Category Archives: Film

Wednesday – Musing with the Oktomat

Logan has been gone to camp at Falls Creek since Monday. It seems like a long time. We are missing our gentle giant of a son.

Heather got a text from the Youth Director indicating that Logan is having a great time and the YD is really enjoying Logan’s quick sense of humor. Of course that made us feel good. We know better but we had visions of Logan being all alone and miserable in this huge camp of over seven thousand kids including well over a hundred from the group he went with to the camp.

And the sense of humor thing. We know that the Logan we see is different from the Logan his friends see. We get glimpses of the other Logan from time to time and of course we like both sides of him.

Anyways we are looking forward to the whatever Logan steps off the bus at midnight Friday here in Tulsa. We miss the guy.

He took his camera. I hope he is taking some photographs. Maybe I can post a few this weekend.

Downtown Tulsa Oktomat

This is from my second roll on my brand new Lomography Oktomat Camera. A plastic camera that has eight lens and shoots eight shots in about two seconds on a single 35 mm frame. I’m still working my way around the camera. The above shot is of the plaza of the office building where I work. They are busy with a construction project rebuilding the plaza. I just love construction sites.

I like this skyline shot as well. I’ve noticed that the clearest sharpest picture is generally the upper left and the most faded out blurry pic is on the lower right side. I have a feeling that that is just the way it is. Part of the appeal of Lomography to me is that you there are very few adjustments to the cameras. They are literally point and shoot.

What can I say, I love arches. There is something almost spiritual and inviting about them. They are like beckoning to a quiet sacred place.

I love the stacked domino appearance of this shot of Tulsa’s Petroleum Club Building. I also like how the color changes noticeably from frame to frame. I guess that I’m easy to entertain.

I’m still learning what kind of pictures are suited to this camera. The failure rate is high.

Pop Art Cameras – The Lomography Oktomat Camera Takes Eight Pictures in a Snap (GALLERY)

Donkeys versus Cows with the Lomography Oktomat Camera

I got a new Lomography camera for my birthday from Nana, the world’s greatest MIL. This one is a 35mm film camera with eight lenses. It has adjustments at all. It has a fixed focus and there are no exposure adjustments, no flash, or even really a viewfinder and is certainly not wifi compatible. To take a pic you cock it and press the button and it operates a shutter on each of the lenses over the course of two seconds. Yep, pretty useless and I think that I’m going to love it.

I shot my first role in western Oklahoma during our weekend visit there. We were out visiting cows and donkeys.

Nolan the donkey thought it pretty interesting until he figured I wasn’t going to feed it to him.

The cows were not impressed either.

Then Nolan was like, “Here is my good side.” I got a little thumb action or something in there on one frame Nolan, sorry.

And then the cows wanted me to show their good side also. Good grief, can’t those critters get along.

Thanks for the new camera Nana! She is a MIL who has a good head on her, uh hm, shoulders?

Woodward Park – Springtime Pinhole Photography Holga 135 PC

I took both Holga 135 PC Pinhole Camera and my Canon Superzoom to Woodward Park on Sunday. So I have a few shots where I got similar images from both cameras.

I had to fiddle with the exposure on the Canon for this. Of course with the pinhole camera there is no adjustment besides how long you manually open the shutter. The sculpture looks a lot better with the digital but the background is a mess. The pinhole camera “schmears” the background a little and IMHO gives the overall photo a little bit better look.

This bridge and rock stairs is kind of a draw in my opinion. I have to tell you that I like the film shot a bit better.

This shot across the water is markedly different. The water was a little ripply from the wind and the schmearing effect of the long shutter time gives the surface an ice rink kind of appearance. The people across the pond have a more mysterious appearance. The digital camera provides tons more clarity.

You know, what the heck. Can you go wrong with daffodils as a subject. I don’t think so.

So what do you think? Am I crazy for liking pinhole cameras?

Skywatch Friday – A Pinhole Sky

A view of the sky taken with a pinhole film camera, a Holga 135 PC. The camera has a 0.25 millimeter hole instead of a lens and uses 35 mm film. So it is really old school. I use an Ipod Touch App to tell me how long to hold the shutter open so there is some tech involved. I also have to use a tripod and cable release to get decent results. Which looks kind of funny overall because the camera is an inexpensive plastic contraption. But I have fun with it.

Skywatch Friday

Pinhole Photography: Holga 135PC – First Roll

My MIL Nana gave me another film camera for Christmas, a Holga 135 PC. It doesn’t have a lens, it has a small hole (one fourth of a millimeter) where the lens is supposed to be. This is getting back to basics on photography. It has a manual shutter also. The shutter opens when you press the button and closes when you release it. This is because very little light gets through the pinhole and thus the shutter needs to be open for an extended time.

