Learning to See

The Lost Boys

March 12th, 2010 § 0

Actor Corey Haim passed away a couple of days ago. Best known in his child-actor days for the movie The Lost Boys and for being interlinked with fellow actor Corey Feldman. They earned the nickname, the two Coreys, and it followed them into adulthood.

I photographed the two Coreys in 1987, a few months after The Lost Boys premiered. I was working with a publicist doing PR photos for a nightclub, the Tunnel. It was the first client I had acquired on my own and my first assignment for them.

The two Coreys were 15 and 16, out partying and checking in on a fashion show at the Tunnel.

Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, and models. The Tunnel, New York City, 1987.

Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, and models. Andre Van Pier Fashion Show, 1987.

I don’t know what they went on to do that night. I called it quits at about 1am but was asked to run the film to the NY Post immediately. I eagerly obliged my new client, happy at the prospect of a published picture but not knowing that the Post was at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge and that the photo editor wasn’t due in until 7am.

*Miles Davis at the Tunnel: Re-Birth of the Cool.

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Mr. JOBO Risin’ (not)

March 9th, 2010 § 0

Word comes this morning that insolvency proceedings against JOBO were initiated last week (via Online Photographer.)

JOBO holds many memories for me. They manufactured home/small-studio processors for film and prints. I didn’t get one until I started shooting 4×5 and was looking for a more consistent, less hands-in-the-chemicals, method of running the film than in trays. The JOBO CPP2 provided the answer. Large, very plastic, somehow it worked in spite of itself. How many hours did I spend in the company of this device? I can’t begin to fathom. For my personal work alone – I might come back from a trip with a couple hundred sheets of 4×5 Tri-x and the JOBO could only run 10 sheets at a time.

JOBO Expert Drum for 4x5 Film

It worked well enough that I ran my 35mm and 120mm b&w in it as well. The roll film module enabled eight or ten rolls to be run by extending the processing tube further and further. With a metal core in it you could use metal reels and in the end it provided a more civilized method than using two 4-reel stainless steel tanks simultaneously (aka – old school.)

I sold my JOBO equipment 4-5 years ago as the switch to digital became complete. While I had no problem parting with it, it’s hard to hear of JOBO’s demise and not think of the countless hours I spent running that device. Lots of whirring as it rotated, the fact that it was all still a very much wet process (the processing drums rested in a temperature controlled basin of water), the setup, the cleanup, and once all was done using the foot pump to pop the lid on the 4×5 expert drum and see the processed film for the first time.

JOBO did try transition to digital with small digital storage devices, digital frames, gps units, and a few other items. None of the new product line seemed to have legs but more importantly none of them provided what JOBO’s processor line had, a niche market to ensure JOBO’s survival.

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Burnett on the Iranian Revolution

March 2nd, 2010 § 0

CPN Europe has a wonderful interview with David Burnett on his work covering the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Film, slow ISO’s (Kodachrome and Tri-X, even Tri-X @ ISO 400 qualifies as slow these days), slower lenses, manual focus, maneuvering to get the film out of the country, a different time. But Burnett makes the case that even though technology has advanced over the interim, people and history remain quite similar.

Additional interview and story at NYT’s Lens blog from last September.

Burnett’s book, 44 Days: Iran and the Remaking of the World, and web site.

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On the Scent

February 28th, 2010 § 0

Saturday evening found me over by the canal on the Princeton/West Windsor border, Sunday afternoon I was back nearby at the Updike Farmstead (previous posts – here and here). Both areas qualify as falling within the remaining buffer and both will remain so since they are protected areas.

Delaware-Raritan Canal, February 27, 2010

Post-sunset, same spot, it was all about the color.

Updike Farmstead on Sunday:

Updike Farmstead, February 28, 2010

Old growth forest, deer tracks.

I brought Bix with me on both outings. On Sunday, there was a large herd of deer watching us. At first they hid in the trees. But then on our way back, the deer, having had enough, darted out across an empty field and back into the woods. I have never seen a herd this large, 2-3 dozen strong. Bix, whose fur is so overgrown he can barely see, missed the action visually but was all too happy to explore the tracks left out in the open.

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Guess Things Happen That Way

February 25th, 2010 § 0

iTunes just sold their ten billionth song, Johnny Cash’s Guess Things Happen That Way. Kind of cool that it’s Johnny Cash, that the title fits, that its got a great jaunty spare 50’s production quality to it, and that it’s out of the current mainstream.

And now, ladies and gentleman, Mr. Johnny Cash:

Guess Things Happen That Way on iTunes.

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Quick, Before the Snow is Gone (?)

February 24th, 2010 § 1

*This is a 2/26 re-edit of this post. I first published it on 2/24 running the photos in color. Since then I came up with a b&w conversion I am much happier with – so out went the color.*

I rushed last weekend to complete some more work on the buffer project. I know I’ll continue when the weather gets nicer but I wanted to get some more images while the snow was still around. It seemed having the contrast would make the images more graphic and this past Monday onward the forecast called for warmer weather (40’s) and rain. Surely, the snow would be gone within a few days…

Well, we still have 6″-8″ left and now are due for 10″-16″ more, starting tonight and continuing into Friday.

Washington Road Fields

Harrison Street, Millstone River

Seminary Drive Fields

I have reworked the five images from the previous buffer posts (here and here) with the new b&w conversion.

Seminary Drive Fields

Alexander Road Fields

Some equipment and software notes:

All of the raw images were processed in Aperture 3, some received additional work in Photoshop.
The b&w conversion was done in Aperture 3. I created a platinum-esque preset which tones the image and alters the tonal curve a bit.
The top five images are composites made with the Canon TS-E 24mm II lens, in each case combining three images into one.
I’ve been testing a new tripod head, the Arca-Swiss C1 Cube. It’s a joy to use – simple, very quick, rock solid, and an engineering marvel. Its built-in levels are quite accurate and negate the need to add a bubble level to the camera’s hot shoe. I’ve come to love the fact that it has two pan controls. One at the bottom and one at the top, above the leveling controls. This way you can orient the head with the bottom control first (a rough line up or if the head needs a different orientation relative to the tripod), level the head, and then fine tune the pan with the topmost pan control. Since the head is already level adjusting the top pan won’t throw it out of alignment.

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Aperture 3.0.1 Update

February 24th, 2010 § 0

Apple has just released an update to Aperture 3. You can access the update via Software Update in your System Preferences or as a standalone file from here.

From the release notes:

This update improves overall stability and addresses a number of issues in Aperture 3, including: