Photography

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!

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.

. . . 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.

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.

My Panasonic DMC-GH1 Micro Four Thirds camera with the standard 14-140mm kit lens and the 20mm F/1.7 that's normally packaged with the Panasonic GF1, Rode NTG-2 microphone and shock mount arrived the morning of the day I was to shoot the Art Gallery of Alberta's Art on the Block silent auction fund raising event. It is the first Art on the Block event held by the gallery since it has been reopened as the Art Gallery of Alberta and, fittingly, it was the first time that I was to shoot any event with a camera with a smaller capture area than that of the APS-C sized dSLR sensor as the primary camera. While I packed the Leica M7 and the 35mm F/2 Zeiss Biogon I only shot a half roll of Ilford Delta 400 at ISO 800 and I have yet to process the film. The digital files have already been delivered to the AGA. I don't normally blog about event photos but I feel that being comfortable shooting this event with, effectively, an interchangeable-lens high end point and shoot digital camera, as the official photographer says something about the viability of using such a system for serious photographic work. I have already joked to Dong Kim, Ethan Oblak, Corey Thompson, Justin Poulsen, Craig Hobbs, and Leanna about quitting shooting with Nikon dSLRs for small format work and while I don't really intend on selling off my Nikon gear, I don't see a need to pack it for event work anymore. For the foreseeable future, I intend to shoot events with just the GH1 and the Leica M7 and their complement of lenses.

All photographs shot with the Panasonic 20mm F/1.7 and processed in Adobe Lightroom 2.x. Most of the shots were made at least three quarters of a stop underexposed . . . sometimes deliberately and sometimes accidentally. I had just gotten the camera and had accidentally changed exposure compensation without figuring out how to change it deliberately until later in the night and, at least for this evening, camera had a tendency to underexpose to preserve highlight detail even if the photographer made no exposure compensation offset. Thank you to Adam Neufeldt at McBain Camera for helping me with my purchase.

The main auction and entertainment area.

Mid-action awkward facial expression and body position shooting started pretty early.

This scene is heavily backlit which proves that the camera handles scenes with high contrast acceptably. There were shots in which the sky is blown out but it doesn't blow out in a way that most smaller sensor-equipped cameras typically blow out the sky.

I was worried that the less oblong 4:3 aspect ratio of the camera would impact my hand held compositions but was pleasantly surprised to find that all of the visual elements that I wanted to incorporate into my shots fit naturally. The 4:3 aspect ratio feels more similar to the 4:5 aspect ratio of the Toyo VX125 than it does to the 2:3 aspect ratio of almost all of my other cameras and the Toyo is always shot on a tripod.

The camera lacks an optical viewfinder and typical auto focus points that you would find in a normal SLR with a mirror. Instead, the camera uses contrast-based autofocus off of the image picked up by the sensor like what most point and shoot digital cameras use or like the contrast-based autofocus found in the Nikon D3 and D300 when in tripod live view mode. Except this auto focus is very snappy . . . snappy enough to capture certain people's facial expressions before they recognize me. Autofocus is comparable to that of the D300 in similar situations though I know many would argue that the D300 may still be faster.

The backlit donor wall has been a challenging background to use when tuning for natural skintones even with the Nikon D3 but the GH1 seems to handle the situation satisfactorily. White balance was unaltered from the original capture with only some adjustments made to brightness and contrast.

Using the "automatic everything" autofocus mode was convenient and fun though about 10-20% of the shots could have been focused better. That said, the shots weren't completely out of focus; one would sometimes prefer to have a face facing the camera in focus than the back of a head but the photographer could opt for a more deliberate autofocusing mode.

One of the major complaints of the Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds format is that the smaller sensors lead to shorter focal lengths being used for the same angle of view as one would achieve with a larger sensor. However, when lens manufacturer's follow through with one of the original design and marketing pushes of offering wider relative aperture lenses, one can easily overcome the increase in comparative depth of field with wider apertures. All of this in a lens that barely protrudes from the camera body more than the grip.

