.

Hipstamatic

For all that I dislike digital on general principle, I am loving this app. A few shots from Barcelona this week...

In praise of stand developing

Had a go at stand developing for the first time this weekend. The film was Fuji 400CN (which I've since realised is a C-41 film, but it seems to work fine processed B&W), souped in R09 for 70 min at about 20 C, agitation for the first 10 seconds, and a bit more in the middle.


Really like the range of tones this has given, a it's kept grain right down too. I will definately be doing more in the same way. it's also far more relaxing than watching the clock to agitate every minute!

A happy accident

An accidental partial double exposure on the XA.
Whitworth Gallery in Manchester, October 2010.

Yashica Electro

I had a Yashica Electro, and it was awesome, effortlessly capturing incredibly sharp and beautifully exposed photos like this...














And then it died. The electrics gave quit on me. So I junked it, and didn't have a Yashica Electro anymore. Until one happy day I picked up another one on ebay for about a fiver. This one was even sweeter, black finish, hot shoe, totally awesome. Except the rangefinder was out of vertical alignment, which made focusing a bitch. So I shot one role and then it sat in the camera wardrobe for two years until this week, when I stumbled across a post on flickr which explained how to fix that problem, which I think is now sorted.


I'm not going to go into details, because these pages already have, so if you need any info on fixing up a shonky Elctro, click these links.

Rangefinder adjustment
The ever awesome Matt Denton
And the brilliant Yashica Guy

I'll post some shots when I've had the chance to shoot a test roll...