When I was young, my mother used to call me “Miss Fiddle Twiddle Pick Bang.” I lived up to that name this morning when in a fit of silliness, I pulled off the tension wire that was in the slow process of unraveling from my Zero Image pinhole camera. This, only after a few pointless moments of trying to wind the darn thing back around the screw that holds the pinhole cover lever thing in places (A).
Once removed, it became quite obvious as to what it’s purpose was as the lever pretty much flopped around. With no replacement wire in place and only minutes to spare before leaving the house, I fell back back on my standby fix it strategy and grabbed the dental floss. My first attempt had to be picked off with an x-acto when I realized that a too tight lever might result in wobbling the camera while taking photos. There’s a fine balance between smooth movement and stability. Sadly, I had not found it. My second attempt was far more successful and the camera had a quite pleasant minty scent.
George and I headed out into the wilds of Oakland to try and see how close we could get to the “AT-ATs” in the port. The short answer is “not very” given all of the necessary security required to keep us all safe from bad things happening. I’d pay money for a port tour and the opportunity to photograph the cranes up closed. Anyway, we found other lovely things to photograph.
Just after the brilliant “shopping cart as impromptu tripod” moment, my photos started coming out all white. Being not so bright, it took me two shots to realize that the screw holding on the pinhole/zone plate wheel on the inside of the camera had come loose and had fallen off. A pinhole camera with a permanent aperture to the outside world isn’t all that functional. Luckily, I’d stuffed a roll of black electrical tape into my bag and was able to cover up that little monster (B).
Tip of the day: dental floss and electrical tape can be your best friend.
25 April 2010
Photos, Words
2 Comments
An incomplete list of things that I’d like to think about accomplishing next month that may embiggen.
- NERT training — scheduled. Given that I’ve completely lost my shit during the most gentle rumble, I’m hoping that NERT might bring me some semblance of dignity when everything goes to hell. Thinking postive, right?
- Lucky film book project: Are you feeling Lucky?
- Scan that pile of vintage family photos.
Find that pile of vintage family photos that have been sucked into the void of our storage space.While looking for the pile of vintage family photos, keep an eye out for the “car” box that’s holding our EZ Pass hostage.- Oh, and those three boxes of Polaroid Type 55 sheet film.
- Run midweek. I’m thinking of running the Nike Women’s Half Marathon with Team in Training again this year.
- Roadtrip. I have fantasies of an SF –> Bonneville Salt Flats –> Salt Lake City –> Spiral Jetty –> Zion National Park –> home type thing. Chances? Fair to slim.
23 April 2010
Words
1 Comment
I’ve been testing out MagClouds wonderful new integration where you can (very easily) make a publication out of a set of Flickr photos. Given that I’ve wanted to create something around my “Polaroid 366″ photo-a-day project from 2008, that seemed to be a logical place to start. The above are a few sample photos of my magazine that will be available for sale soon. That’s soon, and not a Flickr “soon”.
Canon SD960 IS
19 April 2010
Photos, Words
5 Comments
Kodak Brownie No. 2 (Bill’s Box Camera)
17 April 2010
Photos
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Polaroid SX-70 w/ expired Polaroid 600 film
16 April 2010
Photos
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Polaroid SX-70 w/ expired Polaroid 600 film
11 April 2010
Photos
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Polaroid SX-70 w/ expired Polaroid 600 film
9 April 2010
Photos
1 Comment
Aaron found this gorgeous little beauty amongst his father’s things. There’s something incredibly magical about the simplicity of a box camera and in a world of ever more mega pixels, shooting with a camera that’s roughly eighty years old feels quite satisfying.
I still find loading 120 film tricky and I’m surprised that anything’s turned out given my spectacular fumblings. The good news is that the box camera itself is rather forgiving and I don’t need to re-spool the film onto smaller spindles. (If you do find yourself in need of doing this, I found these instructions to be helpful.) That said, it does require a small spindle for the film uptake so I have to request the spindles back after processing.
I’ve never been one to name my cameras, but this one? She seems like a Stella.
View more of my box camera photos here.
3 April 2010
Photos, Words
1 Comment
Before
