"Do you think you can tell?"

Exp: 50mm @ f/1.8 - 1/30th
Film: Kodak TMax 400
File: 12-11
At: -/2m
On: Ilford RC grade 4 8x10

This train was just pulling in to the station on a hazy day earlier this month. Sort of unusual to see an engine like this.

Just kidding. This is a G-scale (1/24th) model train I got a picture of at the train show with Marc a few weeks ago. I played with some of the development aspects to bring out a haziness in the final photo. Since I had my lens wide open, the depth of field was very short. Also the person in the background kind of looks like a big entrance that the train could have come through. The only thing really giving it away is the tracks.

"(and) did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?"

Exp: 28mm f/11 - 1/500 ... ish?

Film: Fuji Neopan 400 iso

File: 4-6

Print: Dodge burn 30sec +- 15 seconds (grade 4 matte)

The meta-information I usually provide is a bit different this time. I don't recall and didn't record my f/stop and exposure times, but judging by the depth of field and my memory of the lighting conditions, it looks to be f/11, which would have put this at around 1/500th, plus or minus a stop. It was a bright day and the "sunny 16" rule would have held. This rule of thumb says that at f/16 (which is only a couple of stops away from being a pinhole camera) on a sunny day, your shutter speed should be the reciprocal of the iso. I rarely use f/16 or higher because of a lack of sharpness at higher f stops (diffraction is to blame here, otherwise we'd use pinhole cameras), and an iso of 400 would mean 1/500th or 1/1000 would work for this exposure.

The negative had a very strong contrast between the top and bottom of this print, as the sunlight was very bright against the white surface. As a result I decided to use a gradient exposure on the print under the enlarger to darken the base and lighten the top. I did this by setting the timer for 45 seconds, covering the print, and slowly uncovering the print from the bottom up until there were only 20 seconds left to expose the top. Without doing this either the top is too dark, or the bottom is too light. I also played with some of the lighting in this print with iphoto, and had to uncrop the easeling my scanner tried to get rid of with Gimp - a free variant of Photoshop. Gimp can have a steep learning curve, so I tend to do some simple things in iPhoto for sanity.

The original negative is from a pre-baby trip we took to the National Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial in DC this summer. This memorial isn't as popular as it should be; I think most people don't really know it exists until a name they know is etched into the wall there. On the left of the print you can see some names of US law enforcement killed in the line of duty. It's a bit like the Vietnam memorial, except that the names are on a soft white surface instead of a glossy black one. One of the design ideas behind the Vietnam memorial was to reflect visitor's images in the names; I heard somewhere it was to get people to realize that someone just like them is in every name. Anyway I think it's a shame that visitors are more likely to visit statues of ghosts, rather than pay homage to heroes like these.

Another photo from the same roll of film appeared a while ago on this blog, "How they lived." I just looked back on that post, and I feel like I'm making progress. I hope I can say the same thing in another 6 months.

Also, here is a sample of some work I did as a pilot in commercial photography. I haven't figured out what I would charge for this kind of "everyday" work yet, but email me if you're interested. I'm likely more reasonable than most "professionals." If the lens flare in this picture isn't your style (I like it!) see the alternative picture further down, that might be more your speed.

The other bonus is that I license digital images under Creative Commons na 2.5, which means that unlike most cruel photographers who stamp your images with idiotic copyright watermarks and force your friends and family to pay for prints, you can share my digitals and print as many copies as you like. I mean, you already paid for the photographer to take the pictures, why do so many of these jerks try to squeeze a few extra dimes out of your friends and family? Again, all of my digitals for all time will be under this license, unless I explicitly state otherwise.

Anyway here's one more from the shoot. I made a special print of it for them in which I brought out more detail of the snow behind them. If you visit the Richart's, maybe you'll see it in their foyer!

This is the single frame I managed to capture of a baby smiling with it's parents. No easy feat, let me tell you.

"Hot ashes for trees"

Exp: 28mm @ f/2.8 - 1/60th

Film: Kodak TMax 400

File: 7-2

At: 1/1m

On: RC Ilford Warm Tone 8x10

This is a photograph of a sculpture which contains some of my dad's ashes - printed on trees - aka warm tone paper. The title and composition are a mix of metaphorical and literal interpretation. I decided one day in September that I wanted this picture and when we happened to visit my mom I got it in one exposure. I visualized the light from the middle of the metallic reflection on zone V, which gave the dolphins nice contrast with the darker base.

One of several of prints of this negatives is above my son's crib - which is what I wanted it for. His namesake is someone he'll never meet, but my dad is someone we'll make sure he knows. This picture is there more to remind us of that; he's just a baby!

I made a lot of "work" prints to get this just right, and I finally achieved the desired effect with "warm tone" paper. It was the first time I used warm and cool tone paper - which changes contrast and exposure time by about a stop. Warm tone paper is a full stop slower than the regular multigrade paper, so a "strait" print would have been 30sec, and a cool tone print took only 15 seconds.

"Hot air for a cool breeze"

Exp: 50mm @ f/4 - 1/500th

Film: Ilford Delta 100

File: 8-31

At: -/ 55

On: RC Ilford Grade 4 pearl (matte) 8x10

This is a picture of Great Falls park in Maryland from earlier in the fall. Claire and I decided to go for a hike there on her due date. Little did we know it was going to be another 12 days before our little guy came.

