louie_powell1

Sure - place the model in a darkened room (the ambient light must be dimmer than the projected slide), project a slide onto the model's body, and with camera on a tripod and the model remaining still, make the exposure. Keep in mind that projectors appear bright in a dark room, but the light is actually rather dim compared with sunlight, so you need a long exposure.

 

The projector bulb is tungsten, and you could either use tungsten-biased film, or else try to compensate through filtration. But the dominant colors will be from the slide and will be distored relative to reality, so why bother - just let the image go a bit warmer due to the mismatched color balance.

 

The sample appears to have had a white-field background - probably a photoshop gimmick.

Anna -

 

Why is it necessary to be literal?

 

Earlier this summer I did a workshop with Ernestine Rubin on "Emotion in Photography". The first assignment that Ernie gave the class was to make a series of images on a single roll of film that illustrated emotions, while keeping a record of what emotion was associated with each image. We did this assignment around a private home that had a large backyard with a couple of barn/outbuildings and the usual collection of cars, bicycles, garbage cans, and other appurtenances of ordinary life. My initial reaction to the assignment was dismay, but after getting into it I found that it wasn't all that difficult.

 

Take the emotion "isolation". You could certainly do this with a human model, but you can also do it with a single flower, or even with an empty beer bottle. The key thing is to start by identifying what you really mean by "emotion".

 

Louie

Nick - I don't live in the city, but I do visit there several times a year.

 

Your question about safety is pertinent - New York has an unfortunate reputation that, I believe, is somewhat out of date. However, the risk of mischief exists in all large cities, and most small towns as well. Best advice is to be careful - take along a friend to watch your back if possible.

 

One of the things you will need to worry about is that there are areas of New York where there are restrictions on the use of tripods. These restrictions are based on safety concerns - crowds and tripod legs don't mix well. I would be concerned that there could be some issues at the Empire State Building for that reason (as well as for usual paranoia of taking anything "unusual" into landmark structures). I would suggest calling ahead to see if you can make special arrangements.

Jay -

 

The instructions others have provided are good.

 

One "problem" I have encountered is that the film slides under the metal retainer on one side, but not the other. Sometimes, this is OK, and the only consequence is that you won't get a clean border on one edge of the exposed sheet. But the other possibility is that the film will try to pop out of the holder, and after exposing, when you try to put the darkslide back in, it binds and the film pops out completely, and then falls on the ground when you remove the holder from the camera back. A trick to avoid this is after you have inserted the film, flick the top edge with your fingernail. If the film feels like it is constrained on both sides, then everything is OK. But if it is loose on one side, then you need to pull it out and reload.

 

Practice - practice - practice - - - and don't expect that every sheet will be a masterpiece.

In addition to those mentioned (and they are all good), David Vestal's books are great. They both are oriented toward darkroom work, but that's part of the process. Hard to find since they are both out of print.

 

By the way, a great place to shop for books is Tim Whelan's Bookstore in Rockport, ME.

Are you thinking of "picture books" that display work that inspire you to do better, or "how to" books?

No - and I wouldn't expect to see one.

 

Color materials involve three distinctly different layers of emulsion, each sensitive to different colors of light. I can't imaging that it would be possible to control the process of coating a substrate with these emulsions in a fashion that is controllable enough to produce reasonably consistent color results.

I regularly print 11x14 using a DII (an earlier version of the D2). And I am confident that I could print 16x20 and even 20x24 if I were sufficiently motivated.

 

The limitations to what you can do are the negative (presumably a 4x5 if you have a 135mm lens), the condenser (make sure you get the condenser that matches the 1325mm lens for 4x5 work), the lens cone (needed for 4x5 work), and the ever so mundane but critical detail of the headroom over the enlarger when you raise the head to make big enlargements. Also things like easel, trays, and general space in the darkroom for the print size you want to make.

Sharpies are far more light-fast than ordinary felt-tip pens, and they offer the additional feature of adhering to plastic, glass, the surface of prints, skin, etc. But, the colors are not especially intense. The test of intensity is to mark the edge of a negative and then make a print - notations made on the edge of a negative with a Sharpie print as a faint gray.

