This is one of my favorite images that I have taken with the Fuji GA645 medium format point-n-shoot camera. I was traveling near High River and captured this glowing sunrise. Literally f8 and be there. No filters, no fuss, just point-n-shoot with Fujichrome Velvia 50 slide film. Click to see a larger version.
©Darwin Wiggett
One of the experiences I miss the most with digital is the glory of looking at a freshly processed roll of slide film on the light table. I love how the film glows on the light box and how the colours pop. Grabbing a loupe and magnifying the individual slide is like crossing over into another world — it’s magical and I never tire of the experience. I have not shot 35mm Fujichrome Velvia Slide film for a number of years and so I grabbed my Canon EOS-1n and a roll of Velvia and played with some dead roses in the ‘studio’ (read kitchen table with window light). Here is a little section of my 36-exposure roll of film. For the top photo I shone a flashlight onto the rose while making the image. Velvia has lots of contrast so I figured I better add some light to that dark red area. The bottom photo shows how the rose looks on film without the addition of the flashlight as fill.
©Darwin Wiggett
On the January Winter tour we visited Nordegg, Alberta to make images of the historic downtown. For that shoot I grabbed Linny, the Linhof 6×12 panorama camera and Gail, the Fuji GA-645 medium format point-n-shoot and walked about snapping a few photos. Here are five of the resulting images:
©Darwin Wiggett
The image above was with the Linhof using Fujichrome Velvia 50 slide film. The image shows the punch and saturation familiar to those who know Velvia.
©Darwin Wiggett
©Darwin Wiggett
©Darwin Wiggett
©Darwin Wiggett
The four photos above were all shot with the Fuji GA-645 and Fujichrome Reala 100 print film. Reala has a softer palette than Velvia and a wider tonal range. All the photos shots with Gail were hand-held.
This week, Fabulous Film Friday’s is hosted over at Sam’s Rant where she talks about Velvia and Vignettes with a word about the famous magenta/purple cast with Fuji’s most famous slide film.
©Darwin Wiggett - Fujichrome Velvia 50 slide film
Samantha and I have discovered a major drawback of sharing our film cameras. Often we can’t remember who actually took a particular photo on a roll of film especially when we shoot the same subject with the same camera. For example, we both shot photos of an old car in a snowstorm. Sam used Beep, her Holga (and she has the pictures to prove it) but she also used Linny the Linhof to compose some photos (the evidence for that fact will be presented below). I had my Canon G11 digital camera (and I have photos to prove it) and I also used Linny to make a panoramic photo of the old car (or at least I think I did).
Anyway when we got the film developed from the Linhof, there was one photo of the old car – just one. I quickly claimed the image. Here it is:
©Darwin Wiggett (well I think)...
And so, I filed the image (shot on Fujichrome Velvia 50 slide film) into my film binder. Done.
But wait… when processing my G11 images later, I found this little video that I made. Guess who is shooting the car with the Linhof?
Well… when Samantha saw this video, the conversation went something like this:
Samantha: Hey, where is my photo from the Linhof?
Darwin: (silence…his brain is working hard to understand the question.)
Samantha: Well?
Darwin: Whoops… I must have it in my film binder. I thought it was my shot. I guess I accidentally stole your photo. I’ll go get it for you.
Samantha: Good, I’ll post it on Fabulous Film Fridays as a warning to others to guard their film. And by the way, you always get the title of our project wrong, it is Fabulous Film Fridays, not Fantastic Film Fridays like you say in the video.
(sidebar): Sam goes to post the January 31st Fabulous Film Fridays blog using the old car photo and the video as evidence that Darwin is a stealer of images. She re-watches the video and notices that the angle of her composition of the old car is very different from the developed photo above. She concludes she probably did not make the image.
Samantha: Hey Darwin, this keeps getting weirder. I think that was your image after all! But then where is my photo from the angle we see in the video?
Darwin: Well there were some blank slides, maybe you forgot to pull the dark slide and so had unexposed frames.
(At this point Samantha gave Darwin a pointed look. She’s never forgotten to pull out the dark slide, whereas Darwin admits to taking rolls of film without taking out the dark slide. Darwin thinks: Maybe that wasn’t the right thing to say.)
Darwin: (silence)… Well maybe we lost a roll of film?
Samantha: No, the stuff we shot before and immediately after the car is on the same roll.
Darwin: Right. Maybe you composed the photo and because the angle was so tight, you did not like the comp and so you didn’t make a photo?
Samantha: Maybe….
Darwin: Well… so we think the old car photo is now mine? (he asks hopefully). If so, then I will make a B+W version from the scan just for fun.
Samantha: Yes, you can have it. It’s pretty good, but you may want to take a closer look at my Composition and Design eBook for a few tips!
©Darwin Wiggett (by default and reluctant agreement)
©Darwin Wiggett - Linhof 6x12 Panorama Camera
I shot the photo above with Linny, my Linhof 6×12 Technorama 6×12 PC II (sound impressive eh?). The camera takes medium format film and gives a negative or slide that is 6×12 cm in size. So technically, it’s a panorama camera that uses a pretty big chunk of film. The Linhof has interchangeable lenses but I only have the 80mm lens which is like using a 28mm wide angle lens on a 35mm camera and cropping from the top and bottom (or the sides in the case of a vertical photo). I used Fujichrome Velvia 50 slide film for this 15 second shot at f32. Velvia turns really blue under twilight exposures but I think the blue enhances the mood of the photo. I scanned the image into digital form using an Imacon FlexTight Photo slide scanner. I tried to match the digital version you see here with what the slide looks like on the light table. Long live Velvia!
Photographer's Guide to the Canadian Rockies now available
Darwin Wiggett 