In bright sunlight you just open and close it as fast as you can. For shots in shade it may require up to 10 seconds. Inside shots can require a minute and a half.

(This is our dove nursery. We always get at least one dove nest here every year. Last summer I think we may have had three. Not all at the same time. We try and leave them alone and not stress them out.)

These cameras are known for making soft dreamy shots. Also, there is no focusing as it has a large depth of field.

The hard part is figuring how long to expose the film. A lot of chatter on the web about buying light meters and blah blah blah. Fortunately there is an app called PinholeMeter that I downloaded to my Ipod Touch. It uses the Touch’s camera along with the fstop and film speed to give you an exposure time. It worked great. Complicated light situations like the above are fun. I took readings on the rock wall, the shadowed glass, the wreath, the hedge, and the shadow. I got widely different exposure times so I used the wreath setting. As a result the rock got a little overexposed. It makes me appreciate all the ciphering that a digital camera does when it sets the aperture and exposure time.

(My tree shadowed on my neighbor’s wall. So you legal experts out there, who owns the shadow?)

All I need now is a “Take the Lens Cap Off” app. I took about ten shots before I realized that the lens cap was still on. Oh well.

(I love garden decorations. You don’t have to water them for one thing.)

I took the first roll of shots in and around the house just to test it and the app out a little bit. I am really pleased with the results.

(Neighbor’s willow tree. Pretty but I hate those long strings that fall in our yard. They don’t mulch very well when I mow the yard. They don’t rake up very well either.)

Of course this camera requires a tripod because of the exposure times. I am also going to get a cable release for the shutter. Anything to cut down movement of the camera is helpful.

(Old school red wheelbarrow. How do you store your wheelbarrow?)

These images were made with 400 speed film. I have now loaded it with some slower 100 speed film and will be taking it out and about a little bit.

(I see lots of opportunities for double exposures.)

I love my digital cameras but there is something about film that really gets me. The richer colors of film, the nostalgic look, I don’t know exactly what it is but I just love film. I know that film in general and pinhole cameras in particular are pains in the butt and the effort is worth it to me.

(Hey, how about a shadow selfie. Holding down the shutter.)

What did you get for Christmas? Tell us about it.

Lessons Learned from Lomography

(The old Amerada Hess Petroleum building. They packed up and moved to Houston in the 90’s. They left the building though. I like all the windows and the almost ceramic finish on the lower level exterior.)

Early last week before the big snow storm I grabbed my La Sardina Lomography analog camera and went for a walk around downtown. I’ve learned a few things about my cheap film cameras over the years. The first thing is that they work best on a bright sunny day. Duhh! is what you old time film photographers say, who would never leave digital. Sorry, is what I say, not everybody is as smart as you!

(This is the old YMCA on Denver Avenue. It is being repurposed into condos now. I was a member of the Y for about two weeks in the early 1990’s. The clientele was kind of rough. Subject of another post I think. This building is similar to the Amerada Hess building because of all the windows, and the ceramic like exterior on the first level. The Amerada Hess building is at the far right of the photograph.)

Second, you have to pay attention to the details because there is no “A” setting. I’ve learned on the Sardina that for single exposures I better have a 400 speed film or things will be dim. If I want to do double exposures I better use 200 film. 100 film, uh, no. Also, you have to manually focus and for goodness sake take the lens cap off. Film photography is expensive, make the most of it.

(The Tulsa County Courthouse. I’ll be visiting again to make my annual trip to pay our real estate taxes. It is across the street from the YMCA building. )

Third, you have to make yourself happy. Most people don’t understand why you are using film. Most of them happily abandoned film for digitial years ago and have never looked back and they don’t know what is wrong with you. (I’ll happily admit that a lot is wrong with me.) What of it. What can I say, I like the look and feel of the pics, I love seeing the grain of the film. Plus it is kind of like Christmas every time I pick up a roll of film. There is always some surprises and a few disappointments.

So far I have four Lomography film and three other film cameras. I hope to get another for Christmas. This one a pinhole camera. In other words no lens, just a pinhole. That’ll be fun. That’s getting down to basic.If I get it, as opposed to the lump of coal I deserve.

So that is what I’ve learned. Tuition has been kind of high. What have you learned lately?

Double Exposure – Appeal to the Great Spirit

This is a popular statue in Tulsa’s Woodward Park. I took my Lomography La Sardina film camera and took a shot with the sun behind the statue. I then turned 180 degrees and took a picture of the tree behind me without advancing the film. The tree image filled in the dark area of the statue. I thought it turned out pretty good.

What have you been experimenting with lately?