a couple more from the big gun

These few aren't the best photos ever, but they are in color.
The white and yellow washed out areas at the top of this frame were supposed to be balloons, but they blew around too much during the 80-second exposure to really register coherently on film.

The washed out area at the left is a light leak, I guess. My bad.

Here's a blowup from the above photo. You can even read the clock off in the distance.

At a climbing gym.

early returns

Here it is, the first batch of legit pix from my 4x5. Let me tell you something about the detail available to you when you're weilding 20 square inches of T-Max 100: there is a lot of it. For example:
Rauner Library, Dartmouth College (click on the pic to see it bigger):

See the lady at the desk at the bottom of the frame?

She's reading my newspaper (headline "What a Winter"). The picture on our left (her right) is mine.

See the book titled "The Fear of God?" Fourth shelf from the top of this blowup, near the left.

Let me zoom in a little more for you.


The detail scans were made at 9600 dpi, which would come in real handy if I wanted to blow these photos up to about 10 by 15 feet at 300 dpi.
The amazing part: this whole 4x5 kit (including film) cost about as much a Canon 30D with a cheap kit lens, and yet it captures something like 40 times more detail.
Just for fun, here is a crop from a 4-megapixel digital SLR of the same area, shot with the equivalent lens from the same position at the same time.

big time

It's here: my new Tachihara 4x5 folding field camera. Hand crafted from cherry wood and brass with all the legendary precision of Chinese engineering. Mounted on the front is a Nikkor-W 135mm f/5.6 lens in a Copal #0 shutter. That's right, I'm shooting Nikon now.

Here's a picture of a camera taking a picture of a camera. Did I just blow your mind?

The first official photo taken by the beast is visible on Channing Johnson's blog, and here's the second, a shot of the beer store next door to the paper. The colors are a little janky on account of I shot it on polaroid film that expired six years ago. (Thrown in for free by Jim at Midwest Photo Exchange, where I got the whole kit. Thanks Jim!) Don't hold your breath for the first shot on actual film (currently working with Velvia 100 and T-Max 100); the closest place I've found that can process it is in Boston.

new pictures

[Quick note: in accordance with company policy, I have removed photos from the blog which belong to the newspaper but were not published in print.]

According to my editor, I'm now the official fake news specialist, having shot two police training drills.

The parents of a local soldier killed in Iraq say goodbye.

Anyone recognize these horses? Yes you do!

sad realization

here's a fact for you: my car is better paid than I am

Based on 1) the fuel economy of the Ford Focus, 2) the rate at which my employer reimburses mileage incurred on the job, and 3) the rate at which my employer reimburses photography interns: My car, driving at 65 mph, actually makes more than twice my hourly wage (even after I pay for the gas). One consequence of this is that when I drove down to UNH to photograph basketball the other day, I made just as much money for the drive there and back (about 4 hours on the road) as I did for the 8 hours I spent on the clock. Now, pictures:

Dear Voting Lady: Thanks for wearing your patriotic hat to go voting today, and also thank you for choosing the sunny voting booth.

To illustrate an column about cellphones, I thought I'd shoot drivers talking on the phone. We didn't end up using any of my stakeout shots, but I was extremely pleased by this one of a guy with not one but two hands on the phone, and smoking a cigarette. If it weren't for the underexposure and the windshield wiper, it would have been perfect.
[photo removed at the request of my employer]
Math prof. If only he had had his hand on the whiteboard, this would have made it into the paper.
[photo removed at the request of my employer]
Lady cop at the basketball game
[photo removed at the request of my employer]

recent non-work

Greenfield, MA

Feb 15, after the blizzard

2 from the gas station

recent work

[photo removed at the request of my employer]