 

Someone mentioned pigment liners. These are felt-tip pens loaded with pigment ink - essentially India ink which consists of a solid suspended in liquid. Pigment liners are readily available (Office Despot, Staples, etc) in a variety of sizes. The inks will adhere to the same range of materials as Sharpies, and they are far more intense. Notations made on the edge of a negative print as bright white.

 

The ultimate is true India ink - David Vestal advocated using India ink with an old-fashioned dip pen to mark negatives. Well, if you are masochistic, I suppose that works. But when I was in college, I used a Rapidograph technical fountain pen with India ink to take notes - and those notes have not faded a bit in the 40 years since I entered college. Rapidographs can be purchased at better graphic arts supply shops - they cost around $20-25 - and you have to retrain yourself to write with them. One of the quirks of India ink is that because it is a solid in suspension, if you allow it to dry, it will rather permanently clog the pen. So Rapidographs are designed with tubular nibs with a tiny weighted steel wire that runs through the nib that, when you shake the pen, cleans the nib. As a result, you have to hold the pen in an essentially vertical position when you write. Takes practice.

 

Louie

"Liquid Orthozite" is the Kodak name for benzotriazole. It is a restrainer that can be used to desensitize old paper (to minimize fogging) or to create a slightly colder tone in fresh paper.

 

Fred Picker talks about it in his book "The Fine Print".

 

Louie

I have had an ultralight 4x5 for a couple of years. My previous LF experience was limited to a Crown Graphic, so I can't compare the Zone VI with any other woodie.

 

I have been very pleased with the Zone VI. There are only three points of concern.

 

1. I had an accident in which I stumbled over my feet while carrying the Crown a few years back - the Crown wasn't damaged, but I fell on my bag and cracked a rib. When I moved to the Zone VI, I found myself being far more protective of it that I ever was with the Crown. Many a mind-thing, I think.

 

2. I have a Polaroid 405 holder that I use from time to time. It does fit under the GG on the Zone VI - just barely. But a bigger concern is that the dark slide handle is very close to the back of the camera, with the result that it is hard to grasp. As a result, I find myself pulling the darkslide away from the camera back as I draw it out of the holder. This, in turn, causes the Polaroid holder to pull away from the camera just enough that I frequently get a small fogged area on the end of the Polaroid.

 

3. The process of folding the camera takes practice to avoid abrading the bellows with the hardware. And even with practice, it's still very tight and rubs more that I care for.

 

Otherwise, it's a fine camera.

 

Louie

In addition to the above comments:

 

- seems to me that the film selection for the 500 back is more limited than for the 545 or 405.

 

- my experience with the 405 has been mixed - when mounted in my camera (a Zone VI), it is difficult for me (with fat fingers) to grasp and pull the dark-slide handle, and very often I inadvertantly pull the holder away from the camera back as I do this. The result is that I fog one edge of the film

IF you are into fortifications, there is also one at Popham State Park. Condition is supposed to be a bit iffy.

Ditto the Photography ReSource in Rockport, and Tim Whelan's bookstore. The ReSource has 4x5 film but I don't recall seeing any 8x10 when I was there last month (but I wasn't looking for it either).

 

And by all means go to the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland - they have a special exibition of Andrew Wyeth portraits (the Erickson Family) that are an inspiration to photographers.

 

About an hour (in light traffic) north of Camden is Fort Knox - just across the river from Bucksport. This is a very old stone fortification that is in amazingly good condition and is a great spot for LF photography. No restrictions on tripods, but it would be prudent to get there early on a weekday (say 8:30am) to avoid the crowds. You can see examples on Eric Boutilier-Brown's site.

 

South out of Rockland on Rt. 76 to Owl's Head - the lighthouse is neat - walk down to the beach and shoot up from there. Best in the evening - could be some fog this time of year. Also some interesting early morning water-on-rocks opportunities from the path from the parking lot to the lighthouse. Also, I got a neat shot of the Owl's Head Grange Hall that you have to drive by to get to the lighthouse.

 

Further south to Port Clyde - there is a really nice lighthouse there. Best early in the morning.

 

Between Rockport and Camden there is a farm that raises Belted Galloway cows - look like oreo cookies. They pose - no model fees required.

 

Throughout the area there are lots of interesting little ports. One of my favorites is on Spruce Head island - where Eliot Porter lived - but there are a lot of others to choose from. Best either early AM (pray for fog - it's a wonderful subject) or evening.