Processing almost 250photos in about an hour after shooting them was pretty easy considering how Lightroom worked with the raw files. It seems that automatic white balance information was fully communicated through to the software and the white balance information gives the photographer a useful start from which to tune. That said, at ISO 1600 and above and under mixed artificial lighting conditions white balancing a Nikon D3 file would yield cleaner tonal transitions and with more pleasing and natural skintones.

This image along with a few of the other images from the set exhibited some interesting blur around faces. I don't know what kind of camera and subject movements could have created the blur around the gentleman's face while keeping the face of the lady in red relatively sharp and in focus in the way we see it here but I don't find it objectionable.

Tracking movement with this camera was similar to tracking movement with a Contax G1 or G2, Zeiss Ikon, or Leica M7. On top of that, one could very quickly achieve focus and continually maintain focus as subject and camera moves unlike the Leica M-mount range finders which would require the photographer to predict distance changes and continue focus adjustment blindly unless one were to compose with subject under the rangefinder patch in the middle of the frame. In the case of the Contax G system, there is no way to focus track without keeping part of the subject under the single auto focus point. Like comparisons to the Nikon D3, these may not seem like relevant comparisons but when choosing a camera for a particular assignment we need to consider what the absolute best tool for the job is and not just what works within a certain budget or which cameras review best by non-photographers running review websites reviewing under hypothetical laboratory conditions.

The 20mm lens rendered subjects in close range attractively and without objectionable distortions that even lenses like the Nikon or Canon 17-55mm F/2.8 lenses typically render when shot in landscape and at under 35mm.

Obviously not shot by me but this photo goes to show how easy it is for someone who has never used this camera before to pick it up make a technically-sound photo. Furthermore, I am far from being model material and I am long overdue for a hair cut but by Klyment-standards this looks pretty good.

Just a quick update since I'm still working through a backlog of scanning. Most of the new scans are still under embargo. Full artist profile associated with this photo to come. I'm still pretty new at the mounting thing but I feel that my colour management experience has made the colour handling part of learning this new technology fairly painless. If anyone needs some drum scanning done in the next month or so I'm willing to do drum scans to 16bit per channel TIFFs at up to 4000DPI for just $20/scan plus $10/mounting and burned onto your choice of DVDs or Blu-ray discs. For 4x5's I can comfortably mount two frames per mounting but  have been having luck with the last two mountings in which I put four sheets of film. For 6x6 I'm guessing I can get six to twelve frames in per mounting.

Christina and Aaron Ignacio-Deines' dining room, as styled by Christina and Aaron Ignacio-Deines. Shot with the Schneider 72mm F/5.6 Super-Angulon XL on the Linhof Technikardan 45s. Filtered with a Lee 80A polyester filter. Kodak Portra 160 VC. F/8. 30s exposure.

Unsharpened 100% crop from the previous image. Scanned at 4000DPI on the Howtek Scanmaster 4500 drum scanner (circa 1994) driven by Aztek's fantastic Digital Photo Lab Professional software. Fluid mounted with Kami fluids and Aztek-packaged optical mylar. Full resolution 16bit per channel/48bit TIFF is almost 2gigs. The "noise" that you see here is film grain, not digital noise.

I was hoping to make a bunch of chronologically-ordered posts but I figured it may be a good idea to get this entry out before the current issue of Avenue Magazine Edmonton is off the stands. We were originally scheduled to shoot a week earlier but due to some scheduling conflicts we moved the shoot to March 9th. Capture was destined to be all digital so the later shoot date didn't seem to scare Paige Weir, our art director, as much as it sometimes does when I try to convince her that I should be shooting 4x5's or film rangefinders or something similarly de-evolutionary. Below you'll find a one-sided discussion of the results of several hours of planning spread over several weeks. We reviewed, or rather, Paige reviewed and I suggested numerous models for this shoot and she finally settled on three beautiful and extraordinary models who had the unlucky fate of having to meet us early at the studio with two of the models coming from out of town and shooting with us for a solid nine hours. Most of these photos didn't make it to the magazine but you can see low resolution versions of the files in the article on Avenue Magazine's website.

