Canon AF35M II and Epson V550 Scanner

Original Post: 18NOV2017

I’d like to start with the camera. What a champion! This Canon has a wonderful sharp lens at 38mm f/2.8. The autofocus is spot on and it is the perfect size for a jacket pocket. The only extra option I would have liked to see is a telephoto zoom like the Minolta AF-Tele. The film I used was Fuji C200 film.

Now to the pictures. I took it to Seattle a couple of times out for some nightlife time. The best part about the camera was how unintrusive it was because of its size. No one was intimidated by it and there for I didn’t get much objection when taking a picture.

The flash fills in really nicely with out blowing out the highlights and that worked great for shots like this and like the one below.

If I were to use this for strictly night life photography I would be perfectly happy doing so. Another nice feature of this camera is the fact that it uses two AA batteries. Other cameras of this time used specialty batteries and are expensive and nearly impossible to find in the first store you visit.

This would be a good project to do while partying in downtown Seattle, photographing all the people in different streetwear. So much great style out there it deserves to be documented.

Here are a couple of photos that aren’t night life related.

All these film negatives were scanned by the Epson V550. The quality of the scans are great, the software, not so good. Actually the software that comes with it is atrocious and causes the scan process that should only take 10 minutes to over 30 if you forget to move the mouse. I’m still looking for another program that will work better with the scanner.

For the next update I shot using a Olympus Stylus 120. It was quick and easy to use. The negatives look sharp. Look out for the scans in the next post.

Until then my Paisanos,

Konik C35 EF

Original Post: 07NOV2017

Update: This post was written when I was scanning with a box and my digital camera. That is the reason I talk about the images being soft.

I would like to start by saying that this was not the best experience. I was pretty hyped up to use this camera as it was one of Andy Warhols favorites but it was really disappointing. A lots of the shots were out of soft, not sharp at all, regardless of me being at the right distance from the subject and the lens. It wants to look like a rangefinder but it is far from it. You kind of have to guess your distance to your subjects and set it on the focus ring. If the images were a little bit sharper I feel I would have loved it a lot more. Maybe I need to give it a second chance.

Here is one of the images that I would have loved if it wasn’t for it being soft.

If the image was a bit sharper you would have been able to distinguish more of the fall colors from the trees.

Here is a shot of my great friends Robert and Amy, still really soft.

I’m not too upset about it I guess. I kind of do like the softness in the sense that it gives it a certain feel. This would not fly though if I was shooting for a customer. Which I really don’t so I don’t know why I am so concerned.

I do have a select few that I do love, even if they are a bit soft.

The first one is from the same day that I went hiking with my friends.

The image appeared to be slightly better in focus around the bumper nearest to the camera and it just has this mobster kind of mood to it and I enjoy it.

Another is of a tangled mess of seaweed.

This one is Instagram worthy for me. I love the lines that lead into the braid of seaweed, even though it is a bit soft and difficult to distinguish.

Overall I would give this camera a 4/10 and maybe I will give it a second chance. But for now it will stay in its case and in the stack of other camera.

Look out for the Canon AF35MII pictures. As soon as I have another roll to develop with it I will have them ready. I also ordered a scanner which should be arriving next week. At last I will have nicer looking scans.

P.S.

Oak Harbor Music Festival

Original Post: 26SEP2016

It’s funny that I didn’t take pictures of any of the artists for the Oak Harbor Music Festival, just the guests. I had a great time and interacted a lot with the people I photographed. I usually just take candid photos but this day everyone knew I was photographing them.

I also used a film camera but I don’t know if the first roll actually took to the reel. I just remember the counter getting up to 34 or something like that and there are only 24 exposures to each roll. Oh well, I guess I’ll find out when the rolls get developed.

This next photo is of a group of young adults that had a great time having their photograph taken. We must have taken 15-20 shots together but this was the one that stood out and gave me the most of them.

I love that the Oak Harbor community does things like this. It really brings out the different characters of the city. At first I thought that it was going to be boring to photograph in my town. I just wanted to go to Seattle and take pictures there but in reality I don’t have to go to far at all. I can just go to the local events and take photos of the people who inhabit the town that I once thought was boring and uninteresting. Now, I know better.

Just one last photo for the day.

I was recently in Guam and I didn’t find it nearly as interesting as I do find this town. I believe I got a few pictures but nothing significant. I’ll go through them and post them when I get a chance.

Enjoy.

-Franco Pisano

Landscapes & Still Life

Original Post: 30JUL2016

Like any true photographer you sometimes become stagnant on shooting your style. And by you, I mean me. Not because I was lazy, but because it is really difficult to photograph the same people in the same small town. I need to travel to the big cities a lot more frequently.

In the mean time I needed to try something different, I needed to try to take some landscape photos.

I usually look at landscape photography as something anyone can do. Anyone with a point and shoot and a beautiful scene. There are hundreds of those online, a quick google search can show you all of them. All the sunsets and all the mountain sides, beaches and sunrises. And they are beautiful. I love them. But it is something that I don’t want to photograph particularly. What am I to do?

I go ahead and test out some landscape photography…

For this particular shot I was driving back from Bellingham, WA after shopping at the farmers market and visiting vintage thrift and second hand shops. Yes, I am that person. As I was driving, I was on the phone with my mom (hands free!) and immediately had to tell her that I would call her back. “Mom, I got to go, there is something I need to photograph!” Click.

I got out of the car, posted up my flimsy tripod and started to take shots. I realized that shooting landscapes is a little more of a challenge. I took several photos. I shot with my 50mm and I didn’t like how they came out. So I reframed and moved some. I switched to the 85mm and moved some more then I nailed this shot.

It was a rewarding feeling when I got to look at the photo in post processing. Choosing the right one from many taken is always a difficult and long process. Editing is another, but, it gets easier because you find a style that matches you and you go with it. For this one particular picture, the contrast was so perfect that I looked its best in black and white.

Then there is still life…

“Still life” is slightly different from landscape in the sense that, for me, it is almost close to being street photography. It is something that is happening at one moment in time and you happen to be around to take a shot of it. The only difference is that there aren’t any people in the picture to consider it street in my terms.  But a person wouldn’t have made a different to this picture. In the end it might have taken away the impact of this one. It would have take the focus away, of this beautiful abandoned grill.

So far you have seen photos of Japan and on this post you have seen some from Washington. I plan on showing more of my other travels and my other projects separate from street, still, and landscape photography.

-Franco Pisano

P.S.

Candid vs Posed

Original date: 15AUG2016

Here I have a couple of examples of candid vs “posed” shots. I use the quotations marks because they already knew I was going to take the picture, I snapped a few off while they weren’t looking and then I asked if I can take a few more.

This shot was actually the first of the day.

At first I thought I didn’t like that he smiled, but it turned out to be more than I wanted. It gave me the reason to think of the smile project, of getting people to smile while I portrait shoot them. I have several of those and I put them to the side because I didn’t like them at the time. I think for my next post I will be bringing in on the begging stages of the “Smile” Project.

This is the candid shot…

This is the candid shot of the day. It shows a much different emotion.

This is what I am working on, and I have many more from previous shots that I have to add as well and I will be doing that within the next few days.

Also I participated in a wedding photoshoot and a family portrait shoot. Maybe I will share a few of those.

-Franco Pisano