 

Pemaquid Light - yeah, its dramatic. The parking lot is always full of cars. Creates a been there, done that feeling.

 

Final note - you really have to search to find bad seafood in that area. Have fun.

The general concensus appears to be that allowing film to get hot does no harm. That's reassuring - many of us have faced the quandary of what to do with the film while traveling a car and we stop to go shopping.

 

However, I had an experience a couple of years ago that causes me to question this collective wisdom. I purchased a couple of bulk rolls of TMY from one of the major NYC distributers, and found that both rolls were fogged. The only thing I could attribute this to was that no one was home when the UPS guy delivered the box, and he left it by the side door - in the sun on the blacktop driveway.

I have no issue at all with discussions of workshops. In fact, this is a good place to get some information from others who may have been in workshops with the same instructor, same school, etc.

 

Actually, if posters have the discipline to include a WTB, FS, or FA, code in the subject, I wouldn't complain about commercial postings either. The LF world is fairly small, and we need to band together to share information. Including some commercial content in that information isn't bad.

Saratoga Springs, NY - home of thoroughbred racing (where the current hero is Funny Cide), designer bottled water, and the potato chip.

I have had a Slik U212 for many years and have been very pleased with it. I use it mainly for 35mm, but I have put a 4x5 Crown Graphic on it a few times.

 

One comment is that I have had a few problems over the years - stripped threads, a broken elevator crank handle (those luggage-handling gorillas!), and a crank handle that fell off somwhere in the field - and Slik was able to provide replacement parts very promptly and at reasonable prices, even years after I first bought the unit.

 

Louie

I had a discussion of releases with a retired lawyer in a workshop a couple of months ago. His observation was that a release with more words will cause models to have more concerns about what they might be getting into than one with fewer words.

 

Seems to me that your multiparagraph release stands a good chance of causing the models to want to consult a lawyer before signing it. That may not be what you had in mind.

 

Louie

Jason -

 

Have you ever used Arista from Freestyle. The EI400 stuff is reportedly HP5 in disguise.

 

Louie

If it expired in 1984, an important question is what process was used - E6 or E4? E4 was being phased out in the late 1970's, and if that's what it was, you will have the additional challenge of finding the chemistry that you will need to process it.

I also do not play a lawyer on TV, but I have read portions of the Copyright law -

 

I think there are two possibilities. One is that the images were copyrighted by the photographer at the time of creation in the 1940's. In those days, that meant submitting copies along with an application to the Copyright Office. If so, the term of that copyright was 28 years, and under the present law, could be extended for another 67 years by application to the Copyright Office. If no application for renewal was submitted, then the images are now public domain.

 

The other possibility - one that is more probable - is that the photographer did not overtly copyright the images. That's stickier, because the current law then states that there is a default copyright that is owned by the photographer or his estate for the life of the photographer plus 70 years (or until pigs start flying).

 

Then there is the possibility that the photographer made the images under contract to someone (the city, your architectural firm?), and that third party may also have a claim.

 

So the best solution is to try to find the photographer (or his grandchildren) and request permission to copy the images. Otherwise, making the copies - even as a donation to the city - is a violation of the copyright law.

 

Since the plan would be to donate the copies to the city, why not take advantage of the fact that the city almost certainly has a lawyer? If nothing else, that lawyer could offer an opinion about whether the city should accept the donation if the copyright issue is in question.

Mine arrived in the mail (in upstate NY) yesterday.

 

Magazines can control when the insert their product into the postal system. When the product comes out is sort of a gamble.

I'm not a lawyer, and I don't play one on TV - - -

 

that said, I suspect that in the litigious society that exists in the US, being a professional or amateur, and paying or not paying the model, counts for a lot less that the perception that the model's lawyer has about the depth of the photographer's pockets.

 

 

Louie

Actaully, in my experience, a 405 works better with a Graphloc back than with a spring or bail back.

 

I have a Zone VI with a bail back. While the 405 will fit under the bail, it's a snug fit. More of a problem is that it is hard to grasp the darkslide, and all too often I find myself inadvertantly pulling the back away from the camera when pulling the darkslide, causing partial fogging of the Polaroid. Didn't have this problem when I mounted the 405 on my Crown Graphic graphloc back.