Makeup by Adrianne Thomson, hair and styling by Nikolas and assisted by Jacqueline Ohm, music on set by Corey Thompson, and Craig Hobbs and Adam Goudreau assisted on the photographic side of things. Julie and Jessica are represented by Sabrina Notte and her agency, Deja Vu Modeling International of Red Deer, Alberta. Nikon D3X loaned to me by Huy Sam and Manfrotto Autopole/Expan system loaned to me by Curtis Comeau.

I first saw Kayla in the parking lot behind my studio last year. She was dropping off promotional supplies for a beer company that she represents to the pub on the main floor when I spotted her in the parking lot as I was moving some paper up. I told Corey, who happened to be at the studio. I needed Corey to convince me that I would regret not getting her number to shoot her in the future and Corey did what I hoped that he would do. I got her number and a year later she ends up on the cover of Avenue Edmonton. This photo was my favourite from the yellow dress set but another photo was chosen for the cover. Shot with the D3X and the 135 F/2 Defocus Control Nikkor. Key lighted with a 22" Norman beauty dish and sock with centre dome in place, filled with a Chimera Video Pro Plus large strip, and rimmed with a Chimera Video Pro medium softbox with Lighttools 20degree Soft Egg Crate from the right all driven with the Norman D24r and Norman IL2500 heads. Background lit with a bare reflector on a Bowens Esprit Gemini 500.

Avenue Edmonton April 2010 cover.

Julie modeling one of the outfits that didn't make the cut. It's one of my favourites from the shoot. Hopefully Nikolas will notice this entry and leave comments as to where all of this clothing is from. Similar lighting to cover but shot with the 70-200/2.8 VR Nikkor.

Jessica modeling another outfit that didn't make the cut.

This outfit actually made the cut but with a softer facial expression for Kayla. Jacket by L.A.M.B. from Thread Hill. A scarf from She Matters is being used in the model's hair. And I love the suspenders but don't know where they are from.

A less weird shot from this set made it to press.

Another outfit that didn't make it to the magazine.

The collar on this coat was such a pain. It wouldn't stand for more than a few seconds on its own but I think that Julie made it look as good as it was going to look in photos. It looked great in real life.

A shot from Craig's Leica M3 and 50mm Leitz Summitar on Ilford Delta 100 processed in stock working solution of Kodak XTOL but then fixed in stale fixer. I should have done a clip test before fixing. A certain someone who was working for my studio had significant loss of working solution when they used it introducing a lot of air into the bottle which I suspect caused the premature failure of the fixer.

I first shot 310-DUMP over five years ago making the company my first commercial client. Before that I had only shot weddings and model and actor portfolio work. I met Greg Kirkwood, founder, president, and CEO, at The Standard when I was shooting an event at the night club. All I am going to say about that meeting was that it was an interesting and late night. Shortly after, Greg gave me a call as he had some freshly-painted trucks that he needed shot and so began our working relationship.

Fast-forward to 2009, 310-DUMP has been thriving for fourteen years and is primed to franchise. They select Nabeal Mansour's Media-Masters Creative Communications Inc. as the agency to develop a new website and a franchise package. 310-DUMP recommended me to their ad agency. The budget for the project was limited, Media-Masters is still considered a relatively small ad agency, we were shooting fairly late in the season to shoot non-seasonal-looking content, and the expectations were high but we prevailed as a team. I felt that we were often arguing but perhaps it is through strife that we realize our greatest work and I doubt that we could have produced a much better marketing materials for a service as base as waste management. Over a hundred person-hours went into model casting and planning even before any photos were taken and I can't even imagine many hours Matthew Fagnan - the designer behind the website and print elements of the project - spent to plan the visual elements and to work on the final assembly. While the product may seem simple, it represents the culmination of weeks of work by some of the most capable people in their fields with whom I have had the honour to work.

Concepts co-developed by Elizabeth Szabo and Nabeal Mansour with some input from Greg Kirkwood, Sam Soliman, and myself. Hair, makeup, and styling by Nikolas for the first day of shooting and we worked without aesthetics support for the remaining shoot days. Shoot assistant was Ethan Oblak for the entire project. The model list is huge and I don't have everyone's full name but if any of our models see this entry accept my sincerest thanks.

