Seattle — June 2022

I’ve sat on this one long enough. Probably one of the best photos I’ve taken. It was the last frame of the evening if I recall correctly

robert grunau

Still trying to scheme a way to post the prints I’ve been making, but for now I’m happy to nerd out on doing things the old way

I’ll post some actual photos soon. Just need to flatten and dry these. 

Comic Con — Seattle Wa 2022

I bought a used enlarger and this is the first print I’ve made with it.  This is an iPhone shot of the 5 x 7 print I made. 

Film: Ilford HP-5+
Print: Ilford MGRC paper

Warning, long process post coming up. 

Last week I took a darkroom printing class at @photocenternw, and while I didn’t walk away with an acceptable print, I got close enough to get hooked. 

Today I went back and spent close to 5 hours and came home with two good interpretations of this photo. I burned quite a bit of paper, and made a bunch of mistakes, which means I learned.  Finishing photos this way takes time and patience (a quality I’m still working at cultivating) and every print comes out a little bit different. Learning to do things this way gives me a greater appreciation for photos by past masters that I love. 

Honestly, I’m not sure I can go back to printing inkjet scans. To me, and for what I want for my images (you do what you like) this is the way forward(for now at least) 

Anyhow, here’s a photo from this year’s Fremont Solstice parade.

Iford HP5 developed in @kodak HC-110 using Dilution B

Printed on Ilford MGRC 11x14 Gloss


Lot of rolls to develop when we get back home. 

My project Public Journal is my attempt to square the circle of street photography. Taking photos on the street is stealing moments of other people’s lives and removing them from their context. 

By mixing so called personal photos — slices from my own life — I am giving back. The moments I share are also removed from their context. This is a fair trade in my opinion. 

If I do this right, this collection of photos will be less of a “street photography” project and more a collection of photographs that give you glimpse into how I move through the world

My new favorite thing is making prints and giving them to people. This one was for my daughter’s friend T

I don’t shoot film because I think it is better than digital. I shoot film because it forces me to slow way down, and more importantly, wait. This “contact sheet” shows the frames I’m considering scanning. I will most likely change my mind about some of them once I see them in the screen, but the extra filter here serves to cut the noise. 

Seeing the frames this small in rows and all at once allows me to select base on the shapes of the composition, then I can examine the content. 

This process, which I started a month or so ago is helping me become a better editor and by extension a better photographer. 

Pike Place Market — Seattle Wa May 2022

I tend to stay out of politics as a general rule. I am firmly on the left, but often feel like an outsider around most people on the left because I grew up in a different time and place than most of my friends and hence have different opinions on some issues, but the systematic dismantling of Roe, and with it the erosion of all personal freedoms isn’t about politics, it is about a minority having control over the majority. It is another step toward society where we all have fewer personal freedoms. It is another step toward a less secular society, which is a certain type of hell for some of us, one worse than the one we’ve lived these last two years. 

Adding insult to this, we’ve just spent two years with a vocal part of the Republican minority crying about how their personal freedoms were under attack because we asked them to think of other people. Those voices are conspicuously absent now that we are facing the biggest roll back of individual rights this nation has ever seen.

I’ve always said that the fall of Roe would cause me to strongly consider immigrating to a more forward thinking country. I know that’s not a real solution, but I don’t want to live under a theocracy, and shouldn’t want to either. 

I was in American Music just goofing off and wasting time playing instruments I had no interest in buying, it’s just good to stop by a guitar shop and pick a bit. Anyhow, this guy came in and started slaying it, making $500 dollar guitars sound like $5000 guitars . I was too shy to ask him if I could take a couple photos, but I saw this one as I was getting ready to leave and I couldn’t help myself. 

Ariel Posen at the Sunset Tavern, Seattle Wa April 2022

HP5 pushed to 3200
Leica M6 
Voigtlander 35mm Nokton

Seattle April 2022

Leica M6
HP5 + 1
Home dev and scanned 

I like this photo because she looks like a Buddha with the way her hand is near a mudra. The forehead tat pulls the whole look together. 

Leica M6 
HP5 + 1
28mm f5.6
Home dev and scan

I don't do many street portraits, mostly out of fear, so when someone asks, I kindly oblige. 

This guy stopped me as I was walking toward Pike Place Market. "Hey! Take my picture". "Sure I replied" He was patient as I took a light reading with my meter and made sure I nailed the focus. 

Leica M6
Kodak Portra 800
TTArtisans 28mm f5.6

University of Washington 2022

This came from my first solo home developed roll (my friend helped me with the last two rolls) I struggled to get the negatives on the reels and some of the frames got really scratched. I also didn't set myself up for success by getting everything together before I started. Lesson learned. That said, I'm excited to do more of this. 

I've also been working on relying on the in camera meter less, and I used an incident meter to expose this scene. After a couple weeks of this I'm getting better at reading the light. 

View this on web app if you can.
I'm pretty proud of this frame. 

Details: 
film: HP5 pushed to 800
Leica M6
 

 University of Washington — March 2022

Kodak Tri-X pushed to 800
Voigtlander Bessa R2
TT Artisans 28mm 5.6

Developed and scanned at home. 

Cherry Blossom Fest — University of Washington 

Leica M6 
TT Artisans 28mm 5.6
Kodak Portra 400

Voigtlander Bessa R2
TT Artisans 28mm 5.6
Ilford HP5 + Pushed to 800

Posted this yesterday, but the scan of the print was too dark. Here’s the negative scan with some post in SilverEfex Pro

Voigtlander Bessa R2
TT Artisans 28mm 5.6
Ilford HP5 + Pushed to 800

This set up rules. Bessa R2 with TT Artisans 28mm f5.6 HP5 Plus pushed to 800 Dev and scan by my friend Ryder. Print made from the scanned negative on 8.5 x 11 Moab Juniper Baryta paper

Seems crazy to be getting into film photography right now, but I think I can keep the costs down if I dev at home