Traffic Control Box, 14th Street
Rolleiflex 2.8E, Kodak Ektar 100.
Archive for the ‘Color’ Category
Another Object Portrait – the Traffic Control Box Leave a comment
Motorcycles Leave a comment
Taken with my Rolleiflex 2.8E, on Kodak Ektar 100.
DC Street Scenes – Columbia Heights Leave a comment
La Molienda
Pan Lourdes, in color
Tree Lights, 14th Street
Glorias Pupusas
Some twilight photos taken on 14th Street in Columbia Heights. All shots were taken with my Rolleiflex 2.8E on Kodak Portra 160. This time I was using a tripod – the black and white shots were hand-held. While I was out taking these photos, I had someone from Cavalier Liquor come outside and tell me, “you didn’t get permission to take pictures”. He then broke into a smile so I knew he was just teasing. I’ll make a nice print of the picture and bring it to them, one of these days.
I also had someone approach me as to why I was photographing Gloria’s Pupuseria and Pan Lourdes. I explained to the guy I’m a photographer and I take pictures of things I find interesting. He explained his interest in why I was taking pictures with a throwaway line about 9/11 and can’t be too careful these days. As a Pentagon attack survivor, and photographer, I find the gratuitous abuse of 9/11 as an excuse for anything and everything intrusive to be highly insulting. If I were scouting potential targets for a terror attack, I sure as shootin’ wouldn’t be using a Rolleiflex on a tripod! I’d be doing what everyone else is doing and using my cellphone, to be as inconspicuous as possible. And I’d not be scouting out a Latino bakery in a transitional neighborhood. Suspicious behavior is not taking photographs – suspicious behavior is leaving a bulky bag unattended in a busy location. Photography is not a crime, and telling people to look out for photographers is up there with the porno scanners at the airport as the worst kind of security theater – it harasses innocent, law-abiding citizens and presents the illusion of “doing something” while not actually addressing real security needs.
Busy weeks ahead Leave a comment
When it rains it pours… I’m going to have several busy weeks ahead getting ready for three (THREE!!!) shows at the same time. I’m going to have work in a group show of large format photography at the River Road Unitarian Church, an alternative process show at the ArtDC Gallery, and a solo show at Mad Momos, a restaurant here in DC. Fortunately the Mad Momos show won’t be until the end of June, so I’ll have more time to prepare for it.
For the group show at the Unitarian church, I’m contributing some of my color nighttime shots of DC -
Georgetown in a Rainstorm
Burma Restaurant, Chinatown, DC
Secession Sushi – The Wok ‘n Roll in the Surratt House
Fountain, Georgetown Waterfront, Kennedy Center
The ArtDC gallery show will have my 14×17 palladium prints from Eastern State Penitentiary (don’t have them printed yet so I can’t show them – the negs are too big to scan).
Mad Momos will feature my “street” photography I think – mostly my documentary stuff from around DC. Probably all color work, but I haven’t decided yet.
Orchid Show at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum Leave a comment
Here’s a few shots I took at the Latin American Orchid exhibit at the Smithsonian over the weekend.
All shots taken with a Rolleiflex 2.8E with a Rolleinar 2 close-focus adapter, Kodak Portra 400, and hand-held at 1/30th of a second between f2.8 and f4.5. I think I’ll go back another weekend and try again this time with a flash so I can get more depth of field. Don’t know if I’ll take the Metz or something smaller, as the Metz may be TOO powerful.
Mummers Parade, Part 2 – with the Rollei 3 comments
A few more from the parade, taken with the Rollei. I have about 300 digital files to edit through before I post those – I switched to the Canon 5D after shooting these because the Rollei was rather labor-intensive and the lighting was rather dim, limiting me to slow enough shutter speeds that I was getting motion blur with a lot of images and I didn’t want to waste film. I think what came out best with the Rollei are images I’d classify as portraits. It excels at shooting people filling the frame at relatively close distances. Or maybe that’s just what I’m good at and I’m confusing the camera’s talent for my own.
Mummers Parade, Part 1 – with the Rollei 3 comments
A major reason for going to Philly for New Years Eve was to avoid the hassle of driving up and back on the same day to attend the Mummers Day Parade on New Years Day. I decided to try and shoot some of the parade with the Rollei. While not as many images were 100% successful as I would have liked, I’ll put some of that down to needing more experience zone focusing, and some of it down to needing a fill-flash which I didn’t have. But I’m not complaining – I did get some good images, and here is a selection. I’ll follow up with more tomorrow when I’m done scanning everything.
Philadelphia, New Year’s Eve 1 comment
Independence Hall, New Years Eve
Franklin Park Allee
Franklin Park Fountain
Franklin Square Carousel, Stopped
Franklin Square Carousel in Motion
Some more of my night photography. I went to Philadelphia for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day this year. I wanted to see the Mummers’ Day Parade on New Years Day, which is a uniquely Philadelphia tradition. The best way to describe it for those who’ve never been is to say that it’s a bit like a PG-13 Mardi Gras (it gets the PG-13 for the alcohol consumption and the occasional bawdy reference in some signage). I’ll post my photos of the parade later – I still have several rolls of negatives to scan, plus a couple hundred digital images to edit before that’s ready. I went out on New Year’s Eve to have dinner, and dragged the Rollei along with me because I had seen the lights in Franklin Square Park on my cab ride from the train station to my hotel. I also thought about trying to get photos of the fireworks with Independence Hall in the foreground, but the buildings between the Hall and the river where the fireworks launch are too tall and you can’t see them. But I got my good night shot of Independence Hall anyway, so that’s my lead-off photo for this post.
Gallery Place Metro station, Washington DC 1 comment
Gallery Place Metro #1
Gallery Place Metro #2
Two shots of the Gallery Place Metro station, looking down on the Red Line platform from the mezzanine. Taken with the Rolleiflex 2.8E, hand-held, with Portra 800. Exposure times were 1/2 second or 1 second @ f2.8.
Kogod Courtyard of the National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC Leave a comment
Kogod Courtyard, West Facade, Night
Kogod Courtyard, South Facade, Night
Kogod Courtyard, Southeast View, Day
Kogod Courtyard, West View, Day
Kogod Courtyard, South View, Day
Here are some views of the Kogod Courtyard of the National Portrait Gallery. The blue lighting in the nighttime shots of the courtyard was for an after-hours reception being held at the museum. The courtyard used to be a fairly typical Victorian-era affair with a pair of fountains and some scraggly looking shrubbery, open to the air and more importantly, the weather. A few years ago they undertook a multi-million dollar renovation, ripping out the old landscaping and (non-working) fountains and enclosing it with a Norman Foster designed undulating glass roof. At first I found the interior design rather stark. It has grown on me, though, with the modern interpretations of fountains being just a thin sheet of water flowing in a rectangle across the floor. Of course the roof is the masterwork – it bends and twists like a piece of origami paper. The courtyard is now a very pleasant place to sit and just pass the time, reading a book or eating something from the museum cafe.
All photos were taken with my Rolleiflex 2.8E, on Kodak Portra 800 film. Also, for the die-hard photo geeks out there, I’ve been using the free light meter app for my iPhone to do the metering. I’d say it works pretty darned well 
