BREWSTER, NEW YORK – We drove up to Connecticut tonight (a Thursday!), something that we almost never to. Here’w a rest stop on 684 in Brewster New York, captures with my Leica M9 and 28mm Summicron lens. Three frames stitched.
On this day one year ago: Sunrise over Boston Harbor.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – We went to the opening of Honor, Giovanna Randall’s new boutique located on Gansevoort Street in the meatpacking district. The men were noticeably better dressed than the usual grungy New York crowd. I asked Maria if this is a new (and welcome) trend – she responded “No, they’re just fashonistas.” Taken with my suitably retro Leica M9 and a vintage 50mm Dual Range Summicron. We walked on the High Line afterwords where I captured another image.
On this day one year ago: 289 Devonshire.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Another day with film. I’m mastering the mechanics of the Linhof film back so I had fewer ruined double exposures. Here’s a view of 23rd Street taken with my Alpa TC, a 36mm Schneider APO lens on Ilford XP-2 film. I’ve always considered the gray scale rendering of chromogenic films to be slightly odd for landscape – there is a slight infrared quality to it. This image illustrates this effect.
Take a look back at the post for February 9. The vertical line up the middle of the picture is actually a scratch on the negative. Very irritating. Another issue with film. I’m reposting the image here with the scratch repaired and minor edits. Film helps make this image appealing because its response curve has a “shoulder” that prevents the windows from blowing out entirely, and “halation” (light diffusing through the film’s base) add a glow around the windows. On the other hand the scratch illustrates one of the key hazards with film. Overall I spent 20 minutes or so spotting the scanned negative in Photoshop.
On this day one year ago: Lexington Avenue at night. Not one of my more popular images – probably because the reflections (which was the appeal of the situation for me) are confusing.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – Here’s a surprise for you. One of the reasons that I’ve gotten behind in writing these – I’m actually writing this on February 18 – is that I’m experimenting with . . . . film. You read that correctly. The F*** word. My plan was to shoot film for three or four days. There’s a couple of days turn around on processing, and then whatever time it takes to edit and scan. Taken with my Alpa TC and a 36mm Alpa APO Switar lens. Shot on 120 size Ilford XP-2 film, a “chromogenic” black and white film that is processed with the normal C-41 color negative process.
And . . . here’s FILM:
On this day last year: Racquet and Tennis Club.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – Today there was an ice storm – a gray day in the extreme. This is a color image. You couldn’t walk on our road, let alone drive on it. Here’s a three frame stitch captured with my Hasselblad H4D-60 and a 300mm lens.
On his day last year: Connecticut landscape at night.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – Deep snow in Connecticut. Shot in Infra red with my Leica M8.2.
On this day last year: Lexington Avenue landscape.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I’ve taken advantage of a Hasseblad offer the upgrade my H3D-39 to the latests H4D-60. That’s a medium format system with 60 megs of resolution. I’ve spent a fair amount of time working with a piece of equipment called HTS 1.5 and the new camera – it adds the ability to tilt and shift lenses (as one can on a view camera). The HTS 1.5 provides 18mm of shift in either direction. So theoretically f you do three images, one centered, one with the lens shifted all the way left and the other shifted all the way right, in portrait orientation, and stitch them, you end up with a frame in landscape orientation with a perfect 2×3 aspect ratio and pixel dimensions of 12,762 x 8,488, for a whopping 108 megs. Nice but does this actually work?
The image below was captured with the Hasselblad 100mm lens and the HTS 1.5 – three images with the HTS 1.5 shifted as above and stitched in Photoshop.
Here’s a 1:1 crop from the left side of the image – the Robert Kennedy Bridge (formerly the Triborough Bridge) at night.
This is very impressive – I’m going to have some fun with this thing.
On this day last year: Shopping on Fifth Avenue.
