The Archives - Sevilla 2008

Digging through some old photos - found these that I don't think I ever posted anywhere. Taken one evening in Seville during our honeymoon in 2008. There were a series of these conceptual art photos exhibited on street level billboards right outside the main Cathedral. I absolutely love the images and how crazy weird some of them are. I only wish I had taken the time to photograph every one of them (there were a lot more than these 5).

Broken Wing

Spotted on my way to a friend's place after work - one very deceased bird (I think it was a pigeon, but I'm not sure - there was no head left to really examine). Poor thing.








-G

Prague is in sight!

In exactly a month, we will be on our way over to Prague to start a 12 week journey through the heart of Eastern Europe and entering into Russia. The prospect of being on the road for 3 straight months is exciting, daunting, and scary all at once. My biggest headache seems to be how much photo gear can I possibly lug along due to weight considerations, and whether I feel I will be satisfied being only able to shoot with those specifically chosen cameras for 3 months. I'm leaning towards this as my kit:

Digital - Nikon D300, Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8, Nikkor 50mm f/1.2.
Film - Kiev88 body and Arsat 80mm f/2.8.
Toy Cameras - Holga 120N and Diana Mini.
100 Rolls of film - 60x 120, 40x 135 - combination of slide, print, and black and white.
Manfrotto tripod, closeup filters, polarizers, and all that other jazz like lenspens, etc.

And then of course, Anita will bring along the Leica D-Lux4.

What do you think? Overkill? Keeping in mind I'm going to be shooting for 80 straight days. The D300 is simply too versatile and convenient (it's digital, after all) to NOT bring. The Kiev88 is a metal beast that I think will help me improve my skills - analogue, no meter, all manual, and prime lens. I suppose I could cut down on the amount of film I bring, but I'm worried that I won't be able to track down decently priced rolls of 120 and/ or slide film while in some remote villages. I suppose I could also forego the Diana Mini as I could run 35mm through the Holga if needed, but the Mini is so much fun (and the weight savings of not bringing it would be minimal). Sigh...

I think the solution is to hire a sherpa.

Kinjo and Chocoretto

I'm supposed to be writing up a summary of some volunteering I did this past week, but of course Mr. Procrastinator has infinitely more entertaining things to be doing with his time - ie: posting photos from sushi at Kinjo's yesterday. The food was so so, and the place was staffed with more Chinese cooks than you typically like to see for an authentic Japanese restaurant, but I did really get a kick out of our server. She reminded me so much of our Japanese friend Yasko, and I especially loved when she gave us a choice of Strawberry or "Chocoretto" flavoured Pocky with our bill. hehehe... Chocoretto. I'm gonna start calling chocolate that all the time now.


Seared Tuna Nigiri


Scallop Sashimi


Tako (Octopus)

-G

Custom 120 Film Cannisters

I had a bunch of empty plastic film containers laying around, and for some reason, decided to muck around with them. A craft knife, a bit of duct tape, electrical tape, a couple printed sticky labels with my photos on them, and a few minutes of manual dexterity later, I'd made myself some custom film cannisters for 120 roll film. Takes about 10 minutes to bang up a decent one (depending on how good you are with a knife, and duct taping two plastic tubes together), so there's no reason you shouldn't get on this if you shoot any 120.









If you can't tell from looking at the photos, here's how you do it. Cut out the bottom of one 35mm container. Then cut off the top 2/3 of another container (or you could actually measure out how much more container you need by checking it against an actual 120 spool). Tape the 1st container to the bottom of the 2nd container. Decorate to taste.

-Craft Teacher Wannabe G

Photowalk Edmonton pt. II

More photos from that photo-adventure with Marc last week. Everyone of these was shot at f/1.2, hence their overall softness.







This piece of sushi was called Kohada, which the menu at Kyoto on 109th across from the Garneau had described as 'Gizzard Chad'. I ordered it purely based on this description.












Is the weekend really over already?!
-G

Photowalk Edmonton

So Marc and I went out on a photostroll this week through a bit of Chinatown, then the Art Gallery, and ending off at Churchill Square. I only had my 50mm, which is awesome, but sometimes you need something a bit wider...


























Quick story about the portrait of the lady in the last photo - she approached Marc as we were walking through the very picturesque concrete slab in Churchill Square, and she requested Marc to take her photo. But she insisted that he had to take the photo at a distance from which she could touch him. Very odd. Anyways, Marc had his 70-300 lens slapped on, which can't focus that close, and so I ended snapping this shot of her. It's blurry cause manual focus in the dark is fricking hard, and the DoF at f/1.2 is really shallow. But I love the way it turned out. Apres photo, she poked me with her finger, and let us on our way. Strange, but fun.

There are few more photos from this night, which I'll post later.

-Comrade G

Red Dot Test Shots

I finally had a chance to spend a few minutes with Anita's new baby, and I have to say I'm thoroughly impressed for a point and shoot (albeit one that cost more than many mid-range DSLRs)... Noise levels are quite low, and the fast 2.0 lens at the wide end makes shooting at ISO 100 - 200 under low light conditions possible. And my favourite discovery so far is that at 24mm and a close focusing distance of less than a cm, you can get some really neat wide angle macros that you'd be hard pressed to reproduce with an SLR. On with the samples.


One of my two DIY pinhole cameras. Obviously, I messed with the curves and levels on this shot so it's not an accurate representation of what the Leica can do straight out of camera.




Wide Angle Macro of some nuts in a tupperware container.


I love papercraft models.


Some fun with wide angle closeup distortion.




Echinaceau capsules inside the bottle.