November 2013 portraits

[Stephane]

Len, through a Perscheid 480 @ f/6

[EOTS]

Wow, that's stunning Stephane!

[Simon Liddiard]

Wow, that's stunning Stephane!

Agreed! The tone is so right and smooth. Was it on 8x10?

[SergeiR]

Len, through a Perscheid 480 @ f/6

awesomeness

[Simon Liddiard]

I was on a bicycle for 5 months in New Zealand with my 4x5. Lots of rain, but beautiful. Upon my return home, I wished that my film had come with sheets of paper between each piece of film. From all the rain and the bumpy roads (miles of gravel back then), the sheets of film (TMax100) slid back and forth in the boxes...creating high humidity static discharges (spots instead of streaks). Ruined quite a few negatives, much spotting on the prints on some other images. Paper in between might have prevented it (as would have padding the inside of the box of film a bit more so the film did not move as much.) Ahhh...hindsight!

Vaughn

That is certainly worth knowing!

Actually, no.

No sheets of paper everywhere.

Haha I was being a bit over dramatic! When I was loading the Shanghai it was my first ever brand new box of film and I was not expecting all these extra sheets! I got a bit confused in the dark

Thanks for the detailed step-by-step, it's pretty much the method I use.

[Ken Lee]

Len, through a Perscheid 480 @ f/6

Brilliant !

[ostrygad]

OK, here is another one from my "Gold Polish Autumn" series. Portrait of Melania.

[ScottPhotoCo]

This weekend I was thinking about what a "portrait" is. Is it just a photograph of a person? Could a portrait be a written description of a person or thing? Could it be an image of an inanimate object? So I looked up the definition of portrait:

"por·trait
ˈpôrtrət,-ˌtrāt/Submit
noun
noun: portrait; plural noun: portraits; modifier noun: portrait
1. a painting, drawing, photograph, or engraving of a person, esp. one depicting only the face or head and shoulders.
synonyms: painting, picture, drawing, sketch, likeness, image, study, miniature;

More
a representation or impression of someone or something in language or on film.
"the writer builds up a full and fascinating portrait of a community"

synonyms: description, portrayal, representation, depiction, impression, account; More

This got me thinking, could I make a portrait of an object and words? So of course I had to try. Out came the Deardorff and a variety of lenses. I used a very simple set-up of window light and a low power flashlight to "paint" areas that I wanted to highlight. Then I decided that I wanted to use the contrast of Harman Direct Positive paper to give feature to details in darkness and light. And this happened...


A portrait of words by ScottPhoto.co, on Flickr
Deardorff 8x10 + Ross 12x15 + Harman Direct Positive Paper. 1m:20s exposure.


A portrait of words by ScottPhoto.co, on Flickr
Deardorff 8x10 + Schneider 36cm Xenar + Harman Direct Positive Paper. 1m exposure.

So, is this a portrait? I think so. It makes me look closer at something and lets me see things that perhaps I hadn't seen before. It is certainly "a representation or impression of someone or something in language or on film", and I like it.


Tim
www.ScottPhoto.co

[Ari]

Ostrygad, great shot, great portrait!

Tim, I like your thinking outside the box, and it's a difficult subject to pull off successfully.
Beautiful look and simplicity in your portrait, and gives me much food for thought as well.

[Ramiro Elena]

More
a representation or impression of someone or something in language or on film.
"the writer builds up a full and fascinating portrait of a community"

The definition here refers to film as in movie I understand. The example makes me think so at least. I don't know much English though.
I personally think it is not a portrait at all, but the second image makes a really wonderful still life. I love narrow depth of field with printed text. The light is great too.