"Hal around the World" PICTURES in Frankfurt, Germany (1st roll)

Though Hal has already left Frankfurt, Germany, again and is on his

trip the United States, he took some pictures here in my home town.

But let me tell you, this wasn't easy. After having spent five weeks

being sent back and forth between Austria and Germany, Hal finally

arrived here late afternoon on Tuesday April 19, 2005. Despite the

postal troubles all his papers were in order and I expected no more

problems.

<p>

But Hal was quite a bit in low spirits after that long travel

interruption. Then I made the mistake of telling him that he has just

missed a spell of sunny spring weather AND the annual spring fun fair,

where I had taken other cameras on some trips out. So his mood wasn't

improved and I was stuck with a Mopey Hal. On top of it all it was

soon getting dark and I tried desperately to think of ways to drive

Hal into a picture-taking frenzy -- hell, I had waited long enough for

this camera to arrive and wanted some action.

<p>

Then I had a great idea: why not take out the depressed camera to a

local GOTH club? That should be right down Hal's alley! Fortunately

there are quite a lot of goth nights here in the Frankfurt area, even

on a working day. So I decided to shoot a quick test roll with Hal the

check his vitals and make myself familiar with this camera.

<p>

As I wrote in my previous post, I have a plastic lens hood that fitted

the filter thread of Hal's lens and seemed to be the right size for

the focal length. So I put the hood on the camera (and possibly

doubling its value) and suddenly Hal looked quite a lot like a

valueable professional camera. To the untrained eye he even might have

looked Contax-esque. Sweet!

<p>

As dance clubs are always too dark to shoot with film, I acquainted

Hal with Metzy (a Metz mecablitz 45 CT-5). If you ever need something

to compensate for your anatomy, this is the flash unit to buy. Nothing

screams louder "professional photographer" than the 45CT-5 when

mounted to any camera. And it is powerful enough to light dark

underground clubs with black-painted walls and ceiling by bounce flash.

<p>

Thus sufficiently equipped, I took Hal to the goth club. This whole

rig -- camera, lens hood, flashgun -- looked impressingly enough that

everyone assumed that I had the right to take pictures, although I did

not know anybody there. In the course of the evening people would ask

me whether I work for a magazine or do photography for a living. Hal

of course loved the attention. I metered the bounce flash a couple of

times, and then Hal and me were about to have a fun evening.

<br> 

<p>

<tt><i><b><big>Some Technical Details and Background Information for

Late Reader:</big></b></i></tt>

<p>

All pics posted by me where shot with the Halina Paulette electro of

the "Hal wants to travel the World" project initiated by Andrea

Ingram. This camera is equipped with a Halinar Anastigmat 45mm f/2.8

lens that stops down to f/16 and focuses down to 3 feet. The shutter

goes from 1/250th to 1/30th second and has a "B" setting. I used a

roll of Fujifilm Neopan 400 black-and-white film in the camera. All

shots were illuminated by the aforementioned Metz 45-CT5 flashgun

which was bounced at full power straight up against the ceiling.

<p>

I <i>always</i> take notes during picture-taking. I write down all

relevant details and find these notes helpful for the evaluation of

the photos. And it gives me a good chance in discovering mistakes of

shutter speed/aperture/distance settings because I made it a habit to

check everything immediately after taking a picture.

<p>

All pictures were taken with the shutter set to "B". I had hoped that

I could do some "drag the shutter" on some pictures, but most of the

time I forgot this and therefore the shutter speed should be

relatively fast. Not that this mattered in the poorly lit dance club.

<p>

My biggest mistake that evening was that I failed to spot the frame

lines in Hal's viewfinder. Although I did not totally forget

everything I knew about parallax-correction, somehow I assumed that

this wasn't relevant for me, because Hal's lens sure is wider than

what I see in the finder (I had this experience with the frame lines

of my Canonet 28). As all shots were focused pretty close, this lead

to disastrous results. You will see what I mean.

