The christmas tree at work, taken with a Cambo 4x5 and Aero-Ektar 7" at f2.5.  Red filter was used to supress the greens of the tree and let the funky lights stand out more.

A rule exists that says doing head/shoulder portraits with a standard focal length (Diagonal of the used film format) should not be tried or done. Working with the AeroEktar/SG combo lately, I've come to learn this is just a rule to be ignored!

What really matters is your intention and motivation to capture the "soul" in a portrait. While doing a series on a model together with Leo, I decided to try it with my 8x10 on Polaroid. In the midst of the session, something inside me told me the time was now...! The model was ready and accustomed to the lights and... the photographers. I did setup the Wisner TF 810 and loaded the cassettes with Polaroid 809/804. You all might know, doing a portrait with a viewcamera is a tiny bit different, compared to shooting with an Eos 5D or even a Hasselblad V.

FYI: The lens used was a Doctar 300mm/f5.6 , Aperture halfway f5.6 and f8 (Bellows draw 1 stop), the distance well under 1 meter.
Actually technical details are not that important or relevant, the magic goes beyond! "When you use a camera, not as a machine but as an extension of your heart, you become one with your subject."
Moreover, I never make a photograph, I ask for a photograph!

Resume: "In his ordo est ordinem non servare"
 

Regards,

John D.

Driebergen-R, Netherlands 

    I'd driven down Sepulveda Blvd. numerous times, passing underneath this freeway junction of the 105 which connects to the 405, which is right behind LAX, and I decided to come back and shoot it w/Rollei Infrared, and take along w/my son JB, so we went back on a sunday and took a 'swing' at it.  JB wants to be a photographer and I was having fun having him along with me, but I'd forgotten about the fact that we were shooting under a freeway, right behind the airport, and I was quickly reminded of where we were by some serious 'stares' from the passing Airport Police.

     Having my son w/me, I'd considered just leaving rather than expose him to any acrimony, and I told my son why we needed to leave, and being a very precocious 9 yrs old, he said  'it was no big deal', so we stayed and shot.  Actually the police drove by, but never approached us, it seemed like they sensed it was 'father and son' spending time together, and after the initial stares, I believe there was some exhange between the airport police over the radios, and I got the feeling after a while that they did not consider us anything other than what we were, in any event, after approx. 20 minutes, they started to ignore us.

     I don't consider Rollei Infrared as an infrared film like Kodak Hie was a true infrared film, it was no where as fast as  Kodak Hie, even though the original ISO rating was 400(wishful thinking), in fact they changed the rating to 200ISO, and this is a bit closer to the films true speed.  Actually, I believe Rollei Infrared is simply about a stop faster than the original Maco infrared.

     From shooting this film, I have 2 concerns about it, it's consistency from batch to batch, and it's ability to keep its sensitivity to infrared over time(I freeze what I don't use, immediately after purchase).  Using an 89B filter, and bracketing between F6.3-F11 w/a shutter speed of 1/30, and then having the film souped in Xtol for 14 min. @70deg. seems to cover all the above concerns.  I shoot infrared film one way, on completely clear and sunny days w/no haze, this is because I don't bother using a meter, and I don't want to gamble w/an expensive film like this on overcast/wet/hazy days.

    If I were shooting w/the old Maco Infrared, the only thing I'd change from the above would be the shutter speed(to 1/15), shooting w/Kodak Hie, I'd be between F7.2-F11 @ 1/125 which never failed to produce the kind of results I prefer w/the faster Kodak film.

    At some point I'll be experimenting w/combining my Rollei film w/my portrait lenses in an effort to see if I can duplicate, after a fashion, the look of Kodak Hie, although I gotta tell you, I just love the sharp aspect of the Rollei film on the right subject matter w/my sharper lenses, I mean sharp for me, not supersharp like from the APO Wondergons that I don't shoot with.

    I had fun w/this shot, and my son wanted to fire the shutter for this shot, which he did, so you could say this is also his shot.  I had my cameras, and he had his camera, and many of the folks driving by were smiling at us from their cars as I was explaining to him what/how/why we were shooting the way we were shooting.  We took the shot between passing cars.

    Take care

This image was done with a lens I nearly threw away.  It's a little 4+ inch projection petzval I had sold to a guy and he asked if he could send it back.  It was so long and narrow that it would barely illuminate 35mm film.  And the rear group had problems so I almost tossed it overboard when it came back to me.  The front group is a simple doublet but it's big.  About 2 1/4 inches across.  I took the front group and mounted it on my Kodak 2D and this is the first image I made.  Actually I was trading out another lens and had already been looking at this subject.  When I looked at the ground glass this image was there.  Pure magic.  For once I had the sense to not adjust or tweak anything.  I put a piece of 6.5 X 8.5 film in, calculated the exposure and made this image.

Bamboo no. 1

I made 2 other images with this lens and I'll share them when the paper is dry.  It's been a printing session that has taken my breath away.  Hey, that's why we keep slugging it out year after year, isn't it? 

I decided I'd come up w/the perfect subject matter for the Euryscop, namely my 'Gable' style Stetson.   I don't think of 'Gabe' as just my hat, but as a member of the family, and I was concerned because Gabe seemed to have become depressed lately, prompting me to talk with him to try to find out what was wrong.  My question to Gabe about 'what's wrong', started a rant, it seemed there was an anger in Gabe that had been building for a long time, and he let loose. 

'Listen Jonathan, you go around here ignoring me, looking for things to photograph, yes, always something else, never me'.  'I guess that's because you think these things you've photographed are much more interesting than me, and you've done this for years............... NOT ONCE, have you asked to take my picture!!!'.   Gabe really let me have it that night, and I had to admit that a lot of what he said was true.....so I decided I'd do my best to make it up to Gabe.

I told Gabe that I'd do both a color and black and white portrait of him, just like I'd do for a client, and would take him down to Village Hat in Long Beach this weekend so he could socialize some w/his lady friend 'Fedora'.  Gabe has been all smiles, and I promised Gabe that from now on, that I'd never leave him hanging.