Tony Rowlett

For B&W I use Kodak Tmax-400 and 3200 and Tri-X because they are more

or less "habit" now. I like Fuji Astia 100 and Velvia 50 every

once in awhile. I'm not one to experiment a lot, I guess.

I knew her casually (and she knew who I was), but it wasn't until much

after that that I was dating her mother. The lens was the 50/2

Summicron. After posting this, I printed it (full frame, as above)

onto 11x14 Ilford MG IV FB Glossy with a slight burning in of the top

area to ehance her "popping out" better. It looks pretty good so I

mounted and matted it onto 16x20 and hung it.

Tri-X rated at 400. Lens was 21/2.8. (By the way, this was taken in

Victoria, B.C., not Vancouver. I just refer to it as our "Vancouver"

trip.)

<p>

I'm still culling.

<center>

<img src="http://www.alaska.net/~rowlett/images/vancouver2000/320-2-player.jpg" height=487 width=712><p><b>"Street Performer"</b>

</center>

<p>

I'm trying to cull the strongest work from my recent Vancouver, B.C. trip, and this may be stretching it a bit. Seems I like to photograph street performers with wide lenses. I do like the wide effect, though, and the expression on the fellow's face. I believe he was looking right at me and my camera was at waste level.

Love the lighting on his face, makes him very dramatic looking. Good,

dark, personality type portrait. Theatre, drama, mysterious. The

moon makes it look whimsical. I like the railing, but not the nearest

end where it is so bright - tiny bit distracting. Interesting shot.

The face is definitely the best part.

<center>

<img src="http://www.alaska.net/~rowlett/images/sagayagirls.jpg" width=551 height=410>

</center><p>

I don't know... I kind of like the flare here. What do you think?

The "portraits" thread is sure taking a long time to load, mostly because there are no height and width tags in the html to allow quick loading text to show up before the slow loading images. How about making new threads for each image? Just an idea. Love the forum. Hate the wait.

I've been looking at this photograph since the day you posted it.

Some photos just take a long time to digest. I've partly digested it,

and I too like it. I think I've decided that the girl looking into

the lens is what makes the photo work for me (that may be obvious).

The expression looks like she had about 1 millisecond to check you out

before you went click. You've captured the moment of indecision that

asks, "What do I make of that guy with the camera who is behind my

partner?" *click* ... and I would just love to see her expression in

another second or two. I like the image tone color and the border,

too.

For your purposes, you probably don't actually need f/1, but it sure

is nice. You probably want to shoot for f/1.4, so a 'lux is the way

to go. The problem is, they ain't cheap. Best bet: check <a

href="http://www.donchatterton.com">www.donchatterton.com</a> or

another prominent used Leica dealer. Keep an eye on ebay.<p>

Me, personally, I find that even though I own a Noct., I still use my

35 'cron and my 50 'cron the most. The Noct is heavy and hard to keep

concealed over my shoulder (under a coat) and makes my neck hurt.

Although I don't regret getting it, I only break it out on special

occasions. I call it the "special weapon!"

Thank you for your responses. Wayne, please don't be sorry. The

not-so-positive responses are just as important as the raves. Plus,

in a way, the photograph

is successful because it made at least two people, and possibly a

third, me, "struggle" with it. I agree whole heartedly about it

leaving the "people" genre and approaching the abstract. What I am

most happy about is the fact that nobody has chimed in with their

cropping advice!

Imagination: Hard at Work. This is so much better than my own memory

of me in the same situation, sitting in the back of class. In the

third grade. Picking my nose!

Forgot to add comment on your second image here, Houdini. I don't

know what it is, but I so enjoy small unrelated details of photographs

that I feel compelled to make comment on them. The power strip.

Mighty fine. So what if it's an every day object. I love it. Good

blurring effect on Houdini. Interesting timing on the TV shot. I

just love photography because it has so much to tell of things and

places and people.

