Entries by Klyment Tan

Justin Poulsen and I are assembling a collaborative architectural photography portfolio. With Justin's workflow is based around a Phase One digital medium format back on a Cambo Wide RS and mine is base around the Toyo VX125 and an Aztec/Howtek drumscanner together we can offer both digital and large format film capture in Edmonton, Calgary, and easily throughout Western Canada. Here is a preview of the portfolio to come. Each spread will be 11 x 34".

I admit that I am embarrassed that it has taken me until the eve of next season's Kingsway Mall campaign photoshoot to share photos and notes from last season's photography. I delayed posting not because I wasn't eager to show you the work we produced and the process through which the images were created but because I was very happy with the images Kingsway Mall and their advertising agency, TAG Advertising of Calgary, AB selected for ads and for the Kingsway Mall website. The shoot felt much like what the reunion of an old band may have felt like; West Edmonton Mall alumnus John Chwyl as Kingsway's marketing director, Nikolas Syhatheb and his team for hair and makeup, and Corey Thompson as photographic assistant/co-photographer/human boom stand. But much had also changed. I looked through TAG Advertising's portfolio and company with a diverse and illustrious past and with enormous potential. Many of the works, while done for mostly small and medium-sized businesses, were very original and brilliant both in concept, execution, and delivery yet also pockmarked with work that I couldn't understand. I often experience this response when looking at the work of many of the ad agencies that I have admired and would appreciate an opportunity to work with again in the future. For weeks we planned this shoot and for weeks I could barely contain my eagerness to work with this new (for me) art director.

I was apprehensive about the concept at first; the concept called for images shot with mostly out of focus/blown out backgrounds that would later be gradient-toned with some blues and integrated with Kingsway Mall branding materials. But I had faith in the concept and art direction and as the two days of shooting unfolded I wasn't just relieved but pleasantly surprised that my initial apprehension was totally unfounded. The two days produced some of the most free-flowing shooting situations that I've had the chance to work with in commercial fashion photography. John insisted that Patricia be one of our models for this shoot and I wouldn't object to another opportunity to shoot with her (even if I dared!). Katherine and Sean are represented by Sabrina Notte and her agency Deja Vu Modeling International out of Red Deer. Vicki is a model you've seen before in my portfolio and my blog and is currently unrepresented. Liv is a new model and Tom Jablonski is a friend and the Shoe Guru. We used Corey's 72x72" Scrim Jim and 1stop black screens or the white/silver reflector fabric as the only light modifier for the two days. Virtually all photos were shot with the Nikon D3 and the 135mm F/2 Defocus Control Nikkor and processed in Adobe Lightroom 3. Katherine is currently modeling in India and Oman under Inega model management. And a huge thank you again to the awesome people at the Alberta Aviation Museum for hosting us at the hangar.

I've worked extensively with Vicki over the past five or six years and created several pieces that I felt were photographic portfolio worthy. However, I feel that this may be the one shoot in which Vicki has looked her best.

A selection from Sean's first set of the day. Scrimjim silver reflector used to fill in some of the shadows on the forklift in the background.

Liv's last look of her first full shoot day ever.

I thought Tom had a cool look from the first time I shot him for his own company's promotional materials.

My favourite shot of Katherine to date.

Some of Patricia's photos that were never used. A small cross section of a 100+ image flow of hotness.

The concept mockups that got me a bit worried at first.

It's through your loss that I live with mine. I never got to know you and I am guilty for only wishing to know better those who loved you and survived you but I believe I felt what made you special during our brief meetings. Jostein may have the worst luck of anyone that I know but he was so fortunate to have found you. He would have spent the rest of his life with you but at least he got a chance to be a part of the last of yours. As a photographer I feel extremely privileged to be the one to take your last formal portraits with all of us knowing your fate and that you would inevitably lose your fight. I look through your photographs and see a woman who knew she had lived a life full of accomplishments but that she still had much more to give. Why did it have to be this way?

Good bye.

Between a half hour in a coffee shop and a few short trips on trains I thought I had constructed what I was going to write for this shoot. However, after learning what I just learned from my art director I can't publish most of that! I'm posting the same images and with similar captions but it'll be more a discussion about the technical aspects of the shoot than about my interaction with art direction and client.

