Category: Featured
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The death of the amateur photograph
The Bombastic Proposal: the marriage of digital photography with social media has fundamentally altered the nature of the photograph for most Americans — to such an extent that this combination of technologies has resulted in the metaphorical death of the amateur photograph. During the 20th century, photographs taken by amateurs had two primary purposes: documenting…
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EMULSIVE Interview #223: I am Ellen Rogers and this is why I shoot film (Mildly NSFW)
Welcome to today’s fresh EMULSIVE interview. We have a bit of a treat this week in the form of polymath Ellen Rogers. Ellen is a photographer, colourist, lecturer, PhD student and fantasist — among other things. I’m so, so glad to be able to welcome her onto these pages! A couple of the photos are…
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The Remora-01: An alternative Polaroid SX-70 battery
In 2013 I got my first Polaroid camera, and since then I have been journeying into the world of instant film. From the inception of the Impossible Project to its recent merger, I eagerly followed the rediscovery of the formula for instant film, but was always frowning when I had to trash a battery. When…
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Brighten up your Rolleiflex (or any TLR camera) with a new Rick Oleson Brightscreen
For a photographer, there is nothing quite like the experience of looking onto the focus screen of a TLR or other medium format, primarily waist-level viewfinder cameras such as Hasselblads, Bronicas or Mamiya RB67s.
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New “contact print” Instax film from Fuji plus another underpowered toy camera, the Instax Mini 40
If you’re looking for a cheap point-and-shoot upgrade from Fuji’s last cheap point-and-shoot Instax camera, the company will gladly cover you as of just a few hours ago with the brand new, two-button-two-setting Instax Mini 40 camera. Added to that, if you happen to be missing the darkroom in today’s purely digital photography age, you…
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My new portrait project: “Inspired”, passionate artists and a 145-year-old Dallmeyer 3B 290mm f/3 Portrait Petzval lens
I have been looking for this historical artwork for some years – a useable Dallmeyer 3B Portrait Petzval 290mm f/3 lens made during the 70s — the1870s. Finally, I got it (with some help). The lens is at the heart of my project, “Inspired”, which will be published in a book — you can register…
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Announcing the 2021 SilvergrainClassics Analog Photography Bootcamp
SIlvergrainClassics and the state of Rheinland-Palatinate are pleased to announce an agreement for a new training center for analog photographers and filmmakers. The former army facility, which has suffered from damage due to vandalism in recent years, is being upgraded through a cooperation between the Ministry of Culture and the Department of Defense. “Until the…
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A year in the life of a backyard cameramonger during a global pandemic: Building fast, automated devices for scanning film and mounted slides – the Mongoose and the BoopBoop Trigger
In this article I am going to talk about the journey that led me to build the Mongoose automated negative carrier, and my newest device, the BoopBoop Trigger for digitizing mounted slides. This won’t be so much a technical review or description as much as a meandering memoir for posterity about what I did with…
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Over the hill or here or there: My adventures getting started in a large format film photography wonderland
It’s mid-December 2020 and a bearded, touqued figure stands silently on the side of a frozen lake looking off towards the rising peak of a distant mountain as the sun begins to rise. A wooden camera stands atop a carbon fiber tripod waiting for the film holder to be slid home and its shutter to…
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Shot on Super 8 film: A Portrait, Carlotta Beck Peccoz – Straight 8 2020’s Best 8
I remember hearing about the (now 20+ year) straight 8 competition when I was in film school and thinking “who are those maverick, brave, but especially crazy filmmakers?”
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Maximum readiness, effective robustness: The Durst Sei Sei (Durst 66)
During the never-ending cycle of lockdowns here in the UK, I’ve set myself a little project wandering about on my permitted ‘one-exercise-a-day’ time, documenting my hometown of Stone in the West Midlands. My preferred film is ILFORD HP5 PLUS: absolutely bomb-proof. A friend regularly develops his in his coffee (Caffenol) and he gets printable negatives…
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The Nikonos V: The underwater & on-land adventure camera
The Nikonos V — with its striking orange exterior — is one of the most legendary 35mm film cameras ever made. Created for scuba diving, the Nikonos can go as deep as 50 meters underwater (about 5 bar / 72 pounds per square inch of pressure), which covers more than enough depth for recreational divers. But…
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3 simple lessons: What I saw (and learned) shooting street photography in 1990s New York
I made my first experiences as a street photographer in New York in the 1990s. During this time I learned a lot about New York and photography. The conclusions I drew for myself about photographic approaches have been confirmed over the years, and I’d like to share them with you. This is how it all…
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How-to: Upgrade your Rolleiflex with a digital light meter
I’d been working on this project in one form or another for about 6 months, trying various methods to return the old selenium light meter on my Rolleiflex 2.8F to a functional and usable state. Without giving it all away, this article/informal guide covers the end result of replacing the camera’s original light meter cell…
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Getting a 6×6 kick on Portugal’s Route 66 with a Rolleicord, Yashica and Hasselblad 500C
Bobby Troup and his wife Cynthia Hare sang the feeling of crossing one of America’s longest roads, way-way back in 1946 with the line, “Get your kicks, on Route 66.” Later that year Nat King Cole would record the song and contribute to making this dusty road — running more than 2000 miles all the…
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Disassembling the only 35mm Graflex Film Holder Ever Made
Disassembling the only 35mm film holder made for Graflex Cameras isn’t something you get to do every day. Some sixty years ago, a photographer had a distinct need to shoot 35mm on a 2×3″ format Graflex SLR and they were not going to wait for the market to catch up. What they created is most…
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My approach to Rodinal semi-stand film development
My film development workflow shifted in 2020 and became almost entirely based around semi-stand methods. Previously I had used ILFORD DD-X and taken great care over timings and chemistry – including for stand dev, but as I’ve found more of my projects start to come together I have not been able to dedicate myself in…
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New M-mount lens from Lomography: The Atoll Ultra-Wide 17mm f/2.8 Art Lens
Just arrived on Kickstarter: Lomography’s first crowdfunding campaign of the year: the Ultra-Wide 17mm f/2.8 Atoll lens for Leica M-mount (as well as a few current digital mounts, too). It’s not a fisheye lens. Think more of the Voigtlander ultra-wides for Leica M-mount cameras instead. Further details follow, but first, some gear shots: I won’t…
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Using filters with monochrome film
If you have been giving monochrome (aka black and white) film photography a go, you will have realised that film doesn’t quite see things the way your eye does. With modern, panchromatic film stocks that “see” the entire visible light spectrum, the difference isn’t great but can be significant in some areas. In this article,…
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Shot 100 years ago: Developing Kodak Premo-Pack 4×5 film from a Rochester Premo B camera
Shot 100 years ago: Developing Kodak Premo-Pack 4×5 film from a Rochester Premo B camera ~ by Salvador Busquets One of the most fascinating things I’ve found by collecting cameras is that from time to time, there is some exposed — but not developed — film or glass plate. They often have spent decades inside…