Saturday, February 13, 2010

PHOTO 101

I'm taking a black and white film class at the local community college. We're supposed to figure out how to use all of the manual settings- how to set the aperture and shutter speed and man is it confusing. Then we process the film to make our own negatives, and make prints from the negatives. The prints take me between 1-2 hours each, it's a loooooooong process to get it right. Apparently if you have good (correctly exposed) negatives the printing process is easier because you don't have to go back and correct so much. I'm hoping I get to discover what it's like to have correctly exposed negatives by the end of the class.

I think my scanner has some gunk on it, woops.

My favorite subjects, of course, are the horses...


Portland Meadows, jockeys up...


This one is blurry, partially due to the fact it was taken from behind a chain link fence. Also, the film speed was wrong for a dark, overcast day. I put it in anyway because it tells part of a story.


The finish line. The ground shook, hard to explain the raw power and adrenaline galloping by.


Cardi, owned by Jessica Wisdom

Diamond, owned by Jessica Wisdom.


Valley Chapel Farms


Seaside Oregon


With the enlarger: Focus on owl, focus on reflection.



9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the Valley Chapel picture. Mom

EvenSong said...

Wow! Outstanding efforts! I like the very first one, with the handler, jock and horse all looking focused and determined; and the one of Cardi, with just the hint of his eye being the focal point. The one from Valley Chapel (I know where that is!), the horse's blaze looks like one of those new-fangled, ergonomic hoof picks...
We've gone completely digital, partly because we never never got to build the house outside Cheney with the darkroom designed into the basement, but I understand enough of the process (my SO is the photographer) to be mighty impressed with such early efforts.

Anonymous said...

LOOOOOOOOVE the one of Cardi! And the jockey pic! Black and white is the best!

Achieve1dream said...

Very cool!! I wish I had the patience for this kind of thing because I love photography, but much like the rest of my generation I fall in the instant gratification category lol. I'm working on that. Just have to remind myself the process is half the fun. :)

Oh, who and what breed is Cardi??? Drools.

Albigears said...

Thanks! ES- that's crazy you know where Valley Chapel is... I just found out about it in September. His blaze DOES look like one of those hoof picks! Ha!

My favorites are the jockey and the one of Cardi. Cardi is a Welsh Cob dressage horse- North Forks Brenin Cardi owned and ridden by my favorite dressage instructor Jessica Wisdom. Here are some pics of him:

http://www.eqequestrian.com/Cardi5.htm

I'm liking the process of the black and white film, but will almost certainly go digital after this class is over!

Michelle said...

Really beautiful shots. The class sounds like a lot of fun. I was interested in signing up for one around here, but the community colleges have really trimmed back on their offerings....well, at least the continuing ed ones.

Roxie said...

You is taeking flash box pix of me at the dressahj clinick with Jessica this week-end! Hooray!!!

The Equestrian Vagabond said...

wow - back to film! I swore I'd never go digital... and I did. long ago in high school, like two centuries ago, I took a BW photography class and we developed our film & printed photos. Don't remember being very good at it.
: )
i like these photos a lot!
- The Equestrian Vagabond

Albigears said...

It is a lot of fun, but takes a LOT of time. And its expensive. And you have to have patience. And I'm pretty much all about instant gratification.

Yeah Roxie, I gotta figure out how to use the bigger lens before Saturday to take beeee-youtiful pictures of you doing dressage. I'm sure it attaches on there somehow...