I love that those initial images in black and grey are immediately identifiable as being your work. Though when it changed to color I did gasp out loud. Really love those. The first one right away put me in a place and time somewhere in my nostalgia, something normally only a song or smell can do. Something about the warmth and texture of it all. Looking forward to future captures from this set up.
At best, I’m an amateur with a camera. Black and white makes that easier to hide. It strips everything down to the basics... light and dark, contrast and composition. Fewer variables. Fewer ways to screw it up. So I tend to do better with it. Color photography? Whole different beast. There’s so much more to juggle, and I’m not great at weighing all those elements in the heat of the moment. I shot one roll of black and white on the motor and almost every frame is usable. Then I took more than fifty digital shots… and what you saw posted were the only real keepers. But the faux Kodachrome look is damn close to what I had in my head. Has that subtle Norman Rockwell warmth that Kodachrome always carried for me.... a sort of soft nostalgia. I'm really, really enjoying this... Tardel is building a blown Ardun motor right now and I can't wait for him to finish it so that I can shoot it... I learned a ton this weekend.
Not being a photography buff, I was a little bummed out to find the purported subject of this thread was just a mock up,
Pretty sure this is one of those motors where once it's built, maybe one guy on the whole planet is gonna know what's actually inside it. And Keith doesn't keep a notebook to steal, so...
They are all great photos, but the color really catches the era and draws you in. Those color photos are beautiful and detailed.
Momma don't take my Kodachrome away! Very Kool, Good Job! Yeah color darkroom was never in the cards for me but B&W I could do in my sleep! Keep up the good work and never give up on your ideas! I'm retired now so I don't always want or am physically able to do some things but there's days where I keep pushing myself. Do what you can while you can!!!
To give you an idea of what one of these film shots looks like unedited, here's a straight negative scan... Before: After: Essentially, I placed the motor too close to the bay door and didn't like the white background, so when making a print, I hand dodged the background while exposing the photo paper. I didn't do a great job and if I were to make real prints, I'd come up with a mask of sorts to make this happen. It's a total pain in the *** and one of the reasons I would like to do more digital work. I enjoy post processing on the computer, but it's super frustrating in the darkroom. Thing is, I think you have to learn how to do it in the darkroom before you can really do it right on the computer. Also, I think it's super hard to convincingly convert a color digital to black and white and make it look like film... The one exception to that is the Monochrome Leica cameras. They are incredible and when used right, you can't tell the difference from those files and film. They sent me one to review for a month and I fell in love... I just need $9k to buy my own. Crazy.
Safety wired stacks and Rajah clips…….so sweet !!!! The first time seeing this print, my thought was this is so clear, it could be a drawing. Sure fooled me
The Jalopy Journal
