Tag: photography

Categories
Uncategorized

Dischord (Style) Photos

I was recently given a Samsung PL200 digital camera, which was released in 2010, making it 14 years old. I’ve had a number of digital cameras over the years and I started shooting with DSLRs at work around 2007 and got a Nikon D40 around 2008 or 2009 so I don’t think I’ve owned a simple “point and shoot” digital camera after 2010 because I was probably using an iPhone for point and shoot stuff by then.

So Maks gave me this 2010 Samsung PL200 with no charger but I found one on eBay for $9 USD and figured it was worth grabbing one to get the camera working. My thought was that I’d toss it in the bike bag for rides since my phone is mounted to the handlebars while riding so it’s not the easiest thing to use for a quick snapshot.

So these photos do not show off the capabilities of this 14 year old 14 megapixel camera, but they do something different…

I was thinking back to 1988 or so, when I was hanging out with an old bandmate Ricky and he had just got some album from Dischord, and one of the photos was this black and white soft focus sort of blurry image. I remember we talked about the image, and we wondered if they put Vaseline on the lens, or plastic (“Saran”) wrap, or something else…

I should note that around the same time period is when I would have just started shooting on 35mm film at UWM using my sister’s SLR camera. (Thanks, Carol!) I do still have some of those prints and should scan them in one day. Anyway…

So yeah, I threw the camera in my bag along with some plastic wrap and biked up to Mount Mary. I got a few shots of the buildings and then one more of a street in Wauwatosa on the way home. The only editing I did for these digital photos was to convert them to black and white, otherwise no filters (as the kids say) and I sort of like how they turned out.

The process of shooting while out, then getting home, transferring the photos to the computer, converting them, and saving them… all before uploading them to this post is something some people have probably never experienced. I’m going to assume there’s a whole generation who just uses a photo to snap a photo and posts it online immediately, with no regard to the (old?) process. I’m not sure why I’m mentioning this but I’m going to ponder it a bit.

I think there’s sort of an ethereal quality to them, and they look like they could have been shot on film. I seem to be on a weird camera / photography kick lately and I’m totally fine with that.

Categories
Uncategorized

Kenilworth Portraits

Remember when I got the Kids Camera Instant Print which I now just refer to as toy camera most of the time?

Well last month I went to Kenilworth Square East to see work by UWM PSOA students (including my daughter) so I brought the toy camera along and shot portraits of people. When you are holding a toy camera that looks like a pink kitty, people tend to let you shoot their portrait. Then when you hand them a receipt with their photo printed on it they smile even more!

So here’s a bunch of photos from the evening. I set the camera to print after each shot and tore off the print and handed it to the person (or people) in the shot. It was a ton of fun being able to share like that!

I took most of the photos but the one of me (and a few others) were shot by my daughter Madeline, who is also a photographer, and actually had work on display at the event.

When I got home I printed a second copy of each photo so I could use them for this blog post…

I also started a new photo album called Toy Camera to upload more of these shots…

The metadata says they were shot with an iPhone, which is sort of true, since I took a photo of each photo with an iPhone. Weird, right? It seemed like the easiest way to digitize them…

I originally messed around with a desktop scanner, but wanted a faster process.

Oh, there’s also a device to assist with taking the photos of the photos, and I’ll write more about that in another post.

For now, just enjoy these photos!

Categories
Uncategorized

Road Scenes

I took the toy camera along on a walk a few weeks ago here in Enderis Park and I recently printed a few of the photos. I wanted to see how they would look scanned and digitized so I grabbed three of them that were shot in a sequence.

Mind you, when they were printed from the camera they were in a long horizontal strip side-by-side but after scanning them and manipulating them I decided to stack them vertically, and was pleasantly surprised at the composition I got. I feel like it’s not often I am just “messing around” and do something that makes me pause and go “Wow”, but that’s what happened this time.

Somehow, probably due to the tonal match of the thermal prints, this fits together really well! It looks like a single scene to me, and that’s pretty neat.