All delivered photos shot with the Nikon D3 and either the Nikon 24-70mm F/2.8, the 135mm F/2 Defocus Control Nikkor, or the 70-200mm F/2.8 VR Nikkor version 1. Shoot candids taken by Ethan with a Zeiss Ikon, Zeiss Biogon 35mm F/2 on Kodak Ektar.

Matthew's concept drawing of the interior of the franchise package folder. The booklet pulls out and reveals an unobstructed view of the house in the background. Everything is drawn to scale in relation to how it should look in the actual folder. The concept drawing made the end goal easy to understand but finding a house that was tall enough with enough lawn in front to allow for the proper placement of the elements required to print over the folder was nearly impossible. On top of all of this, because of the amount of space and the shooting angle required, ideally you'd want a south-facing house on a slightly overcast day but with blue sky behind the building. We settled for a nice house that was close enough and Matthew "grew" a fence and lawn and composited the family onto the lawn.

Matthew's concept drawing of the outside of the folder.

And a sample page of the interior of the drop-in booklet.

The photo concepts were meant to appeal to specific customer types who would be likely to use 310-DUMP's services. In this photo, Mike Isaak and Brandy act as the happy couple working on home renovations. Interestingly, 310-DUMP doesn't haul paint or any hazardous wastes but Elizabeth's idea to have the couple covered in paint and Nikolas' careful application of the found acrylic paint helped polish up the look of the shot. The photos were shot to allow as wide an aspect ratio as possible to minimize the amount of height consumed on the web pages they would be used on.

A franchise owner pepping his workers at the beginning of a new day.

An engineer and construction workers in front of a construction site.

Christine Hopaluk and another Matt (I hope that's his name) pose as customer and 310-DUMP employee finishing some paperwork.

Mother and daughter (who aren't actually mother and daughter) spending time together after booking full service waste pickup with 310-DUMP.

Most of 310-DUMP's full service residential bookings are made by women so most of the full-service oriented imagery feature women as the customers.

It's a lot of work getting back up after having settled into the ground for the right angle for a shot so Nabeal got down to have a peek. Of course Ethan had to choose the worst possible moment to snap a photo of us discussing composition.

The shot of the young couple renovating was made from a slightly higher angle. An adjacent home's white wall provided the necessary fill for this shot.

Sometimes we find the best camera positions in some of the most unlikely places. Ideally I wanted the shade of a tree right where our models would be but Garth did a great job standing in for one with the Scrim Jim and a blocking screen.

It seems as though Blue Willow Restaurant has been taking large but cautious steps to revamp their offering. Beginning with the build up of a concession trailer to offer specialized foods and desserts at outdoor special events to participating in the Rocky Mountain Food and Wine Festival, Blue Willow is now open for lunch with some Asian fusion menu options. Well . . . was open for lunch. After checking up on the restaurant it seems as though a curious staffing issue is temporarily preventing lunch serving but official speculation suggests that the lunch menu may once again be available sometime in March. Keep checking the Blue Willow Restaurant website to see when it does. Until then I hope that you'll be satisfied drooling over the photos. All delivered photos shot with Horseman #3, a Horseman L frame camera now owned by Adam Neufeld. Lens used was the Schneider Symmar-S 210mm F/5.6. Film used was Kodak Ektachrome EPP and instant film was Fuji's ISO 100 9x12 stuff. Film processing by ABC Photocolour in Vancouver. Camera and styling assistance, scanning, colour correction, and retouching by Sarah Chung. Later in the shoot, Ethan decided to join us and helped eat. Kitchen and candid photos were shot with the Contax G2 and 35mm F/2 Zeiss Planar on Fuji Pro Z and processed by McBain Camera's Kingsway location. Some of the candids were taken by Sarah.

It's been a while since I shot these but I'll try my best to describe what's in each photo. This is a chicken breast served on a bed of oriental veggie stir fry with a bit of "Chef Jason's Special Sauce." That's what they told me what I asked them what sauce that was . . . but it was delicious.

Sweet and sour chicken with a combination of stir fried and steamed vegetables and a side of fried rice. In the background you see the then newly-designed lunch menu. Typically I'd try to shoot with lens axis parallel to the table to maintain subject proportions but I was shooting more for something creative than something more explicit. A small amount of front tilt was applied to get the logo on the menu in focus.

