Good Bye and Happy New Year

After a short but oddly comfortable return to WordPress, I have decided to finally and completely move my bloggin over to Ello. I have been active in that community since 2014 and, as my short stint back here made me again realize that I enjoy it there a heck of a lot better. Sure, it’s not a ‘real’ blog, but to me that doesn’t matter. Basic functionality is there but Ello offers things most other options available don’t: a large and ever growing creative community, huge (read: enormous) display of one’s work and most of all, no ads. Ever.

Therefor I must, yet again, say goodbye to you, my followers, and to inform you that this account will soon permanently be closed. For any further updates on my photographic endeavors, please do follow me on Ello. Currently running projects (12th Street) are also moved over there and can be joined and followed at one’s leisure.

Rests me to say thank you for your loyalty and interest and hope to see you again on the other side. Happy Holidays and all the best for 2017!

Cheers,

Mike.

Ello: @badcamera
Twitter: @badcameratweets
E-mail: info@badcamera.com
Website: http://www.badcamera.com/

Happy New Year 2017

To all followers, photographers, friends and foes; I wish you a very happy, healthy, productive and prosperous 2017. May your new year be filled with much emulsion.

Cheers,

Mike

The Last Roll

Us photographers have had to say goodbye to many types of film, especially over the past few years. But this one is especially missed because of it’s unique qualities. And although Mr. McCurry is not someone I follow or even admire as a photographer, in this documentary he describes a momentous occasion.

Kodachrome is no longer made and even if you have some, can no longer be developed (rats, I still have some in my fridge!), but was a very important film for print media and photography in general. Which is a shame because the ‘look’ of this film helped shape our memories of decades past. Or at least how we recognize images made from the 1935 till 2010 with this unmistakable film. This short documentary is interesting to watch if period color reversal film is your thing, or even if you’re just the nostalgic type. Enjoy.

City Beaches..

..and beautiful people. Originally intended as a spread for an online magazine, which unfortunately never materialized (the magazine stopped replying?), here are a few images from an absolutely splendid afternoon with Justine.

We got super lucky that day with beautiful weather and, having met for the first time, got along wonderfully. I hope to be able to photograph this beautiful dancer again. Till then, this small selection will have to suffice.

I’d have to dig into my negatives to find out what film I used..to be continued..

Last Shot

This is quite the interesting short documentary by Andre Chong about the demise of the film industry in Singapore. You’ll meet shop owners and photographers who still prefer the tactile experience of film photography (and development) over their modern day counterpart SD-cards. Funny enough, the entire film is shot in square format and I’m not sure why. It’s too long for Instagram. Maybe it’s emulating the (often featured) 6×6 medium format cameras ? What you need to see is in the frame, there’s no wasted space. Good cinematography in my opinion. In either case, a nice watch.

12th Street

Quick update on project “Twelve”; it has been renamed to “12th Street” (tying the original project name into a fictional street in Toronto) and I plan to shoot the entire project in (downtown) Toronto. Just because there’s so much to photograph there!

My Team Of 12

To warm things up, these are the twelve films I’ve selected for next year’s project.

Black & White Print Films:

• China Lucky SHD 100, ✟ February 2013
• Ilford Delta 400, ✟ March 2013
• Kodak T-Max 100, ✟ September 2015
• Rollei Superpan 200, ✟ August 2016
• Shanghai GP3 100, ✟ September 2016
• Rollei RPX 400, ✟ March 2017

Color Print Films:

• Fujicolor Reala 100, ✟ June 2005
• Fujicolor Reala 100, ✟ November 2007
• Kodak New Portra 160, ✟ March 2015
• Kodak Ektar 100, ✟ April 2015

Color Reversal Films:

• Kodak Ektachrome 100 Plus, ✟ March 1999
• Kodak E100 SW, ✟ November 2004

I’ll probably try to find replacements for the rolls in cursive, especially that dreadful GP3, but this is the team for now. I’m curious what the Ektachrome will look like, but that’s still a long wait I suspect.

