QR image - testing

Just testing something here. If you have a QR scanner this should take you to my home page.

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An obscure photography geeky coincidence - do you get it? #filmphotography

I was doing a little research on the Baby Rolleiflex 4x4cm twin lens reflex camera just now and happened to search Flickr for groups. I found the Baby Rollei group (http://www.flickr.com/groups/323288@N25/) easily, and then I noticed something funny. Funny to an obscure film photography geek anyway...

I wonder can you see it.

Hint - look at the number of members in the photos here, not on the Flickr site - the number has changed since I joined.

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Halfcamera

My wonderfully creative friend Bill introduced me to another iPhone camera app today, Halfcamera. This app imitates the concept of a half-frame camera, even to the extent of saving images on a virtual film strip. adjacent images can be combined into diptychs. You can even include a bit of text between the images. It has a bunch of effects too, mostly garish. I like the concept of the diptych output, but the clunky workflow takes a bit of getting used to. It'd also be nice not to be confined to using adjacent pictures. A fun app despite its peculiarities.

And of course to try it out, my ukuleles always make willing models.

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Maralinga - Paul Kelly

This is a rainy land
this is a rainy land
no thunder in our sky
no trees stretching high
but this is a rainy land

My name is Yami Lester
I hear I talk I touch but I am blind
my story comes from darkness
listen to my story now unwind
this is a rainy land

First we heard two big bangs
we thought it was the great snake digging holes
Then we saw the big cloud
then the big black mist began to roll
this is a rainy land

A strangeness on our skin
a soreness in our eyes like weeping fire
a pox upon our skin
a boulder on our backs all our lives
this is a rainy land

this is a rainy land
no thunder in our sky
no trees stretching high
but this is a rainy land

My name is Millipuddy
they captured me and roughly washed me down
then my child stopped kicking
then they took away my man to town
they said do you speak English?
he said
I know that Jesus loves me I know
because the bible tells me so
I know that Jesus loves me I know
because the bible tells me so

This is a rainy land
this is a rainy land
no thunder in our sky
no trees stretching high
but this is a rainy land

Maralinga by Paul Kelly Listen on Posterous

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Pavement circles

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It's been very wet lately in Townsville and there is a thick, slippery coating of dark green algae on the concrete pavement and retaining walls at the DPI Station at Oonoonba, where I work. But there are strange circles in the green. Something seems to be eating the algae. A fungus? A virus? Proto- or metazoan?

See also http://jayavant.tumblr.com/post/4074628909/pavement-circles

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Playing around with Hipstamatic lenses

There are so many virtual lenses, films and even flashes available for the Hipstamatic app that I am bewildered as to which one to choose half the time. Lately I mostly shoot using the app's randomise feature. The results of this on-going experiment are here.

Except that some films are colour and some are black and white, the main difference to the image provided by the choice of virtual film is the frame. Most films have distinct border effects.

The choice of lens has a much stronger bearing on the image. The lenses have distinct optical and colour effects built in. The Salvador 84 lens is especially notable for having a kaleidoscope-like mirror effect.

I shot some images today using each of the lenses I have. The image is simply a view through the patterned glass of my front door. I used Blanko virtual film for every image as it has a neutral border. Here are the results.

1. Salvador 84

2. Melodie

3. Tejas

4. Chunky

5. Bettie XL

6. Roboto Glitter

7. Lucifer VI

8. Helga Viking

9. Kaimal Mark II

10. Jimmy

11. John S

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Cropping the monk.

Strolling along Haeundae Beach in Busan, South Korea last month I suddenly encountered this monk, who was also apparently taking a stroll. My Mamiya 7 was around my neck and I simply pointed it and shot. "Shot from the hip", as the hipsters say.
I have mixed feelings about the result. It was fortunate that the last picture I had taken had been at a similar distance. It was a dull day but I had fast film and the aperture, focus, and, framing (almost) combine to give me the shot I wanted. Unfortunately I missed her foot. I cropped the photo down from 6x7 to a square, but I am still not totally pleased. So I copped much harder to give the closer portrait shot. Still not quite there...

Anyway - here are the 2 crops and the original. Which do you prefer?

Maybe this is why I prefer landscapes.
Camera - Mamiya 7
Lens - Mamiya 80/4
Film - Portra 400VC
Process - Unicolor 3 bath

Korean Buddhist monks are not like the monks to which I am accustomed. No poverty for them. They often have nice cars and can be seen wandering around wearing headphones and making calls on their iPhones.

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70's fashion - not as I remember it.

Someone sent me these pictures today with a note - "Remember this?"

Thankfully I dont..

The 70's wasn't like this in Australia.

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Stages of a photographer - How good we think we are

Pretty self explanatory really... though I must admit I had to study it for a while. The key shows what the coloured lines mean.

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A nice piece of camerabilia

Seen in Kyobo Bookstore in Centum City, Busan, today. A pencil sharpener shaped like a twin lens reflex camera.

There is really no limit to the things one can collect. I resisted the urge to buy. I'll stick to real cameras.

Much more worrying, nearby were "dog staplers".

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YMO in Pocky ad?

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On my way back from Japan last week I stayed in a hotel in Fukuoka. An ad came on the TV that featured members of the Yellow Magic Orchestra. I grabbed my iPhone but only managed to grab the last few seconds.

Here are some stills I captured from the ad. That looks like Yukihiro Takahashi on the left and Harry Hosouni on the right but is that Ryuichi Sakamoto in the middle?

I like to hope it isn't.

The product incidentally is a fake-chocolate dipped pretzel stick known on Japan as a Pocky and in Korea as a ppeppero (빼빼로). They are thoroughly nasty.

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Heoshimcheong microbrewery

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This is a place I used to frequent when I lived here in Busan a few years ago. They make 3 varieties of beer on site, the darkest being a tasty and very strong brown ale they call Dunkel. it is situated on the ground floor of the Heoshimcheong  sauna complex, a part of the Nongshim Hotel in Oencheonjang, on subway line 1, Busan.

The brewing equipment is all visible though glass windows, the decor is faux-Bavarian and the super-cute waitresses and, I suspect, embarrassed waiters, all dress respectively in Heidi-style costumes and lederhosen.  The menu is dominated by overpriced sausages, but it's definitely worth a visit just for the beer.

I went there today at about 5:30pm and the waitress, who has excellent English, told me I was the first customer. I enjoyed a 500ml glass of Dunkel, and the complimentary bread sticks, which seemed to contain chilli.

On weekends the place is packed with hikers, enjoying a few drinks after a post-mountaineering sauna. They have a house band which plays pretty cheesy pop and the place can get quite lively.

Anyway I enjoyed my own post-sauna beer and may sneak back later in the week for another.

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