Randomness

Maybe not the most exciting title, but it may or may not sum up the contents of the following post. Nicely.

Lately, I’ve been feeling increasing pressure to write in a witty, sacrastic style. The pressure comes from within, just in case you had any doubts.

More random sentences: I’m listening to a bunch of musicians who call themselves ‘Why?’, more specifically their latest effort titled ‘Alopecia’. I highly recommend it. Pay attention to the brilliant lyrics.

This entry contains exactly three digitally manipulated images. I set a new record. I’m not counting good old-fashioned burning, dodging and reframing. The digital kind, of course.

My next post, maybe in a couple of weeks or so, will probably be about parties again. It’s been a while, really. I don’t know which party to choose from though: the one with the prettiest photos or the one with the hottest ladies. Since most of you readers might be male, there’s a chance I’ll opt for the latter. Then again, I might opt for the former. In any case, I doubt it will affect my pageviews. Because they’re currently being dominated by the Studio 54 blog entry, which for some odd reason keeps racking up a lot of views.

Let’s continue the random stories plot.

The nice Latvian fellow Artis recently wrote a piece on cool Belgians. Of course, he happened to bump into me, my partner-in-crime and my friends. I’ll give you a brief take on that particular evening.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/100s – f/1.2 – by MK

This sexy fellow is Tom Earthwalker, an old fried of mine with too much brains and plenty of stories to properly fill them with content. The man’s travelled around a lot. Took quite a number of photographs too. On top of that, he’ll fix your bike any time of the day. Did I mention he’s single? He’s got a slight obsession with exotic first names but I’m sure he’ll make an exception just for you.

Anyway, I shot Tom using auto white balance, no flash, maximum ISO value and a peculiar absence of available light, sort of. As Artis already mentioned in his own blog: “It was impossibly dark in that joint!”. Still wanted to show you the shots though, so there you go.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/80s – f/1.2 – by MK

A second fellow who joined us on our little beer-exploring session was another old friend of mine named Wouter. A guy with too much brains paired with plenty of processing power to quickly outwit anything you throw at him. His smart mouth is matched only by my own, naturally. Too bad I lack a pair of matching brains. But I make up for it by chugging along a big hunk of photographic glass.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/100s – f/1.2 – by Artis

Thanks Artis! This is what I look like without the aforementioned hunk of glass fixed to my eyeball. Next photograph please. Wait, lemme get some Cinnamon tea first.

5D – 30mm – ISO3200 – 1/80s – f/1.4 – by MK

It’s been a while since I used someone else’s lens. Artis was nice enough to let me try his 30mm. I think it’s very arty, just check out the pretty vignetting caused by the massive light falloff. On a 5D, it’s easy to exploit this particular feature. I think I want a 35mm f/1.4L but then again, I’m slowly beginning to accumulate too much photographic toys. Maybe it’s time to actually start using all that junk.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/100s – f/1.2 – by MK

We moved to a different bar pretty quickly, and this one was much better as far as available light was concerned. This time ’round, I was smart enough to set the white balance manually. My lovely partner-in-crime is holding the toy camera. The toy camera is a righteous bitch to focus in low-light conditions. I don’t care what that Austrian shooter says about easy focussing. What puzzles me even more is that he’s able to properly focus that thing while under the influence of alcohol. Must… show… respect….

For the record, Artis, I’m not jealous. I was just trying to provoke you. Mwahahahaha.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/100s – f/1.2 – by MK

Sneaky fellow, I tell ya. Don’t feed him too much beer, he gets drunk pretty quickly :-) So this bloke is a photographer in his spare time, he likes to write entertaining blogs but don’t tell his personal massage partner, she doesn’t know. I found out he doesn’t work for the enemy, which is a relief. Other than that, go easy on the gas pedal when he’s sitting in the back, you wouldn’t want a hefty lawsuit pinned to the back of your Volkswagen.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/125s – f/1.2 – by MK

I’m telling ya, my old friends were like “what in the hell are these bloody freaks doing”. I guess that’s photography, in a way that might be beyond the grasp of fellas with too much brain capacity.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/125s – f/1.2 – by MK

I can see Tom second that thought too. “Hrmmmm, shooting away, aye? Lemme see that thing you’re using. You can fill a container with all that glass you’re carrying around.” Tom happens to work for the enemy.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/125s – f/1.2 – by MK

Hi there, gorgeous.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/100s – f/1.2 – by MK

In the foreground: my beer. Which was excellent. In the background: Artis’ beer. Which was even better. The beers are the exact opposite of each other. Allow me to elaborate: the waiter would come out and ask our Latvian friend:
“Strong or light?”
- “Light please”
“Dark or blond?”
- “Dark please”
“Sweet or bitter?”
- “Errrrrr….”

So when this waiter fellow starts his routine on me I interrupt him and say “just gimme the opposite of what he’s having”. Life can be simple at times.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/100s – f/1.2 – by MK

Some delicious cheese to match the beer!

I’m going to thank my old friend Tom at this point. Tom, the next one’s on me mate!

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/100s – f/1.2 – by MK

Two more shots at f/1.2, this one was taken from the driver’s seat around midnight, on our way home.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/200s – f/1.2 – by MK

Last one, using the truck’s headlights. I wonder what a Noctilux is capable of, since it’s supposed to be half a stop faster than my beloved ‘85.

Man, I have this peculiar urge to go out and have a nice beer. Might as well do it, since the lovely weather is not going to last much longer, unfortunately.

I want to briefly talk about something else now: action photography. No elaborate comments, no magic tricks, no wise words or expert insight. Just some thoughts.

