Strangers in the City

More results from my Strangers in the City project, in which I am approaching random strangers I encounter to take their portraits on medium format film. I've had a couple more polite rejections from some folks, and I also pooched a couple shots of some strangers that agreed to sit (sorry dudes). But overall, the project is going well, and I may start a whole new site dedicated to it. Enjoy, and meet some of your local Calgarians.


Maisy, yard sale hunter extraordinaire. She found a sweet red sequinned hat and ceramic dog from a yard sale just a couple blocks from where I took this portrait (Blonde's Diner).


Lauren, the other half of the yard sale hunter duo. Lauren's hat is what actually caught my attention about this duo, as the hat is exactly the same as one I bought in Ha Long Bay, but failed to bring home cause I didn't want to crush it in my luggage.


Krista, a gal who was minding her business at the bus stop, reading and listening to tunes through her earbuds when I interrrupted to request a portrait. She was more than patient with me, as I first screwed up the shot, and then had to change to a new roll of film before finally getting this shot off.


Kiri was enjoying a coffee outside The Roasterie, when I interrupted to ask for a portrait. When pressed for some personal details, she stated that she was just a girl trying to find herself.


Dionne, budgie owner. Seriously, we passed by her in the Kensington area, where she was sitting with her pet budgie, Icky. You don't see bird owners take them out for walks very often, so this was kind of cool. Other interesting connection, I was wearing a Muse shirt from the concert earlier this year, and she had also gone and bought that same shirt.


Icky the budgie, who probably prefers to think that she was out taking her pet human for a walk.


Scott, analog camera junkie, not a stranger. But I had to finish off my roll before I could develop it. Scott likes cameras. Like, REALLY likes them. Probably moreso than me. That's saying something.


Andrew, also not a stranger. Although we only met today. Appears to own significantly more cameras than me (and I have 35). Was shooting a frankencamera of a Polaroid Land 100, with modded lens and finder. My new hero.


Georgette, Andrew's other half. TLR and SX-70 shooter. What more can you ask for in a girl?


Anita, my better half. Without her, none of the happy stuff in my life exists.

6x6 shots taken with a Kiev 88 on Ilford HP5+. 6x7 shots taken with a Pentax 6x7 on Fuji Neopan 400. Both rolls developed in Ilfosol 3, diluted 1:9.

Giant Heads, Steel Horses, and a Lion Mask - Just another YYC Sunday.

Scott, Eric and I went on a short photowalk this morning downtown. Scott suggested the rather heinous hour of 7am as our start time (F@CK!!!), so there weren't many people on the streets to photograph. Having said that, I did get a portrait of some random dude with a runny nose who asked us if we were Canadians or not. Portrait not shown below cause it hasn't been developed yet).






Looking out, from inside the giant head.








Stay!















All shots taken with a Leica M6 and Voigtlander Nokton SC 35/1,4 on expired Konica VX 400. This film yields really interesting orange and magenta notes. If you can find some (discontinued a while ago), you should grab it.

A Fine Day For Some Film Fun

I put together a Gakkenflex TLR last night, and took it out for a spin today on a little photo adventure with James in the Ogden area of Calgary. The camera takes about 2 hours to assemble, and seems to be hit and miss when it comes to focussing (very difficult to nail), but it takes fairly interesting photos with pronounced vignetting and blurring as you go out from the centre.

All photos shot on Konica VX 400 (expired in 1993).





























I'll do a more in depth review next time, going skiing tomorrow, must sleep now. G'night!

Calgary Film Photography meetup and photowalk

We've returned from our short trip to France (photos to come soon, I just haven't had time). I'd write more but I have to work today (blegh...)

Anyways, I just got my film back from the lab from a Calgary Film meet up and photowalk I went on a few weeks ago. Thought I'd post some of the results. All shot on a Kiev 88CM on Kodak Ektar 100. A couple recurring themes with the Kiev and Ektar - 1) The Arsat lens on the Kiev is brutal at handling flare and I should really make a mental note to always use the rubber lens hood; 2) Ektar produces oddly reddish skin tones (I've seen this on a few rolls now, has anyone else noticed this?)

Weather bitching

I've spent a whole month complaining about how shitty the weather's been with the non-stop rain and cold. Then the barometer hits the high twenties for the last couple days, and wouldn't you know it, I start bitching about how fricking hot it is. There's just no happy medium. On the bright side, I'm looking forward to the heat continuing to scorch the local foliage, so that I can roam around the neighbourhood and capture more shots like this:


Taken sometime last year while we were walking the pathways around our house, with the Kiev88 CM and Arsat 80mm lens combo, on Kodak Ektar 100. Shot wide open of course, hence the shallow depth of field.