Posts tagged photography
Last week I went on a road trip with Mike to SXSW. I shot several rolls on the Minolta x-700 I bought at a yard sale a few weeks ago before the camera locked up. The camera breaking was a wonderful addition to the 8 days I spent in my truck. I decided road trips sucked by the time I was 16 and a half, not sure why I keep getting talked into them. On the bright side I’m happy with the film that did turn out, there are some strange vignetting and exposure oddities but those don’t really bother me as much as the fact that I’m pretty sure the camera is now a brick.
Desert Center, CA was a road side stop, an almost abandoned place with a run down diner attached to the other end of the building in this photo and a couple of houses scattered about. The lady at the counter was nice as could be as she rang up our $2.50 fountain pop. I was aware it was a pricey cup of soda but I didn’t care, the sunset was pretty and the gas tanks were rusty.
Since moving to L.A. last October I haven’t done a lot of photography sessions. I’ve had the pleasure of assisting the Bui Brothers on various shoots and the rest of my time has been settling in and handling personal matters.
Mike and I recently bought a Canon 60D and I wanted to test it out and get some shots of someone other than Mike or Xander. My friend Krissi agreed to model for me and I appreciate it more than words. I can say that being in front of the camera is not on the top of her list of fun things to do. We met downtown and then headed to Griffith Park Observatory ( my knowledge of shooting locations is limited, I need to scout more! ) I think Krissi did a great job, she has a wonderful smile!
The 60D performs like I expected. I had plans to upgrade to the 5D Mark II but after much discussion I compromised for the 60D. I can say the image quality is the same as my 50D, it just handles a little clunkier, the controls are awkward and it responds slower than my 50D. I guess it’ll do for now ;)
Portrait by Mike Ambs, taken on our photo adventure at the Old Los Angeles Zoo.
Mike at the abandoned Los Angeles Zoo.
Yesterday was saturday and like so many saturdays my neighborhood was filled with yard sales. I snagged a giant jade plant and a old Minolta x-700 with a bag full of lenses, batteries, filters and adapters! I used my Dad’s old Minolta in college so this is a really exciting find for me. I have a brownie and a holga, they’re fun but I really missed having a 35mm manual slr.
Today Maeby and I woke Mike up with kisses and an offer to head out to the old Los Angeles Zoo at Griffith Park. I wanted to test out my new camera! I had some Kodak 400 film laying around so I loaded that up. We spent most of the afternoon climbing around and taking photos with the Minolta, video with our new Canon 60D as well as our iPhones :P I was feeling really good, super excited about the shots I got. Then, on our way out, I wanted to snap one more pic but needed to change the role of film. I thought I had rewound it, but upon opening the back of the camera I found I had not. Well, about 1/8 had rewound but the film ripped and left most of the roll exposed.
Yeah, it’s been that long….as I was turning the little film rewinder thingy there was a bit of resistance and an odd noise for a turn but then it stopped so I kept on winding. I should have known better but I opened the back anyway and ruined all but two photos.
Hungry and frustrated we retraced our steps to try and re-take a few shots. The light was totally different and some shots we couldn’t even begin to recreate, the majority of the roll I had developed is just us in the Target parking lot.
Despite the loss I’m happy with how the camera works and what shots we did get. I had fun crawling around in abandoned zoo enclosures taking photos and video with Mike. Film is fun.
This shot is probably my favorite. We took Hipstamatic shots of this location too. Mike and I both had a hard time focusing the camera and I think Mike did a good job on this one. Plus all the wet slimy, rusty overgrown awesomeness is awesome.
