Roll Two!

Second roll of the year is from my recently rediscovered Olympus XA. Why haven’t I been using this camera more!? That’s gonna change :)

Olympus XA | Kodak Portra 160

One Last Tintype Session At Photobooth

We headed to Photobooth San Francisco this week to get what will be our very last tintype portraits made in its studio. Photobooth will be closing at the end of March 2014.

If you’ve been following my blog for the last few years, you know I love this place. Vince Donovan, one of the owners, helped me revive my dad’s old Land Camera on my second visit to the shop. I blame him for getting me hooked on shooting pack film. I discovered quirky cameras like the Lomokino at Photobooth, and connected with some really cool local artists as well. So yeah, I’m pretty bummed that its doors are closing.

But what better way to say goodbye to this truly unique studio than to have your tintype taken? Bridget had hers done a couple times before, but this is the first time I’ve been immortalized on a metal plate. We walked out with of total of eight tintypes, all brilliantly crafted by the super talented Michael Shindler.

So long, Photobooth, and thank you!

One Summer, One Roll Of Film

A roll of Acros has been hiding away in my camera since June, and I finally got around to developing it this week. So here’s my chronicle, in black and white, of things that caught my eye this summer as I went about my daily life:

Leica M3 + 50mm f/1.4 Summilux | Fuji Neopan Acros 100

High ISOhmygoodness

A charging baby at night, in a room lit only by low-wattage lamps. Taken with the Nikon D4 and 24-70mm f/2.8, 1/320  at ISO 12800. It’s pretty amazing what cameras can do these days.

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Mr. and Mrs. Libatique

Whenever Josh and I would introduce one another to someone else, we’d always say:

“This is my cousin, but really, he’s my brother.”

Technically, he is indeed my cousin, but our relationship has always been very brother-like. The bond we built growing up together has continued strong, even though we’ve been living on different coasts for the last five years.

Well, today is my brother’s wedding day. It’s a warm, misty day in Medellin, Colombia, the city that Josh and Vanessa will now call home, and where the small ceremony is taking place this afternoon. Though I made last-minute arrangements to attend and take on the role of wedding photographer/best man, a series of very unfortunate circumstances prevented my departure from San Francisco. So for me, today has been decidedly bitter-sweet. Can’t help but be happy that they’re finally together for good, though!

As I type this, the ceremony and reception are happening. Crazy! So, to the new Mr. and Mrs. Libatique, I say congratulations. Josh, I’m sorry I couldn’t make it, but I’m proud of you and I love you man. Take care of yourself and your beautiful wife. And Vanessa, welcome to the family, hermanita =)

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Images: Nikon D700 + 50mm f1.4G | 85mm f/1.4D

Life in Color, Life in Black and White

Browsing through my image catalogs last night, I discovered lots of random frames I’ve taken lately that I never posted anywhere. Just for the fun of it, I slapped them all together and made a couple spreads. These are all taken with my Oly E-PL2, which I still feel great about even though an X100 found its way into my bag this week. I think the two can actually work well together, but I’ll save that concept for another post.

I tend to just let loose and have fun with the Olympus. You can get some pretty insane results with the built-in filters, like pop art and pinhole:

That larger image of Suki in the car above was actually taken by the wife.  I myself take the blame for the badly framed shot of Suki at the bottom left of the spread, taken from the hip. Gotta give credit where it’s due!

I love how black and whites look straight from the camera, using either the grainy film art filter or just standard monochrome. The E-PL2 definitely has better black and white output than the x100 in my opinion:

That’s it! An image-dominant post. It is a photo blog after all. Happy shooting this weekend!
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Olympus PEN  E-PL2 + Panasonic 20mm f/1.7

Jenny and Johnny, Live! @ the Great American Music Hall

I adore Jenny Lewis. Been following her work for a while, from going to concerts here in SF to see her with Rilo Kiley, flying to Louisiana to see her at the House of Blues during her Acid Tongue tour, and last night, seeing her perform at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco…from the front row no less!

Bridget may be a big Jenny fan, but she’s small in the height department, so getting the front row is critical for viewing the show (and killing your ears…agh). I thought I was close to the stage at the House of Blues, but wow, this time I was REALLY close.  Close enough to set a drink down on the stage or even get a clear view of the set list. Awesome!

I’m never sure if cameras are allowed at venues that I have yet to visit, and this event was no exception.  I therefore decided  to limit myself to two of my smallest prime lenses to stay inconspicuous. Well, turns out photography was permitted without flash, so I was stuck to one shooting position in a sold out crowd with only two focal lengths at my disposal.

So it was either really really wide or moderate telephoto for the night. But hey, nothing sucks in light better than a fast prime, so I wasn’t complaining. =)

This is our “oh yeah, front row!” look.

The concert was a blast. Jenny was cute as ever, and her vocal talent and song writing is just amazing.  Come back to San Francisco soon, Jenny!

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Camera Specs: Nikon D300s + Nikkor AFS 50mm f/1.4G // Nikkor DX 10.5mm f/2.8