Ania Smith of Axial 3D was our art director. This shoot was partially a promotional shoot for Crowne Plaza Chateau Lacombe showcasing some of the new renovations and breathing new life into their existing photographic advertising but it was also partially a personal project for Kevyn, the hotel's new owner. The challenge was that the hotel had not yet been fully renovated so we had to be imaginative. We wanted to create something that wasn't purely architecture-oriented because we needed to give a sense of the spaces within the building without explicitly documenting certain details about the spaces that were destined for change. Models became very important to help us achieve this goal and it was also important to shoot with a camera chassis and a format that would allow for a high degree of adjustment latitude and selective focus and do so without negatively impacting reproduction size or giving photos the "small camera tilt-shift look" often associated with using tilt-shift lenses on digital SLRs. For this reason the project was shot almost exclusively on 4x5 films with the (jade green) Toyo VX125. This would also be my first project on which I'd use colour temperature adjustable LED lights in the form of ARRI Locasters as the primary photographer-controlled light sources. Most original film rebate is intact and film types range from Portra 160NC to Ilford HP5+ to Kodak EPY 64T. Colour films were all chemically processed by ABC Photocolour in Vancouver and I drum-scanned them in my studio on an Aztek DPL-driven Howtek Scanmaster 4500. Ilford HP5+ push processed to ISO 1600 in house in Kodak XTOL at stock strength.

Hair, makeup, and styling by Nikolas. Photos shot with a lot of help from Corey Thompson. And special thanks to Kevyn and his assistant, and the hotel's staff for being very accommodating and for being great hosts. Book a room in this hotel; you won't be disappointed. And thank you to Yura of 350 Designs for introducing me to Ania a few years ago.

A shot in Crowne Plaza's largest ballroom. I think just about every wedding photographer in the city has shot in this ballroom at some point so it was important to try to take the focus away from the room itself and to create a new focal point. I sense that some of the decor in this room is about to change. Kodak EPY is a discontinued ASA 64 tungsten balanced slide film. I bought a 50pack when I was in Detroit and motorcycled it back this past summer. Shot with the Schneider Super-Angulon XL 72mm. Very modest rim and fill light provided by ARRI Locasters tuned to 2800K undiffused. Using colour temperature adjustable LEDs allowed for setup, colour match, shoot, and teardown faster than we could normally setup and colour match our lights for situations like these.

Originally, I wanted to have a half naked woman in the foreground of this photo and with underwear and clothes scattered across the bed and the floor as kind of a fun option but my requests were denied. Anyhow, I'm still happy with the photo . . . I wanted to deviate from the usual hotel room photos showing off perfectly-made beds devoid of any signs of occupation by people and give it more of a life style feel. Shot with the Schneider 72mm Super-Angulon XL wide open with a bit of swing and rise movement for selective focus and to prevent wall lines from converging.

Another option for a bedroom shot. Also shot with the Schneider 72mm XL.

Shooting only with continuous light and shooting with a 4x5 (or larger) ground glass allows for very easy composition of more static frames. The added flexibility of full movements in a monorail camera allow the photographer to add a unique flavour of dynamism and exotic lens rendition to an otherwise more posed photograph. We used a single ARRI Locaster set to 6500K with a diffusion gel clipped to the barn doors to light the foreground for this shot.

We moved to Portra 400NC for the photos shot in Laronde because of how many people were involved and because we wanted people to be animated while in their seats. Even at ISO 400 (rated to 320) we were getting about 1/30s at F/11 and even with a bit of fill by ceiling bounced ARRI Locaster as we were metering for the foreground. Background spot metered at about 10 stops brighter than the foreground but what was really interesting is that in spite of all of the the criticism we've seen about film's narrow latitude, this was the first photo that I had to edit to significantly increase contrast and throw away highlight detail to make it look realistic. Caltar-II S 135mm F/5.6. Film loaded in 6 frame Graphmatic film backs.

One of the few photos shot on the D3. I resorted to using a dSLR because we needed to shoot at higher sensitivities which was one area that colour film suffers. This particular shot was done at ISO 800 and at F/2.8 with a 1/10s shutter speed.

This was the last shot of the day and the one I found the most challenging. The lobby is a large space to fill and with flat, uncontrolled, and mixed lighting which is why I opted to shoot a black and white film. Admittedly, I struggled to position people in a believable manner and I am not sure if I achieved this. And (I never thought I'd be able to say this with a straight face!) we may have too many female models!

All in a day's work: instant proofs from each of the 4x5-oriented scenes.

I haven't felt so unprepared since I started shooting as I felt for today's session. It wasn't because the expectations were unreasonably high for this shoot since it is a conservative editorial disguised as a fashion shoot. It isn't because I was attempting to displace a high profile photographer since I wasn't displacing anyone. And it isn't because the art director threw in a location that likely won't have AC power and to keep things interesting I chose to work only with continuous light sources. I felt mentally unprepared. I felt as though I was being constrained by this publication with limitations I don't even encounter in commercial photography on a budget of about 25% of what I typically command for this amount of effort for a commercial shoot. However, when I saw the published piece, in spite feelings of uneasy apprehension as I handed over the full resolution versions of the files Rodrigo requested, I am thoroughly pleased and even impressed by the final product. The January 2011 issue of Avenue Magazine Edmonton featured the first cover that I have shot that I was completely happy with and I feel that Rodrigo López Orozco, supported by Anders Knudsen, creative director of Avenue Calgary,
is whom is most deserving of the credit for this cover . . . aside from our model, designer, and stylist, Natasha Lazarovic and our makeup artist, Hailey Ginn. I'd also like to thank Adam Goudreau, my co-photographer for the shoot, for setting up while I ran back to the studio to grab a few items and for allowing our shoot to flow smoothly. And thank you to Carla Alexander and her staff at MRKT. And as always, thank you to Curtis Comeau for repeatedly recommending me to Avenue. Because of you I've had the privilege of working with my third Avenue art director.

