Domo Aragato, Mr. Roboto -- the Film Version

In early July I had a post called Domo Aragato, Mr. Roboto. It featured some still lifes I made with my dad's old toys and my Pentax K-7. This week I'll share some of the film photos I took that night along with the camera I used.

Pentax 6X7 (Fuji 100 Acros)


Minolta SRT 102 (Foma 100)






Pentax Spotmatic SPII (Foma 100)

Yellow filter (note that the red caboose is substantially lighter than a red caboose would normally be while the blue robot in the front is very dark.)


Red filter (here the red caboose is dark enough to read the white American Flyer text, mostly due to a slightly longer exposure time, and the robot is much darker than in the previous image.)


Blue filter (here the caboose is dark and the robot much lighter.)

Filters work by cutting lights waves that don't pass through the glass color. So a red filter actually cuts all the light waves except red. The further the color rests on the spectrum from the filter color, the more effectively that filter blocks it. So red filters make blue dark gray or black and blue filters make reds dark gray or black.

Canon RT (Kodak Double-X, 5222)






Zeiss Ikon Contaflex (Kodak Double-X, 5222)














Canon AE-1 (Kodak Plus-X 125)

Introduction to the Canon AE-1: Video 2 of 2

Introduction to the Canon AE-1: Video 1 of 2

Canon's AE-1 35mm film SLR introduced many people to photography. This compact, light camera offered a substantial feature array at a competitive, entry-level price.

Canon achieved this price through the AE-1's computer-designed modular structure, computer designs that reduced the parts required by about 300 pieces, and plastic body and operational components. The construction has led to this camera having a considerable usable life, but the plastic components wear more easily than metal and can break in less time.

The first-ever CPU-controlled camera, the AE-1 features automatic exposure (hence the name AE) and metering that took between 0.001 and 0.04 seconds, depending on available light.

How to get Yelled at by a Hobo

San Francisco has a LOT of homeless people. Mostly, they keep to themselves. Sometimes, however, they decide not to. Now, let me first preface this by saying that in eight months of daily trips to SF, this is the first interaction I've had with a hobo that is in any way close to negative. Most are quite, many friendly, even. Last Monday, though , I had one yell at me for taking pictures of the Embarcadero and the artwork on it.

It ended uneventfully. I had crouched to take a couple photos of a column. The hobo began yelling about it being illegal to photograph people. First off, young photographers reading this post, photographing people on the street is in fact NOT illegal in the U.S. There's neither a right nor expectation of privacy. That is if those people are on the street. Now, if you're standing there with your camera and photographing inside someone's home, well, I'm pretty sure that's illegal. And you'd deserve to die in a fire if you did that. Just saying.

So this hobo begins yelling at me and threatening to go buy a video camera and record me photographing things. I stood up, looked at him, and said "yeah, okay." He may not have realized, while I was crouching, that I'm 6'4". He decided to drop the issue and left basically in a run. Want to see the photo he yelled at me for taking?



1/1,000th, f8.
Technically it has people. I framed this shot terribly. My hope was to have the blocks be 1/4 of the final frame each and the blurry street scene the other half. The rest of my evening stroll was lovely and uneventful. Here are some more photos from the day.


1/60th, f4.
"Sir, please, kind sir, I was washed up on the sidewalk here by a big wave. Can you please carry me back to the water?" the turtle said as I walked past.
"Can I take your photo first? It's not every day one meets a talking tortoise."
"Yes, and technically I'm a sea turtle. Tortoises live on land, have big shells. See my hydrodynamic shell? I'm purpose-built for the water."
"Uh-huh." I took the photo, knowing now why no one had taken the sea turtle back to the water. No one wants to save a sarcastic sea turtle, just the cute and quiet ones that come ashore to lay their eggs and not bother people. And, heck, as a civilization we can't really bring ourselves to save those sea turtles. What chance do the sarcastic ones have? "Well, thank you very much for that. Let's get you to the water." I picked up the turtle and began walking toward my Muni stop."
"Sir, kind sir, I don't mean to be a pest, but the water is that way."
"The bay is that way, sure, but you didn't specify the bay. I guess you should have been more specific. The water you're going to is in a pot at my house." I'm glad to report that silly sarcastic turtle soup is just as tasty as the cute and quiet turtle soup.


1/1,000th, f4.
Quebec Libre!


1/60th, f11.
More of Quebec Libre!


1/125th, f5.6
And, like this gull, it's time for me to fly away.

May 5th Project (Part 2 of 2)

As promised, here are the San Francisco images from the Canon AE-1's May 5th roll. These actually weren't taken the 5th.


I've photographed this fountain before, so I kept this part to a minimum. Just three images.
There's another fountain in the park, but it's all naked boys and photographing that would feel creepy. Especially since it's right in front of a church.

Shot two of this fountain. It's one of my favorites. I like its whimsical, fun nature.