<br> 

<p>

<tt><i><b><big>HAL WANTS TO TRAVEL THE WORLD</b> - Diary:</big></i></tt>

</p><p>Feb 26, 2005: <b><a

href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00BIaN">

Andrea's first posting about the Halina Paulette and a PICTURE

</a></b>

</p><p>Feb 28, 2005: <b><a

href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00BJll">

Andrea shows more Halina PICTURES and an idea is born...

</a></b>

</p><p>Mar 10, 2005: <b><a

href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00BS9p">

 

Hal has arrived at Roman in Vienna, Austria

</a></b>

</p><p>Mar 11, 2005: <b><a

href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00BSLw">

Hal's PICTURES of Vienna

</a></b>

</p><p>Mar 20, 2005: <b><a

href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00BZ2T">

Hal fails to show up in Germany

</a></b>

</p><p>Mar 31, 2005: <b><a

href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Bh1T">

The long wait continues

</a></b>

</p><p>Apr 12, 2005: <b><a

href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Bon4">

Hal returns to Roman in Austria</a></b></p>

<p>Apr 19, 2005: <b><a

href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00BttP">

Hal has finally arrived in Frankfurt, Germany</a></b></p>

<p>Apr 26, 2005: <b><a

href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Byf7">

About the quirks and defects of the Halina Paulette camera</a></b></p>

I had barely shot a couple of quick warming-up snapshots that people pointed me out to be "the photographer." A young man approached me and asked me to take a picture of his friend, who was having her 18th birthday. A bit embarrassed I complied, taking three pictures of her and her friends. This is the "best" capture.

<p>

f/4, "B", focus at 3ft. Not cropped.<div></div>

Turning towards the dance floor, Hal got interested in the people dancing. Here is quick snap shot of a goth girl moving to the music. My skill in zone focusing in not so good and I wonder if the unsharpness in these photos is Hal's problem or my inability to "guesstimate" the correct distances, especially in feet.

<p>

f/4, "B", focus at 4ft. Not cropped.<div></div>

Although bounce flash is not my most favorite type of lighting, I like its results much better than shooting with direct flash. And can you imagine how those people would have reacted if I constantly blinded them with the 45CT-5 at full power in these close quarters? BTW, check out that smooth bokeh!

<p>

f/4, "B", focus at 4ft. Cropped a little.<div></div>

Here is a portrait of a goth girl explicitly not smiling. Too bad I somehow forgot to turn the distance ring to three feet. Only when I checked later to write down the camera settings I noticed this mistake. I tried to find that girl again, but she must had left early.

<p>

f/4, "B", focus at 4ft. Cropped a little.<div></div>

I held Hal high above my head to get an interesting "panorama" shot of the dance floor. Well, at least I tried...

<p>

f/2.8, "B", focus at 7ft. Not cropped.<div></div>

Hey, this is me taking a self portrait with Hal in the restroom's mirror! This time I did not forget to hold down the shutter release a little bit longer. But here it was a lot brighter than I'd guessed and so this shot turned out a little overexposed. These weird-looking white lines behind and left of me are writings on posters listing the day-to-day program of the night club.

<p>

f/4, about 1/2th second, focus at 5ft. Cropped a little.<div></div>

Here are some menfolk dancing or checking out the girls. Although this is a goth club event, most people were dressed quite ordinarily. However, black clothing seemed to be a favorite.

<p>

f/5.6, "B", focus at 5ft. Not cropped.<div></div>

These two young alpha males wanted to have their pictures taken. Hal was more than happy to satisfy their wish, while the skillful photographer waited for the crucial moment.

<p>

f/5.6, "B", focus at 4ft. Cropped a little.<div></div>

I love going to clubs and watching the people. Sometimes you see drama unfold like an silent movie without subtitles and you have to fill in the blanks yourself. However, since it was very dark, I couldn't quite decide here if this couple was cuddling intimatly or if the guy was comforting his crying girlfriend. I had hoped that Hal could give me the answer but even this picture leaves it open for discussion.

<p>

f/4, "B", focus at 4ft. Cropped a little.<div></div>

Here is another couple dancing together. Thanks to the parallax-uncorrected viewfinder this shot also gives a good view of the dance floor and other people dancing.