All photos taken with the Nikon D3 through either the 135mm F/2 Defocus Control Nikkor, 24-70/2.8 AF-S Nikkor, or the 70-200/2.8 VR I at sensitivities ranging from ISO 800 to 3200.

Web-res of the January 2011 cover of Avenue Magazine Edmonton as borrowed from Avenue's website.

I just noticed that this image was reversed for design reasons. Maybe that's why Jonathan couldn't recognize her even though they were high school chums. Illuminated with an ARRI Locaster color adjustable LED fixture set at 6500K for the background and with an ARRI Locaster with diffusion gel clipped onto the barn doors for the foreground at 2800K. White balance set in Adobe Lightroom 3.x to 2800K. My only non-essential edits were the removal of some arm freckles. =P

One of my favourites of this part of the shoot.

An all existing light shot that didn't make it past the first round of selections.

This image was lit with two ARRI Locasters to the left of the frame, one above the other and about five feet away. Both lights were set to the same colour temperature. If this photo were to have been published I would have smoothed out the edge of the nose shadow. Working with smaller light sources it's important to properly centre the light over the face axis if a photographer needed a shot to be usable right out of camera without a displeasing nose shadow.

We spent the most time on this set of images both in shooting and in setting up. It's Natasha's brand new "Soviet Russia" piece and, at least at the time this was taken, no one has had a chance to photograph it yet. We used three tunsten Dedolight 100W Fresnel fixtures all set within about a stop apart and on the same C-stand. The lights were used unmodifed to provide separation lighting for Natasha's body and for her head piece. Two ARRI Locasters set up one above the other camera right provided the key light with the higher light softened with a diffusion gel clipped to the barn doors.

Literally our first shot after moving the lights. Diffused ARRI Locaster camera right and dimmed ARRI Locaster set at same colour temperature for rim camera left.

Natasha making Rodrigo feel uneasy holding all of the repurposed little animals. Locasters in the foreground. Leica M7, 35/2 Zeiss ZM Biogon, Delta 400 pushed to 1600 in Kodak XTOL and scanned with the Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED.

From left, [ridiculously skinny] Adam, Rodrigo, and Hailey. Very small crew this time.

Shortly after leaving Cinec in Munich, Germany, I had the opportunity to check out some goodies primarily targeting still photographers at Photokina. Some of the highlights include a ball-based alternative to geared tripod heads by Arca Swiss and Manfrotto, Priolite's battery-integrated monolights, the Panasonic DMC-GH2, Brightcast LED lighting, a discussion with Elinchrom's Vice President and head of Swiss and UK distribution Christopher Whittle about Elinchrom's product development philosophy, the upcoming Elinchrom Skyport iPhone app, and some of the company's new products, Michael Hejtmanek, president of Bron Imaging Group, and his discussion of Broncolor's new entry-level pack and head system, the Broncolor Senso, a walk through of Dedolight's product line and a look at some new things with Profoto.

Broncolor Senso

NEC Spectraview PA271 (Spectraview LCD2690WUxi replacement . . . sort of)

Brightcast LED lighting for cinematography and live performance

KPS Design's "geared" tripod ball head

Lots more on my YouTube channel.

At approximately 7pm on September 26^th I attempt to book a train trip from Köln to Frankfurt for the 27^th at 6pm. Deutsche Bahn’s website returns an error informing me that my desired itinerary occurs in the past. “The past?” I inquired unto myself and I sat there pondering this software glitch over a Baileys latte at Brownies off Friesenplatz, confident that it would work itself out. And the problem did work itself out – I finally realized that I had failed to advance my watch a day as we crossed the International Date Line on my flight over from Edmonton. It was 7pm on the 27^th when I had attempted my booking. But I still had one thing left to do during this visit. I rush off.

About fifteen minutes and one transfer later I find myself at the Nippes station platform. The air is misty and the streets are deserted. Unlike much of Köln, this area’s population density and commercial density seems very low with large parking lots around sleepy-looking but modern warehouses. I see only a handful of pedestrians some of whom shoot me an occasional nervous glance. So far, everything seemed as I had expected.

