Sunday, June 21, 2015

1/2 Frame Fun

At a wedding last night I played around with my cheapo 1/2 frame Olympus Pen camera. With this camera instead of getting 36 exposures on a roll you get 72. The light in the dance area was almost non existent but some of the other areas of the hall were more lit up. I did Tri-x with STAND development for 2 hours. Everything was shot at the cameras widest aperture of 3.5 and the one pre-set shutter speed (I think it's 1/60). These super high contrast, super grain, partial focus photos are fun to play with and even more fun to shoot. Not sure how much fun they would be to print thou, probably very difficult to do. I might not be able to reproduce this style look/feel in my darkroom. Going to a wedding is fun, going to a wedding and making my own style photos is SUPER fun! I like mood the 1/2 frame Olympus Pen creates. This is a tiny cheap little almost toy camera, I will probably take it with me to Asia on my next trip, why not, can't hurt. Thanks to everyone at the wedding for being so free and open to the photography.

These photos are so bizarre and different than my usual work, sometimes you cannot even tell whats going on, its just all grain and contrast, anyway it is Fun Fun Fun!! I will be playing with this style a lot more. Half to looking into getting a more adjustable 1/2 frame camera, one I can play with both the f-stops and shutter speeds. I think I like the photos made with this camera best when they are up close to the subject, and there is motion and weird  angled compositions. The best photos seem to be just happy random accidents. Shooting 72 photos per roll certainly helps with finding a few good accidents on your film.