More Tube Photos

Some more tube photos, since they seem to be popular. Comments refer to the picture below the text. Click on any for big.



30 second exposure, lit only by candlelight, below.



My Argus Autronic will double expose on the last frame on the roll. Leads to some great unexpected shots, because the camera will just keep clicking away until you realize it.



Lomography fish-eye camera here.



The Lomography camera also has an open-shutter function, but no tripod mount. Hence, the table in the bottom of the shot. And I had to count to thirty in my head.



Taken from an iPhone 3GS, with some sort of filter program. Shot by my friend Emily.



And, the tubes were still there in the morning!



Another iPhone 3GS with app filter.



iPhone 3GS. Me.

iPolaroid

One of the always cited weaknesses of the iPhone is the camera. 2MP, no zoom, etc. But I love mine, because I think it is the closest thing to a Polaroid instant camera.

If you are anything more than joking about taking pictures, you have a camera that is not a cell phone. However, when I'm not carrying my camera, and I want to take a snapshot, the camera on my phone works in a pinch. (Except for the lack of macro focus. I like taking pictures of tiny things.)

The best part about it, in my opinion, is the color. It seems they've upped the reds and blues a bit, which is probably best for the inside shots most people would take with a phone. One of my favorite things about a Polaroid camera is the reds and blues. They come out so bright and luminous. There were these shots, of course lost to time now, of some friends of mine on a bright summer day in a field during college. In real life the colors were amplified and extended by a... shall we say, not exactly a photo-chemical process... but also the Polaroids came out amazing. The trees, the blue Iowa skies, the flushed young faces smiling, dilating eyes hiding expanding consciousnesses....

But anyway, the iPhone captures a sort of saturated color with its regular settings that is as close to the Polaroid's color magic as anything I've seen. I haven't tried printing any shots from the iPhone... but that would introduce a whole different set of variables anyway.

When I was out for a walk yesterday, I caught an amazing Oregon sunset, shining up over the hills and reflecting off the recently past clouds. Many flowering trees are blooming now, and the color in the city was pretty amazing. No camera with me, but I had my phone.

Check it out!
(Click for big!)

I find the camera works best if I frame it sort of like a Polaroid as well. Close target for the focus, plus a nice background. Polaroids are great for portraits, after all. Landscapes and macro (unless you're Ansel Adams), forget it.



With those weird new condo-thingies in the back, it kind of looks Dr. Seuss-ish.



From Mt. Tabor. Downtown PDX. The stream of lights in the center is Hawthorne. Buildings on the hill are OHSU.



One of the reservoirs at Mt Tabor. The blues are a little too saturated (the sun had set a little too much by this point), but look at the range of reds. From the reflection, to the clear sky, to the clouds, to the street light.



Blurry 'cause the wind is blowin'.

Ocean Confections

A couple of months ago I had a strange image of a cake surrounded by authentic Pacific Ocean foam.

So last week, when we went to the coast, we brought a pretty cake, an a cake stand.

Here are some of the results. I posted the good ones in a gallery here.


I didn't even know the couple was standing there when I took this one. I was trying to keep the gravel out of my lens.





Digital photography is amazing. As I described to Megan while having a Photoshop geek-out, "it's like creating a visible-spectrum light database! Photoshop is the Google of light!" Maybe, maybe not; but with standard film this picture would have been a blurry cake and face in a completely dark frame. Light is retouched, that's it.



This wasn't the best foam shot, but I think it's my favorite. You never know at the time. Isn't the cake stand awesome? It's warp-age is totally its antique charm.



It felt really nice to get a project all the way to completion. And it was a lot of fun, running around in the winter waves, taking pictures of a cake! So many weird looks from the dog-walkers and teenagers.