Shots from Bodega Bay

These photos were shot at Bodega Bay in December 2011.

New found respect for Ansel Adams

I have been spending this weekend in a cabin at Bodega Bay. Mostly the time has gone by eating and chatting with good friends. We naturally also watched Hitchcock's Birds that was shot in near here.

I also lugged my speedy up here and thought of strolling the beach and meadows taking beautiful pictures all weekend long. I took one walk with the camera and tripod. I walked only about 2 miles on the beach and back on the road and realized how heavy the gear is. I can't imagine hiking up the mountains carrying even bigger camera and more film holder. Props to Ansel for that! Now we have to look who wins the better picture competition.

My Parents

My Parents
Originally uploaded by M Skaffari

Portrait with natural light through window on camera right. White reflector on the camera right just outside the shot. Shot in our Pacific Heights apartment on 20th of June 2009.

Graflex Anniversary Speed Graphic
Goerz Dogmar 6.5in f4.5
FP4+
f8 / 1/25s

North Beach By Night

North Beach By Night
Originally uploaded by M Skaffari

Picture finally digitalized after almost an year. This was shot on Jan 20 2009 in North Beach in San Francisco.

Graflex Anniversary Speed Graphic
Goerz Dogmar 6.5in f4.5
FP4+
f11 / 1s

Disapontment

Now I did it! I took half a box of non-exposed film to be developed. I feel like a moron. Luckily Chris from Photoworks had pity on me and I only paid half for what I would have paid normally.

This experiment cost me ~10$ in film and ~25$ in processing. So 35$ learning on how to mark film boxes.

The solution: Have 1 box that is for exposed film. Write very clearly "EXPOSED, Ready to be developed" on the box. All other boxes of film should be marked "Instructions for lab: DO NOT DEVELOP, THE IDIOT BROUGHT NON-EXPOSED FILM HERE. Call him at: 555 1234". This way the lab at least checks with you before ruining your film and making you pay for it.

A good day

Today has been a good day. I worked a full day (from home though so nobody was in my way), had a light dinner in North Beach, went to take few shots with my Graflex and went to gym. All this done by 9PM.

Today I shot the fog rolling over the city. I climbed on top of Corona Heights park close to Castro and shot towards Castro and Oakland. I got there the fog was just starting to roll over Twin Peaks. I was up there for about 20 minutes and when I left I was surrounded by the fog. It's funny how the fog follows the same pattern every day this time of the year.

New Project

I decided to start a new project, taking portraits of my friends. I have a small studio setup at home, and now that my wife is traveling for few weeks I can just leave it there and won't have to tear it down after every shoot.

Evening shoot

The wife went out with the girls and I had some free time on my hands. So what to do...

I thought of going to darkroom to make contacts of the last negatives and maybe few prints also. The idea was good, but execution sucked. I was in front of the darkroom 7:45 and it closes at 8.

Lucky I had my camera in the trunk so I drove to Treasure Island between San Francisco and Oakland to take few shots of San Francisco in the sunset. I arrived a bit late and the evening was getting dark. I took two shots, both with long exposure (10 sec and 15 sec). Not sure how they will turn out since it was quite windy and the Graflex is quite big and catches a lot of wind. My tripod is sturdy for SLR, but a tad light for the Graflex and I fear the pictures are shaken. Well, I'll see once I get the films processed.

Results

Got the latest batch of negatives back from the shop today. The good news first. All four negatives seem to have been shot the right way around. Good for me.

The not so good news is that two of the negatives show signs of serious light leak. I'll have to mark the film holders and see if they consistently leak or if this is just due my carelessness.

The shot of the old truck looks really good!

Sunday shots

I was having a lazy Sunday, mostly driving around running small errands. I put my Graflex into the trunk so if I happen about something interesting I might take a picture or two. I ended up taking 3 shots. One of the Golden Gate bridge and two in Alamo Square here in San Francisco. Pretty touristy stuff, but have to see how they turn out.

I dropped the films off for development today and will get them back on Wednesday.

Saturday shoot

Well, at least a mini-shoot. I was on my way to Sonoma for a production meeting and I remembered that on the way there are few old trucks on the roadside. I stopped by one and took a picture. Hopefully my film was not inside out...

Not a great day

I had uneven number of films exposed so I thought I go to North Beach here in San Francisco to shoot one more picture so I can drop some holders for development tomorrow. Everything went fine - until I got to North Beach.

