This weeks’ digest is actually a combination of the past two weeks. I’ve been really busy with writing, travel, and photography and skipped a week because of factors I couldn’t really control. So, here’s what’s been happening with the FSC since we left off.
On the Blog
Mark Schlocker is our resident “slide guy,” and he wrote about his impression of the DR5 process. If you’ve missed all the hype thus far the DR5 process essential creates slides out of negative films. It’s the kind of thing you have to see to believe. There’s really nothing else to say about it other than that it is magic.
He sums up his review by saying:
“Will I continue to use the DR5 B&W Slide process? Definitely! I will use it for projects for which I know I can control the contrast range as I do when I shoot color slide film. For other projects where I have less control over the lighting such as my night cityscapes I will need to do some more testing before committing to a change in my current process. Perhaps this new-to-me process will inspire a whole new series of black and white images well suited to it’s low grain, high-contrast, and with HP5, ultra high-speed.”
And you can read the rest of his thoughts on this process, here: Part II: DR5 | B&W Slides from Negatives
Also this week, Hans-Peter Linz wrote this great piece, “Upon Prime Lenses: Coming Back to My Roots,” about prime lenses in which he recounts his beginnings and how he ended up with the gear he has today. His article got me to thinking about my own journey towards a kit predominantly comprised of prime lenses which I reflected upon in an article inspired by him in “A Journey to Come Full Circle” which ran later this week on our blog.
A number of folks were kind enough to contribute photos shot with Nikon prime lenses to run in conjunction with his article, so be sure to check it out.
© Earl Standerford
Also, this week on our blog I wrote a follow up to our popular Fujifilm GA645 review. I couldn’t believe that it had been a year since the first article went live on our site, and today that first review remains our most popular to date. If you haven’t read it, be sure to check it out and let us know what you think.
The more recent article talks about some of the travel I’ve been fortunate enough to do with that fantastic camera. So far it’s been to Cambodia, all over Japan, and on a number of punishing fishing trips and to date it’s only let me down once which you can read about in the latest article. Check it out here - Fuji GA645 | Long Term Review
Our original Fujifilm GA645 review
Twitter is the hardest social network for me to keep up with. It’s this constant stream of social consciousness that ranges from mundane to compelling, which I guess could be said about anything I suppose. At any rate, this week I connected with a really cool group of people and a project they’re looking to launch. @Honest_Magazine is a new print magazine dedicated to serving analog photographers. Their mission is described as:
“HONEST. is a promise kept among friends to do more. To do more when it comes to promoting the photography we love, to do more to support the amazing artists who create these wonderful photos, and to do more to share it with as many people as possible. In Vienna in the Fall of 2014, this promise was made between three friends. Now, it’s being kept between friends across the world, with vastly different backgrounds but one common passion. These people make up the HONEST. Tribe. We here at HONEST. don’t consider ourselves as anything more than a means of keeping this family together, keeping them engaged, and keeping our promise.”
Currently they’re trying to complete a funding campaign on Indiegogo to print their project on a larger scale. Check it out here - Honest Magazine on Indiegogo
Elsewhere in the Twittersphere everyone came out of the woodwork to tell me to shoot Ektar while road tripping through Japan this week. Spoiler alert for a future blog post: I cave in and shoot five rolls of 120 Ektar.
Mat Marrash @mat4226
@film_shooters another vote for Ektar 100! Next time I go to Japan, it'll be Ektar 100, Acros 100, and HP5+.
Matt Gagle @mgagle
@film_shooters @mat4226 yet again, another vote for Ektar
