Date: July 2002
Everything about this picture which could possibly have been done incorrectly was done incorrectly.
I took it on a borrowed zoom point-and-shoot camera (the camera belonged to one of the people in the picture). The dark splotches on the right hand side (partially removed digitally) are the camera strap, which was flying through the air, as I had rapidly pulled the camera out of my pocked and pushed the shutter button. I don't think I was even looking through the viewfinder.
It gets worse. The film was No Name Brand ISO 200. It was developed at some grocery store which was having a sale that week. In the machine print, the scene outside the window was nicely exposed, and the faces were dark. I had to get a copy of the negative, scan it with correct exposure, remove the scratches, and remove the bloody bright yellow DATE which the camera had printed on the picture for my convenience.
The point, however, is that none of this matters. The picture is
beautiful, and if I'd been a half-second slower, I wouldn't have
gotten it. You want good pictures? You need to do two things. You
must be where the photogenic things are, and you must have a camera.
Date: December 22, 2003These people weren't posed; I just ran across them sitting there. I did stand around waiting awhile for the train in the background, though.
I think the coffee cups are a significant part of this image.
Date: December 12, 2003This picture was originally the very rightmost picture in a panorama of the river, but the panorama was mediocre and this picture does much better by itself.
It's taken with the digital camera, and unfortunately you can tell
on this one. Look at the lack of detail in the white reflection on the
railing and in the strange color banding near the sun. If I'd taken
this picture on a real film camera, it wouldn't have these problems.
Of course, if I'd had a real film camera, I wouldn't have taken this
picture in the first place. Thus, I make do with what I have and
present it to you anyway.
Date: January 2004
This is a picture of Jace Harker (his webpage is down at the moment)
staring intently at the HOT NOW Krispy Kreme sign. We were having an
animated discussion about whether the glass tubes in the sign had been
made by machine or by hand, and then the sign turned on...
Date: Summer 2005This park is a fairly recent addition, having been built since I moved to the area. I like it, especially in the summer prior to midnight when the fountain runs. We were on our way to Bova's in the North End for some tasty late-night treats and we stopped in the park.
The very high contrast in this picture is symptomatic of high speed
film; this was Fuji Neopan 1600. In spite of this, it's my favorite
night film at the moment, and I like it better than any high speed
color film I've found. I use it in a Canonet QL17 whose shutter
produces much less vibration than any of my SLRs.
Luna the cat, as you can see, is worth any three cats.
Erin looks very haunted, don't you think?
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Terran Melconian.
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