This is just a fun fountain to photograph.


The lion was mumbling at me as I walked past, so I took the ring out of the lion's mouth, but he went on about how, in The Chronicles of Narnia, he's an analog for God and that means that holding a ring in his mouth in real life is very humiliating. I mean he really went on like that for twenty minutes. So I put the ring back in his mouth.


One of the Greek mythological characters, and I forgot to write down which one.


Same guy as above, different angle.


Some statues of buildings. I forget exactly where I saw this, but it was a nice way to end the roll.

May 5th Project (Part 1 of 2)

Back on May 5th a photo message board I frequent had a project where a bunch of us from around the world took a roll of film, in its entirety, on May 5th. I admit I only got 24 of the 36 exposures taken. So here, today, are a mix of shots from the May 5th 24-exposure burst. The San Francisco shots will be posted next week.


One of my dogs. The AE-1 takes absolutely amazing photos.And it helps that this dog likes having his photo taken.


The girlfriend and I decided to take the dogs for a walk in downtown Walnut Creek. It went, well, it went. This is the statue in front of the Chase Bank, a statue I've visited before for this blog.


I'm not sure exactly what it is, but to me it looks like three robot dancers trying to swing themselves apart. I kinda dig it, though.


Could you imagine being stuck with this guy for eternity? Having to look at the blank, emotionless face? Wondering if he's mad at you, maybe not, or maybe. Maybe that joke about him not having a nose was just too far? Why else would be be giving you the silent treatment? Then you realize you look exactly like him!


Yup. Exactly like him.


I finished the day with some moon shots -- after a few tree shots. However, none of the moon shots delivered usable results.
Next week, the San Francisco shots.

Park Reopened

For the past few months I've periodically walked past 303 Plaza on Second Street. The plaza has been remodeled with a new fountain and new sculpture (newer than the Google Earth image, anyway.) Thursday was the first time I saw it open, so I jumped at the chance to photograph it. The main lesson learned is I need to go back with a wider lens.


One nice thing about abstract sculptures is that, on film, they become different from their shapes. Their three-dimensional nature, compressed into two dimensions, becomes a perspective and depth trick that makes the shapes something other than they appear to be in person. Monochrome amplifies that by removing color and convering shadows to tones and contrasts.


Here, certainly, one can tell that the sculpture moves away from the camera at quite a steep angle. But the perspective, depth, and lack of color serve to confuse the sculpture's actual height, be it a few feet or more than 20 feet.


Simply shape and form. Three-dimensional objects made flat become abstractions of the actual subject. Certainly this is a photograph of the subject but it is not the subject any more than thinking about eating a doughnut is actually eating a doughnut.


Monochrome can make anything an abstraction. Robbed of color, this polished-flat surface takes on a craggy, textured appearance as though it had fractured instead of having been cut.

AE-1 and a Now-demolished Building

I took my AE-1 into a building that was torn down last week. In fact, as I was making my way around the building, the preliminary demolition crews were in there, thankfully just assuming I was supposed to be. So I managed a few photos from inside the building and outside, too, before walking over to Yerba Buena Gardens.

This combination -- with Kodak Plus-X 125 -- is a fabulous combination and this roll returned a great number of good photos. In fact, today's post has TEN photos. I think that ties the most photos for one day with my Nikon F3, the film camera I think of as returning the best and most consistent shot quality.


Firemen up a ladder, photographing the building I had just been inside of. The old warehouse-turned-sweat-shop-turned-pigeon-and-hobo-coop was pulled down last week to make way for a new fire station.


I was unsure how this shot would turn out. I liked the VERY polished fire truck bell. The result is not unpleasing. Kodak's Plus-X is one of the best films ever made. Top five, certainly, along with engineering masterpieces such as Kodachrome and Velvia. Results like this illustrate why -- rich tonal range and an almost tactile quality.


Inside the building, a ladder leading to the roof. I have all the exposure information for these written down, but have lost my notebook.


A different shot of the ladder. The red filter has darkened the sky and made the near-invisible clouds more prominent. A nice effect hinting at foreboding. So I didn't go on the roof.


Looking through a hole in the wall from the second floor to part of the sweat shop area. For photo processing, this was actually composited from two images, one focused on the wall and one focused on what was below.


After leaving the domed building, I walked to nearby Yerba Buena Gardens and grabbed this shot of the nifty reflections on this building. Each pane reflects a different part of the neighborhood. I'm assuming that was an intentional design idea. It works nicely.


Another building near Yerba Buena.


This is the statue I actually set out to photograph last Monday. The Shaking Man.


I'm told this statue represents a business person and the different meanings a handshake can have. You may remember that I've photographed it before with my Nikon F3 on a rainy day. However, those results were not up to par, so I wanted to try again with better weather.


Overall, these shots turned out somewhat better than the go-round from the end of January.