On my way home from work I had to stop & get gas. After I was setting up the gas pump, another car pulled into the station. A man got out & very nicely started asking me if I could spare any money b/c his ex wife called him & he has to go get his kid in Long Beach and only has a dollar on him for gas. I have a tendency to never give people money. I'm not really sure why, but I just don't. I've given people food, etc, but rarely ever money. It could be because I'm not sure if some of the people asking really need it, or because I know how quickly it goes. And so my initial reaction to him was, I'm sorry, I just can't. He was a decent looking person. He asked around other people at the gas station. I'm not really sure if he was able to get money or not, but when he went back to his car & started to get gas, I was getting into my car and looked at him. He said, $4.13. Embarrassing. ($4.13 being the cost of gas at this station at this time.) I said to him, it's alright.
As I got into my car, I started thinking why did I say that? It's not alright to him. I don't mind him asking for money, but he must be embarrassed asking for it. Now I feel bad. He may or may not have a kid that he has to go pick up in the middle of the night, but the more I thought about him, the more I believed him. Unfortunately, I had left the gas station. I usually don't feel bad not giving strangers money, but I started thinking about all the hard times we had growing up, not having money & how that $5 I could have given this guy could have been just a blip to me but a lifesaver to him at this moment. After all, of all the times I go to get gas, this one time, at this particular station, this is the moment where someone seemingly needs help and being able to, I don't. Why?
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Polly's Photos
I've been listening to the new PJ Harvey album a lot. It has so grown on me. I love the songs & they're going over again in my head throughout the day (currently 'On Battleship Hill' and 'In The Dark Places'). I guess something has to be said for that. She'll be at Coachella this year & I'm so so so annoyed I can't go b/c they don't sell single day passes.
I was just going through my Diana F+ pictures, and with the songs stuck in my head & thinking about photography, I thought of some pictures I saw of her that I really liked. Like this one of her that I found on Maria Mochnacz's website. It was the original cover idea for 'Stories'.
Photo: Maria Mochnacz
A current one taken for the new album/promos, I believe by Seamus Murphy since he's been so involved with the new album:
Photo: Seamus Murphy
There is this whole feather thing going on. I'm guessing the symbolism as the head dress representing culture & war, but I reckon it's just my opinion. Seamus Murphy has also shot 12 videos for each song off her new album. There are many of them out now & can be seen on YouTube. Links for both photographers below.
http://www.mariamochnacz.co.uk/pjharvey/17pjharvey.asp
http://seamusmurphy.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/letenglandshake
I was just going through my Diana F+ pictures, and with the songs stuck in my head & thinking about photography, I thought of some pictures I saw of her that I really liked. Like this one of her that I found on Maria Mochnacz's website. It was the original cover idea for 'Stories'.
A current one taken for the new album/promos, I believe by Seamus Murphy since he's been so involved with the new album:
There is this whole feather thing going on. I'm guessing the symbolism as the head dress representing culture & war, but I reckon it's just my opinion. Seamus Murphy has also shot 12 videos for each song off her new album. There are many of them out now & can be seen on YouTube. Links for both photographers below.
http://www.mariamochnacz.co.uk/pjharvey/17pjharvey.asp
http://seamusmurphy.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/letenglandshake
Monday, April 4, 2011
Lomoland
I've decided that they named the Diana F+ because there are even more ways to fuck up your film than with your standard Diana camera. First off, I have that giant kit with all the bells & whistles. That includes a 35mm back, which I've already damaged, having it less than a year. I keep my camera in my bag all the time, everywhere I go. I don't have a case for it, b/c I just don't want to cover it up, but that has managed to get me a broken off tiny plastic lever that used to switch between panoramic & normal framing. Oopsy. I've still managed to get it to slide over, but it's a major pain in the ass. I was pretty mad at myself for that one.
Next, I've basically tried out all the lenses that came with the kit, however, I have been extremely bad about writing down what lens I used with what shot, and what settings I had it at, so it's anyone's guess when looking at the pictures. I just recently got 4 rolls of film back from the lab which span from last summer to last month. All are 35mm film, 3 redscale 100 & 1 expired color neg. I'm only now on my very first roll of 120. Thinking back I've never shot on 120 before so this will be interesting. I was very confused by the paper wrapper thing, but hopefully didn't fuck it up too much. I did fuck it up just a tad... Oh by the way, the 120 has no rewind? Agh! Horrible. Also, it advances by itself in my bag. Great. When you only have 16 pictures, you really don't want to loose 2 frames to accidental advancement. Do yourself a favor, don't advance the wheel until you're ready to shoot the next frame!
