Buckshot’s Blog

some 8×10 shots from “Hole in the wall” in the Mojave Desert.  Arista 100 8×10

I’ve had this lens for a few months now, but have not had a chance to try it out. I’ve got some bungee straps to help hold up the weight of the lens for a few test shots.  I will work out a better more permanent mounting solution.

And here’s the test shots!  I think this lens will make for some interesting photographs for sure.

And the case that I’m putting this beast into, an old Aviator’s night vision metal case that I picked up from a military surplus store, finally putting it to use!  Complete with foam and pressure valve, hah!  Probably overkill for sure, but it makes carrying this guy around simple, and don’t have to worry about where I put the lens, I know it’s not going anywhere.  (soda can for size comparison!)  Will also put a few other necessary items in the case, since there’s left over space.

Went to the June 26th-28th Historic Sports Car Festival this weekend, alot of fun!  Brought my speedgraphic (now with a working flash!) to shoot some cars in the pits!  With all the classic race cars out there, I think my old camera got the same amount of compliments as most of the cars out there, hah!

And here’s a photo of me at the track, taken by Aaron Kupferman www.motorsportlens.com

These shots are from Christmas of 2008.   I really don’t like developing roll-film of any size, it’s just not as enjoyable as sheet film for some reason.  So anyway, I put off developing this roll until I found it sitting there with a few other more recent rolls that I just shot, so I just dropped them off at the lab to be developed instead of doing it myself.  Shot with my old Zeiss 6x9cm folder camera

I’ve shot this old truck quite a few times, last time I was out there I shot a color 4×5 “just for the heck of it” since I had some old expired color film (Fujichrome 64T), just now got around to having it developed, didn’t do to bad   The color balance was off (tungston) and I probably need to practice scanning color film!  but I’m happy with shooting the color film, the chromes are nice to look at, so I think I’ll shoot the rest of the color film I have, and buy some more!   4×5 speedgraphic with a B&L projection “petzval” lens.

All of the blood and wounds are fake, but if you get queezy very easy you may not want to click on the images for larger views.

4×5 Speedgraphic with Stroboflash and Adox Ortho 25 film, developed in Rodinal 1:50 for 6 minutes.

And here are some digital shots.  The digital shots don’t seem to be quite as ‘authentic’ looking as the film shots, I think this has alot to do with the lighting though, since for my digital shots I used off-camera flashes instead of a camera-mounted flash.  I think that makes them look a bit more ‘theatrical’ than the single flash film shots.

More digitals to come.

A few shots around the office building I work at, as well as a 4×10 landscape from a while ago that I just got around to developing.

Here’s my ‘first’ run of the speedgraphic with the stroboflash, also my test run with the grafmatic film holder (which seems to be working perfectly!).  These were shot f5.6 at 1/200th, with Adox 25ISO Orthochromatic film (not sensitive to reds).

I shot this about 1/2 a year ago along a side road on I-10 in Arizona, I really like this photo because it has the clouds that were gathering before a storm, such a nice feeling in the desert!

8×10 Tmax 100 with a 240mm lens I believe.

I don’t know all the details about this structure, but from what I heard it’s some sort of monument to ‘art’, or something similar to that.  If anyone knows what it is, feel free to correct me   4×5 tri-x, 90mm on Chamonix 4×5.

a 4×5 photo, of a 70 pound case  of Ukranian 7.62x54R ammo

I’ll be hauling this combo around to some vintage auto races as well as other events/gatherings/projects in the near future!  I haven’t weighed the entire setup yet, but it’ll probably build some nice forearmes    I’m still waiting on the correct clamps for the flash handle and a way to securly mount the flash head to the flash handle, I should have both of those worked out in a week or so, provided I get over my cold soon!

For anyone interested in the flash setup, it’s been modified by Al over at stroboflash.com to take modern rechargable batteries (which go inside of that thing  next to the camera sitting on the floor, the powerpack and electronics are 1/2 the size of a car battery!)