There is one road roughly parallel to the direction of train travel but this road angles slightly after a few metres. I am sheepish to admit that I instinctively headed the right way to my planned destination without having to ask a local for directions. I come across a sign board on a bicycle rack pointing me towards a casino. Everything I saw seemed to point me to where I wanted to go. It would be only a few steps before I see the blue, twelve storey building towering over the much smaller surrounding structures. Pascha, Cologne, is the largest brothel in Europe and is licensed by the city and was built on government-owned land. Upon entering, guests are asked to pay a 5euro entry fee that is good for twenty four hours and includes all non-alcoholic beverages and some snacks. If a patron were to choose to leave the premise with the intention to return later, the doorman will offer to stamp your hand (with a star, in my case) so that you may avoid having to pay the entry fee again. In the same building but behind a semi-separate entrance, there is a strip club with similar rules to those in most of North America. But I have seen a strip club before. I was here to experience the brothel. And though I wasn’t here to experience it how most men choose to experience it, I believed that walking the floors would ensure that I not be denied one of life’s greatest and most taboo experiences.

I visited all of the floors except for the floors reserved for transsexuals and I also didn’t visit the club-style brothel at the top floor. Many beautiful women sat outside their rooms or within their rooms with their doors open, casually displaying themselves to those who may peer in. I spoke with a few of these women. Amongst them were a Hungarian, an Italian, a Pole, and a Chilean. But on the fifth floor I happened to glance into a room and could not walk away. A young Brazilian enthusiastically leapt to her feet to greet me at the door and to invite me in. She was short, no more than 5’4” or about 160cm and her command of spoken English was barely functional. It would take me almost two minutes to explain my intentions and another two minutes before we could agree to working terms.

I photographed Nora for about a half hour during which I shot almost two rolls of Ilford Delta 400 through the Leica M7 and the Zeiss Biogon 35mm F/2. Back in Edmonton I would push the film to ISO 1600 in Kodak Xtol at its stock concentration.  Before leaving I pay Nora fifty euros. I left her room feeling somewhat traumatized while toying with the idea that I had just paid for the services of a prostitute. But I also had to think about what was she to me? What had I just paid for? Was she a prostitute or a model whom I directed as I would have directed any other model on the same set and with the same concept? The process and the end result were much more gratifying that I imagined her regular service would have been . . . though I was certainly curious.

Leaving the brothel and telling Leanna all about my experience was sort of a proud moment for me. Being able to honestly recount the events of the night to the most important woman in my life (other than my mother) with the knowledge that many other men making such a revelation to their respective significant others would have provoked wrath and scorn served to reaffirm that Leanna is the coolest girlfriend ever. And for the record, I sent Jonathan Puckrin this series of images first. I felt that he would be my one friend who would likely appreciate this set the most. I feel badly that I had done this shoot at the time that I did and wish that the photos didn't find him during such an unfortunate time.

In the past year I've been able to selectively squelch my inner control freak and accept existing light as it is, modifying it only when necessary. For the film fanatics that read this, it has nothing to do with the fact that I am shooting more film but because I try to shoot and travel lighter I'm needing to improvise more and make up for what I lack in light control with spontaneity and stronger compositions.

Most of the light in my model's room came from string lights around the bed, around the mirror, and interwoven with the translucent fabrics attached to her ceiling.

The mirror added some complexity to the photos but also made some angles unshootable without getting myself in them especially with such a small room. I had to make compromises. Shooting with a lens that wasn't wide enough added to the challenge that made the shoot more enjoyable for me.

This was one shot in which I half-wished there was no cut off but am cool with its composition as it is. My biggest fear was for motion blur holding the camera at arm's length and shooting at shutter speeds slower than 1/8th of a second. The heft of the M7 helped dampen some of the hand shake.

Some of my model's artefacts added to the realism and authenticity of our set.

This shoot inspired a new level of appreciation for the benefits of Xtol especially with designer films like Delta, Tmax, and Acros. I believe much of this shadow detail would have been lost had I developed in something like D-76 or HC-110 or even Ilfosol S or 3. And to top it off, Xtol is free of the more toxic components commonly found in other developers; it's primarily an ascorbic acid (vitamin C) developer. I even keep its working solution in an old Tropicana orange juice bottle in my studio.

I wished that my subject spoke more English. I wanted to know more about how this room had come to look like this and how long she had been working here.

This shoot offered one of the rare instances where I could meter off a model's chest to get my desired exposure values. Furthermore, having shot the M7 for some time and shooting with the Biogon 35/2 for even longer I was often able to focus in the centre, guess and adjust slightly, and shoot without having to focus and recompose from another part of the scene.

And just for Justin Poulsen, I believe my subject had a foam mattress but I did not confirm whether or not the foam was of the memory variety.

Today we completed a Contessa entry we started over one year ago.