Tom, your initial image is the epitome of child lost in daydream and

thought. Not unlike the geek in "Breakfast Club" sticking a pencil up

his nose and making it stay by itself - totally immersed in fantasy,

maybe role play. Excellent capture here. There is a lot going on in

this child's head.

<p>

It may be too much beer and wine, but am I the only one here who

detects a "second" image of Jeff's son in the left side of the image?

Squint a little, look at shapes and tones. OK, I'm weird, but who

said you had to be totally normal to post to the PPF, eh?

<center>

<img src="http://www.alaska.net/~rowlett/images/mimiloop.jpg" width=385 height=484>

<p>

<b>"At a Craft Stand"</b>

</center>

<p>

A fun "people" shot that I thought was interesting. Taken at an artsy craft thing on a summer street corner here in Anchorage. Mimi was looking at all the decorative dangly things. I like how part of her face was captured within a loop.

<p>

Just a thought. I think individual threads work better than combining multiple images within one thread. It takes less time to load, and comments are more or less exclusive to one image at a time.

The M4-P is running on the low end probably due to its signs of

wear. A good deal for anyone wanting to step into the Leica way.

$495 for an M4-P is about the cheapest I've seen. Normally good user

models run $800-$1000 in the ads. Not sure about the M2/lens/meter,

but I'm thinking that's low again due to the wear. For $1500 bucks I

think it's a steal and I would probably have grabbed both of them.

I just found

<a

href="http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/v03/msg04225.html">http

://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/v03/msg04225.html</a> which has

much more information.

Though I hope somebody can post a more educated reponse than what I

can offer here, I do know that the lenses are named somewhat according

to maximum aperture, e.g. "Elmar/Elmarit/Elmax/Tele Elmar" being f/2.8

or slower; "Summicron" being f/2; "Summilux" being f/1.4; "Noctilux"

being f/1. I don't know how they came up with the names except for a

few like Hector being the name of a dog, lenses with "max" in them

being named after the original lens designer Max Berek. I'd like to

know where they got "Summicron" as that is my favorite lens.

Inquiries of this type are appropriate and welcome here.

 

yeah, and the depth of field scale is little more than an ornament on

those wide lenses. With the 21 you practically have to TRY to get

something out of focus! :)

They took that off the current 50 'cron lens, the one with the

built-in hood. I actually like it on my older 50 and 35 crons. I've

never held an RF the exact way as the SLR, but I do use my left hand

and third/fourth finger combinations to focus with the tab. And with

one hand I just use the middle finger of my right hand. I do have the

grip on my M, though, and that makes it much easier to hold w/one

hand.

Struan, nope, I checked and it looks like it's a digital artifact.

Couple of dust specks, though, which appear to be on the neg. Time

to use the rubber stamp tool. To my horror, I have missed thumb

prints, smudges, etc., in the past. Quite the discourtesy to viewers.

Now I'm wiping the prints with a cotton cloth before scanning.

in 24x36...sorry.

This was printed straight on Ilford Perl 5x7 RC. Think I'll print

it somewhat larger on fiberbase and do a slight burn around the top to

make her pop out even more. This shot demonstrates some of the

beautiful yet subtle potential of the 50mm focal length (in 24x3).

<center>

<img src="http://www.alaska.net/~rowlett/images/19-4-stacey.jpg" width=470 height=701>

<p>

"Girl with Book"

Anchorage, Alaska

</center>

<p>

My project of late has been sorting and marking photos. In searching for negatives of unmarked prints (so I can mark them!), I've been finding interesting images that I've never printed. This is one from 1992. I get a kick out of the little girl's facial expression. One thing I would wish for here is a more out of focus background.

<p>

Leica M4-2; 50/2; Tmax 400

Rereading my original post I see that it does sound sarcastic. Sorry.

I didn't mean for it to be. I'm truly interested in these areas where

so many types of human interactions occur. In malls and fast food

joints (as probably in traffic jams, too) there is an abundance of

impatience, restlessness, and vigilance. These can be as

photographic as any subject.