This is my second 4×5″ speedgraphic.  This one appears to be one of the later models, as best I can tell (I haven’t really gotten to much into the history of these things).  It’s got some nicer features to it compaired to my other speed. Shutter trigger on the camera body, focal plane shutter is easier to adjust, more sturdy viewing hood, flash sync on the lens instead of the lens solinoid, a working shutter on the lens, and overall a camera that looks to be in a cleaner shape.  Hopfully I’ll be giving it a good new lease on life!  They are so cheap to come by, I bought a 2nd one!  My first one is reserved for shooting barrel lenses (and as such, I’ve stripped off the rangefinder, and some of the other features) and now I have this model to use for my vintage flash shooting

Should have some results soon!

And here’s my first two exposure tests, f8 at 1/4 power on the first shot, and 1/2 power on the 2nd shot.   The negatives were a little thin, but that might have something to do with my developing since I haven’t yet nailed down my developing times for the Adox ISO25 Orthochromatic film, developed in Rodinal.   I’ll do some more tests later, for now I’ve just got the flash head taped onto the handle…. hah!

*update*

Here’s the flash head with the PVC mount onto the flash handle.  It’s not pretty, but it’ll do until I find the real mount.  In the mean time, I may paint the PVC black just so it doesn’t look like pumbing… hah!

A friend’s Dodge Challenger, out on El Mirage!  first three are digital, last two are 8×10 Arista EDU 100 film

Death personified, the grim reaper, harvester of souls, and so on.  I’ve wanted to shoot something like this for a while now, and I finally got around to doing so!  I wish that I would have had a robe that was much longer and less ‘cloak’ looking, it does look a tad bit like a “Disgruntled Monk” but I’m happy with what I have so far!

These may be a little dark against the white background of the website.  all 8×10 accept for the last one, which is 4×5.

Trying out a hand full of old lenses (ranging from early to mid 1900s) on 8×10, at a local park that has a few interesting looking trees.

4×5 tri-x, 90mm on the carving and pumpkins, and a petzval projection lens for the still life

Taking photos of a moving child is difficult with a big camera!  Gundlach Radar 12″ lens mounted on the Chamonix 8×10 camera.  Shot at f8 for the shots of Lilly, and f22 for the shot of the beach.  I would liked to have gone down to f4.5 for the shots of lilly, but I was unsure of my focusing on her (she was moving around!)  so I left it at f8 for a tad bit of wiggle room on the focusing.

I took this some months ago, my first time trying some portraits with the 8×10, and incidentally one of the few times I’ve shot under studio lights.  It was enjoyable, but I was uncertain of my results.  The look was intended to have an early hollywood feel.  If I try this again, I will try and make the background curtain brighter, to enhance the silhouette a bit more.  I wasn’t particularly fond of the photo when I first looked at it, so I stuffed the film into my box and didn’t really look at them since then.  I checked them out again today and found that it has grown on me a bit   Tri-x 320 on a Tachihara 8×10 with Gundlach Radar 12″ lens.

Here are 6 negatives from a camping trip in Joshua Tree with some coworkers

last batch of negatives from Riley’s farm, as well as a dead crow (I think?) I found in my driveway yesterday, hah!  I really like the framing on the crow, I think it turned out nice… for what it is I suppose

Had a nice day at Riley’s farm, took some photos of the area, heard some good music, age good BBQ, and had some wonderful apple cider!  I took a jug home with me, but it didn’t last long! 

I’ll add more photos to these as they dry and scan.

I went to the VARA races yesterday (Vintage Auto Racing Association) with a photographer friend, I brought my 4×5 speedgraphic and 8×10 to shoot some of the vintage cars! Here are a few of the 4×5 shots, I’ll post more of them later, as well as the 8×10 shots.

