June 2015 portraits

[Greenspeed]

Schneider 135mm with Carl Zeiss Softar III filter. Kodak t-max, Rodinal 1:75
Griffith Lookout, NSW, Australia

[AGagnon]

Very nice, you should shoot the wife more often.

I like the lighting, contrast, focus etc.

But, (possibly needless advice here): if here eyes really are different-sized, it's best to seat her with the bigger eye farthest away from the camera. The smaller eye being closer to the camera will compensate the difference, while this position emphasizes the difference.

Thanks! I was curious about the smaller eye too since she has normal eyes. Maybe I was not far enough? The lens was 210mm so I was about 3 feet from her.

[mdarnton]

It looks like you caught her just going into or coming out of a blink, and her two eyelids were perhaps not exactly synched in that. I don't perceive the far eye as smaller, but rather partly closed. I wouldn't worry about it unless it happens again and habitually.

[Peter De Smidt]

3 feet is close enough to have a noticeable "what's closer to the camera will look bigger" effect.

[jp]

[/ATTACH]Attachment 135086An 8X10 shot at the studio this weekend.

That stare is not something we normally have in portraits, and the lighting is sorta plain, but the lighting goes with their style. I like this as it does a good job being different.

[djdister]

That stare is not something we normally have in portraits, and the lighting is sorta plain, but the lighting goes with their style. I like this as it does a good job being different.

True enough, but the modern running shoes on the middle person kind of spoils the "old-time" look.

[jp]

True enough, but the modern running shoes on the middle person kind of spoils the "old-time" look.

It doesn't spoil it, but makes anachronism or juxtaposition. It conveys some of the differences between the women too.

[RPippin]

I made contact prints of these negatives last night and they came out wonderful. I'll scan them and post. They were having a grand time with the shoot and it's telling on a couple of the shots. The hardest thing I had to do is get them to stop smiling. Mennonite and Amish people are not always willing subjects to photograph, but these girls were game. I met a guy I really wanted to shoot up in Pennsylvania who looked and had all the mannerisms of Harpo Marks, but no go. What I really love about this shoot was how totally out of context these girls were. Although from the Mennonite order, they were not they typical closed and unapproachable type of people most associate with. That is to say, not stereotypical. I was going for a straight forward, no frills kind of image.

[jp]

I think the Mennonite photo would make a nice pt/pd print or other alt process print as long as it's done contemporary and not "old-timey". Just handmade and smooth.

[RPippin]

Platinum it will be. That was the reason for shooting it with 8X10. Just for the record. I love it when I get people off the street or people I meet at random to come in for an impromptu shoot. No staging, no costumes. Just come and stand in front of the camera. There has been no attempt to create a look or make anything other then what you see. Many of my portraits are shot with an old B&J 5X7 with an old brass barrel rapid rectilinear and contact printed on P/P. I make no attempt to make an image look "old timey" other than by virtue of camera, lens, and process. I'm including another scan that was staged, mostly for documentary purposes, and will be in P/P as well.