Author Topic: Aquarium Trip (Read 5303 times)

Hungry Mike · « **on:** March 26, 2014, 05:00:36 AM »

A few weeks ago, my family and I made a trip to the recently opened Ripleys' Aquarium in Toronto. Along for the ride was my trusty Pen FT with 40mm f1.4 loaded with some handrolled Double X obtained from a trade with FW's Tintin.

Often when I've heard or read reviews of half frame cameras people tend to balk at how many shots one needs to make in order to finish a roll. I believe this is the wrong way to use these cameras. I think one almost needs to use them like a digital camera - note that I say almost like a digital camera. One needs to think not of just the one image but how that one image connects with others in the series. So it isn't just mindless snapping but mindful film wasting. At least that's what I aim for when shooting.

I'd never been to the aquarium (it opened late last year) so I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to encounter. I knew the light conditions were going to be variable so I set the lens wide open (the sweet spot on this lens however is f2.8-f5.6 so I was hoping for the best here). The Pen FT has a maximum ISO setting of 400 so I knew I was going to be pushing the film substantially. As per Tintin's instructions, I developed the film in a 1:100 dilution of Rodinal for 2 hours. Agitation wasn't mentioned so I very gently agitated every half hour.

Below are the results...

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #1 on:** March 26, 2014, 05:01:05 AM »

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #2 on:** March 26, 2014, 05:03:05 AM »

SLVR · « **Reply #3 on:** March 26, 2014, 02:30:27 PM »

As you know Mike, I love all of these. For some reason they just have the right "look" for me.

Fluminian · « **Reply #4 on:** March 26, 2014, 03:23:06 PM »

Great shots, Mike.

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #5 on:** March 26, 2014, 03:51:55 PM »

Thank you Fluminian & Tintin for your kind remarks.

Bryan · « **Reply #6 on:** March 26, 2014, 05:33:47 PM »

Those look great, it almost looks like you got in the tank to take them.

Adam Doe · « **Reply #7 on:** March 26, 2014, 07:16:11 PM »

Mike,

Cool series. Most modern shots of aquariums that I recall seeing were done in color, it's great seeing the scenes in b&w. I particularly like the shot of the fish, second from the bottom of the first set you posted. Nice!

mcduff · « **Reply #8 on:** March 26, 2014, 08:02:56 PM »

Ya mike I like them too. And while I have not shot a ton of halfframe I have learned from your observations about shooting it - which you shared here and with me earlier - of thinking if building collages, diptychs, triptychs, etc. to not think of them as smaller than the normal 35 frame but potentially bigger!

The halfframe format really suits this. You can't do the same in 35 or 110 (without cheating in photoshop) as the orientation is wrong.

I love these shots and I think the film worked great for it. A really nice combo of film, camera format and of course good shooting! I like the jellyfish stuff the best.

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #9 on:** March 26, 2014, 11:09:36 PM »

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Those look great, it almost looks like you got in the tank to take them.

Ha - almost. I was very close to the glass on most of these in order to avoid reflections from the lights and being bumped by the 100s of kids running amuck in there. A lot of the glass is curved as well adding distortions if you're not careful about picking your spots. Sometimes the reflections are unavoidable - you can see them in a couple photos.

Quote

it's great seeing the scenes in b&w

Thanks! I really liked the quality of the Double X on these shots and I especially liked it in the half frame. The grain in there is really at a sweet spot for me. Reminds me of the pictorial quality of classic newspaper photojournalism.

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to not think of them as smaller than the normal 35 frame but potentially bigger

Completely true. Its funny more people don't think of these cameras like that. The narrative potential and the creative possibilities are really great with half frames! I find them liberating to use. Relaxing almost!

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of course good shooting

Thanks Don! If I can get the image in focus I feel I've achieved a lot!

Indofunk · « **Reply #10 on:** March 27, 2014, 03:39:06 PM »

These are amazing. I love the diptychs/triptychs.

KevinAllan · « **Reply #11 on:** March 29, 2014, 09:49:04 PM »

Great results. I've just put half a roll of film in an Olympus PEN EE3 (ie 36 exposures) and your comments on using a series of images has inspired me.

mcduff · « **Reply #12 on:** March 30, 2014, 05:32:35 AM »

Kevin I really think it is the way to go with half frames. They look lovely.

ManuelL · « **Reply #13 on:** March 30, 2014, 09:02:37 AM »

Wonderful photos Mike - especially the serial shots.
Makes me wonder why fish have colour when they look so good in black and white.

hookstrapped · « **Reply #14 on:** March 30, 2014, 08:55:32 PM »

Very cool look to them -- the tonality works well

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #15 on:** April 02, 2014, 08:28:05 PM »

Indofunk, Kevin, Manuel & hookstrapped - thanks for the compliments! I do appreciate them. And Kevin I look forward to seeing some Pen EE3 shots (I love my Pen EE2!).

Late Developer · « **Reply #16 on:** April 07, 2014, 01:12:29 PM »

Hi Mike.

I haven't seen any better pics taken with a Pen. Really great work.

Paul.

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #17 on:** April 07, 2014, 03:14:51 PM »

Paul - very kind of you to say! Thank you!

charles binns · « **Reply #18 on:** April 07, 2014, 08:54:16 PM »

They're all lovely - but especially the jellyfish.

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #19 on:** April 08, 2014, 05:45:29 PM »

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especially the jellyfish.

I should point out that it was Tintin's photo of the Jellyfish at the aquarium that inspired my similar shots:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lovelyjm/10890785513/

And thanks Charles!

Verian · « **Reply #20 on:** April 09, 2014, 11:01:31 AM »

Lovely results. I can see those last three framed up and side by side on a wall, they'd look great.