Peter Hurley is a famous New York headshot photographer. I tried to re-create his lighting style and cropping style, but on a black background instead of the white background that he’s known for. The other differences are that I don’t have his $18,000 medium format Hasselblad camera or his $3,000 lights, or his studio, or his make-up artist, or his knowledge and experience. Still, I have a great model and I think it’s not bad for a living-room photo.
Last weekend Kaori and I visited Stanford University to see a friend perform in the choir at the church.
The inside of the church is very European.
The whole setting is really pretty. I took this photo in the courtyard during the interval.
When we were in Carmel a few weekends ago I took along my Yashica twin lens reflex film camera and shot one roll (12 photos). They came back from the developer today, all nicely exposed because I used a separate light meter. Here are a few examples.
This is Carmel Mission – a really beautiful spot that’s not far from Ocean Avenue, but which a lot of people miss.
Medium format film has a square, 6cm x 6cm negative. This makes the resolution much higher than that of digital cameras, which have sensors smaller than the nails on our little fingers.
The Yashica TLR was used a lot in the 70’s for training photography students because it was cheap but still gave decent results. Maybe one day I’ll have a Rolleiflex TLR, which was used by all the best pro photographers in that era.
I used Kodak EKTAR 100 film, which was introduced by Kodak only about five years ago (and after most of the company went bankrupt). It has a fine grain and is great for landscape photos because of its rich, saturated tones. It’s too much for skin though, and Kaori came out too orange. I toned down the saturation for her photo in Lightroom to give a lovely vintage look. This is a common trick that EKTAR users follow.
Anthony, Tim, and I went hiking in the Sierras this weekend. We put in some miles while also finding some time to lark about. Alicia’s Sugar Shack and Mia’s kept our stomachs full on the road, and the ramen trail chicken pot pie and bannock bread fueled our trail adventures.
We fished just like when we were kids.
We did some light painting to make sure that you can tell where the moon is.
And to send a message to our loved ones.
We did some fire making to keep us warm while we ate dinner, baked bannock bread, and drank Sherpa tea.
On Sunday, we worked off Alicia’s famous eggs Benedict’s with some jogging Pinecrest Lake – keep watching.
We practiced fighting off bears.
And later did some animal kissing.
And we hung out and talked boys talk.
We stopped for one last photo op before heading west in our wagon ( Suburu wagon that is).
As you see, we had a great time and can’t wait to go back for a longer trip with some backpacking.
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