Take 1 of the breaded pork cutlet.

Jean felt that the first take of the pork cutlet wasn't descriptive enough and had us shoot from a higher angle. We quickly re-plated, rearranged the table, repositioned some lights and then reshot. While this photo is no longer consistent with the other photos from this shoot I agree that it gives a better representation of the relatively flat pork cutlet and sells the dish better than our original shot.

Beef steak garnished with onions and lettuce with a side of oriental vegetables. Stan surveyed some of their steak eating customers about which sauce should accompany the steak dish. It seemed as though many serious steak eaters wanted to have HP Sauce with their steak so you get a choice of HP Sauce or a gravy.

The hands of Thomas (left, restaurant manager) and Jason the chef preparing dishes while we were set up in the VIP room with camera and lighting ready. While all food photography is challenging, Chinese food tends to be especially challenging because of how much of it is fried and because of how much of the food ends up looking brown and in small pieces. It's tasty but not always photogenic so we shoot as quickly as possible after preparation and certain other provisions have to be made to compensate for the food's unphotogenic nature.

I have some photography-related stuff for sale! It's mostly large format gear but there are some Nikon SLR-related items and some pieces of Bowens/Calumet lighting. Items are located in Edmonton. Thanks to Rico Moran for helping me shoot the product photos.

Here is the summary list of what is for sale along with prices in CDN dollars. US dollar prices are about the same at time of posting:

