Lam Thoughts

Week 19 - So the medium format photos from the Shoot Sheldon and I did a few weeks back came in by golly did they make me happy. I was shocked that my 50 year old camera was still able to create images that are just as pleasing in my opinion, to digital cameras. These are not straight out of camera (SOOC) shots and they have been edited but only slightly in terms of contrast and exposure range. The image on the left is a great portrait that I took when either Sheldon wasn’t looking (he he) or when he just happened to strike a good pose at the right time. The second shot happened accidently. On the older cameras, you can continue to take shots without advancing to the next film frame. This means that you would get an exposure on top of an exposure, which is what happened for this one three or four times. Although I did this by accident because I forgot to advance to the next frame, it lead to a cool photo where Sheldon’s poses move in an almost sequential manner. Hopefully you guys enjoy the shots :).

boris4art:

Being Casual at night by Vincentli* on Flickr.

Such a great photo. Good grief do I need to keep shooting to improve my work.

Now that school is out and summer is beginning, I have found that I have had more time to myslef so i’ve been doing more reading. I finally decided to continue and hopefully finish reading The Divine Comedy when I am able to. I was reading it today, and I understand why it is a work that has stood the test of time and I would consider it one of the best reads I have/am done/doing. 

Week 18 - First weekend after exams wasn’t anything crazy. I figured that I might as well go out and shoot more. My friend Sheldon was up for it. The funny thing is that he didn’t know he was the model until we got to the place (sorry Sheldon). But it ended up being a great time, except for the thorns that got stuck in our skin when we went into the bushes. Otherwise it was great. The shot on the left I think is great because I really got to play with the colours in post-processing. And Sheldon looks displeased to the point where the pout seems like it belongs in an Urban Outfitters ad. While the shot on the right was a bit more experimental. Doing it was pretty simple really, I used a longer shutter speed with an ND filter to get that motion (-ish) blur effect. This made the parts of him look like he was trying to phase through an object like The Martian Manhunter or something. It could have been done better but I still think it’s great :). 

Week 17 - Finals are done and i’m done my second year of University :). As a year-end gift to myself, I got this Yashicaflex TLR camera for 60 bucks online, suck a great deal for a functioning vintage camera. This is my first time using a TLR as well as medium format photography. The only difficult I have so far with this camera is the fact that focusing with it is difficult because medium format cameras require such precise, careful focusing. Even when focusing is off slightly, the results are pretty great. The image on the right is a self-portrait taken with a mirror (no duckface, my apologies) and like I said, even when the focus is slightly off, the images are great. So far the images the camera produces are very Lomo/Instagram-esque in a more authentic manner in my opinion. So altogether i’m happy with it and can’t wait to use it for portraits and what ever comes up :).

Retro photography and awesome bands oh my!

Week 16 - Whats up with me and macro lately. Anyway, this is a shot I took when Charlotte and I were having a lovely dinner at the Sugarbowl. It was raining, cold, and everyone wanted to get inside for some good food and drinks. That included us. This photo I think reflects that because Charlotte and I were so happy to just be out of the rain with food and drinks warming us up. The colours of the blurred background really reflects the weather, dark blues and blacks although the sky doesn’t reflect this too much. While the heavy contrast of the beer shows the warmth of the environment we were in. Altogether an interesting day and photo in my opinion.

Week 15 - This is a macro shot I took of some buds growing on some straw in the fields near my house. The Field is quite barren because of the highway development and nothing’s growing because it’s still too cold but I thought that what was there at the moment, this being some of the straw and plants, were quite appealing in and of themselves. In my opinion this shot shows that. As well I love the saturation and coloration of the soft yet bold colours that group and pop out the different ranges of the visible spectrum. This typically happens at sunrise or sunset, in this case, this shot was taken at sunset. Hope you guys like it, feel free to share and comment :).

Week 14 - Here’s a rather weirdly saturated panorama I took on Sunday. It was an interesting experience because I was stressed out for most of the day form studying, and I just had to get outside and shoot. So I though that I should go to the field close to my house and shoot. And quite frankly it was rather soothing and calming. Really worth it :).

Week 13 - These two photos are in my opinion, some of the best i’ve taken so far. These were just candid portraits of Charlotte when Andel, Val, Charlotte and I were at Dewey’s on Friday. I love these photos because they were spontaneous candids that really capture how beautiful she is. I wish all my portraits can turn out like these and better one day through improving my technique work and composition and all that jazz.