What Are You Crazy About?

These people are obviously nuts about cameras.

I look at the date on my computer screen, and its already the 20th of February. The last post on this blog was on January 31, so yeah its been a while. Sad fact is, I have only one roll to show for my 3 week absence. Why? Well...

January 31, 2011 - Flickr Slideshow and More

A stupid attempt at shooting sports with the Leica. Well, at least I proved I can manual focus almost fast enough for sports, its just that 50mm just isn’t gonna cut it, unless the both teams decide to play on one side of the pitch. Flickr (federicobcruz ,add me up!) slideshow after the break.

Vivian Maier: Real-life Mary Poppins, Master Photographer

Leicarumors.com is one of the blogs I check on a regular basis. Its not like I have the money to buy a new one (yet) but I'm always interested to see new developments about the company (read: cheaper cameras). Aside from rumor-mongering, the site features really great videos and articles, predominantly on street photography. The other day they posted something this amazing story about Vivian Maier, a nanny from Chicago who, as it turns out, could be one of the greatest street photographers of the 20th century. Video and more after the break:

New Year's Eve 2010 with the Olympus XA

This drunk girl decided it would be cool to pose with the cops. They thought its was pretty funny too.

Since NYE 2009, I've gone out with friends after counting down to midnight with family. Traditionally its the latest I get home from going out, since we start so late. This year I got home at 7am. Too bad I ran out of film just before sunrise. Now I realize how important the rangefinder patch is because, looking at the results, leaving it on infinity is not a solution at all. Actually Jay told me I could just use scale focusing, but I suck at judging distance and the markings on the canera dont really help, so its a great thing Bucs told me about the patch, otherwise the XA would be next to useless. The pictures are mostly out of focus, but for some reason its ok, because I know the people in them. They're all my friends and I kind of dont care that their faces arent super clear. The pictures are a reminder of the good times I had with them and thats kind of enough for me. And now with the patch they should be clear the next time around (Basta sober). Thanks to Barbs Tiu for letting us hang in her kitchen at such an ungodly hour. Album after the jump:

much ado about the vintage feel: An Investigation

The initial title I had for this post was supposed to be "a response" but all it would say would be "yeah, I totally agree". So instead of responding to my friend Tata Yap's inspired post about the abuse of vintage photoshop treatments (link after the jump), I'd like to pose a question: why the hell are we all into old looking shit these days? I feel like exploring this topic since after all I'm using vintage cameras to populate the posts on this blog.

Patched Up

Apparently, all the XA needed was an eye-patch

Boracay

These are the latest and I think best pictures I have with the Leica so far. It really is so much easier to use outdoors. The colors are excellent and I finally nailed the focusing. Now I think its the composition I have to start working on... again. Back to the basics.

Ronac Art Center

Detail from the staircase

Starting to get better with the focusing, although dark indoors are next to impossible. Difficult to nail exposure indoors too. The Ronac Art Center is beautifully designed though, nice mix of concrete and wood. We didn't see much actual art, but hopefully that does change and Ronac wont be some well-designed mini-mall with a basketball court in it (thanks to Raymond for the invite):

Christmas With the Olympus XA

Now, you'd think since the XA is a newer, it would be dead simple to use compared to the Leica. I thought so too, until I forgot that when a roll says 36 frames, its actually more. The first roll I had on it I used for my friend's art gallery exhibit opening, and my lola's birthday party. Unfortunately, I start rewinding it when the film counter read 36. I didnt understand why it was so difficult to rewind the film, turns out it wasnt finished yet. Then I remembered that you dont rewind the film until you cant advance it anymore. the film counter is just a guide. So, I thought "fuck it" and pulled the roll out, ruining it. Baby steps. Knew better on the next roll, which I used for a Christmas party with my course-mates:

First and Second Roll from the Leica

One thing about the Leica is that its bottom-loading, meaning you load the film by pushing it up into the bottom of the camera. Usually you the back opens up and you just lay the film down. 40's technology, go figure. Another thing is that you have to cut the film leader before you load it. This video shows how the whole process goes. As you can see its a bit tricky. After a couple times you get better at it though. The first few pictures from the Leica came from a roll Jay gave to me for free.

The Cameras

I started working in my first job in August of 2010 and, armed with financial independence, I started on a project that I had promised myself I would start as soon as I could finance it with my own income - the restoration of my lolo's Leica.

The Axis of Exposure

Henri Cartier-Bresson

The old man above is my all-time favorite photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson. He’s a French photojournalist who made his name taking news photographs throughout the 30’s and 40’s. What makes him and his work special is the fact that he was among the first to elevate photojournalism (and arguably Photography in general) from mere documentation to a serious art.