What photography related thing are you doing this fine evening?

I took a bunch of pics (B&W 120) of my buddy's very pregnant wife yesterday so I'll spend part of the evening processing film.

Jim B.
 
I will be playing with two new toys:

1. a new NikonD5100 I got two days ago and am still sorting out the menus to minimize (let's call it) the "invasive features" they install in cameras these days.

2. my tried and true Nikon FM3A that I just today mounted a 24mm lens on and rediscovered how cool that setup was (hoping to shoot a roll Wednesday)
 
Writing an essay for my MA degree in photography - just starting the introduction (have omitted all the references and footnotes below, in case anyone notices their absence)...



‘It was a dark and stormy night …’: photography through the lens of the Gothic
This tower, patched unevenly with black ivy, arose like a mutilated finger from among the fists of knuckled masonry and pointed blasphemously at heaven. At night the owls made of it an echoing throat; by day it stood voiceless and cast its long shadow.
Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan, 1946

Introduction
Gothic. The word conjures up clichés – Victorian novels about pale heroines lost in labyrinthine castles, lurid Hammer House of Horror films, gloomy black-clad youth listening to even more gloomy music, a perky blonde American teenager slaying vampires…

It’s easy to sneer at the Gothic, and Williams pithily sums up the attitude of many critics to the genre when she calls it ‘the uncanny's campy, embarrassing cousin’, but, after two centuries of derision, the Gothic demands to be taken seriously, concomitant with its acceptance by contemporary artists: vilified, the Gothic lurked in the shadows after its creation in the 18th century, but underwent a revivification in the late 20th century, and shambled into the 21st. Like the monsters it portrays, the genre just won’t die. That the rise in popularity of the Gothic is coincident with postmodernism – characterised by its appropriation of the past and the popular (in contrast to modernism) – is no accident, and, as a marker of its increase in status, Gothic studies emerged as a discipline in the 1970s.

The Gothic has also escaped the confines of its origins in literature, and today can be found in all forms of media – including photography. It is the aim of this essay to examine the appropriation of Gothic tropes by contemporary photographers.

This discourse aims to examine Gothic tropes in photography through genre. First, the term ‘genre’ is explored, and its meaning within the context of this essay clarified. This is followed by an exposition of the Gothic, from its creation in the 18th century to the present day, tracing its evolution and transformation through time – notably the supplanting of its original setting within a romanticised medieval Europe by the contemporary suburban environment. Key notions such as the uncanny and terror, and the cultural, psychological and psychosocial underpinnings of the Gothic, are also examined. Next, the Gothic and photography are considered, including how the genre manifests itself in contemporary photography, and how the medium changes and impacts the genre. Works by contemporary photographers such as Todd Hido and Gregory Crewdson are used as illustrative examples.
 
My wife's gone this week.... time to convert the laundry room back into a darkroom for a few days! I have lots of film to develop (120, sheet film)!
 
I try to fix some pictures. I was trying shooting street for the very first time yesterday. In the old town of Stockholm I bumped into some street performance groups. It was great fun, and I am having a ball tonight!
 
Trying to repair my Kowa 85mm f2.8 for the SIX/Super 66 system. The leaf shutter doesn´t close quick enough in the cycle prior to the lens stopping down. Meaning its slightly open when its about to fire. I think I may have to give it up. It´s been in for repair twice in two years already. Luckily the 150 works. Going on a walk and shoot tomorrow.
 
Is morning already here, just developed my first roll of Polypan F and here is a first scan.
7489873200_99c04f9e98_b.jpg
 
I'm going to be shooting my son's baseball game, All-Stars. Post images to my website, tag all the subjects, release to the parents and then watch as I get 2000+ hits and not one print will be purchased and not even one download paid for. I disable right click save as and charge $0.50 for a 1MP file to help pay for the website. Then try to figure out what has become of photography and the value of a good photograph.

John
 
Just got my Leica M2 button rewind back from DAG, so will install strap, load with HP5, install lower case, and install the 50mm f2 Nikkor lens I just got from this thread's author. Then it comes with me tomorrow morning for some early morning light shooting after the gym and before work.
 
Just got my Leica M2 button rewind back from DAG, so will install strap, load with HP5, install lower case, and install the 50mm f2 Nikkor lens I just got from this thread's author. Then it comes with me tomorrow morning for some early morning light shooting after the gym and before work.

Bob...gee, making me feel bad about not working out....:eek:

Sug, today and all week in the evenings, I will be doing "research", namely finishing the book on Savannah that Bob Michaels suggested: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

A good read and is actually inspiring me to find some gas money around and head back to Savannah very soon but first I have to stop by Barnes and Noble.:D
 
Just ordered 27 rolls of HP5 from Freestyle and in the process discovered that Arista Premium is in fact Tri-x and only $2.69/roll. But since I am new to film, already shot 5-6 rolls of HP5 and have another 15 in the fridge, I'll stick with it while prices are good and learn to adjust other elements of my shooting skills without bouncing around between many different films. Will take part in the "one roll a day for seven days on a row" this month as posted earlier with the HP5. I'd like to get familiar with it for my trip to Mexico and NYC this fall.
So to answer your question, buying film :)
 
i took apart a jupiter 12 and cleaned some oily aperture blades !!!! ( as i ignore the partially fixed yashica electro 35 and rolleicord shutter .... sitting elsewhere in the room )
 
Tonight I'll be making a selection of photos I took with my R-D1 to process and upload from a Living History event I went to last weekend.
 
This morning I shot two rolls of Fuji Acros 100 (120) and tonight I developed them...they are hanging & drying...tomorrow I plan on printing some of these...

Photo0964.jpg

Photo0965.jpg
 
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