5D – 85mm – ISO400 – 1/2500s – f/5.0 – by MK

This shot took seventeen takes. The bulldog is chasing a ball, as you can see. I grossly underestimated the sheer amount of concentration action & sports photographers must possess. Forget about shallow DOF, unless you have a 200mm monster (or possibly bigger). I had to revert to at least f/5.0 to get decent focus. It’s meant to be a fun shot, but it sure as hell didn’t feel like it, heh.

Enough about dogs, let’s do some horses for the sake of the aforementioned randomness.

5D – 85mm – ISO200 – 1/250s – f/2.0 – by MK – (converted to B/W)

For some reason, I really like this image. I think it’s mainly because of the way he’s looking at his hands, all concentrated, making sure he’s properly grabbing the reins. At the same time, he appears lost in his own thoughts.

5D – 85mm – ISO100 – 1/1250s – f/2.0 – by MK – (channel alteration)

The weather was really lovely. Sunshine illuminating everything nicely. Here’s our young rider once again.

Allright, let’s move on to something else entirely.

As some of you know, I recently dropped a rather significant amount of wad for the sole purpose of being able to turn the photographic clock back roughly fifty years. Yes that’s right, I bought the toy camera. I came across a very well-tended specimen a while ago, and made an appointment with the owner, a professional photographer that goes by the name of Serge. Not only does he entertain himself and his viewers with some fabulous shots using his beloved Hassy, he’s also a damn nice fellow. Needless to say, we exchanged quite a few words on photography, photographic gear, good coffee, and life in general. I need to make a mental note so I don’t forget to check back on him, something tells me he’d like to know how his toy camera is doing right now.

M6 TTL – 50mm – Superia 200 – by Jorid

First shot with the toy camera was not by my hands. My lovely partner-in-crime took care of that when we first met up with the seller. I loaded it with a roll of Superia200 which I bought nice and cheap from a local store which was going all-digital. They even had a roll of expired Velvia, but refused to sell it to me. Don’t know why, really. I forgot to ask.

M6 TTL – 50mm – Superia 200 – by Jorid

Come to think of it, I think my lovely sidekick has used it more often than I have, so far. She uses her left eye to focus, which I think is funny. Yes, it’s a mirror self.

M6 TTL – 50mm – Superia 200 – by MK

What better way to try my new camera than using a pair of unsuspecting cats as guinea pigs? I need to keep a pencil and a notebook with me all the time, because I really want to remember what shutter and aperture these were taken at. Maybe next time.

M6 TTL – 50mm – Neopan 1600 – by MK

Changed the film. 36 exposures go by in a heartbeat. Fantastic.

M6 TTL – 50mm – Neopan 1600 – by Jorid

Nikki holding a black two-eyed monster in her lovely arms. I remember Bernhard always complaining about what a great job photo labs do of handling one’s negs. Note to self: Bernhard is right.

M6 TTL – 50mm – Neopan 1600 – by Jorid

A semi-professional photogeek and a former professional photographer. Peter’s a friend from another era. He’s not particularly fond of being photographed, but I think Jorid caught him just in time.

M6 TTL – 50mm – Neopan 1600 – by MK

My turn again. Just a simple shot. Night-time, streetlights and such. Walking and focussing at the same time is not all that bad.

M6 TTL – 50mm – Neopan 1600 – by MK

Enjoying some coffee. I like the fact that a more or less decent result with the toy cam feels much more gratifying than a technically better shot composed with the 5D. Maybe it’s all in the mind.

Bronica ETRS – 75mm – TMax 400 – by MK

Note the completely different frame size of the medium format Bronica. You really have to get used to the way all these cameras feel and handle. I’m currently trying them all at breakneck speeds ;-) Tmax400 was all I had for the Bronica film back, a photographer gave me a couple of rolls so I’m not complaining.

On a side note: I haven’t been able to set up the darkroom so far. I know a lot of analogue heads have insisted I should develop my own stuff. I’ll get around to that in good time, no worries.

M6 TTL – 50mm – TriX 400 – by MK

I think it went off by accident. Strange thing is: with my 5D I would have been able to precisely pinpoint when and where this was taken. With the toy cam, I can’t even begin to guess.

M6 TTL – 50mm – TriX 400 – by MK

Switching rolls again. This time it’s TriX400. Lovely partner-in-crime can be my willing subject as long a I haven’t gotten used to handling this little beast. I’m referring to the toy camera, ya bunch of witless geeks.

M6 TTL – 50mm – TriX 400 – by MK

Walking the streets of Ghent, in search of a food joint. Ah.. Ghent. Lovely city. I’ve heard rumours that my partner-in-crime is going to move to Ghent pretty soon. She intends to take me along with her so I’m definitely not complaining. I’ll raise my glass of Pastis to that.

M6 TTL – 50mm – TriX 400 – by MK

The sweet MJ, our host from the old Berlin blog entry, joined us for some food and a little chat.

M6 TTL – 50mm – TriX 400 – by MK

Yup, I’m really going for an overdose of partner-in-crime shots.

You know, the toy camera feels very comfortable and natural in one’s hands. It has some undeniable charm. I’m probably going to waste another slew of frames in the next couple of weeks. Lemme know if I should try out some exceptional colour film. Or b/w, for that matter. I’ve become curious, so recommendations are more than welcome, folks.

Wrapping it up with some good ol’ digital:

5D – 85mm – ISO100 – 1/800s – f/1.2 – by MK – (tone curve adjustment)

I hope summer will be good to us this year. Here’s to 2008.

Thanks for watching & see you around in the blogosphere!

Nitey nite,
MK