Anyway I really liked the symmetry of this composition, and the brightness of the sky and water almost makes it look orthochromatic. After I printed this I went out and got a #25 and #58 wratten number filters by Tiffen, these are red and green filters respectively. They pull down the overexposed sky for cloud details and mess with contrast and different tones - in the case of #58, foliage can be drastically affected.

I learned from reading my books on Ansel Adams that when photography was still immature, it was common for photographers to use a second negative with clouds on it to add to pictures like this. Apparently people just didn't notice that the same clouds seemed to follow these photographers wherever they went!

"Cold comfort for change"

Exp: 50mm @ f/8 - 1/250th

Film: Ilford Delta 400

File: 11-12

At: -/ 1.30

On: RC Ilford Grade 4 pearl (matte) 8x10

They say that it is the job of any artist to to document their place in history, which is what I had in my head when I decided I wanted this picture. This was the first of these I've seen in our neighborhood in a long time, and I was intrigued by this story. How much did they have to concede in order to sell? They obviously were happy at this house, who puts a statue and a plant out if they aren't? We're happy where we are right now, so like most people, we feel like it would be crazy to move, and give up so much potential future equity while the market is only just recovering. And recovering it is, slowly but surely if this photo is any evidence. But people will always desire to move ahead and forward, even if it means giving up that which was familiar and comforting.

As I go it's becoming easier to visualize what kind of a picture I want, and get it on a negative with one or two exposures. This was my goal all along with film photography, and I'm still finding that the added expense of film doesn't justify a much more expensive digital camera.

It took me a while to get to making this print, even though I've had the negative for a while because I took some extra time to construct a light trap for our bathroom (my darkroom) door. This is just a frame with handles on it that fits around the door. It's covered in a special black-out cloth to keep out the light. This worked great, except for one unexpected side effect. When you set up a trap like this, it also makes a pneumatic seal around the door. When I fired up the bathroom fan for ventilation, there was enough negative air pressure to cause the frame to fall inward, on me.

"(and) Did you exchange..."

Exp: 50mm + 17 diopter @ f/1.8 - 1/8th
Film: Kodak Tmax 400
File: 9-6
At: - / 40
On: Resin Coated Grade 4 pearl (matte) 8x10

Exp: 50mm @ f/4 - 1/125th
Film: Ilford Delta 3200
File: 10-5
At: 1 / 50

On: Resin Coated Grade 4 Glossy 8x10

Since the birth of my son, I haven't had a chance to do much with photography other than do a little reading and try some experiments. The first print with today's title "(and) did you exchange" is an enormous enlargement of a dime using a 5$ set of diopter magnification filters I bought a couple of weeks ago. They fit both of my 52mm diameter lenses, and should provide lots of fun possibilities. I used the +4 for the feet picture on our family blog - teamsax.blogspot.com. They are split into 4 lenses, 10, 4, 2 and 1, and are additive- I used them all for this picture. 

The exchange made here is not only monetary, but also I've exchanged magnification for depth of field. Being a few degrees off of perpendicular means that the top and bottom of the coin would not be in focus. I didn't have enough light to stop down any further without my hand vibration blurring the picture, and by getting close I imposed quite a shadow on the subject. Photography is often about exchanging one variable for another.

I couldn't get away with not putting a picture of my new baby boy up too, and I'm proud to display the first print I've made of little Karl - the fourth Sax to bear the name in the last century. The exchange here is in reference to the pictured care provider on the day of his birth. We exchanged a hospital birth for a home one, an OB for a midwife, and medical interventions for the Bradley method. It is rare in our society to encounter such a value, for 3k$ we had a team of them standing by with us at every contraction, checking to make sure we were safe and guiding us along the way throughout the night and most of the 21 hours of active labor.

Without these wonderful people, and our commitment to our own success, I am certain that Karl's birth would have ended in a cesarean section. Instead, we got a *very* healthy little boy, and my wonderful wife is sitting beside me with a *much* easier recovery than she would have had otherwise. The only downside is that our insurance did not cover this wonderful experience. Where a hospital vaginal delivery would have cost 6k$, and the inevitable c-section would have cost 12k$ (and put Claire at risk for MRSA, among other things) the insurance company fails to realize the enormous savings that would result if they did not deny this coverage, and allowed more women to choose a midwife. This is why we need health care reform, and why we shouldn't be so fearful of how our society might "pay" for it. Often, a doctor knows best, and acts in the best interest of the safety of their patients, but in some situations, such as birth, they are acting on the needs of a society more concerned with litigation and convenience than on sound medicine.

With health care reform, we just might save money, and lives.

"A walk on part in the war"

Exp: 50mm - f/4 - 1/60th

Film: ilford delta 100

File: 8 - 30

At: -/55

We ran into this blue heron while on a walk in Great Falls Maryland. It's important to the title to understand that this bird is hunting, as part of a constant fight for it's survival. We were able to be within feet of it because we are so insignificant to this fight. In this case my part was the walk on role.

I have a few other nice negatives and prints from this trip that may show up later on in this series as well.

Edit: This picture looks much nicer if you click on it and view it at full resolution. 600dpi doesn't do it justice, but that's a huge improvement over the small picture shown in the body of the post.