First Rolls of August
Continuing the consistency and volume of making pictures, I exposed 3 rolls and developed them in the first few days of the month. The first roll, through the OM1, which is my everyday go to, and the camera/lens combo I am working to use for the year, was mostly portraits taken on a rainy day. I liked how most of them came out, and definitely feel that my portraits have reached a level of consistency both in look, general feel, mood and composition that I am mostly happy with. Doesn’t mean I will stop working at it, but it just feels far more advanced than some of the other things I have been working on.
hp5 @ 800 - OM1 - 50/f1.4
hp5 @ 800 - OM1 - 50/f1.4
hp5 @ 800 - OM1 - 50/f1.4
self portrait hp5 @ 800 - OM1 - 50/f1.4
The second roll was through a fairly new to my Olympus XA. Not going to pick up this camera often, especially with focussing on learning the 50mm over the next year, but threw it in my pocket because it is so tiny and has a sharp fast lens. Though difficult to focus thanks to a super tiny rangefinder patch, I typically zone or focus on an approximation of hyperfocal to make the best of it. The lens vignettes like crazy though, but i guess provides an interesting look.
rosie - olumpus xa hp5@800
Last roll was mostly street photos, with a few random frames of dumpster still life and some abstract-ish stuff. Street is a challenge, I am getting mostly better at reading light, though I underexposed the first frame as I wasn’t paying attention to the shadow like I should have been, but it mostly works. For street I am just trying to put my reps in, focus on interesting gestures, scenes and lighting/contrast from shadows.
a little underexposed - hp5 @ 800 - OM1 - 50/f1.4
hp5 @ 800 - OM1 - 50/f1.4
Abstract - hp5 @ 800 - OM1 - 50/f1.4
It makes you appreciate some of the greats, their eye and skill as well as their likely relative hit/miss ratio. I mean I see a lot of unexciting dramatic scenes of a cross section of light/shadow with a random dude walking in the light, but those feel a little too lazy and so I try to avoid them, despite the fact that everyone on social media likes them to death. But i would feel cheap and dissatisfied making those kinds of photos. So I will continue to try to work and fail substantially more than I succeed at making a good photo. Ah well, get in those reps.
