Slowly I amass my selective camera gear. All fingers are crossed that everything will actually work and more importantly, that I learn how to use it all. Items include a used 50mm/f1.4 Carl Zeiss Planar lens, a used Manfrotto tripod joystick and a lens mount adaptor for my Canon T2 body coming all the way from China.
Here are a few more helpful pieces of information. If possible, go directly to the film processing labs. Prices seem to be less than the chain stores. Most camera supply shops ship the E6 slide media out for processing anyways. C-41 negative film processing is cheaper direct and being a professional outfit, the processing quality should in theory be better. If the pros rely on them, why can't you as a general comsumer?
Three books were recommended to the students in my photo class.
1. John Hedgecoe - 35mm handbook
2. National Geographic Field Guide
3. Time Life Series on Photography
The first one provides good technical information. I believe that the second and third books are just really good examples of photography in general.
Some people I know went to Stanley Park last week during the late evening to take some night time photos. I thought about this and tried it the other day but for the life of me couldn't 'see' anything worthwhile to take photos of. This is especially so since my lens library only consists of two 50mm fixed focus lenses. I will eventually need a wide angle and a decent zoom. Something like a 24mm and a 300mm as has been recommended to me by fellow photographers already.
I did find a good scene to take a photo of. Once the sun has fallen just below the Mountain ridge along the westward horizon at English Bay, the warm glow casting outward creates a wonderful visual site. On a clear summer's day, the effects are amazing having no clouds to hinder the rays of the sun.
Yesterday I decided to drop in on a photo exhibition which was put on by PhotoClub Vancouver. It was a semi small crowd mostly filled with its own members and many of the photos were quite good. With lots of prizes, it seemed as if half the people there won something. I and a new friend that I met turned down a compact disc wrapper remover.
My lower palms and wrists are black and blue. I had two softball games after the accident on the weekend and both times I inadvertantly caught the softball on the tender part. One was a line drive into my lrgy palm, and the other was a huge fly ball in right field which for reasons which preclude me, I caught with my bare right hand cusping the ball with the glove on my left hand at the same time. Fortunately, I used the obsideon rocks and most of the pain was relieved overnight.
The photography course has been fun or somewhat amusing I would have to say. During the first class, they explained the theory of how a pinhole camera works. Basically its how all cameras work. In the class room is a wall with windows all the way across. The windows are completely covered with boards. and each board is littered with tiny pinholes. The idea is that with the lights off and sufficient daylight outside, one can hold a piece of white paper in front of a hole approximately four to eight inches away. An image of the outside will show up on the sheet and as you move the sheet farther or closer to the wall, the image will become larger or smaller respectively. And this is what it feels like to simulate standing inside a huge camera. Just wave your hand in front of the pinhole and there's your manual shutter.
When the instructor closed the lights, everyone was told to walk to a spot in front of the boarded windows. One woman bumped into me in the dark before everyones eyes adjusted to the near, total darkness. A bunch of us took turns holding up a sheet of paper in the same area when the instructor asked the class how we were doing. No one said anything and everyone just stood in silence. Seconds pass by when a young woman finally says "why are we all standing here like a bunch of mutes?" I couldn't help but laugh at this and I'm sure others thought the same.
After this first class, the young woman that bumped into me in the class never came back. I think she was in the wrong one or pulled out.
During the second class, we went through the operations of the camera. As the instructor went on about the various aperture and shutter speed controls, everyone continued to fidget and play with their new toys. Or at least, that's what the instructor said people would do. All I can say is that she was right with respect to me. And this time a different woman sat beside me. She had a basic Minolta SLR with a zoom lens on it but didn't really know how to interpret the meter readings in her viewfinder. She saw me watching her attempt to figure it out so she decided to hand me her camera to play around with. I took light meter readings by pointing the camera at the floor in front of me, the instructors table, the ceiling, and that of my instructor. With no film loaded in any of the camera's, I clicked away with the Minolta. I aimed the camera just below the desk where it was dark and the flash went off blinding the instructor. I was in the front row and the instructor was right in front of me. Everyone broke out in laughter. In automatic or program mode, some SLR's will pop up and fire the flash by itself. I decided to return the camera to the woman sitting beside me.
Wednesday was the third class and this time we practiced exposure settings and manual bracketing. That is, to a photo of something with the camera's own meter reading, then take one with the setting stopped up and one with the settings stopped down. There were five stations set up with lights and objects. Each one had a different colour variation going from all white to grey, to mixed colours and finally to black. The exercise itself wasn't too difficult but the objects were sometimes rather uninteresting. For example, a set of hollow plastic blocks in various shapes like that of childrens toys, a set of all white blocks if symetrical shapes, and also a black setting with a handful of white empty clam shells to name a few. The instructor suggested that we rearrange the pieces to our 'artistic' liking. Unfortunately, a number of the students found the sets to be rather uninspiring.
Next class should be interesting. Everyone is supposed to have all their slide film processed and mounted for viewing. We will all become critics of ourselves.