<p>

f/2.8, "B", focus at 5ft. Not cropped.<div></div>

My last picture I took inside the goth club. Again I misplaced focus due to my inability to zone focus correctly. Surprisingly, this quick snap turned out rather pleasantly composed, unlike all the other shots where I took my time getting a nice composition in the finder. Then I had to hurry to get the last subway train home.

<p>

f/2.8, "B", focus at 5ft. Cropped a tiny little bit.<div></div>

Having arrived back home, I searched for things to photograph in my cluttered apartment to fill up the roll and drop it off at the mailbox of the B/W lab around the corner. Finally I set up a simple, innocent flower arrangement, put the camera on my tripod and checked the distance with a folding rule.

<p>

f/2.8, 1/250th second, focus at 3ft. Cropped a little bit.<div></div>

All in all, as I had expected the goth crowd was very receptive to being photographed. I guess that apart from the techno music fans, this subculture is probably the easiest to shoot. While they of course like to cultivate their alternative, antisocial reputation, most of them are pretty decent people and just love be photographed in their goth attire. So next time you take your classic camera out for a walk, be sure to visit your local goth club for some willing subjects.

<p>

I talked to a couple of nice persons and promised them to come back again. I had some of the better shots printed and I gave them to the surprised people this week. Maybe I will haul my RZ to the club next time or have some of them model for me. Keep an eye on the Top-Rated-Photos for these pics.

<p>

I will very soon post the results from my "real" roll of film I shot with Hal, showing him around here in Frankfurt and giving him a tour of the city.

Fantastic exercise. That can't be very easy. I loved those photos.

 

M.

These are fantastic! Some border on exquisite for my taste.

 

Shot #1, the girl on the right of the frame is perfect in placement and exposure. Delightful mood.

 

Girl not smiling, not sure why I love it, but I do. It's as though she's sliding out of the composition to evade you.

 

Shot #8 - Buddies. Christ with fingerpaint - Utterly breathtaking. I have no further words to decribe my emotion.

 

Shot "Couple" - nice verts. Somber. I like it.

 

Thanks so much for these.

Beautiful pictures. I love #8 and #9. #1 would be greatly improved (in my humble opinion) by cropping out all of the background people at the top. #6 is fun, too. I'll have to remember to do "a picture of me taking a picture" when Hal gets here.

I agree, excellent pics. I'd hate to be the next person in line to use the camera, those will be some tough shots to follow up.

 

Makes you realize just how little importance should be placed on sharpness and correct focus for many pics.

 

Alan

Who would of thought "Hal" had a Dark Side?..Great stuff would never of thought of taking a vintage camera into the Goth Club for around the world look. I like the look of the self portrait the showing of movement is good stuff. #7 Those two guys that just walked into the door aren?t quite sure what they have gotten themselves into. But # 8 is the best plus it looks like my daughters "Goth" friend here in Honolulu.

I believe Hal is on his way to me in the Ozarks. Yes, tough act to follow, so I won't try to follow it. Would be nice if I can make it "see" as nicely, though.

Thanks for your kind words. This was one fun shooting and this project gave me reason to try this idea. I am glad you like it!

<p>BJ, of course you are right. When I had that shot printed, I told them to crop out those faces. I presented the shot here the way I did so you can see the parallax problem I had with Hal (as a warning to future Hal-ists). When I say I "cropped" these pictures, I meant I cut off some dead space to get an overall larger picture when resized to 511 pixels width or to about 700 pixels height.

OK, i decided first to only look at the shots, but then i was amazed of the results so i had to look up if you used a flash, and how.

Bounced? hmmm.

 

Anyway, very very nice results, fitting extremely well with the subject. Thanks for sharing! Sometimes it's good to remind us that photography is not necessarily about sharpness or mastering contrast.

By the way, my fav's are buddies, couple and a few more. The couple almost melts into the brick wall. The expression on the face of the righthandside "buddy" is priceless. I also like the flower shot.

Fantastic and fun images. Great work! You obviously interact very well with your subjects, hard to do in a crowd. Did you get any dancing in?

Brilliant roll! And I love #4.