And here’s me doing my thing, thank you Aaron K. for the photo!

some photos from my 4th of July weekend. I enjoyed using the Bausch & Lomb lens and speed graphic, it makes an interesting combo! For the tree shot, I had to hold a few ND sheets infront of the lens to get my shutter speed down to something the speed graphic can handle. f2.0 aperture plus 320 ISO film sucks up alot of light! The sheet of ND filter got the shutter speed down to 1/500th

The last image (of the door) was taken with an achromatic doublet lens element held inplace by a piece of cardboard onto my speedgraphic.  About a 6″ focal length, and 2.75 inches across (roughtly f2.0 aperture) Interesting effect, but I don’t like it as much as the Bausch & Lomb lens, the B&L doesn’t stretch the edges of the picture, it curls them around.  The single achromat element smears the edges right off the edge of the frame.   I may play around with sticking another doublet lens behind the first lens (mirrored), see if I can get something a bit more interesting to happen!

The Ritter 8×10 went on it’s maiden flight this past weekend, and it was great! The weight savings was very noticable, I didn’t have to take my pack off until I reached my destination! Same with the return trip, wonderful! It does seem to pick up a little vibration in the wind, though I guess this is to be expected with a large camera that doesn’t have much mass. I’ll be rigging up (or purchasing) a stabilizing rod to connect the front and rear standards together, see if that helps out in windy condition. I’ll develop the negatives tonight!

A lens for my speedgraphic arrived today, I don’t know much about it, but according to the person I purchased it from, it’s a “Bausch & Lomb Theater lens”, about 145mm f2. I’ll be using this lens to see how I like the odd effects that this type of old lens can produce. First negatives from this lens are going to be developed tonight!

Here’s the first two shots from the Bausch & Lomb:

And the first 3 shots from the Ritter 8×10!

While visiting friends in Phoenix, I ran out of my usual tri-x 320 (only brought a few sheets that fit in my holders) and had to pick up some film along the way. Tmax 100 was the only thing I could find in 8×10, so that it was!  I got lucky with some interesting weather and clouds!  In the last shot, it started raining (413th Avenue) right as I finished packing up my camera in the car, just in time!

So I’ve got a new toy, an old Zeiss Ikon 6×9 camera! It’s nice and folds up slim, fun to use!

Here’s some shots taken with it from the first two rolls:

I’ve been enjoying the wider aspect ratio of 4×10! Using 8×10 film, with a dark slide cut in 1/2, I can get two 4×10 shots onto each 8×10 sheet of film!

buildings around Hayden Ave in Culver City

90mm on 4×5, photos at El Matador beach in Malibu, getting my feet wet!

A very cool looking old school motorcycle! I like it! First shot with Canon 1Ds2 and 85/f1.2 lens, 2nd shot with an Anniversary Speedgraphic 4×5

Poppies from the california poppy reserve, also an abandoned Cadillac! First time trying velvia 50, the film looks beautiful! But as I I’ve read and been told, it’s not as easy to scan as less saturated color film.

An abandoned Cadillac in our parking structure, have been meaning to shoot it for a while now, finally did this weekend! One 8×10, and two 4×10 shots projected onto the other 8×10 sheet. Used a cut dark slide to cover up the other 1/2 of the film, and vice versa for the second panorama shot. An interesting way to do panoramas, I can fit two of them on a single 8×10 sheet! The other panorama didn’t turn out as well.

taken with a speedgraphic 4×5, an interesting photo I think

More photos from the speed coming soon!

8x10s from Charmlee Park meadow area.

Here are some 8x10s from this past weekends hike in Red Rock Canyon

El Matador Beach in 8×10 (cropped to 5×10), as well as two more scans from my outing in the snow a month back or so, just developed them this weekend.

scans of the 4×5′s I shot in the Mojave Desert last weekend.

I was given the chance to borrow an 8×10 camera, which I enjoyed very much! 4×5 scans coming later.

burned trees from the fires of late 2007. There were new plants starting to pop up in a few places, I’m not sure if the trees will survive or not. They looked dead to me, but I don’ t know.

Recent architecture photographs from near by my office, on 4×5 tri-x.

some recent 4×5″ film images from around the Malibu area. All are Tri-x 320 developed in HC-110.