3.23.08

Here is my best from this past week. My friend Sam was kind enough to lend himself to this project. This image is ok but I feel that I can do better with him so I am going to try to arrange a reshoot. I had some trouble processing the film which resulted in reticulation so the image quality is terrible, another reason to reshoot. I don't have to much more to say about this. I think I am also going to attempt a self portrait this week, but those are always really difficult.

3.21.09

I have recently made a habit of carrying a Holga and a flash with me everywhere. Maybe its because I got used to always having in Italy, but its light weight and easy to use, it only shoots on one setting. So I have been snapping portraits of whomever catches my eye and, as a result, I have been seeing good portraits everywhere. I don't know if the Holga images are any good but I have been revisiting these portraits and capturing essentially what I saw before with my 4x5 camera. This is my roommate working on a mixed media project; she is decorating eggs. I really like the light in this image, even though the negative is a little thin and my shadows are lacking detail. Maeve often brings out a very regal side when I start photographing her and I think it is apparent here.

More from Rome. Like I mentioned before, the only film I shot in Italy was with a Holga because I figured if they didn't turn out I wouldn't be devastated. These are three images that I immediately liked. I have shot a ton of stuff with the Holga, just for fun, and I have collected several images that I like but I couldn't necessarily use for anything. So I'm thinking I'm going to make a book of my favorite Holga images. Probably not any time soon...

So I just spent last week in Italy, visiting a friend living in Siena. It was an amazing trip but I'm not satisfied with the images I made. Since I have been back I have had the same conversation over and over with teachers and friends about how hard it is to make good pictures while traveling. My favorite images are the ones I took of Hannah's (pictured above) apartment, which is no real surprise considering I spent a few days there and became familiar with the space. I also made a quick portrait of her, seeing as portraiture is my focus for the semester. Shooting with my digital camera all week really made me miss my 4x5. I shot some film with a Holga because I figured, after being scanned a couple times it would be worthless. I developed a role of B&W and it came out so I have high hopes for my color film. I shot more portraits with the Holga, so we will see how they come out. I may post more pictures from my trip if I warm up to them. Time will tell.

2.24.09

For once in my two and a half years in Massachusetts, I found myself inspired by snow. Walking home from the photo lab, I noticed how bright it was with the street lights reflecting off the snow. It almost looked like day time. So when I got home I grabbed Maeve, who loves the snow and all things winter, and my 4x5. My favorite is the bottom image, which came out pretty well exposed, much to my surprise. The top is a crop of the original; the jacket I used to protect my camera from the snow sneaked into my frame. I will shoot it over if we get anymore nighttime snow storms.