Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Playing with pictures

I've been playing with some of the photos I took in Italy last summer. I want to be able to frame a few that I especially like.

I have several good excuses for letting a year pass. The day we got home we discovered that my mother (who lived with me) had fallen the night before and was hospitalized (and sadly, died a month later). Also, a close of Kent's had died that same day, at the same hospital. Basking in travel memories was not on the agenda.

So as summer approaches, I find myself thinking about the trip.I took a 120 Agfa Clack that I had converted into a pinhole camera. Kent took a digital Nikon. I also too a very carefully planned sketching kit, but only got one drawing done the whole time.

The two photos above are from Tivoli, both digital. I've posted the roses before, but now I've made them into sepia and have been trying to tint the roses softly. Not successfully yet. The photos below are pinhole photos I took with the converted Agfa Clack. Left is a window on the inside of the Coloseum in Rome, looking out, with the light streaming in. The one on the right is also a pinhole from the Coloseum, of one of the capitals. For someone like me, an artist but not a photographer, a pinhole camers is a lot of fun. My goal was to come back with one photo I liked, but I got about eight. I keep meaning to make a section of my website for them. (a summer project). These are actually scans from the contact sheet. The photo company I was using closed its doors before I got prints made, so I need to find another place - especially since I still have film in the camera from Galveston beach at Christmas.

4 comments:

Kesha Bruce said...

Wow, your photos are just great.

Have you thought about making some drawings or paintings based on those? At the very least, if you decide they aren't really going anywhere, you could sell them on Etsy!

Just a thought.

Cynthia said...

I love the rose photo! It's serendipitous that you posted about pin hole cameras. I have been doing some research on pin holes as a project to do with my daughter this summer.

Betty C. Bowen said...

thanks guys.

Cynthia, what I like about the converted Agfa Clack is that you are able to take up to eight images without changing film. Most other pinholes (like oatmeal boxes, etc) only give you one chance. I got the Clack off Ebay, followed the instructions on the link I posted, and got my pinhole made the correct size by the watch repairman downtown, in a piece of aluminum pie plate (there is also someone on ebay who does it just according to focal length.) There are also several sites for putting a pinhole in a body cap for a regular 35mm, which would really be the easiest option.

Anonymous said...

It's fun to see what you're up to! I do hope you'll make your blog a more prominent link on your Web site. I had a hard time finding it. And I knew you were here somewhere!