Author Topic: Introductions... (Read 8782 times)

russmorris · « **on:** April 16, 2006, 08:20:17 PM »

There's quite a few folks here that I'm familiar with, but some of you I've not yet met in person or online. I thought it a good idea to start an Introductions thread to learn more about everyone here. Let me start...

My name is Russ Morris. I'm 53 years young. I live in Santa Clara, California. Right smack dab in the middle of Silicon Valley's Golden Triangle?. My wife, Vicky and I have lived here since 1987. We love our charming old neighborhood.

I work at The Tech Museum of Innovation in downtown San Jose as their Web Designer. I've been with The Tech for five and a half very satisfying years. For eighteen years prior I worked at Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale, the last 6 as a Web Designer.

Besides having fun with Photography, I enjoy painting, drawing, printmaking and collage. Of late I've been preoccupied with Chine Colle, which, basically is a combination of monotype and collage, It's a lot of fun.

I've played with cameras since I was around 12 or 13 years old. I learned B&W film developing and printing in high school, circa 1969.

My current collection of usable film cameras/lenses includes:

Agfa Clack
Agfa Click I
Canon Canonet QL17 GIII
Diana no. 151
Holga 120N
Holga 120S
Minolta AL-F
Minolta XG 1 Silver Body
Minolta XG 7 Silver Body
Minolta XG 7 Black Body
- Minolta 24mm ƒ2.8
- Vivitar 28mm ƒ2.8
- Minolta 50mm ƒ1.4
- Minolta 50mm ƒ1.7
- Minolta 35-70mm ƒ3.5
- Tokina 28-105mm (Macro) ƒ3.5
- Minolta 75-200mm ƒ4.5
Nikon One Touch
Nikon OneTouch Zoom 90
Olympus XA
Polaroid EE100 Special
Polaroid one600|Ultra
Polaroid Spectra AF
Yashica Mat

I use a Canon CanoScan 8400F to scan 120 film, a Canon CanoScan LiDE 50 to scan Polaroids, some prints and art work. Photoshop 7 for all post-processing. I currently have a local company develop all my medium format film, but plan to get back into B&W developing later this year. I also let a local company develop and scan my 35mm film to CD.

You can view my work in two places:

http://www.russmorris.com/photoblog/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/russmorris/

... and I just recently started a blog of sorts called Blurfection. It features pictures that are blurry - motion, out of focus, bokeh, pinhole - any photographic medium that generates cool blurred photographs. Check it out:

http://blurfection.blogspot.com/

I hope to be able to contribute and participate in the fun and cool stuff going on here at Filmwasters.com

I can be reached by email at russpix@gmail.com

Thank you for reading about me,
Russ

beck · « **Reply #1 on:** April 17, 2006, 09:30:21 PM »

Folks, I can vouch for this gentleman...Russ is good people and can charm the pants off of any camera. Hello to you, my friend, and enjoy your stay.

Everybody knows me already...some not, some wished not. Haha, sometimes it be like that. Just kidding. More on me another year...er, day.

russmorris · « **Reply #2 on:** April 18, 2006, 02:15:53 AM »

Thanks, Becky!

This-is-damion · « **Reply #3 on:** April 18, 2006, 03:59:36 PM »

Nice stack o' cameras there Russ!
welcome anyway, pull up a chair and pour yourself a drink.

Susan B. · « **Reply #4 on:** April 18, 2006, 05:25:35 PM »

welcome russ.

russmorris · « **Reply #5 on:** April 18, 2006, 10:43:14 PM »

Damion - a drink sounds good right about now. Perhaps a bloody mary with spicy v8? or a g&t?

Susan! Howdy, and thank you both for the warm welcome.

-- -- -- --

Anybody else want to share a little bit about themselves, the film gear you use? Don't be shy...

outofcontxt · « **Reply #6 on:** April 19, 2006, 02:31:59 AM »

Hey Russ! Welcome to the club. Glad to have you on board!

russmorris · « **Reply #7 on:** April 19, 2006, 02:41:41 AM »

Hi, Bill! This must be where all the cool kids hang out!

russmorris · « **Reply #8 on:** June 07, 2006, 04:28:44 AM »

A bit of an update on my list of equipment... I traded the AL-F to Mr. E. for a duaflex - his, he says. If you haven't seen Mr. E.'s TtV work on flickr (it's really quite fun), check it out. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr-e/

I also added a black Hasselblad 500c/m with the Zeiss Sonnar 1:4 150mm T* - minty!

