HOLGA: I Walk at Night

I am happy with the tonal range
I hid the hot lights behind the pillar
(highlights not blown out)
TMax 100 D76 (1:1) 9.5min (Normal)

Lately I have been having this fascination with; Film, Holga, and Night Photography after reading Lance Keimig "Night Photography, Finding your way in the dark"

After spending much time dedicated to reading this book, other books and articles dedicated to night photography the time was now to execute and start producing B&W night/low-light images. Sure, I could easily produced these images with a digital camera yet that was the easy out and I needed as hard a challenge as possible to stimulate my need for photography self education.Often I am asked, Why Film at Night? I just prefer the technical side of photography/ learning process, wading out in the middle of the night alone with my camera, taking in the muted coloured tonal range and stillness of the space being photographed while my brain is spinning at a million thoughts/min and eventually the pure pleasure of producing a one of a kind piece of art (my vision) from beginning to end w/o computer intervention or people.

hellolights from street light across the street
nice details in shadow area/ highlights (far left) OK
TMax 100 D76 (1:1) 9.5min (Normal)

 The technical stats for the Holga varied from website to website making my research very difficult. However, while taking on this challenge the biggest concern was determining the f-stop (reported sometimes as f8, f11 and other times as f13) with a shutter speed around 1/125 (for use in a future projects)  Being as lost as ever I decided that the best solution to my questions were to get out and experiment on my own and since I was shooting at night and with my preferred film (TMAX100) all I needed was a time that was specific to my Holga.

The first goal in this endeavor was to produce the perfect negative (lol), by 'bracketing' to establish my base exposure using one of the following category for Night Photography according to Lance Keimig.

• Bright street scene/lights in shot
• Average street scene/no lights in shot 
• Dark urban area
• Moonlight within 1 day of full moon

highlights ok/ shadows horrible
TMax 100 D76 (1:1) 9.5min (Normal)

highlight blown out/ midtones OK
TMax 100 D76 (1:1) 9.5min (Normal)

highlight blown out/ midtones on edge
TMax 100 D76 (1:1) 9.5min (Normal)

To Do List


Expose for the shadows with texture and/or details...based on the Zone System this is 'Zone III'

After determining what the highlights are based on the Zone, Develop for the highlights with texture and/or details, 'Zone VII'  If the highlights fall above or below this range you should develop your film (N-2, N-1, N, N+1, N+2) to return it to 'Zone VII'  

Work in Process


To assure to get the results I wanted, I bought all the required equipment and cleared out space in a closet to develop my film at home. After 3 rolls of film, I finally found a suitable base exposure for Avg street scene/no lights in shot. Bright street scene/lights in shot, needs work with my developing to bring the highlights down and prevent them from blowing out (I won't be able to hide all the street lights in my world)

Rain Rain Go and Play (lol)

This image was captured during a break from the crazy rain we had in Calif (Dec 2010) I found it odd to see such a bright colored plastic slide out during the rain. Minutes after taking the photograph two girls (apparently still hung-over) came out and began laughing at me. When I asked, "Whats up with the slide?" they continued to laugh and said, " we though it would be fun to slip and slide during the rain" As they drug the slide in (wet and all) the continued, " we are so hung-over... and so late for work"

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Lesson learned..... there is always time to play, be responsible and think about the consequences
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Darnell Bates DB8S Photography

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Rain Shine Snow or Hail

Its been raining in Los Angeles for almost a week now and many of my colleagues (Shout Out to Jacqueline) have been motivated to get out there and shoot. Not me, I have been inside complaining about the rain as well as complaining about not being able to get out and shoot. Today, that all came to an end and just as soon as there was a low in the rain I dashed out to the Post Office (with camera) to get what I thought was my 22x15 photo paper for my up coming show and was too surprised to get cookies (from Scott ) -Big Smile- On the way there and back I was able to capture a few images and quench my thirst which should hold me for a day or two. 

The forecast for rain: continuous for the next 4 days.

Take Advantage of or Create Opportunities to Motivate Your Self!

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Why Here Little Birdy?

"Work of 7" DB8S © 2010
"Click on image for a larger view"

Saturday about mid day I heard a rustling sound coming from my bathroom. When I opened the door the sound stopped, seeing nothing, I closed the door and went back about my business. However, after a few moments it started again, this time...... instead of opening the door quickly, I opened it slowly and peaked around it to find this "Little Birdy" attacking my window. I was not sure of her intentions (maybe she wanted to come in?) Immediately tried to recall that olde superstition.... "if a bird gets into your house it is a sign of 'Good Luck' Reflecting on the possibility of more 'Good Luck" I opted not to let her in because I felt it would be "Bad Luck" for her to come in and hurt herself for the probability of me receiving "Good Luck" Sure we could all use a little more "Good Luck" yet not at the expense of another living creature. "I am already a Lucky Man!"

"Little Birdy" continued to relentlessly attack my window for the next 4 hours (or so) with the strength of "7"as I continued to work on images. Eventually she went away as soon as the sun started to set.
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Tip

To take a photos of "Little Birdy" in this static situation, I used a tripod and a wireless remote to capture the scene without disturbing the animal any more than my Apartment and window has already. Also, this way my camera was already 'at the ready' and I could kick back, observe and let her do what satisfied her.