New York City Noir

New Papers

My first attempt to print on the new papers, as described in my Febuary 18 post, was with the infrared negatives from the photographs I'd taken of Rachael.  Unfortunately, both papers I tried were too slow to be useful in printing the Konica negatives.  Expoure times ranged from 7 to 9 minutes at f4.  Granted that the negatives were somewhat dense, that's still a very long time.  In contrast, exposure times with Flexicon were 110 seconds at f4, a difference of at least two stops.  These results were unusual in that the Slavich Unibrom FB 160 was described by Freestyle as cold toned and the Fotokemika Emaks K-888 FB as neutral toned.  Normally, only warm toned papers require such long exposures.

I did like the look of these papers from what I saw of them and I intend to try working with them again.  But they both seem more suited for straightforward photojournalism and street photography than for fine arts work.  I still want to get prints of the infrared negatives and probably will try next working with liquid emulsion or else making enlarged negatives for platinum prints.

Vanishing New York

The New York Times reported that two NYC landmarks from an earlier, non-gentrified era are about to disappear from Manhattan.  The first is Cafe La Fortuna, famous as the former hangout of John Lennon who, at the time, lived around the corner in The Dakota.  The other is Off Track Betting, or OTB, that throwback to a tougher and more desperate Damon Runyon version of NYC. 

New Enlarging Papers Available at Freestyle

There are so few reasonably priced graded papers available in NYC that it has become a real problem for my photography work.  I've put in an order to Freestyle in Los Angeles to purchase 25-sheet packages (grade 2) of three new papers that they are offering.  All three are reasonably priced at $14.99 per package.

The first is called Slavich Unibrom FB 160, a matte double weight paper made in Russia.   The second is Slavich Bromoportrait 80, another double weight paper, but this one with a "glossy embossed (silk)" finish.  The third is Fotokemika Emaks K-888 FB, a double weight glossy-finish paper.  This one actually seems the most interesting because Freestyle notes that it is the "same as Nuance brand and Cachet Expo RF graded fiber-base photographic papers." 

I should be receiving the papers this week and hope to test them in the darkroom soon.  In the meantime, the links above go to Freestyle product pages where further links can be found to the spec sheets for each paper.  What's encouraging is that I note 100-sheet boxes of these papers have already sold out and are back ordered.

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

I was in Williamsburg (the first stop across the East River on the L train) yesterday.  I was there to meet with an Asian model for my project.  Afterwards, I wandered around the neighborhood to take some location shots. 

Williamsburg is an old warehouse district that became popular with artists who were forced out of Manhattan by rising rents.  In the old days, it was a rundown Irish neighborhood.  Both my father and grandfather were born there.  Unlike Manhattan, there are still a lot of gritty street scenes in Williamsburg, as well as a fun arts scene that's reminiscent of what Soho and the East Village used to be like.  Hopefully, the NYC real estate market will crash before the scene there becomes overly gentrified.

The model I met with was named Anais Sin and was a really cool person -- a conceptual artist who's both Japanese and Brazilian and also works as a burlesque dancer.  She had great style in her clothes -- very downtown -- and a lot of attitude, which is exactly what I'm looking for.  We talked over coffee at a cafe named Fabiano's on Beford Avenue.  Anais was really interested in my project since here in NYC she's had to endure not only hurtful Asian stereotypes, but equally stupid stereotypes that consider all Brazilian women to be nothing but oversexed sluts.  Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth, but that doesn't stop American men from acting like complete idiots.  Anais even told me on one man who, when she politely declined to go to bed with him, quickly offered her money on the assumption that Brazilian women are always ready to whore for a few dollars.  Anais (not a shy woman by any means) told me how forcefully she had set him straight.  I would have loved to have been there to have heard the dressing down she gave him.

Both the photographs in this post were shot several years ago on a Sony Cybershot and were heavily manipulated in Photoshop.

Photo Shoot with Rachael

The above photo was shot on a Nikon 18 - 200 vr lens on a D200 .

I did a fine arts nude shoot with a model from Craigslist named Rachael.  She was very professional and had prior experience as an art model, so the shoot went very quickly.  I thought Rachael's poses were fluid and expressive, and I got some really good b&w photos as well as a few digital.  I would definitely recommend Rachael to any serious photographer looking to do fine arts work.

For the b&w, I shot the discontinued Konica infrared at ISO 32.  I only shot one roll because my supply of the film will soon start running low.

Polaroid Film. Part 2

As a followup to my last post on the discontinuance of Polaroid films, here are two examples of the alternative uses to which those films can be put:

The picture above is an SX-70 manipulation in which the non-hardened emulsion was stressed with a sharp edge.

The above is an image transfer in which the dye from a not fully developed Polaroid negative has been transferred to a piece of moistened watercolor paper.

Polaroid Film to Be Discontinued

Stephen Shankland, on his Underexposed blog on C-Net News, reports that Polaroid film is being discontinued. 

Polaroid, famed for photographic prints that develop within moments, is getting out of the film business.

The company is shutting down two plants in Massachusetts used to make film for professionals and artists this quarter, The Boston Globe reported Friday. A similar plant in Mexico and one in the Netherlands for making consumer film packages will close by the end the year, and the company already has stopped making instant-film cameras, Polaroid said.

The Massachusetts-based company is interested in licensing its film technology to others, but if it doesn't happen, its film will likely run out in 2009. Meanwhile, Polaroid is making a go of selling flat-panel TVs and digital photography.

