Half Self-Portrait

I have been wanting to shoot portraits a lot lately, but have not really had any models to take pictures of. So I decided to set up in my backyard and take this one you see here. I really have been wanting to try this dramatic half face lit shot, you might have seen lighting like this before, but to me it reminds me of the original Mighty Ducks movie. You know, when they print the picture of Coach Bombay and his coach from when he was a kid in the local paper? Oh, you don't...well go watch it on Netflix then.

Even though this picture makes me look dark and depressed, I promise I am not. I just thought this turned out to be a good shot and wanted to see what comments I got about it. I do wish my eyes were a little more sharp, but that is really hard to accomplish when I focus on a stick before I stand there.

Half Self-Portrait, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.

Steel Flower

Well here it is, the first (kinda) shot from the film I ordered from the Impossible Project. It is of a steel flower that is just out front of my grandmothers house. I tried to frame it up as best as I could, but it was quite odd using the viewfinder in the Spectra. The reason I said 'kinda' about it being my first photo is, as you can see with the two behind it, it is not the only one I took. The first two where complete failures. The film did not exit the camera properly and because of this, the chemicals on the film smeared taking the image along with it.

I must say once this shot was finished developing I was quite happy to see something appear from nowhere. It has been almost ten years since I have seen a Polaroid used and if the film was not so expensive, I could see my self getting addicted to this camera quite easily.

Steel Flower, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.

Polaroid Spectra

I just recently got my hands on an oldie, but goodie. A Polaroid Spectra. While I was still in grad school, I had heard rumors of a company reproducing the classic instant film of the Polaroid. At the time I thought that was pretty cool, but really thought nothing else of it since I did not have a Polaroid to use. Well, on Monday, my grandmother let me borrow this fine piece of classic photography so I could see if the rumor were true. Today, I received a package, inside of it was one box of PZ 600 from The Impossible Project. They are currently reproducing the classic film to be used in these models and I can not wait to use it. I will be sure to post all of the photos I can as soon as I get them scanned in.

Polaroid Spectra, originally uploaded by griffithgreg.

Another thing I want to talk about is a question some people have asked me in the past, do I listen to music while photographing? The answer is kind of tricky. If it is sports or portraiture, the definite answer is no. It would become a barrier that I would need to get around in order to produce good photographs. However, if I am just walking around or doing still life photography of course I do. I find it helps keep things fun. One song in particular I want to share with everybody is by Sunset. Go ahead and have a listen below. Golden Reverie is a song that always seems to get me calm, it kind of says "Hey, slow down and just enjoy life." So sit back and give it a listen, see what you think.