Then the camera: I’m going with my trusted Yashica Mat 124G. I can’t think of an easier and more reliable camera than this grand old lady. She has served me well over the years.

What are your choices of film and/or equipment? Share your ideas!

New Year Project: 12th Street

To achieve a reasonably productive new year I’d like to start a new project, called “12th Street”. Essentially I plan to shoot one roll of film each month and pick a street, any street, for that roll. It’s not very ambitious and therefor I believe it has a much better chance of success (at least for me) than the 365-days or 52-weeks and other variants out there which I’ve tried but failed at.

The only ambitious aspect of this project is that, for myself, I’m going to shoot in medium format only. This will hopefully help me choose my photographs more carefully, since there’s only 12 (or at best 24) shots on one roll.

I’m using medium format expired film only, hoping that will yield some interesting results and possible topics for conversation.

But you could use whatever film you’re comfortable with or have access to, of course. Because it would be nice if this project could be shared with some fellow photographers, who can post their respective results each month here on this blog. Perhaps even more fun if some of us (if local) join up for a walk about town. If you’d like to participate or know someone who would, spread the word and get in touch. The new year is fast approaching.

Summary:

• Project: “Twelve” “12th Street”
• Choose 1 street per month and shoot one roll of film on that street
• Share your work with fellow photographers through this blog
  • Sign up so you can be added as an Author/Contributor to this project
• Get other photographers to participate
• Contribute and discuss
• Have fun!

Mission #01 Update

I think I’m finally going to get something shot today. A nice turkey would be preferable, but I’ll settle for some good-old black & white film. Rollei RPX (formerly Agfa APX) is in the camera, and snow is on the menu. 24 Hours of it, it seems. That’ll be the first big downpour of that fluffy white stuff this year, so I should make use of it and shoot something. Anything. Maybe I can combine some snow with some pho. Here goes..

Markus Andersen

Do you know Markus Andersen? I didn’t either, not until I watched this video, from the FilmPhotographyTube channel on YouTube. He’s a Sidney-based photographer who -self proclaimed- doesn’t give one hoot about what he uses but he prefers film. He’s a street photographer and he shoots in a style that I like a lot. Have a looksy, it’s 15 minutes well spent.

I Am Not (That) Religious

I am a sinner. And although I do consider this heresy, neatly tucked away in a dark corner on this blog I’ve decided to fill a spot with the occasional digital snapshot I take. It’s photography but I don’t enjoy it or take it seriously (as much as I do film photography).

While many of the available apps offer ways to emulate the look of certain films, I try not to do just that and instead just fiddle away till I get a pleasing result, in one way, shape or form. So there it is. To be continued, but not too regularly.

It shall be called “Blagues” and you can find it here.

Reely & Truly

This extended trailer by London filmmaker and photographer Tyrone Lebon, a hugely inspirational photographer for me, is a “visual poem on contemporary photographers and their practices” and an art project all by itself. Shot on whatever you can think of (65mm, 35mm, super 16mm etc.), this project is slated to finish sometime in 2017, with book and film to be published. Watch it.

Quote Of The Day

“I try to use whatever I know about photography to be of service to the people I’m photographing.”

James Nachtwey

Monochrome Madness

I just couldn’t resist and jumped on the bandwagon that is Instax Monochrome. I’ve used the Instax Wide as well as the Mini for quite some time now and have always been rather happy with the results. Not of the camera, those are too large, shoddy and have useless viewfinders. It colors greatly and most of all, sustains those colors over long periods of time and in cold and warm weather.

I haven’t even finished my first pack and this is the best one so far. One out of 3 ain’t bad.

Fuji graced us with their new Mini Instax Mini Monochrome Mini (?) film only a few months ago. And I have to say, yes the film is tiny but the results are rather pleasing. Not to mention the tactile experience one gets from holding an actual photograph. And these, unlike Impossible film, are actually rather ‘instant’. And once that blue-ish cast has been edited off after scanning, they look quite okay. Nice contrast and all-in-all a quite usable film I’d say. I’ll pick myself a few more of this up. Especially when considering the cost..