First Portrait On Film

[Kav]

I have had a year that has been bad beyond words for me. I will not go into details, but photography has helped me to keep my sanity along with some amazing friends. In particular shooting on film has been therapeutic. It's time consuming and you have to think about it. Instant gratification need not apply here. I have been shooting digital, but I had gotten a Graflex Speed Graphic and have been using it to document my time here. I'd like to share a shot from the first batch of film from my Graflex of an amazing friend that flew to the other side of the world to tell me it's going to all be OK some day:

This is a photo of a 4x5 contact print. It looks soooooo much better in person. Out of all of the the prints, this one looks the worst in person, but showed up the best on the quick photo I took.

Taken with a 1945 Graflex Anniversary Speed Graphic (from the USS Alabama) with a Kodak 127mm F/4.7. Shot with Kodak Portra 400.



My first time shooting large format, and shooting with out a light meter.

[bobwysiwyg]

Congratulations. Nice shot, particularly considering no meter. I've not done as well WITH a meter sometimes. Wish you continued success and enjoyment with your camera.

P.S. Can I ask how you know the origins of your of your camera? Sounds like it might be an interesting story in itself.

[cliveh]

Kav, I have often advocated darkroom work as a wonderful therapeutic activity to help reduce stress. Your post seems to support that view.

[Kav]

Congratulations. Nice shot, particularly considering no meter. I've not done as well WITH a meter sometimes. Wish you continued success and enjoyment with your camera.

P.S. Can I ask how you know the origins of your of your camera? Sounds like it might be an interesting story in itself.

Thanks! I will be sending some of the negatives back to the states to get scanned and enlarged. I'll hold off on posting the others until I get that done.

The camera was an eBay find. It's in great shape and came the case and most importantly with the bill of sale from 1946 from the Navy to the first civilian owner. The bill of sale is embossed with the seal of the USS Alabama. It also has all the serial numbers listed on it, and they match the camera. The funny thing about it that's I bought it to document our deployment out here in Africa. So it started out with the military, and after about a 65 year hiatus it's back in use with the military. (I've been tasked with being the photog for our deployment, and have been having the time of my life with it. If you want you can see some of the digital photos here: http://kavanaughmp.smugmug.com/Deployment/Djibouti-2011 and here: http://kavanaughmp.smugmug.com/Animals ) It's been a hit on base, but due to the cost of film and the time required to lug it around I do not take many non work related photos with it. Someone also just donated a well nice Hasselbad 500ELX and some film to me. That was a surprise to say the least, so I've been shooting with that too.

[Kav]

Kav, I have often advocated darkroom work as a wonderful therapeutic activity to help reduce stress. Your post seems to support that view.

That's one thing I'd love to learn... How to develop my own film. But that will have to wait for now. There is no way I could have a darkroom out here. But for now I'm enjoying the shooting aspect of photography. But I do hate that it takes SOOOOOO LOOOONG to get the film developed. It has to go from Africa to the US, get develped, go back to Africa, I pick out the ones I want prints made of and/or scanned, send those back to the US, have that done, get them sent back to Africa. It takes awhile...

[cliveh]

Kav, that need not be the case. It is very easy to develop black & white film with very limited darkroom avaiklability.

[keithwms]

Hang in there Kav, I know what it's like to have very bad years!

Nice work. Keep it up!

[Kav]

Kav, that need not be the case. It is very easy to develop black & white film with very limited darkroom avaiklability.

It's something I will look into when I get home, but out here I am very short on space I have about 7' by 7' of personal space to work with. And half of that is taken up by the bed I sleep on. Maybe I'll set up a darkroom in my house back home and once I understand what I am doing I'll take a small darkroom with me the next time I get deployed.

[guitstik]

Kav, you don't need a large space. Before your camera was even new military and war correspondent photographers were developing and in some cases even printing in the field in less than primitive conditions. Obviously you have access to a computer so google it and see what you come up with. Good luck, keep shooting (pics) and hang in there.

[bobwysiwyg]

Thanks! I will be sending some of the negatives back to the states to get scanned and enlarged. I'll hold off on posting the others until I get that done.

The camera was an eBay find. It's in great shape and came the case and most importantly with the bill of sale from 1946 from the Navy to the first civilian owner. The bill of sale is embossed with the seal of the USS Alabama. It also has all the serial numbers listed on it, and they match the camera. The funny thing about it that's I bought it to document our deployment out here in Africa. So it started out with the military, and after about a 65 year hiatus it's back in use with the military. (I've been tasked with being the photog for our deployment, and have been having the time of my life with it. If you want you can see some of the digital photos here: http://kavanaughmp.smugmug.com/Deployment/Djibouti-2011 and here: http://kavanaughmp.smugmug.com/Animals ) It's been a hit on base, but due to the cost of film and the time required to lug it around I do not take many non work related photos with it. Someone also just donated a well nice Hasselbad 500ELX and some film to me. That was a surprise to say the least, so I've been shooting with that too.

Thanks for explaining the cams background. Also, thanks for the links to you other shots, very interesting. Keep 'clicking.'