Here’s the three shots separated slightly so you can better see how they stand on their own.

I thought this was a bit magical, so I wanted to make note of it. I may need to experiment with combining multiple prints in other ways to see if I can make this happen again.

Categories
Uncategorized

Kids Camera Instant Print

I picked up this Kids Camera Instant Print which is a “toy” camera for kids that has a built-in thermal printer and spits out photos on what is commonly known as “receipt paper” and it’s a ton of lofi fun.

The one I got was around $40 USD but you can find them for less than $20 as well. (Just make sure it’s one that does thermal printing!)

I had seen a blog post from Joe Van Cleave titled Thermal Printing Fun! and then learned other nerds were getting these little cameras and having fun with them. (Note: Joe seems to be into typewriters and cameras so this puts him into the interesting person category for me!)

Here’s a fun Mastodon thread on these cameras and you can also see the #ShittyCameraChallenge hashtag for more.

There are a ton of these from different manufacturers and they’re all a little different and somewhat the same. Thermal paper is pretty cheap so the cost per print can be pennies.

This seems like the perfect camera to take to events and shoot photos of people and then give them a print. I know, you’re saying “But Pete, the photos look like shit!” and I would counter that they don’t look “like shit” but have a unique lofi look to them that has a certain charm.

This thing reminds me of the Game Boy Camera. When I got the Game Boy Camera working (and eventually the Game Boy Camera Dumper) I liked the style and quality of the images, but doing the transfer from the Game Boy to a computer was still a chore.

Anyway, the Game Boy Camera is still neat, but this Kids Camera Instant Print thing is more of an all-in-one unit. It’s a bit bulky but hey, it’s got a built-in printer.

One of the interesting things about the prints (since they are on thermal paper) is that they won’t last… at least not in their native form. You can’t laminate them as the heat will destroy them by turning it all black. You can “cold” laminate them with clear packing tape, or you can scan them to a digital file, or take a photo of them, make a copy, or just… let them fade, much like life itself does. They are ephemeral and maybe that’s okay.

Who knows? Caturday may be a lot more interesting(?!?) in the future…

Note: This post contains an Affiliate Link. Read More.

Categories
Uncategorized

Basement Photo Studio

Basement Photo Studio

Basement Photo Studio

Recently Steve asked about my setup for the photos I take. So I thought I’d show a few behind the scenes shots.

The setup consists of a table with a white sweep. There’s a roll of white paper held up by a few pieces of wood and a length of PVC pipe. This lets me unroll the paper to replace it as it gets dirty and worn out. A few spring clamps hold the paper in place at the edge of the table.

Basement Photo Studio

The camera sits on a tripod and there are two light stands with flashes and umbrellas. The flashes are old, and fully manual. One of them does have a dial to adjust the intensity, but the other does not. I end up moving them closer or farther a lot to adjust the light. The stands make it easy to move them around and raise and lower them. (There’s also some sandbags holding them stands steady.)

Basement Photo Studio

The flashes are fired by a set of wireless triggers, and even though I’ve had them for years, I’ve rarely had to replace the batteries. The flashes are a different story. I’ve got a set of 12 Sanyo eneloop rechargeable batteries and two chargers. Each flash takes 4 batteries and they tend to eat through them pretty quickly!

Basement Photo Studio

I shoot with a white background most of the time, but if I need black I’ll toss down some black fabric, or more likely, a piece of black posterboard. I’ve also been known to use hot pink posterboard, or yellow, or blue, or whatever I pick up at the dollar store.

I’ve got a few folding reflectors as well, but often I’ll just grab a piece of white foamcore board to use as a reflector. (Cheap foamcore is also available at the dollar store, though I tend to use the better stuff from a real art supply store)

I also shoot RAW images, which gives you a lot of room to adjust things when processing the images. Oh, and right now I’m shooting with a Nikon D3200, and for lenses there’s a Nikon 50mm f/1.8 and a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 that tend to get used the most.

That’s the basic setup. Any other questions?