I never thought that we'd take this long to complete a Contessa entry. Or that we wouldn't qualify as finalists. But I have nothing to regret. This project has offered me an opportunity to work with people with whom I'd like to work again and it has also given me a rare opportunity to work with my own mini-supermodel with full hair, makeup, and styling support by the best MUA and hairstylist that I know. To Nikolas, I never take for granted the times you've chosen me to be your photographer for your personal projects. You're regularly booked by Edmonton's top photographers to work on some of the most coveted and closely held contracts we get to see in this market and I know that any of us would be just as honoured to have this privilege. To our models from this shoot and our shoot at the same location in 2009, I doubt you fully realize how easy you have made it for just about any other photographer to have picked up the same camera and created something beautiful with you in front of the lens. And to the person who owns this abandoned property north of Bon Accord, I need to meet you! In the meantime, I'll just thank Jason Hafso for sharing this location with me.

That's kind of a strange place on you to put bug repellent, Leanna.

Leanna helping Michelle with bug repellent while Nikolas does some touch ups.

Leanna receiving some touch ups of her own.

Not every photo is a winner but every shot is important. First photo lit with a tiny Norman 200B battery system and head shot through the diffuser of a 5-in-1 reflector as held by Nikolas. I wanted to keep the look consistent as with the previous year's shots so we went back to existing light.

The image Nikolas selected of Leanna's set for the final entry. I still remember Leanna being so upset with herself and with me because she thought that she did so badly that I gave up after under fifteen minutes of shooting. The selected image was the second shot after I changed camera angles and location slightly. Nikon D3 with the 135 F/2 Defocus Control Nikkor at ISO 100, 1/1600s, F/2.

Michelle catches me sneaking a shot of her from within the grass. I first saw Michelle on a motion picture set five years ago not long after I started shooting. This would be the first opportunity that I have to work with her and hopefully won't be our last.

It would be just seven minutes before we create the image that Nikolas selects for submission.

Same settings as with the other images but at 1/2500s. This was one of Nikolas' night looks for his submission. But we were shooting during the day and I was kind of lazy with lighting and tried to "nightify" the shot by improvising with some of the burnt remnants of one of the buildings on the abandoned site.

I had some time to expose a few 4x5's. All 4x5's shot on Portra 160NC with a jade green Toyo VX125, 135mm F/5.6 Schneider Symmar-S/Calumet Caltar-S at F/5.6. Exposure time was approximately 1/250s for the two shots with both subjects. Rear rise and front swing applied to maintain perspective and get both models in focus.

All 4x5's scanned with the Howtek Scanmaster 4500 driven by Aztec Digital Photo Lab Pro attached to my little tethering workstation. Some fine tuning of colour done in Photoshop CS4.

The sun came out and made this photo a bit more daytime-looking than I would have liked for Michelle's wardrobe and makeup. I hadn't thought of that when I was shooting but I'll remember for next time. It also looks as though I have some sheets of old 160NC and new 160NC mixed together. Look at the edges of the film!

Donna Zazulak of Zazulak Marketing & Communications Inc. requested that I document Pure Pride Edmonton as produced by her and Greg Burns. I invited Corey along. The little Albertan homophobe in me was a bit apprehensive at first but I am glad that I accepted Donna's offer. Even though I am not a member of the target audience of this event, even as a regular attendee and not as a photographer I would have enjoyed the entertainment, atmosphere, and lighting. Oh yeah, lighting and sound by Axe Music. Below are two shots of the setup taken before an evening where my ass was slapped no less than five times.

Shot on Kodak Portra 160 NC with a jade green Toyo VX125 and the Schneider 72mm F/5.6 Super-Angulon XL at F16 and 10s exposure time. I think it's first generation Portra 160NC . . . most of my other film has version number markings next to the film type. Light is unfiltered since most of the light is designed around white LED equipment.

Both images were scanned with a Howtek Scanmaster 4500 driven by Aztek's Digital Photo Lab Professional software. Film mounted in Kami mounting fluid sealed within an optical mylar sheet. All colour corrections were done in the scanning software yielding what I believe is a mathematically flawless tone curve in the original scan file.

During a month of shooting mostly commercial architectural interiors and events, Paige Weir's request for me to shoot Karyn Decore, president of Decore Hotels, for Avenue Magazine Edmonton's Style Q&A feature for June was a welcomed invitation. A bit of research revealed that our subject-to-be was also very attractive and in excellent physical condition . . . I was excited. We discussed locations and toyed with the idea of shooting at one of the Edmonton celebrity's hotels without making it look like we shot out of town and while I sense that there was a realistic possibility that we could shoot outside of Edmonton considering that Karyn was actually in Banff when we began discussing the shoot, certain scheduling and support staff elements made it much more desirable for the team as a whole to shoot in Edmonton.

Fortunately, Paige has hookups. Years ago, I shot my first billboard for Derk's Formals in the Red Strap Market space just east of the Edmonton provincial court house. Since then, architect Gene Dub had purchased the building and it had become more difficult to book time in the space to shoot but Paige made the arrangement and, once again, I was in the space where I did my first shoot for my first commercial fashion client. I did a building walk through with an interesting and eccentric Austrian gentleman who works for Gene and we spoke briefly. Some things about the building have changed but, for what we needed the building for, much has remained the same. I walked through the ghostly floors observing the windows which had now been plastic-wrapped over to help reduce energy loss. Some floors had a dense layer of fine dust that was largely undisturbed and may have collected over several months or even years. The space had become more beautiful and more characteristic with unoccupation.