1. Calumet Caltar-II N 75mm F/4.5 Flawless glass, some non-function-affecting scratches to barrel, caps included. - $575
2. Schneider Symmar-S 240mm F/5.6 in Sinar DB mount. Optically flawless. Scuffs on DB mount and on lens board. - $225
3. Schneider Super-Angulon 75mm F/5.6. Optically flawless. Scuffs on DB mount and on lens board. - $450 $375
4. Schneider Symmar-S 180mm F/5.6. Optically flawless. Scuffs on DB mount and on lens board. - $225
5. Schneider Symmar-S 210mm F/5.6. Optically flawless. Scuffs on DB mount and on lens board. - $225. Or $950 $750 for all four Sinar DB lenses.
6. Linhof Technikardan 45s - $1795 with choice of bag or standard bellows, $2075 with both bellows, $2350 with Calumet Caltar-II S 210mm F/5.6 and both bellows
7. Sigma 30mm F/1.4 for Nikon F-mount DX format sensors. - $395
8. Nikon 10.5/2.8 DX Fisheye Cleaning mark on front element that doesn't affect image quality. - $585
9. Bowens dual-cable ring flash with optional diffuser reflector and optional high intensity reflector. Kit value is about $1200US + shipping new - $850
10. Bowens/Calumet 2000W/s ellipsoidal reflector spot lamp head for Quad system - $450
11. Bowens/Calumet Universal Spot attachment - $295
12. Bowens QuadX 3000 power pack Functionally flawless. A few scratches on casing but far from ugly. - $1700 or $2300 with ring flash kit.
13. Minolta Dimage Scan Multi Pro multi-format film scanner. Conveniently scans up to 6x9 and other medium formats with results similar to the Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED.  - $1050
14. Hasselblad 90degree prism finder for V system (500 series bodies). - $50
15. Hasselblad compendium pro shade for V system - $50
16. Almost complete roll of Superior Seamless studio blue 107" (almost 9foot) roll of backdrop paper - $40
17. Elinchrom/Profoto Fiber Lite Kit micro light system. Older version and shows signs of use. Photos on the way. - $950
18. Bowens Fresnel attachment. Side dented but doesn't affect operation. - $495
19. 100foot spools of expired, cold stored, Kodak Edupe duplication slide film. EI 16, weird (fun?) colour casts. Enough for about 18 rolls of 36exp. - $18ea.
20. Microtek Artixscan M1 w/ Silverfast AI Studio (16/48bit . . . the good package) - $695 (Mine sold a while ago and I'd pick up another if I didn't already have a drum scanner. This scanner currently belongs to Rob and Lauren Lim. Guessing how much 4x5 film they had shot and judging from how they take care of their gear this scanner is likely in like-new condition. The price direct from Microtek recently dropped to $750 but shipping to Canada for such a large, heavy, and fragile piece of equipment is a pain. If I were in the market for one of these and was living anywhere in Western Canada I'd rather pick this one up than have one ship from Microtek.
21. Sekonic L-508 incident/spot/flash meter - $250 (less than the price of a Sekonic L-358 which lacks a spot meter unless you add a $300 option to it)
22. Sekonic L-558 incident/spot/flash meter + compatible with internal Pocketwizard flash trigger - $325 (Probably still cheaper than an L-358)
23. Sekonic L-758DR incident/spot/flash meter including internal Pocketwizard flash trigger and is compatible with Sekonic's exposure latitude measuring system to give you exposure latitude warnings when metering scenes for the cameras that you have profiled - $425. Here's Vistek's page for it but you could probably find it for about $50 cheaper at other stores.
24. 4x5 Fidelity and Lisco Regal II film holders with plastic dark slides. In my opinion the best double-sided 4x5 film holders and they are newer. $12 each. I have 20 that aren't spoken for. If you need them shipped I prefer that you buy at least 5 at a time and even better if you buy multiples of 5.
25. 35mm bulk film loader. Brand new. $12 each. I have 10 left.
26. Nikkor-SW 65mm F/4. 4x5 coverage with some movement or consider it a 75mm lens and just apply displacements afterwards by cropping your 4x5's. very easy to focus even with basic ground glass w/ Fresnel lens. Most cameras will require a bag bellows to focus this lens to infinity while still allowing movement. $390.
27. Nikon MB-D10 Multi-Power Battery Grip for the D300/D300s/D700 bodies. Allows you to unlock the higher frame rates of these cameras and use AA batteries of desired. Included in the package is the Nikon BL-3 which allows you to use Nikon EN-EL4/EN-EL4a batteries which were spec'ed for the Nikon D2h/D2x/D3/D3x. Great if you need a grip and are already shooting a D2X or D3X and have a D300 or D700 as a backup body - standardize on one type of battery and charger! Vistek wants about $340 for the grip and $50 for the battery adapter plug. $280 total for the pair.
28. Set of four brand new BF Goodrich G-force KDW version 2 performance tires. Y-rated (tested to 300km/h). 215/40r18. $550 for four tires. Canadian retail price is $900 for the set. Some of them still have original labels and all have at least manufacturer's sticker residue still on them. The tires are currently on a set of brand new Enkei RSV 18 x 7.5" 45mm offset wheels in anthracite. The tires can be removed from the wheels or you can buy the wheels for an additional $190 each. They are not available as a set because three of the wheels have universal 5bolt drilling and one of the wheels has a universal 4bolt drilling. That said . . . if you or someone you know is selling a single Enkei RSV 18 x 7.5" 45mm offset wheel with 5bolt (specifically 5x114.3) drilling in any colour, let me know. If it's in really good shape and anthracite I'd happily pay $300 for it. If in a different colour I'd pay $225 for it.
29. Canon HV20 MiniDV HDV camcorder. Includes a few tapes, two spare third party batteries, all original accessories and box AND the Canon DM50 microphone which is $140US plus shipping from B&H or $300 from Vistek. I selected this microphone because I wanted a microphone that was much better than the built-in mic but could be powered from the camcorder and wouldn't require an external cable to connect to a microphone input. The microphone is directional and has a switch to change its angle of pickup which is handy if you want to use the camera and have your voice picked up if you are doing a quick interview without a lapel mic or can be switched to just pick up audio from in front. $495 for the kit.
    