While this might not seem much of a loss at first -- after all, what is digital if not instant photography? -- there were many creative uses to which Polaroid film could be put.  One such use was image transfer in which Polaroid negatives, not fully developed, are placed face down on watercolor paper so that the dyes in the negative can transfer to the paper to create a painterly image.  Another was SX-70 manipulation in which the non-hardened emulsion on this type of film is rubbed and scratched with steel blades and other tools to create an interesting image. 

Once again, there's a loss for photographers who seek to explore alternative film processes.

Fashion Week: Couture Show

I'm not a commercial photographer, but I did go Friday evening to the Westin Hotel to photo my friend Jasmine at a couture show in the Westin Hotel on 43rd Street. 

Of course, my name did not appear on the guest list, even though Jasmine had requested it.  But I was in luck.  The two women at the registration desk, not knowing what to do, finally said, "Well, if you're a photographer, I guess you should just go in and set up."  Without waiting for them to change their minds, I went into the ballroom and joined the other photographers at the end of the runway. 

The photographer next to me told me she was "totally bitched out" after having shot in a tent for the last week and having had her camera stolen in California.  But she was really very helpful in giving information about ISO settings and what spots on the runway the models would pause long enough to shoot.  (Flash, though not forbidden, is not used because the light can blind a model as she's walking.  ISO's higher than 640 -- I went with 400 -- create too much noise in the digital images.  Accordingly, in order to get a reasonably sharp photo, it's necessary to photo the models while they pause to give the audience a better look at the clothes.)

"You've really never shot one of these shows?" the photographer asked.

"Lady, I've never even been to one of these shows," I answered.

As for the show itself, I thought the European designer showed too many outfits. There were definitely a few great pieces, some of them very sexy, but just as many failures.  I thought of the photographers' old rule of favoring quality over quantity when showing a portfolio.  There was also something too ornate, perhaps the use of flesh colored fabric to cover bare skin, and overdone to be really glamorous. 

Aside from Jasmine, the models were all caucasian blondes and brunettes.  Jasmine later told me many were Russian.  They were all the right height, but some seemed much too wide in the hips to be working runway.

Photo Blog Resources

I recently read a book by Catherine Jamieson entitled Create Your Own Photo Blog.  Jamieson's writing is very readable and well intentioned, and the book has a good layout with many, many quality photo illustrations.  The problem I found with Jamieson's book is that, like so many guides to various areas of the internet, it's really too general to be of any practical use to a professional.  For one thing, it lacks specifics on ways in which to promote one's blog once it's been set up, an essential for any photographer using his blog to help market his work. 

To be fair, Jamieson's target audience seems to be more the hobbyist  or part-time professional.  For these readers Jamieson's book does provide useful guidance to setting up a blog on various venues (which is actually pretty easy to figure out on one's own without having to read a book -- Typepad itself provides several formats for multimedia) and even gives ideas for subjects to photograph. 

I don't know about others, but what puts me off most in Jamieson's book is the emphasis on "community" and "sharing."   It all seems too family-friendly for me.  The same could be said of the photo site Flickr.  For those who simply want to post a "cool" picture and share comments with other hobbyists, Flickr is great.  It also serves a useful function in supplying free online storage for digital files, though I'm not quite sure about size limitations on the images themselves.  (Jamieson's book does go into this area in detail.)  But it does not provide a venue on which professional photographers can directly market their work.  Selling photos from Flickr itself is a violation of the terms of service, at least as I read them. 

In short, I recommend both Jamieson's book and Flickr for those who just want to have fun taking pics (nothing wrong with that at all) and sharing with friends.  Working photographers would do better to purchase Bob Walsh's excellent book Clear Blogging.  This book not only gives specifics about setting up a blog on Typepad and other venues but also gives great deal of specific information on promotion (i.e., getting readers) through the use of Technorati, Digg, Squidoo and many other useful resources.

Kodak Infrared Discontinued

I was at B&H this afternoon and found out that Kodak infrared has been discontinued.  This was the only "true" infrared on the market in the sense that it went much further into the red spectrum than any other available film.  Its disappearance is a definite setback to those fine art photographers still working with traditional methods. 

In discontinuing its infrared, Kodak continues its policy of junking any product that doesn't return a strong profit regardless how many problems the loss causes individual photographers.  While I understand that Kodak is a publicly owned company and has obligations to its shareholders, I'm not sure that the ill will it generates among photographers by failing to care for their needs is worth the slight savings achieved.  Certainly a company that shows no concern for its customers cannot expect any loyalty in return.  At the rate it's going, Kodak will soon be nothing more than a holding company whose earnings will accrue solely from the patents it holds for digital photography.

I purchased two 35-mm rolls of Rollei infrared in place of the Kodak.  The Rollei a high speed film (ISO 400), as was Kodak, but it doesn't go very far into the red spectrum at all.  In this regard, it appears similar to the discontinued Konica infrared.

While at B&H, I also picked up two 100-sheet boxes of Forte variable contrast paper.  I much prefer using graded fiber based papers, but there are almost none in stock anywhere.  With the VC, I will at least have some fibre based paper to print on.  All that I currently have in the darkroom, except expensive quality paper for exhibition prints, is RC paper which always makes photos look as thought they've been printed on plastic.

Another item I purchased was Bergger uncoated rag paper.  I want to experment with this to see if it works well for alterntive processes, particularly Ziatype and cyanotype.