Below are some photos I shot during the walkthrough taken with the Leica M7 and the Zeiss Biogon 35mm F/2 on Fuji NPZ. 

On the third floor. For the Derk's shoot we used this floor only for photos after dark because it didn't have enough light for what we needed to do with it. However, this floor and the broken ladder became the setting for my favourite photos from our shoot with Karyn Decore.

Under previous management we weren't allowed to use the top floor because of the exposed insulation but this time no one stopped us from using this spot. Shooting in the other direction, Craig Hobbs, co-shooter on this shoot, created what would become the cover for Avenue Magazine Edmonton's June issue.

We used these west-facing windows as primary lighting for the Derk's billboard. We shot Karyn with lens axis perpendicular to this wall and directly adjacent the south wall for the portrait-oriented full length.

Craig selected this area to shoot Karyn in piece from Edmonton designer Natasha Lazarowich's line Temna Fialka. The white wall parallel to the windows affords a photographer a lot of working room with generous fill light which we sought out to complement Karyn's dark hair and high cheekbones.

Having Craig on set gave art direction and I the confidence to shoot exclusively 4x5 film while Craig shot his D3. In fact, more of his shots ended up being published. Below, all photos shot with existing light on Portra 160NC with the jade green Toyo VX125 and either the Schneider Symmar-S 210mm F/5.6 or the Schneider Symmar-S 135mm F/5.6. Film processed by ABC Photocolour in Vancouver and wet-mount drum scanned in house on the Howtek Scanmaster 4500 driven by Aztek's Digital Photo Lab Professional software suite.

Craig's shot with similar pose and same location ended up on the cover. Depth of field at F/5.6 even on the 135mm lens was very shallow and with the slightest bit of subject movement the subject's face became slightly out of focus. The cover would require a the image to be cropped to about 1/5th of its original area. That said, due to the low levels of enlargement required to get even an aggressive crop of a 4x5 shot to full page size, the softness was not visible at final enlargement size, matching the sharpness of Avenue Edmonton's May cover shot by Bleacher and Everard, the American photographers that Avenue contracts for their US Style Q&A features. Shutter speed was approximately 1/8th of a second.

A full length published with approximately 1:1 enlargement for the story.

My favourite shot from the shoot. Fortunately it made it to print but at reduced size. Subtle front tilt, swing, and fall applied. I had forgotten to tap the film holder to ensure that the film was sitting square but there was enough cropping room left to correct for the rotation. I didn't fully correct the rotation here because Karyn's posture and the ladder's position seemed more natural with this much rotation even though the straight lines of the space emphasize the residual rotation.

Karyn was a lot of fun to work with being very patient and charismatic with lively eyes and she pulled off many outfits that most women don't have the physique to make work. Her support team consisting of her hairstylist (sorry, I don't recall her name), makeup artist, Bonnie Paxton, her stylist/stand-in/modeling coach Kendall (a former international model) and designer Natasha Lazarowich helped move the shoot along smoothly and made all of the looks very polished.

In the extended body of this entry you'll find some behind the scenes shots taken with the Leica M7, Zeiss Biogon 35mm F/2 on Delta 400 pushed to 1600 in Kodak Xtol in stock concentration.

My parents have two sons. One is a son that no typical oriental parents would ever want. Being a photographer, large format digital print maker, and an entrepreneur he is, by definition, a professional artist without a steady income. He completed a four year business degree program in a school that in 2001 ranked below a school that doesn't even have a business program in the business school section of Maclean's Magazine's annual post secondary institution rankings. He felt it was a waste of almost a fifth of is life upon barely graduating in 2005. When many graduates can joke that all they are leaving with is this piece of paper worth about $20,000 and four years of intensive study, this son has actually managed to lose this piece of paper. They constantly worry about this son not eating properly because he is the only member of the family with clearly visible ribs and protruding hip bones. He alienates people with a ruthless and non-sympathetic attitude valuing only results and never rewarding for fruitless but noble efforts. The other son is who many Asian parents would not only be pleased to have as a son but would eagerly and proudly tell other Asian parents about. He completed his co-op chemical engineering degree from one of the most revered universities for this field, has maintained outstanding academic scores, participated in structured extra curricular activities, is a crowd-charmer, just returned from a research placement in Norway studying carbon recapture and will likely lead a respectable and stable career in something related to his degree. He makes friends easily and is well-liked. On top of all of this, this son works out and is in excellent physical condition.