More fun!

CarlRadford · « **Reply #9 on:** June 07, 2006, 08:09:21 AM »

Welcome Russ - some nice work on your site too!

Take care, Carl

russmorris · « **Reply #10 on:** June 08, 2006, 06:00:42 AM »

Thanks, Carl!

russmorris · « **Reply #11 on:** November 18, 2007, 05:41:49 PM »

An update...

Life takes so many twists and turns. I've switched jobs, now working at Santa Clara University as their Web Marketing Manager. I've been there for six months. Beautiful campus, interesting work and a short ten minute commute. Great folks to work with, too.

My camera collection continues to grow, in addition to the minty Hassie I've added:

Minolta X-570 Black Body (free)
Pentax ZX-5n (sweet!)
Polaroid Automatic 335 Land Camera ($5 garage sale find, nice condition)
Polaroid SX-70 SE Sonar OneStep (severely abused)
Voigtlander Bessa I (this thing is remarkably clean! $10 garage sale find)
Ultronic 35mm (free toy from my Sister)

... and I was recently giving a very clean Olympus 35RC, but haven't run any film through it.

I've moved the photoblog to my-expressions http://russmorris.my-expressions.com/

I'm still using flickr, we'll see how long that goes on.

I've also just joined toycamera.com - waiting for registration approval.

My goal is to become more active with the film cameras I've acquired. I've been developing Black & White using D-76. The results have been gratifying, to say the least. In time, I'd like to branch out a bit, experiment with different B&W development techniques and get into enlarging/printing, as well.

The work I see in the FW guest galleries and collaborations act as inspiration, and I look forward to contributing to the pool.

Thanks for letting me play!

Russ

russmorris · « **Reply #12 on:** November 18, 2007, 07:28:06 PM »

Anyone else fairly new to FW?

astrobeck · « **Reply #13 on:** November 18, 2007, 08:30:16 PM »

welcome Russ.

I'm not new....more like gently used...sorta.

the resident astronomer for the gang.

astrobeck

sausage100uk · « **Reply #14 on:** November 18, 2007, 08:46:00 PM »

Russ, guess i'm a nooob. posted a few bits and pieces, nothing of note, only picked a camera up for the first time last year, now have my own darkroom (not that I have time to get in there) and "too many" old cameras cluttering up the house.... welcome to FW, pull up a beanbag and relax.....

seekingfocus · « **Reply #15 on:** November 19, 2007, 06:13:43 PM »

Quote from: russmorris on November 18, 2007, 07:28:06 PM

Anyone else fairly new to FW?

I'm new to filmwasters, but not to wasting film... been doing that for about seven years now...

Welcome and hello.

-Jason

rore · « **Reply #16 on:** November 19, 2007, 07:34:35 PM »

Quote from: russmorris on November 18, 2007, 07:28:06 PM

Anyone else fairly new to FW?

Hi there, my name?s rore, i live in Argentina really close to mountains.

been reading FW but almost never post.

I?m glad there?s people still shooting film and sharing their experience.
most of the time i?ll be shooting with a rollei xf 35, and a sigma sa7.

i?ll try to be less shy and post more...

rore

woodstove · « **Reply #17 on:** November 19, 2007, 11:44:42 PM »

I made an introduction thread a few weeks back, but I'll chime in on this one too!

My name is Casey and my wife and I live in Sendai, Japan, a few hours north of Tokyo, where we teach English. Living in Japan is great for photography--there's always something absolutely bizarre just around the corner--and our jobs fortunately leave us with plenty of time to travel around the country.

I'm really into toy/lo-fi/antique photography, but I also shoot a lot of digital

, though that's the last you'll hear of that here! My wife and I are heading down to Kyoto/Osaka this weekend, so cross your fingers for good shooting weather.

Most of my photos are posted on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewoodstove

Nice to meet you all!

mrbryanmarshall · « **Reply #18 on:** November 21, 2007, 02:46:56 PM »

ola!

first day on here so thought this would be a goo place to start

I'm a South African living in london, been taking pics for as long as i can remember...but really only got into it over the last 4/5 years.

I work in advertising in London, but spend any spare time i have with my partner and taking photos

- also managed to get my grubby paws on 150 shots of Polaroid 85 recently so will be working my way through this with glee

I have some cameras, and use all of them regularly...

