If I Were A Rapper

This was taken at about 70 miles per hour (considering my wife's lead foot, that is probably a conservative estimate) through the window of the car.  I wasn't looking through the viewfinder, so it was a total surprise to see the image.  I love the surprise.

Tech Notes:

Holga 120N camera.  Fuji Provia 100F that was cross processed.  Everything processed and scanned by Richard Photo Lab.

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Here are a few images from the church where my wife and I got married 10 years ago.  We went super rustic.  There was no electricity and the was an outhouse.  Even better, our wedding was delayed by hikers who wanted to see the church.  I'll never forget it.

I shot them while we were being photographed to commemorate our 10th anniversary.  

Tech Notes:

Fuji 400H shot with my Mamiya 645AF and 80mm f2.8 lens.  Processed and scanned by Richard Photo Lab.

R & R in PR

This is the first of many posts with images from my recent vacation.  Puerto Rico is amazing.  The landscape is beautiful.  The drivers are... well, interesting.


These are the view of the beach at our condo in Loiza.

This was our view from the park in Arecibo where we ate lunch.  Super Pinchos rocks!

And lastly, the view of Old San Juan after the Bacardi Distillery tour.

Tech Notes:
Color images are Fuji FP-100C and the black and white is Fuji FP-3000B.  All were shot with my Mamiya Universal with 100mm f3.5 lens.

Film Is Not Dead-The T-Shirt (Published!)

I was so excited to see that the picture of me in my Film Is Not Dead t-shirt is featured on Jonathan Canlas' FIND blog.  Many thanks to my super talented wife for taking the shot.  It was only her second time with the Mamiya Universal.

Holga By Richard

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to borrow a Holga from my lab.  It was kinda freeing to take pictures without worrying about the technical aspects.  The Holga has only 2 apertures (f8 and f11) and 1 shutter speed (1/100 second).  The focus is adjustable, but only as a guess.  It can shoot 6x4.5 or 6x6 on 120 film.  The think that makes the Holga beloved/maligned is the light leaks.  I even went so far as to tape up the camera and still got light leaks!  I don't know if I'll buy one (it is only $50), but we'll see.


I didn't get to use it as much as I would have liked, but here are a few of my favorites from Fort Walton Beach before the oil arrived.  

Tech Notes:

Holga 120N camera.  Black and white is Fuji Neopan 400.  Color is Fuji Provia 100F that was cross processed.  Everything processed and scanned by Richard Photo Lab.

Mountain View

The film from Southern For Dahlin is back!  The color really shows the splendor of the spot.  Here are some of my favs.

Tech Notes:

Color images were shot on Fuji 400H with my Mamiya 645AF with 80mm f2.8 lens.  The black and white images were shot on Fuji Neopan 1600 with my Canon A2 with 50mm f1.4 lens.  All images were processed and scanned by Richard Photo Lab.

Sunset Sand

Here are a few images from Valerie and Mark's wedding in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.  More to come when I get back from vacation.


On a side note, I was quite impressed watching Valerie climb the tower in her dress.  AND, Mark was suffering from a kidney stone.  They are an amazing couple.

Tech Notes:

Fuji 800Z (pushed to 1600) shot with a Mamiya 645 AF and 80mm f2.8 lens.  Processed and scanned by Richard Photo Lab.

On Cloud Seven

Wanna shoot film?  Here is a nice (and cheap) combo.

Minolta Hi-Matic 7s and Walgreens

First and foremost, cameras had awesome names in the 60s.  The Hi-Matic sounds like Ron Popeil named it.  The 7s is a 35mm rangefinder with a fixed 45mm f1.8 lens.  It has manual aperture and shutter speed controls as well as a matched needle meter (the only function that requires a battery).  Best of all, it is cheap.  At time of writing, this camera was only $9.99! 

The second part is the processing.  My regular lab (Richard Photo Lab) is very good, but professional quality work is not cheap.  So, for some personal work and test rolls, I use Walgreens.  There is a big difference, but I think it is an amazing value for the price.  Especially when you consider they will do it in one hour.  Normally a roll of 35mm costs $5-$6 (oddly, it has never been the same price twice) for processing and low resolution scanning.  

So, find a camera (preferably with manual controls) and shoot!

Tech Notes:

The shot of the camera was taken with a Fuji Instax 210.  The clouds were taken with the Hi-Matic 7s on VERY expired Fuji X-Tra 800 film.  Processed and scanned by Walgreens.

Upcycled WIN

One of the best parts of shooting film is the ability to easily and cheaply make your own camera.  Pinhole cameras are ridiculously simple and can be made from almost anything.  I've seen paint can cameras, shoebox cameras, and even beautiful wooden cameras.  This is a new one.  Apple makes a great box for the iPhone.  This lady makes it better.  It is not cheap, but it is wonderful in its perfection.

A Child's Touch

My dad buys me cameras at thrift stores.  Most use discontinued film, but occasionally he finds some real gems.  The recent batch was no exception, except...


He found a camera that uses discontinued film AND is a real gem.  The Polaroid 95A Land Camera used Polaroid roll film and was produced from 1954-1957.  The film has been discontinued for more than a decade.  Some convert these cameras to use modern Fuji instant film (probably my choice), but I found this solution for updating the 95A.


I've built quite a few things out of Legos, but I've never used them to convert a camera.  It is amazing what the human mind will dream up.