Saturday

The Making of a Photo - The Baseball


The last three weeks I have been working towards a series of photographs for an exhibition this coming December at The Empty Space Project in Putnam, Connecticut.


While I have plenty of mobile images to select from, I wanted photographs with a classic and traditional theme that also reflected in the viewer nostalgia. To achieve this, I searched numerous thrift stores trying to locate items that captured my eye and would be of photographic interest.


On a lower shelf, somewhat hidden, I discovered a basket filled with old and mostly useless eating utensils. I felt like I had hit the Mother Load. Their beautiful aged patina, the rust  and other textures which took years to develop, made them also useless, but now, they would be treasured by me. Still the search continued for anything rich in textures and visual interest.


After a little more than seventeen days, two shoe boxes were filled. One with the utensils and the other with numerous old tools like wrenches, screwdrivers, a couple of odd items, and a variety of different sized drill bits, which held special consideration for me. In the end I had assembled a collection of an additional couple dozen of old photographs, a metal teapot, a piece of small machinery, and an autographed baseball.




When working on a series, it is important for me to decide on one camera application and if the app’ comes with a selection of different film and lens combinations, to decide and select one combo and stay with it for the project.



Version One - Lighting Variations, No Post Processing



Notice the lighting differences between this and the next image (MPro)




 (MPro)




Color version (PureShot)




More even lighting (MPro)




Square ratio (MPro)




Sometimes it can take an entire day, as with this photograph, making adjustments to the foam-core reflectors and gobo cards, including anything being hand-held to redirect or block the light. Therefore it took 193 exposures of the baseball photograph, applying different camera applications and their film/lens combinations, including two different image ratios, because the photograph can have different uses other than 1:1 ratio for the exhibit.


The taking of so many exposures is not only pushing ones own creative visual ability in interpreting ‘seeing,’ it is no different then a writer re-working their own work until it is polished.



Further Fine Tuning of the Lighting



Notice the changes on the baseball and background (MPro)




(MPro)




The Table-Top Set






iPhone view using PureShot




iPhone view using MPro




Being able to see the set with all the reflectors, gobos and the iPhone attached to a monopod, which is attached to the tripod, helps one better understand what is involved in obtaining the photograph. Since viewing the exposure on an iPhone can be misleading, the phone is connected to a laptop, this causes the image to be uploaded directly after the exposure is taken by using Apples program ‘Image Capture.’ The laptop also provides continues power, so there is no concern of depleting the battery during the many hours of working on the image.


Sometimes it can take an entire day, as with this photograph, making adjustments to the foam-core reflectors and gobo cards, including anything being hand-held to redirect or block the light. Therefore it took 193 exposures of the baseball photograph, applying different camera applications and their film/lens combinations, including two different image ratios, because the photograph can have different uses other than 1:1 ratio for the exhibit.


The taking of so many exposures is not only pushing ones own creative visual ability in interpreting ‘seeing,’ it is no different then a writer re-working their own work until it is polished.



Alternative Version and Post Process Examples



Original un-edited photograph




Step 1: SnapSeed - Tilt-Shift, Elliptical 




Step 2: SnapSeed - Center Focus, Old Lens




Step 3: SnapSeed - Grunge, no texture added, color change only




Later in the day I shared the photograph with my good friend and neighbor, who likes baseball and has been watching the World Series, responded in a text message, if I would wish to borrow his father’s catchers mitt, including his own Boston Red Socks cap. Even though I felt I had the shot, I said, “Yes” and decided to spend the additional time to start all over and create not only an alternative version, but maybe even achieve a better image.



Preliminary Final Versions









View of the table-top set




Creating a still-life image, especially one with natural northern window light, which is constantly changing, is a challenge. Yet it is just that what provides me with subtle variations between exposures.



NOTEs:
Applications used, MPro, PureShot, and SnapSeed, processed on an iPhone 4S


All photographs taken with an iPhone 4S by
©2014 Egmont van Dyck - All Rights Reserved








Passport to My Neighborhood - Chinatown, Part 2


The last weekend I have published the results of using Hipstamatic Buenos Aires HipstaPak, with Uchitel 20 film and the John S lens during a recent outing to San Francisco’s Chinatown.


The series continues by leaving the streets and entering a narrow alley next to a fish monger and heading to the back of the building, then climbing up the fire escape staircase to access the roof and see the city from another angle.


It is Saturday and it is laundry day. While laundry is not exclusively being done on a Saturday, it certainly is prevalent on that day. Hanging from balconies, fire escapes, and clotheslines that have been stretched across the rooftops, it reflects a routine in lives of the inhabitants.


The story of a trip down Stockton and some of the side streets through the eyes of fifty years ago does not conclude, it only closes a chapter, after capturing the look and feel of the presence and changing it into another time long ago with Hipstamatic Uchitel 20 film.


This certainly will not be my last visit, for I am drawn like a moth to a flame, seeking the opportunity in which I find the unexpected, the hidden moment distilled into a single photograph.




San Francisco Chinatown, Part II
by Egmont van Dyck




Mom and her little girl




Climbing up the back fire escape stairways




Saturday, it must be laundry day




The Pyramid Building




Looking down on Stockton Street




Coit Tower and laundry blowing in the wind




Seeing both sides of the window




Chinese Dumplings




Passage to the hidden




Just another day




Yl Trading Company




Laundry hanging outside the door




Heading home




A cigarette to pass the day



All photographs taken with an iPhone 4S by
©2014 Egmont van Dyck - All Rights Reserved








Passport to My Neighborhood - Chinatown, Part 1


Last weekend I posted the first few preliminary photographs I captured using Hipstamatic Buenos Aires HipstaPak. Wanting to truly test Doris lens with Uchitel 20 film in real world environment, I headed for one of my favorite locations, San Francisco’s Chinatown.