Olympus OM1
Holga and Polaroid Back
Mamiya 645 Super
Graflex Crown Graphic w/ Polaroid Back
Yashica MG-1
Lomo Fisheye
Lomo Action Sampler w/ flash

Hoping to get a Polaroid SX 70 sometime...

I love the more lo-fi side, especially working with people and portraits etc.

Looking forward to meeting lost of people and chatting about this very expensive but very rewarding hobby!

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #19 on:** November 21, 2007, 03:59:01 PM »

Hi there mrbryanmarshall. Welcome!

Good of you to stop by and thanks for introducing yourself. Nice collection of cameras

I hope you'll be at home here. If you get a chance read the About Us page on the main site and the FAQ on the other forum board. They'll help set the scene.

rdbkorn · « **Reply #20 on:** November 21, 2007, 04:29:02 PM »

Now that I've posted about a dozen times, I'm slightly embarrassed that I haven't introduced myself. It's just that I'm awfully shy in group situations...

I started up with photography in the 70s while in high school, had a darkroom at home, pretty much self-taught. After university, my postdoctoral training took me to Germany and the US, so I kept up the photography shooting mostly slide film. Eventually got a real job and the time didn't seem to be there to carry on with the cameras. Flash forward 20 years or so and after a detour into painting, drawing and printmaking I find myself drawn strongly to photography again. I was badly infected with the *Bay virus for the past 4-5 months, which I am slowly recovering from. Currently have:

Minolta XD-11
Canon EOS elan 7n
Yashicamat 124 EM
Mamiya RZ67
Mamiya 6
Toyo View 4X5
Voigtlander Bessa
Zeiss Ikon Nettar
Holga & Holgaroid
Holga 135bc
Fujipet
Diana and several clones
Ilford Sporti
Pouva Start
Rheinmetall
Pionyr Druha
Vivitar Ultra wide & slim

and my newest toy, a Saunders LPL 4500 dichroic enlarger

Hmm...the length of that list is really embarrassing - no wonder I've been feeling overwhelmed lately. All but the Minolta and Canon kit are new to me within the last few months. So as you can imagine, I'm getting acquainted with the various cameras now.

I'm glad to be here at filmwasters.

Paul

LT · « **Reply #21 on:** November 21, 2007, 04:45:22 PM »

it's great to have you all here!

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #22 on:** November 22, 2007, 12:47:28 AM »

Wow! This thread really does have some legs. I can't believe I missed Russ's original post way back last year...sorry about that

Anyway, I'm Ed. I helped kick start this site back in 2005 with my 4 imaginary photo buddies; Leon, Susan, Skorj and Damion. I used to have around 60 cameras in late 2004 and while I have since slimmed the collection down considerably, there are still too many to list. The plan was to eBay a bunch of them, but I only found time to sell 3. The rest I've given away to friends. At the moment the main cameras are:

Bronica SQ-A
Pentax Program-A
Yashica GSN Electro
Coronet Commander
Polaroid Land Camera 360
...and have just resolved to start using my Dianas again after a 2 year hiatus.

Background wise: my parents were big b/w photographers back in the 70's and we had a darkroom at home and at the school where my dad taught art and photography; so it's always been in the background for me. Playing music in noisy bands ended up being my creative outlet though and I didn't get drawn back into photography until the first consumer digital point 'n' shoots hit the market back in the mid 1990's. At that point I went photo crazy because two of my fave things suddenly worked really well together: photography and the Internet.

My first digital camera had a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels and I loved it. I bought a succession of mid-priced digis over the next 4-5 years and shot a LOT just about every day. By the time I made the switch back to film 2 very important things had happened:

I had been bitten by the bug. I had developed the rudiments of 'the eye' and had lost that self-consciousness you have when you start out holding up a camera in public.
I had realised that filmwas the future for me. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get excited enough about the results from the digital gear I was using.

By that time (early 2000) I had already transitioned to using my wife's Canon point 'n' shoot (with its sexy 28mm lens) and she got so pissed off with me hogging it that she bought me a Lomo LC-A for my birthday in 2000. Then, a while later, Damion introduced me to the Holga and I was off down that road of discovery; literally a kid in a toy shop. For the next few years I deliberately stuck with crappy, low-end cameras and got very much into the whole toycamera thing. I'm still a big fan of the plastic lens and The Blur, but in the last couple of years I've finally bought a few SLRs (MF and 35mm) with some lenses and am slowly learning the craft. I have ambitions one day of doing something with the photos I take, but see that as a long way off for now. In the meantime I'm happy to rub shoulders with so many talented people at places like Filmwasters and to sit back, watch, listen and learn. Of course that doesn't stop me from being a loudmouth in person, on the Filmwasters podcast and on this forum.