30. Leica M9, black, under 2000 actuations, $6295. Selling it only because it's black and I want a silver one to match my lenses and my M7. It's in like new condition. Includes all packaging. This price is about $1500 below Canadian retail.
31. Logitech Z-680 5.1 DTS and Dolby Digital computer sound system. Around 500W RMS amplifier output, outboard decoder with direct analog, optical and coaxial digital connectivity and remote control. $195.
32. Norman 200B battery-powered strobe pack with head. Settings for 50, 100, and 200Ws output. Battery is good for over 100 full-powered flashes. Head includes a dish reflector that works well with umbrellas and the head can be adapted to softboxes. $250.
33. Norman 12/12 power pack. Compatible with Norman 900 series heads (IL2500 included). 1200Ws. Two channel asymmetry. Each channel adjustable from 150Ws to 600Ws in thirty steps and the whole pack can be trimmed an additional three stops. Channels can be bridged to allow 1200Ws output through a single socket giving you a range from 19Ws to 1200Ws. 250W modeling light support with four sockets.
34. Fujinon-A 240mm F/9 in COPAL #0 shutter. Tiny, super sharp lens that pairs well with folding field cameras and I believe covers 8x10 with a bit of movement. Flawless condition and includes front and rear caps. $495!
35. Contax G2 autofocus interchangeable lens rangefinder camera w/ 28mm F/2.8 Biogon, 45mm F/2 Planar, and TLA 200 flash. Some rub marks on body that won't affect operation. Photos to follow. $975 for the kit. Loaded with Ilford Delta 400 to push to 1600 and with the TLA 200 this camera has part of the most fun I've ever had shooting a wedding reception.
36. Nikon D300 digital SLR body, 5200 actuations. Includes DK-21M magnifying eyepiece, original battery, original battery charger, 8GB 30MB/s Sandisk Ultra CF card. The original box is available but the camera is currently in Ottawa, ON and original packaging is in BC so you'll just be getting the camera and critical accessories for now and you'll have to get the box shipped to you later. $795. Seller is Ethan Oblak.
37. Nikon 85mm F/1.4 AF-D lens. Includes 77mm B+W MRC 007 (clear) filter - $895. Seller is Ethan Oblak.
38. Tamron 17-50/2.8 (non-VC) for Nikon F-mount cameras with DX format sensors. Includes 67mm B+W MRC 010 (UV) filter - $395. Seller is Ethan Oblak.
39. Nikon D700 digital SLR body, ~30,000 actuations, camera just came back from Nikon Mississauga and it's in virtually flawless physical condition. The D700 comes with all original packaging but the owner is currently shooting in Japan and I only have the D700 in my possession so you'll be getting one of my spare EN-EL3 batteries with the camera and without a strap first and upon his return he can send you the original packaging. Seller is Alex Adsit but you can contact me for this item. $1995.
    

Calumet Caltar-II N 75mm F/4.5. It's about 20mm in 35mm terms and it was my primary architectural interior lens up until I picked up a Schneider 72/5.6 Super-Angulon XL. The lens is optically flawless but there are blemishes in the metal as illustrated in the following photos. This photo was lit with an older Calumet/Bowens optical spot lamp head (also for sale) for rim light and a diffused Bowens Softlite reflector with diffuser in the foreground on Savage Thunder Gray. Lights driven by a Bowens QuadX 3000 power pack (also for sale).

Rear view of the Caltar-II N 75mm F/4.5.

Close up showing condition of metal.




Shot with the Caltar-II N 75mm F/4.5 and the Linhof Technikardan and scanned with a Microtek Artixscan M1.


The 75mm doesn't have the largest image circle of this type of lens but still has a big enough image circle to make some nearly impossible exterior shots. Here is a photo shot of the Uptown Estate building for Sylvie Perrault Architects of Montreal.

Schneider Symmar-S 210mm F/5.6 in Sinar DB mount. These photos are representative of the look and condition of the Symmar-S 240mm and 180mm in Sinar DB mounts so I won't post all of them but feel free to request photos if you wish to see them.

Symmar-S 210mm F/5.6

Rear view of one of the Sinar DB lenses. I originally purchased these Sinar DB lenses for use in studio and for architectural photography because of the shutter's system ability to mechanically time exposures up to 8s where I would normally have to manually time and trigger for architectural interior shooting. Furthermore, the shutter system makes Sinar handling in studio convenient since adjustments to exposure and aperture settings can be done from the rear of the camera and the shutter will also automatically stop down the iris when shooting. However, now I no longer own a Sinar camera or the shutter so I can't use these lenses anymore.

The Super-Angulon 75mm F/5.6 looks a bit different.

Rear view of the Super-Angulon 75mm F/5.6.