shooz's blog ^pro

I'm delighted -  a picture of mine is currently gracing Ipernity's front page.

Now back to work - currently preparing for one or two exhibitions, and about to spend all my money on fibre paper and frames.

I really meant to post about this a few weeks ago.

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A fantastic idea I think. Found via brendadada. I don't necessarily think I've got many answers, but you never know.

So, why the lack of pictures uploaded to Ipernity in recent weeks? I've been shooting, but it's been mostly all film.  And...

I've been back in the darkroom for the first time in a LOT of years.

And it's a lot more fun than Lightroom and Photoshop.

Maybe I'll scan some prints soon :)

The Easter trip to Dawdon to visit b has been and gone, and was colder than ever. It snowed, and hailed, and gusted. And we visited the wonderful site of Steetley Magnesite.

So... currently I mostly use Lightroom and Photoshop, with different results.  So I've uploaded two pictures from the same scan, finished differently for output. 

Sharpening test

Sharpening test

Which is better?  Or more correct?  This is the kind of thing I find very frustrating to get right, and I have a sneaking suspicion almost nobody else can even see the difference.

Thoughts please

 Tomorrow, me and James are off to Australia for a couple of weeks - spend some time with his brother, and just enjoy Adelaide and Kangaroo Island.  Unlike the last trip, I'm not taking insane amounts of camera kit this time.  The new camera is obviously coming, with plenty Pan F plus, Provia 100 and Velvia 50.  And some HP5 prolly.  And we'll both take our trusty D70 bodies, with maybe 3 lenses between us - a 50mm, 10-20mm, and James's insanezoom (28-300)

 Imported all my pics from fuckr/flickr/whatever.

Phew

Some of the old stuff looks awful, but I think it's all going to stay for now.  New stuff will be happening.  Most definitely.

Long time since I've been here, and ultimately all this guff may go onto my website when I sort it out again. Meantime... after several months of nothingness, I now have a new camera which I'm roadtesting and loving. The Mamiya 7II may just be about perfect for me. Medium format 6x7, but portable! woohoo! The first roll through was some luverrly Ilford Delta 3200, basically to get used to the camera and check out the metering and rangefinder. Some quick and dirty scans from the roll are in my docs section. Next roll in is some old Velvia 100, which will be a tougher test on the metering. First thoughts: 1. My god, but the shutter is quiet - well it would be, being leaf shutter. But woah! 2. Richard in Aperture was right - it does look like a big Fisher Price camera. And that makes people look curiously at it and smile often. Which is better than the looks a digi SLR gets on the whole. 3. Must remember to look at the bright lines, not the whole viewfinder view. D'oh 4. I'm loving 6x7. I was pleased with the framing of all 10 shots on the roll. More thoughts soon