2 years down the line I'm still amazed that all of you very cool people have chosen to spend some of your precious time hanging out at this website/forum and I look forward to many more years of the same high standard of discussion and photography.

Filmwasters is one place where it's not all about the gear; it's about the passion, the fun, the creativity and the work.

Sandeha Lynch · « **Reply #23 on:** November 22, 2007, 08:22:49 AM »

Quote

"Filmwasters is one place where it's not all about the gear; it's about the passion, the fun, the creativity and the work."

Thankfully ... though [sheepish grin] as an occasional camera maker I am very much involved in pushing the gear envelope wherever possible. [/sheepish grin]

An old uncoated Tessar on a big view camera could keep me happy for a few hours. Or an ancient tin can of a camera, maybe with the lens back to front. Or a pinhole on a large format negative. (Or a tilt-swing diopter lens on a DSLR.) Or just mucking around with bits of brass and cherrywood to see what comes up. Or restoring some old pre-loved folder from the thirties or forties.

I also take pictures, occasionally.

hookstrapped · « **Reply #24 on:** November 22, 2007, 12:25:49 PM »

Hi, I'm Peter.

I started photography during my college days in the early 80s, using a Pentax ME-F, which I still have, and a Pentax 6X7, mostly with its wonderful 55mm lens.

Digital photography left me kind of uninspired -- no mystery or magic in the process -- and I didn't do much photography other than documenting family events until this year. I found my old Pentax ME-F in a box and, with a new old fantastic 28mm lens for it off of ebay, I was off. Currently I have

Pentax ME-F (28mm lens)
Voightlander Bessa-L (15 mm lens)
Diana 151 Diana
Diana 151 Tru-View
Diana 151 Stellar

And I'm waiting for a Vivitar Wide and Slim to arrive any day now.

I love my Dianas, particularly my Tru-View, and I've been focused on them mostly.

I used to develop and print my own B&W and, after I move soon to where I'll have an extra half-bath and sink, I plan on setting up a film developing room, probably with Diafine. I scan my negatives and transparencies. Much of my excitement in getting back into photography has been fueled by Fuji Velvia film. I use a great place in Albuquerque through the mail for E6 processing.

My stuff can be found here (a hosting site I learned about here at filmwasters):
http://hookstrapped.viewbook.com/

Nice to be part of this place.

Skorj · « **Reply #25 on:** November 24, 2007, 01:34:39 PM »

Welcome everyone from me too. Nice to see folks getting some film-based stuff here...

For the record, I am a:

Polaroid 600 SE (75mm)
Polaroid 195 (love that f3.8!)
Polaroid 680SLR (fun)
Bessa R3a (21mm)
Ricoh GR-1 (small!)
Yashicamat 124G (waiting in the wings)
Fujipet (gathering dust)

Andrea. · « **Reply #26 on:** November 24, 2007, 03:10:00 PM »

Welcome
Me?

FKD 13x18 plate camera
Agfa Record 6x9
Franka Rolfix 6x9
Voigtlander Bessa 1 6x9
Voigtlander Perkeo
Kiev 6c
Kowa 6mm
Hasselblad
Koroll 24s
Ilford Sporti
various Kodak & Houghton Butcher box cameras
Ultra-wide & Slim
Pentax Spotmatic
Pentax k1000
Pentax P30
Zorki6
Kiev 4
Fed 5
Retinette 1a
Rollei35

and some others dotted around the place

Phil Bebbington · « **Reply #27 on:** November 24, 2007, 03:52:07 PM »

Well...me as a person isn't that interesting. Have had an on off love affair with film since about 1977 I guess. Currently have...in order of use sort of!

Hasselblad SWCM
Holga
Hasselblad 500CM
Diana
Polaroid 600SE
Polaroid 103
Polaroid SX-70
Rolleicord
Leica M2
Nikon F4
Nikon F5
Minox 35MB

Currently Obsessed with the SWC and the Holga so the others are trying to get my attention!

Continually pulled between black and white and colour...one day I'll make my mind up!