After a few exposures, I elected to replace the Doris lens with John S for more saturation, applying this combination to all photographs featured in this two part series.


Because Uchitel 20 film gives me a nostalgic look and one resembling the 50s and early 60s, I was very careful in choosing my subject matter as I wanted to create the illusion that we were not only back in time but also that the images were from the period this film emulates.


While taking these thirty images, it was also my intention to replicate the usual errors that would appear in pack of prints one picked up at the local drug store or camera shop, like images being out of focus or due to camera movement. In the end, it was also necessary to tell a story.




San Francisco Chinatown, Part I
by Egmont van Dyck




Stockton Tunnel




Exiting Stockton Tunnel and looking back




Father and Son out for a walk




Man selling trinkets 




Untitled




Butcher




Market




Waiting for a friend




What to choose for dinner tonight




Choosing




A familiar and friendly face




Looking in and seeing the outside




Food server




Hawking her wares




Getting caught up in the crowd




Alone among love



San Francisco Chinatown transports me to another land without leaving the country and no matter how often I have been there, I seem to always find something new. For me it is the Chinese people out grocery shopping early in the morning, but I also love the small alleys avoided by most but not by those living there.


Next weekend I will share the remaining fourteen photographs, especially the ones from the rooftop, that give another perspective rarely witnessed by tourists or others not living in the area.



All photographs taken with an iPhone 4S by
©2014 Egmont van Dyck - All Rights Reserved








Wednesday

The Cemetery Project - The Stone Cutter





The Stone Cutter
by Egmont van Dyck


          The years of cutting Roman letters into the marble or granite stone 
          has taken its toll on the artist’s hands,
          Reshaping his fingers that hold the chisel with a firm grip,
          while a hammer guides with precision the chisels mark with each beat
          And gives the words of a poet a voice that will outlast the lives
          of the poet or that of the stone cutter.


          As the great slab of stone rests upon the grave 
          for long as time shall permit,
          And bears witness to changing colors of the seasons and the years, 
          only to wait for a stranger to pass and read the name and words;
          Giving existence to a nameless artist who gave his life,
          so that the dead would not be forgotten.




Photo: Old Pioneer Cemetery, St Helena, California


All photographs taken with an iPhone 4S by
©2014 Egmont van Dyck - All Rights Reserved








Saturday

Buenos Aires HipstaPak - A Return to the Late 50s


First Friday last month came a week early at Hipstamatic with the release of Buenos Aires HipstaPak, featuring one lens and two films.



Polaroids by Diego Uchitel


This release was inspired by Argentinian-born photographer Diego Uchitel and so Hipstamatic named the lens Diego and one of the films Uchitel 20; the other film is Blanko C16.



Polaroid Land Camera, Model 800


After running a short film and lens test, I quickly began to favor the Diego lens with paired Uchitel 20 film over the desaturated and bluish toned Blanco C16 film, when it is paired with the Diego lens.


    

Polaroid Land Camera, Model 800


The next day I took a drive down our back road towards Concord and along the way I stopping off at a few places. With my Hipstamatic camera set to Diego with Uchitel 20, I took a few photographs.



Alhambra Road, Martinez




Datura Stramonium Seed Pod




Dead Coyote 


For me the Uchitel 20 film not only emulates Polaroid prints but also standard prints from the 50s and early 60s that have become damaged through time or storage. Apart from the Polaroid’s developer smudges on the eggshell-cream colored border, there are very subtle nuances that carefully emulate damages of prints sticking together due to humidity. There are also tiny dust particles that have just the right touch without becoming a distraction. Most of all I like the film’s warm tones and softness, all of which makes it very suitable for emulating the late 50s, early 60s look with the right subject matter and achieve a look when one might have been using a Polaroid Land camera or a Kodak Brownie with 120 film.


When one wants to emulate a certain time period, it is important to understand what type of film was mostly used and especially what type of printing paper and chemicals; and how they related to each other and the results they produced.


Authenticity is the key component when aiming for a specific period look. This begins with the subject matter, then the selection of lens and film combination and any post work or filter application later. Ignoring any of these factors produces faulty results and de-tracks from the final photograph.


Uchitel 20 to me is nostalgic, capturing a time in history, when America entered into it’s Golden Age, a post-war prosperity, now long forgotten. When Doo Wop and Rockabilly blasted from jut-boxes at soda fountains; even the widely popular new invention of transistor radios filled the air with Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock.”






Stockton Tunnel


Several days later I was able to try Buenos Aires  HipstaPak under real shooting conditions, when heading to my favorite local, San Francisco’s Chinatown, just past the Stockton Tunnel.


The weather was mostly sunny with scattered clouds and my Hipstamatic camera was set to using Diego with Uchitel 20, but after a number of exposures, I substituted Diego with the John S lens for more saturation and contrast, after viewing the images I took of a man standing on the street corner.



Man Standing on the Street Corner


While I am open to further tests with Uchitel 20 film and with other possible lens combinations, I like the over all results I achieved with my brief visit to San Francisco; capturing a number of good street images, all of which I will share next Saturday.


Uchitel 20 to me is nostalgic, capturing a time in history, when America entered into it’s Golden Age, a post-war prosperity, now long forgotten. When Doo Wop and Rockabilly blasted from jut-boxes at soda fountains; even the widely popular new invention of transistor radios filled the air with Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock.”


I believe that at some point Uchitel 20 will become as popular as the D-Type Plate Film from the Tinto 1884 package. So it will be interesting to see how other mobile photographers will make use of the Buenos Aires HipstaPak and the many other variations that are possible with other lenses or films. 



All photographs taken with an iPhone 4S by
©2014 Egmont van Dyck - All Rights Reserved








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