Photography

Photography is an area of interest/hobby of mine. It's a useful hobby for a designer. My digital Nikon in particular is an indespensible tool.

 
   
I maintain a plot in the Newark Street Community Garden close to where I live. A hastily made stitch job of my plot is below, click the image to open a larger view in a new window. Early in the season I had problems with deer jumping my fence and eating my unripe tomatoes, young sunflowers, and bean plants. So I build a bigger fence out of 2x3 stock.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This camera was used to take the following five photos. This is a Kodak Six-16 with a Kodak Doublet lens. It was made in the mid 1930s. I got this as a present about 4 years ago and I'm practically the first person to use it because it was in pristine condition. Virtually no wear, no pinholes in the 70+ year old fabric bellows, no problems with the shutter or lens.

These were taken at Coney Island.

 
 
This camera took Kodak 616 roll film, which was made from 1932 until 1984. It's a little wider than the current medium format film, but I've been able to thread this camera with new 120 roll film. I gives me negatives that are 2.75 by 4 inches long. Big. I always request uncut negs from the developer so I can scan and crop to my liking. With 120 film I can get about 7 shots per roll—and even then the images will overlap on the roll. When finished shooting a roll I need to put the film back on the plastic roll (can't leave it on the 616 spool because it's too wide and would get essentially get exposed)—so I get in a pitch dark room and unspool the film, and spool it back onto the plastic 120 format spool. And then trot it over to the camera store for developing.  
 
This camera was not high-end for its time, was it wasn't a cheapo toy either. It was an art-deco styled one-up on earlier similar models. The viewfinder is simply a wedge of glass with a mirror, and can be pivoted to the side if I want to turn the camera on its side for a landscape-oriented shot. It has three shutter speeds plus a bulb setting which can take any modern day shutter-release cord.  
 
I enjoy using this camera, it's a trip to see what you get with a device that was never intended to take color film. Or to be used in the 21st century. I don't get light leaks with the Six-16, which can't be said for the Holga. This camera likes broad daylight, esp with the 160 iso 120 film. The negs usually scan dark blue/green—aside from the minimum of color correction/levels these are unaltered photos because I want to see what the vintage hardware is capable of, not photoshop.  
 
 

This is a Holga. It takes the same medium-format film that I put in the Six-16. The Holga is a cheaply made point-and shoot (not an SLR) with no electrical system except for the flash, which makes a high-pitched whine when charging. The Holga has bad light leaks even when taped around the back door panel. It's very much a shoot-from-the-hip camera and involves a lot of guesswork to focus properly. It is very un-digital, gives seemingly random results, tends to vignette and blur outside of the center of the frame—which is why Holga users love this camera.

These were taken in Takoma Park, Maryland, and New York.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
These were taken in Brooklyn. It's a photogenic borough.
 
 
 
 
 
 
These were taken in Washington DC. It's my home, and I never find it lacking in things to photograph. It offers a good variety of people, places, and architecture despite its reputation as a stiff, federal city.