My brother, the son that many Asian parents would dream of having, leaves for what could be over half a year on a dual sport motorcycle to South America. I know that my mother is very worried for my brother's safety because of all of the accidents she has seen on the news in North America and some truly horrific incidences involving single track motor vehicles back in Malaysia. But I told my mom not to worry; I have instructed my brother that in case of a serious and crippling accident, make sure he dies instead. And since I have refrained from motorcycling for the past few years due to heavy construction on many of the roadways that I normally use, she only stands to lose one son to a motorcycle accident. I guess the math makes sense but I hope that they both know that I am just kidding.

He checks in whenever there is internet access and a chance to Skype back home. It helps keep our mother's worries under control. You can follow his journey on his new blog. I'm sure it'd be cool if you wanted to contact him to say hello but if there is a message you'd prefer for me to pass to him or you'd like to be informed right away of the latest patch of pavement or piece of debris he collides just ask. His blog may have a posting delay since our mother has finally started checking it.

I took a few photos of him before he geared up and left with his friend Jan. At time of writing, Glendon is in Mexico and I believe Jan is returning to Canada to begin his medical residence. If you read this, Glendon, understand that most of the aforementioned is written in jest. It isn't just mom and dad that are proud of you; I am very proud of having you as a brother and I am envious that you are taking this trip. I don't worry for you but still hope that you return safely.

As unbelievable as it may look, this really is his bike and he really does have a Class 6 license.

All shot on Fuji NPZ in the Leica M7 and with the 35/2 and pushed from the rated ISO 800 to about ISO 1600 or so. I had shot some other content on this roll thinking it was Delta 400 that I frequently push to ISO 1600 so everything was exposed for ISO 1600.

Jan is an experienced rider and I think the whole family is glad that he was traveling with Glendon.

The last frame I shoot of my brother for who knows how long. I hope you have a great trip.

. . . for wedding photography. Or so I thought until I received two rolls of Fuji Astia 100 non-F back from my pro lab of choice, ABC Photocolour, after Dong Kim and I shot a wedding for a black couple (with mostly black wedding party) a couple Saturdays ago. I don't usually blog wedding photos nor do I advertise myself as a wedding photographer but I feel that I need to share these images with a larger audience because I regularly express my feelings of aversion towards positive film for existing light photography because of its narrower exposure latitude, lower maximum speeds available, and inconvenience since the closest good lab being in Vancouver. Up until recently, I would shoot almost exclusively Fuji NPZ/Pro-Z ISO 800 negative print film rating it at ISO 640 and Ilford HP5+ or Delta 400 at anywhere from ISO 100 to 3200 and processed in Kodak HC-110 or Kodak XTOL. I would then shoot formal portrait photos on a dSLR like the Nikon D300 or D3 because of the flexibility of shooting at a low base ISO, higher maximum shutter speed than my Leica M7 or Zeiss Ikon, and the often superior colour output with satisfactory black and white conversions. These two rolls of Astia 100 make film rangefinder photography outdoors for formal wedding portraiture totally feasible with my shooting style. Positive frame borders deliberately retained when scanning with the Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED. All but the first frame selected from a roll of thirty eight exposures.

And a huge thank you to Yvette and Alvin for selecting Dong and I as your photographers. I couldn't have hope for a better start to the wedding season. The baring of unfiltered emotions, the love shared by all of the wedding party and guests which have been cultivated, in some cases, for a period longer than I have been alive, the dozen high school aged female total strangers that you allowed to join your dance, and even the hour and a half of beautifully composed, delivered, and thoroughly entertaining toasts during the reception made shooting this wedding one of the most fun wedding shooting experiences I have ever had.

I shot this image last of the set being posted but it makes more sense to see this image first. It just happened that we shot the formal photos before the wedding ceremony. Shot with the Leica M7 at 1/1000s and F/2 through the Zeiss Biogon ZM 35mm F/2. It's also important to note that all of my M-mount equipment is in chrome/silver colour because the colour of the camera equipment has a huge impact on the images it creates.

One of the few shots with "real" wind blowing Yvette's veil. Leica 90mm F/2.8 Elmarit, first generation in chrome.

In retrospect, the photographic challenges imposed by very dark-skinned person in very white clothing without artificial light control in a slightly backlit scene should have turned any more risk-averse photographer away as inexperienced as I from trying film technology which is known to have less exposure latitude than professional negative films and modern professional digital still capture devices on a production shoot but I am glad that I took the risk. Zeiss Biogon 35mm F/2 @ F/2 and 1/1000s. Strangely, the bride's face turned out noticeably darker than the rest of her exposed skin. In the final deliverable photos I will likely lighten her face to be a bit more consistent with the rest of her body.

Alvin had an irremovable grin on his face the entire day. I struggled with it at first as I tried to create more dramatic and serious photos but as a photographer trying to take a contemporary approach to wedding photography I think it is more important to act as channel for the day's emotions than to try to create something untrue; Alvin really is the happiest groom that I have ever seen.