I started getting my gear out of the trunk of my car and grabbed one film holder from my bag. The safety guards hadn't been closed properly (I wonder who messed up) and the exposure guard slid open. With lightning fast reflexes I closed it back up. Remains to be seen if the film inside got some unwanted light. That would be shot #7 I have to look out for.

This brings me to the point of complaining about Fidelity Elite 4x5 film holders. The safety guards move very easy and might open up accidentally while in transport. The old wooden ones have the safety's so hard that it's very hard to open them up - even intentionally; I think I prefer that problem.

The second problem arose when I set up the tripod. My Slik let one of the butterfly screws go. The design is a bit weird to start off. There is a metal screw with 10mm head which has been covered with hard plastic butterfly screw head. I think I can glue it back on, but would still like to complain to the manufacturer.

After 15 second googling I realized I can buy just a new head for the darn thing. The legs are still 100% OK. Now come to think of it I have always wanted a ball head for the tripod.

Fort Bragg

We drove up to Fort Bragg over the weekend and my intention was to shoot some 4x5s on the way. Well the way was quite long and I ended up driving more than shooting. I came back with only 3 sheets exposed. I'll have to do the same trip one day alone so I can spend as much time behind the camera as I wish.

The eyes, the eyes

I got the negatives (#5 & #6) back from the shop today. Both were otherwise ok, but the focus was a bit off. The DoF is so narrow in the Dogmar fully open that I really have to be careful with the focus. Now I have 2 negatives that are sharp on ears and soft in the eyes. Can't really fix that...

3rd shoot

I have had my mother and brother-in-law visiting for the past two weeks. This morning I took the opportunity to take a portrait of Charles. Even though the Dogmar (6.5 inch ~ 165mm) is somewhat longer than the Ektar (127mm) I was surprised how close I have to take the portraits.

After some calculations I have deduced:

127 mm Ektar is equal to 35mm lens on 35mm camera since the 5 inch longer edge of the film happens to be also 127mm.

This would make the 165mm Dogmar equivalent of 45mm lens on 35mm camera.

The shoot itself went good but I think I broke the cable release attachment in the shutter. This forced me to release the shutter manually from the camera and the long exposure time might have caused the camera to shake and blurr the image. Note to self: Get the cable release fixed or get steadier tripod

1st still life shoot

Had some time today and wanted to play with the camera again. Didn't find anything else to shoot but old bunch of bananas. I placed the bananas on a white cardboard on the floor, light them with two spotlights through white acrylic sheet and placed another cardboard to act as reflector. The lights are not very powerful and my exposure time was way longer than I would have liked. Maybe I also need proper strobes. Haha! It's Christmas and I haven't really bought myself anything yet.

I noticed that I really have to adjust the infinity stops on the camera. The stops are adjusted for 127mm Kodak lens and I'm using the 6.5 Inch (165mm) Dogmar. It's very hard to focus close. I have to push the bed of the camera further out than it's designed for. Have to figure out the best way to adjust. Marked the bed already for 127mm so it will be easy for me to change the stops back when needed.

Results of my first shoot

Just got my first developed films back from the photoshop and they look great. I metered the light using my Canon 40D and the exposure looks to be spot on. Can't wait to get them enlarged. I'll be sure to post the pictures once I get them scanned.

I think I have to join San Francisco Photography Center. Cheap enough membership and decent facilities.

Developing film

I found this instructional video on how to develop sheet film. I'm sure I won't be using the tray method.

Processing Sheet Film in a Darkroom -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

And this is how it starts

I bought myself a Graflex Anniversary Speed Graphic through eBay. It was in pretty sad shape (but cheap) and I had to spend a bit more to get enough parts to make a working unit. On my original package I have solid body with focal plane shutter working. I have no way of testing the accuracy, but atleast the speed with which the curtain moves seems to change and the curtain seems lightproof. The camera came with Kodak Ektar 127mm f:4.5 lens that looks to be in good condition. The shutter on the other hand doesn't work on slow speeds. Also the lens board was cracked and not lightproof. I commissioned a friend of mine to fabricate me couple of new ones.

I also bought Goerz Dogmar 6 1/2 In f:4.5 lens on a working shutter. To my supprise this came attached to a perfect lens board. I run to local Calumet to get a film holder and a pack of film.

I figured out how to load the film pack (with 2 sheets of film) and spend better part of last Saturday morning taking the pictures. The film is currently being developed and I should get them back later today. I will be noting down all shots I make and atleast scans of the pictures. Hmm.. Need to get a scanner in that case ;)