I've decided I'm not a huge fan of redscale. Half the time I forgot that was what was in my camera, and that the ISO is only 100, so a lot of photos didn't come out too well. I really should study up more on how to use my lenses more effectively & if I ever try redscale again, how to get better pictures out of it. I've seen other people's pictures using redscale & I'm quite jealous. I did manage to get some cool shots at least.
I had all these grand plans of photo shoots but so far, a year later, I'm still just snapping off casual photos. I hope the horrid price of developing w/ sprocket holes will motivate me into being more selective in what I'm shooting. I really like the idea of getting the film scanners Lomography has for 120 & 35mm film, but I don't have a scanner to use them with. It certainly would save me some money in the long run if I keep shooting as much as I do.
I'm not sure how to get a more round picture out of my fisheye lens. I think because I had such a wide back plate on, it prevented that cool circle. Also I must be a moron while using the telephoto lens. I really had no idea how far out & how far cropped it'd be. I took a picture of a building & when I got the film back, I was trying to figure out why on earth I took a picture of the tops of some random buildings. Whoops. I had completely cut out the subject of my photo & didn't even realize it. The close up lens for the 55m wide angle lens is still a strange one to me. First off, when you have the wide lens on, and you adjust the focus range to the shortest distance, then put the close up lens on, it bumps the focus range b/c it'll stay on better when the focus range is far. I'm not even sure what pictures I used it on so testing these lenses out should have been more of a project to me than it was. I should probably buy a cheap roll of film and do an actual lens test, actually write down some info, and perhaps read those manuals.
Anyway... here are some shots I like from rolls #3-6.
Roll #4:
Roll #5:
Roll #6:
Next, I've basically tried out all the lenses that came with the kit, however, I have been extremely bad about writing down what lens I used with what shot, and what settings I had it at, so it's anyone's guess when looking at the pictures. I just recently got 4 rolls of film back from the lab which span from last summer to last month. All are 35mm film, 3 redscale 100 & 1 expired color neg. I'm only now on my very first roll of 120. Thinking back I've never shot on 120 before so this will be interesting. I was very confused by the paper wrapper thing, but hopefully didn't fuck it up too much. I did fuck it up just a tad... Oh by the way, the 120 has no rewind? Agh! Horrible. Also, it advances by itself in my bag. Great. When you only have 16 pictures, you really don't want to loose 2 frames to accidental advancement. Do yourself a favor, don't advance the wheel until you're ready to shoot the next frame!
I've decided I'm not a huge fan of redscale. Half the time I forgot that was what was in my camera, and that the ISO is only 100, so a lot of photos didn't come out too well. I really should study up more on how to use my lenses more effectively & if I ever try redscale again, how to get better pictures out of it. I've seen other people's pictures using redscale & I'm quite jealous. I did manage to get some cool shots at least.
I had all these grand plans of photo shoots but so far, a year later, I'm still just snapping off casual photos. I hope the horrid price of developing w/ sprocket holes will motivate me into being more selective in what I'm shooting. I really like the idea of getting the film scanners Lomography has for 120 & 35mm film, but I don't have a scanner to use them with. It certainly would save me some money in the long run if I keep shooting as much as I do.
I'm not sure how to get a more round picture out of my fisheye lens. I think because I had such a wide back plate on, it prevented that cool circle. Also I must be a moron while using the telephoto lens. I really had no idea how far out & how far cropped it'd be. I took a picture of a building & when I got the film back, I was trying to figure out why on earth I took a picture of the tops of some random buildings. Whoops. I had completely cut out the subject of my photo & didn't even realize it. The close up lens for the 55m wide angle lens is still a strange one to me. First off, when you have the wide lens on, and you adjust the focus range to the shortest distance, then put the close up lens on, it bumps the focus range b/c it'll stay on better when the focus range is far. I'm not even sure what pictures I used it on so testing these lenses out should have been more of a project to me than it was. I should probably buy a cheap roll of film and do an actual lens test, actually write down some info, and perhaps read those manuals.
Anyway... here are some shots I like from rolls #3-6.
Roll #4:
Roll #5:
Roll #6:
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