The problem with having only one roll of film loaded at a time is that you are stuck using whatever film you have loaded even when the situation changes. I originally wanted to shoot some HP5+ and let it overexpose a little by using it at rated speed and then processing in Ilfosol S as part of the non-formal coverage of the formal portrait session to allow for some noticeable grain structure but I had a few frames of Astia left loaded in the camera so that's what I used. Same settings as previous frame. I noticed that Astia 100's anti-halation measures may be weaker than with other films thus resulting in more "glow". The glow is further amplified by the dirt on my lenses that I refuse to clean off.

The graduating high school classes and the handful of other photographers with wedding parties at the Alberta Legislature were very co-operative keeping out of our field of views and giving us time to work. Which is good or else the bridesmaids were ready to muscle us through the crowds and maintain a perimeter. Still, I think someone's elbow is just into the frame near the bottom right edge. Leica M7, Elmarit 90mm F/2.8 first generation M-mount.

It was about time to leave the formals location when we realized that we needed some shots of just the couple. I haven't seen Dong's shots yet but he has some more dynamic arrangements. That said, a bench in the Lois Hole Garden east of the main building gave us what we needed to change up the terrain a bit.

Hahah . . . awesome.

Ethan posted this in a forum considered by many of its users as one of the few places on the internet where you can get honest feedback to photographic work. He posted the link with the ironic text "[o]h man, this app is going to streamline my life." flojuggler is a website that allows you to track the menstrual cycles of up to ten women at time of posting. The creator has an FAQ with some creative applications for this website. Anyhow, why Ethan's comment is ironic is because other than his mom, I doubt there are other women in his life to track.

On second thought, Ethan probably shouldn't be tracking his mom's menstrual cycles anyway but thanks for the link!

I was looking for a unique land line phone with sharper lines like those in my HTC Touch Diamond GSM and came across Binatone's iDECT X5 phone. I ordered the phone through a UK seller on eBay because I was unable to find a North American seller and because all of the European sellers wanted £40-70 ($60-$100) or about 50% more than the eBay seller and wouldn't ship out of Europe. Overall, the phone is beautifully designed with thoughtfully laid out keypadand call quality is excellent. Fit and finish is good though the AAA NiMH batteries (included) rattled inside the battery chamber a bit due to poor fitting band because they were stacked linearly and not in parallel. Fixing the rattle was easy; I wrapped a bit of tape around each battery and reinstalled them. The body of both the handset and the stand are made of plastic but the finish is no uglier than that of the blasphemously-painted top plate of the silver $9000 Leica M9 digital rangefinder cameras. But maybe some people prefer the damage-prone plastic-y painted finish over the chrome or black chrome finishes of the current pre-M9 Leicas considering Leica now offers to paint instead of chrome your M7 or MP for an extra $100.

Box shot. Yes, it's beat up but hey, I work with what I get. Plus it's probably the only box shot for this phone on the Internet at time of writing. The graphic design on the exterior of the box is attractive and the printing quality is satisfactory.

The phone in front of the base, adapter, and a plug adapter that I picked up from Black's for the system. I checked London Drugs for a plug adapter and they didn't have a physical plug adapter but had a universal adapter with interchangeable tips that would completely replace the packaged adapter for $15. A sales rep suggested that I check out The Source and 220 (I think it's spelled like that) at West Edmonton Mall. The Source had physical plug adapters but they wanted $15 just for those. Zellers didn't have universal adapters or plug adapters and suggested that I check out London Drugs or the Source. As I was about to exit Kingsway Garden Mall I decided I'd stop into Black's and check. They had a well-built plug adapter for $9. I'm guessing that Princess Auto would have them cheaper and had I been more patient, I could have asked my parents to bring me an adapter from home because they have lots of that sort of stuff.

Phone on its base. The base has a recorded message counter. My criticism of the base is that it may be a little too minimalistic in that there is no large "guide" to help a user who attempts to sloppily replace the phone to quickly get it back into place. It also lacks the audio and visual feedback of plugging in/charging that my Netgear SPH-200 Skype/Standard Dual Phone offers. Still, these are minor complaints.

Well . . . sort of. This frame has been on my list of 4x5's to rescan once I got the drum scanner up and running. We shot this almost a year ago when we were scouting that abandoned house site north of Bon Accord.

If I recall correctly, this film was Ilford HP5+ shot at stock speed and processed in Kodak HC-110 Dilution B. The fixer had been exhausted or had otherwise gone bad and my usual policy to peek into the tank after the first two minutes of fixing probably killed the film. I closed up the tank and remixed a batch of fresh fixer but the damage had already been done. Still, kind of a neat look for the frame. Photo shot with the Sinar X and Schneider Symmar-S 210mm F/5.6. Colours deliberately retained and levels adjusted so that the maximum amount of tonal information would be retained which doesn't always mean the scan will be neutral or linear.

At left is the negative from which I made the previous scan and to the right is a properly exposed and developed frame shot on the same film for comparison.